XI  B  RARY 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 
OF    ILLINOIS 

977.325 

H629 


THE 


HISTOKT 


WILL  COUNTY, 


ILLINOIS 


CONTAINING 


A  History  of  the  County — its  Cities,  Towns,  &e. ;  a  Directory  of  its 
Real  Estate  Owners;    Portraits  of  Early  Settlers  and  Promi- 
nent Men;  General  and  Local  Statistics;  Map  of  Will 
County;    History  of  Illinois,  Illustrated;    His- 
tory of  the  Northwest,  Illustrated; 
Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
Miscellaneous  Matters, 
&c.,  &e. 


CHICAGO: 
WM.  LE  BAKOX,  JR.,  &  CO.,  186  DEARBORN  STREET. 

1878. 


PREFACE. 


TN  presenting  our  History  of  Will  County,  we  deem  a  few  prefatory  words 
necessary.  We  have  spared  neither  pains  nor  expense  to  fulfill  our  engagement  with 
our  patrons  and  make  the  work  as  complete  as  possible.  We  have  acted  upon  the 
principle  that  justice  to  those  who  have  subscribed,  be  they  few  or  many,  requires  that 
the  work  should  be  as  well  done  as  if  it  was  patronized  by  every  citizen  in  the  county. 
We  do  not  claim  that  our  work  is  entirely  free  from  errors  ;  such  a  result  could  not  be 
attained  by  the  utmost  care  and  foresight  of  ordinary  mortals.  The  General  History  of 
the  County  was  compiled  by  Hon.  Geo.  H.  Woodruff,  of  Joliet,  and  the  Township 
Histories  by  our  historians,  W.  H.  Perrin  and  H.  H.  Hill.  Some  of  the  Town- 
ship Histories  are  indeed  longer  than  others,  as  the  townships  are  older,  containing 
larger  cities  and  towns,  and  have  been  the  scenes  of  more  important  and  interesting 
events.  While  fully  recognizing  this  important  difference,  the  historians  have  sought  to 
write  up  each  township  with  equal  fidelity  to  the  facts  and  information  within  their 
reach.  We  take  this  occasion  to  present  our  thanks  to  all  our  numerous  subscribers 
for  their  patronage  and  encouragement  in  the  publication  of  the  work.  In  this  confident 
belief,  we  submit  it  to  the  enlightened  judgment  of  those  for  whose  benefit  it  has  been 
prepared,  believing  that  it  will  be  received  as  a  most  valuable  and  complete  work. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


CHICAGO: 
CULVKK,  PAGE,  HOYXE  A  CO.,  PRINTERS, 

118  »nd  120  Monroe  Street. 


•377.325 


CON 


S. 


PAGE. 

History  Northwest  Territory 19 

Geographical 19 

Early  Exploration 20 

Discovery  of  the  Ohio 33 

English    Explorations    and  Settle- 
ments   35 

American  Settlements 60 

Division  of  the   Northwest  Terri- 
tory    66 

Tecumseh  and  the  war  of  1812 70 

Black  Hawk  and  the  Black  Hawk 
War ...  74 


HISTORICAL. 

PAGE. 

Other  Indian  Troubles 79 

Present  Condition  of  the  Northwest  87 

Illinois 99 

Indiana 101 

Iowa 102 

Michigan 103 

Wisconsin 104 

Minnesota ., 106 

Nebraska 107 

History  of  Illinois 109 

Coal 125 

Compact  of  1787 117 


PAGE. 

History  of  Chicago 132 

Early  Discoveries 109 

Early  Settlements 115 

Education 129 

First  French  Occupation 112 

Genius  of  La  Salle 113 

Material  Resources 124 

Massacre  of  Fort  Dearborn 141 

Physical  Features V21 

Progress  of  Development 123 

Religion  and  Morale 128 

War  Record  ol  Illinois 130 


PAGE. 

Source  of  the  Mississippi 21 

Mouth  of  the  Mississippi 21 

Wild  Prairie 23 

La  Salle  Landing  on  the  Shore  of 

Green  Bay 25 

Buffalo  Hunt 27 

Trapping 29 

Hunting 32 

Iroquois  Chief. 34 

Pontiac,  the  Ottawa  Chieftain 43 

Indians  Attacking  Frontiersmen...  56 

A  Prairie  Storm 59 

A  Pioneer  Dwelling 61 

Breaking  Prairie 63 


I1L,IJSTRATIOXS. 

PAGE.  PAGE. 

Tecumseh,  the  Shawnee  Chieftain...  69      ing  the  River  at  Davenport,  Iowa  96 

Indians  Attacking  a  Stockade 72  JA  Western  Dwelling 109 

Black  Hawk,  the  jac  Chieftain 76  Hunting    Prairie    Wolves    at    an 

Big  Eagle 80  [     Early  Day 108 


Captain  Jack,  the  Modoc  Chieftain..  83 

Kinzie  House 85 

Village  Residence 86 

A  Representative  Pioneer 87 

Lincoln  Monument,  Springfield,  111.  88 


Starved  Rock,  on  the  Illinois  River, 

La  Salle  County,  111 110 

An  Early  Settlement 116 

Chicago  hi  1833 133 

Old  Fort  Dearbron  in  1830 136 


A  Pioneer  School  House 89  (Present  site  of  Lake  Street  Bridge, 

Farm  View  in  the  Winter 90  |     Chicago,  in  1833 136 

High  Bridge  and  Lake  Bluft' 94   Pioneers'  First  Winter 142 

Great  Iron  Bridge  of  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  &  Pacific  Railroad,  Cross- 


View  of  the  City  of  Chicago 144 

Shabbona 149 


PAGE. 


COUNTY    HISTORY. 

PAGE. 


PAG  E. 


General  History  of  Will  County.  ...223    Joliet  Township 367    Reed  Township 404 

Channahon  Township 591    Jackson   Township.    540    Troy 


610 


Crete 

Custer 

Du  Page 

Frankfort 

Florence 

Greengarden 

Homer 


606 

634 

Wheatland 
Wesley 
Washington 
Wilton 
Will 

536 

525 

567 

598 

506 

494 

641 

575 

Plainfield            " 

477 

625 

583 

616 

650 

.....516 

LITHOGRAPHIC    PORTRAITS. 


PAGE. 

Allen,  B.  P 509 

Braidwood,  J 869 

Beggs,  S.  R 797 

Boyer,  Charles  E 689 

Cagwin,  Abijah  ...'. 491 

Cook,  M.  H 82 

Casseday,  G.  W 455 

Cutter,  N.  H 491 

Demmond,  M.  H 275 

Doolittle,  R 491 

Daggett,  John  F 725 

Erhard,  George 725 

Elwood,  N.  D 347 

Francis,  Abraham 761 

Foster,  Lyman 150 

Flack,  J.  J 473 

Gongar,  John 797 

Gooding,  William 653 

Holden,  P.  H 527 


PAGE. 

Holden,  Betsy  P 545 

Holden,  C.  C.  P 563 

Holdeu,  Sarah  J 581 

Holmes,  A 725 

Hagar,  Jonathan 743 

Harwood,  E 419 

Henderson,  Hugh 329 

Higinbotham,  H.  D 383 

Knapp,  Ira  0 815 

Leach,  Alonzo 311 

Little,  W.  E 365 

Miller,  T.  L 635 

Maltby,  William 887 

McGovney,  0 797 

Mack,  Firman 437 

Norton,  Jesse  0 311 

Osgood,  Uri 293 

Paige,  J.  D 311 

Patterson,  Anson 491 


PAGE. 

Preston,  J.  B 707 

Preston,  Isaac 725 

Reynolds,  I.  N 599 

Reynolds,  J.  S 617 

Rowley,  Hiram 311 

Runyon,  A 671 

Smith,  C.  C 851 

Sutphen,  C.  H 401 

Sanger,  L.  P 168 

Steel,  W.  A 186 

Stevens,  Robert 257 

Thornton,  Gary 797 

Tryon,  George 833 

Thomas,  William : 132 

Wool,  Willard 66 

Woodruff,  George  H 221 

Young,  John 204 

Zarley,  Reason 239 


OOO  \  £1 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES. 


PAOE. 

Channahon  Township 832 

Crete  "        889 

Ouster  "        872 

Du  Page  "        895 

Frankfort  "        838 

Florence  "        791 

Greengarden        "        865 

Homer  "        765 


PAOE. 

Joliet  Township 659 

Jackson       "        823 

Lockport    "        730 

Manhattan  Township 799 

Monee  "    900 

New  Lenox          "        778 

Plainfield  "        855 

Peotone  "        877 


PAOE. 

Keed  Township 751 

Troy          "        884 

Wilmington  Township 801 

Wheatland  "        814 

Wesley  "        786 

Wilton  "        902 

Washington          "        905 

Will  "        906 


DIRECTORY    OF    REAL    ESTATE    OWNERS, 


PAGE.  I 
Channahon  Township 971  I  Joliet   Township 909 


Crete 

Caster 

Du  Page 

Frankfort 

Florence 

Greengarden 

Homer 


....965 

950 

947 

963 

957 

952 


Jackson       "        945 

Lockport     "        934 

Manhattan   Township 972 

Monee  "         941 

New  Lenox          "        955 

Plainfield  "        938 

Peotone  "        958 


PAGE. 

Reed  Township 929 

Troy  "        966 

Wilmington  Township 924 

Wheatland         "        954 

Wesley  "        964 

Wilton  "        960 

Washington       "        973 

Will  "  975 


AHSTRACT   OF    ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS. 


PAGE. 

Adoption  of  Children 160 

Bills  of  Exchange  and  Promissory 

Notes 151 

County  Courts 155 

Conveyances 164 

Church  Organizations 189 

Descent 151 

Deeds  and  Mortgages 157 

Drainage 163 

Damages  from  Trespass 169 

Definition  of  Commercial  Terms 173 

Exemptions  from  Forced  Sale 156 

Estrays 157 

Fences 168 

Forms : 

Articles  of  Agreement 175 

Bills  of  Purchase 174 

Bills  of  Sale 176 

Bonds 176 


PAGE. 

Chattel  Mortgages 177 

Codicil 189 

Lease  of  Farm   and   Build- 
ings  179 

Lease  of  House 180 

Landlord's  Agreement 180 

Notes 174 

Notice  Tenant  to  Quit 181 

Orders 174 

Quit  Claim  Deed 185 

Receipt 174 

Real  Estate  Mortgaged  to  Secure 

Payment  of  Money 181 

Release 186 

Tenant's  Agreement 180 

Tenant's  Notice  to  Quit 181 

Warranty  Deed 182 

Will 187 


PAOE. 

Game 158 

Interest 155 

Jurisdiction  of  Courts 15i 

Limitation  of  Action 154 

Landlord  and  Tenant 165 

Liens 179 


Married  Women 152 

Millers  159 

Marks  and  Brands 159 

Paupers 164 

Roads  and  Bridges 161 

Surveyors  and  Surveys 160 

Suggestions  to  Persons  Purchasing 

Books  by  Subscription 190 

Taxes 154 

Wills  and  Estates 152 

Weights  and  Measures 158 

Wolf  Scalps 164 


PAGE. 

Map  of  Will  County Front 

Constitution  of  the  U.  S 192 

Electors  of  President  and  Vice  Pres- 
ident  206 

Practical  Rules  for  Every  Day  Use.207 
U.  S.  Government  Land  Measure. ..210  j 
Agricultural   Productions  of   Illi- 
nois by  Counties,  1870 210  j 

Surveyors'  Measure 211  j 

How  to  Keep  Accounts 211  ' 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

PAGE. 

Interest  Table 212 

Miscellaneous  Tables 212 

Names  of  the  States  of  the  Union 

and  their  Signification 213 

Population  of  the  United  States 214 

Population  of  Fifty  Principal  Cities 

of  the  United  States 214 

Population  and  Area  of  the  United 

States 215 

Population  of  the  Principal  Coun- 
tries in  the  World 215 


PAGE. 

Population  of  Illinois 216-217 

State  Laws  Relating  to  Interest 218 

State  Laws  Relating  to  Limitations 

of  Actions 219 

Productions  of  Agriculture  of  Illi- 
nois  220 

Population  of  Will  Co 996 

Assessors'    Report 999 

Business  Directory 977 

Errata 1003 


THE  (mm 

OF  ftJE 


H.  9.E. 


IL10.E 


RISE 


THE    NORTHWEST    TERRITORY. 


GEOGRAPHICAL    POSITION. 

When  the  Northwestern  Territory  was  ceded  to  the  United  States 
by  Virginia  in  1784,  it  embraced  only  the  territory  lying  between  the 
Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  north  to  the  northern  limits  of  the 
United  States.  It  coincided  with  the  area  now  embraced  in  the  States 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  that  portion  of 
Minnesota  lying  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi  River.  The  United 
States  itself  at  that  period  extended  no  farther  west  than  the  Mississippi 
River  ;  but  by  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  in  1803,  the  western  boundary 
of  the  United  States  was  extended  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the 
Northern  Pacific  Ocean.  The  new  territory  thus  added  to  the  National 
domain,  and  subsequently  opened  to  settlement,  has  been  called  the 
"  New  Northwest,"  in  contradistinction  from  the  old  "  Northwestern 
Territory. " 

In  comparison  with  the  old  Northwest  this  is  a  territory  of  vast 
magnitude.  It  includes  an  area  of  1,887,850  square  miles ;  being  greater 
in  extent  than  the  united  areas  of  all  the  Middle  and  Southern  States, 
including  Texas.  Out  of  this  magnificent  territory  have  been  erected 
eleven  sovereign  States  and  eight  Territories,  with  an  aggregate  popula- 
tion, at  the  present  time,  of  13,000,000  inhabitants,  or  nearly  one  third  of 
the  entire  population  of  the  United  States. 

Its  lakes  are  fresh-water  seas,  and  the  larger  rivers  of  the  continent 
flow  for  a  thousand  miles  through  its  rich  alluvial  valleys  and  far- 
stretching  prairies,  more  acres  of  which  are  arable  and  productive  of  the 
highest  percentage  of  the  cereals  than  of  any  other  area  of  like  extent 
on  the  globe. 

For  the  last  twenty  years  the  increase  of  population  in  the  North- 
west has  been  about  as  three  to  one  in  any  other  portion  of  the  United 
States. 

(19) 


20  THE    NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


EARLY    EXPLORATIONS. 

In  the  year  1541,  DeSoto  first  saw  the  Great  West  in  the  New 
World.  He,  however,  penetrated  no  farther  north  than  the  35th  parallel 
of  latitude.  The  expedition  resulted  in  his  death  and  that  of  more  than 
half  his  army,  the  remainder  of  whom  found  their  way  to  Cuba,  thence 
to  Spain,  in  a  famished  and  demoralized  condition.  DeSoto  founded  no 
settlements,  produced  no  results,  and  left  no  traces,  unless  it  were  that 
he  awakened  the  hostility  of  the  red  man  against  the  white  man,  and 
disheartened  such  as  might  desire  to  follow  up  the  career  of  discovery 
for  better  purposes.  The  French  nation  were  eager  and  ready  to  seize 
upon  any  news  from  this  extensive  domain,  and  were  the  first  to  profit  by 
DeSoto's  defeat.  Yet  it  was  more  than  a  century  before  any  adventurer 
took  advantage  of  these  discoveries. 

In  1616,  four  years  before  the  pilgrims  "  moored  their  bark  on  the 
wild  New  England  shore,"  Le  Caron,  a  French  Franciscan,  had  pene- 
trated through  the  Iroquois  and  Wyandots  (Hurons)  to  the  streams  which 
run  into  Lake  Huron  ;  and  in  1634,  two  Jesuit  missionaries  founded  the 
first  mission  among  the  lake  tribes.  It  was  just  one  hundred  years  from 
the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  by  DeSoto  (1541)  until  the  Canadian 
envoys  met  the  savage  nations  of  the  Northwest  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary, 
below  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior.  This  visit  led  to  no  permanent 
result';  yet  it  was  not  until  1659  that  any  of  the  adventurous  fur  traders 
attempted  to  spend  a  Winter  in  the  frozen  wilds  about  the  great  lakes, 
nor  was  it  until  1660  that  a  station  was  established  upon  their  borders  by 
Mesnard,  who  perished  in  the  woods  a  few  months  after.  In  1665,  Claude 
Allouez  built  the  earliest  lasting  habitation  of  the  white  man  among  the 
Indians  of  the  Northwest.  In  1668,  Claude  Dablon  and  James  Marquette 
founded  the  mission  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary,  and  two 
years  afterward,  Nicholas  Perrot,  as  agent  for  M.  Talon,  Governor  Gen- 
eral of  Canada,  explored  Lake  Illinois  (Michigan)  as  far  south  as  the 
present  City  of  Chicago,  and  invited  the  Indian  nations  to  meet  him  at  a 
grand  council  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  the  following  Spring,  where  they  were 
taken  under  the  protection  of  the  king,  and  formal  possession  was  taken 
of  the  Northwest.  This  same  year  Marquette  established  a  mission  at 
Point  St.  Ignatius,  where  was  founded  the  old  town  of  Michillimackinac. 

During  M.  Talon's  explorations  and  Marquette's  residence  at  St. 
Ignatius,  they  learned  of  a  great  river  away  to  the  west,  and  fancied 
— as  all  others  did  then— that  upon  its  fertile  banks  whole  tribes  of  God's 
children  resided,  to  whom  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  had  never  come. 
Filled  with  a  wish  to  go  and  preach  to  them,  and  in  compliance  with  a 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


22  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

request  of  M.  Talon,  who  earnestly  desired  to  extend  the  domain  of  his 
king,  and  to  ascertain  whether  the  river  flowed  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
or  the  Pacific  Ocean,  Marquette  with  Joliet,  as  commander  of  the  expe- 
dition, prepared  for  the  undertaking. 

On  the  13th  of  May,  1673,  the  explorers,  accompanied  by  five  assist- 
ant French  Canadians,  set  out  from  Mackinaw  on  their  daring  voyage  of 
discovery.  The  Indians,  who  gathered  to  witness  their  departure,  were 
astonished  at  the  boldness  of  the  undertaking,  and  endeavored  to  dissuade 
them  from  their  purpose  by  representing  the  tribes  on  the  Mississippi  as 
exceedingly  savage  and  cruel,  and  the  river  itself  as  full  of  all  sorts  of 
frightful  monsters  ready  to  swallow  them  and  their  canoes  together.  But, 
nothing  daunted  by  these  terrific  descriptions,  Marquette  told  them  he 
was  willing  not  only  to  encounter  all  the  perils  of  the  unknown  region 
they  were  about  to  explore,  but  to  lay  down  his  life  in  a  cause  in  which 
the  salvation  of  souls  was  involved  ;  and  having  prayed  together  they 
separated.  Coasting  along  the  northern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  the 
adventurers  entered  Green  Bay,  and  passed  thence  up  the  Fox  River  and 
Lake  Winnebago  to  a  village  of  the  Miamis  and  Kickapoos.  Here  Mar- 
quette was  delighted  to  find  a  beautiful  cross  planted  in  the  middle  of  the 
town  ornamented  with  white  skins,  red  girdles  and  bows  and  arrows, 
which  these  good  people  had  offered  to  the  Great  Manitou,  or  God,  to 
thank  him  for  the  pity  he  had  bestowed  on  them  during  the  Winter  in 
giving  them  an  abundant  "  chase."  This  was  the  farthest  outpost  to 
which  Dablon  and  Allouez  had  extended  their  missionary  labors  the 
year  previous.  Here  Marquette  drank  mineral  waters  and  was  instructed 
in  the  secret  of  a  root  which  cures  the  bite  of  the  venomous  rattlesnake. 
He  assembled  the  chiefs  and  old  men  of  the  village,  and,  pointing  to 
Joliet,  said :  "  My  friend  is  an  envoy  of  France,  to  discover  new  coun- 
tries, and  I  am  an  ambassador  from  God  to  enlighten  them  with  the  truths 
of  the  Gospel."  Two  Miami  guides  were  here  furnished  to  conduct 
them  to  the  Wisconsin  River,  and  they  set  out  from  the  Indian  village  on 
the  10th  of  June,  amidst  a  great  crowd  of  natives  who  had  assembled  to 
witness  their  departure  into  a  region  where  no  white  man  had  ever  yet 
ventured.  The  guides,  having  conducted  them  across  the  portage, 
returned.  The  explorers  launched  their  canoes  upon  the  Wisconsin, 
which  they  descended  to  the  Mississippi  and  proceeded  down  its  unknown 
waters.  What  emotions  must  have  swelled  their  breasts  as  they  struck 
out  into  the  broadening  current  and  became  conscious  that  they  were 
now  upon  the  bosom  of  ths  Father  of  Waters.  The  mystery  was  about 
to  be  lifted  from  the  long-sought  river.  The  scenery  in  that  locality  is 
beautiful,  and  on  that  delightful  seventeenth  of  June  must  have  been 
clad  in  all  its  primeval  loveliness  as  it  had  been  adorned  by  the  hand  of 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


23 


Nature.  Drifting  rapidly,  it  is  said  that  the  bold  bluffs  on  either  hand 
"  reminded  them  of  the  castled  shores  of  their  own  beautiful  rivers  of 
France."  By-and-by,  as  they  drifted  along,  great  herds  of  buffalo  appeared 
on  the  banks.  On  going  to  the  heads  of  the  valley  they  could  see  a 
country  of  the  greatest  beauty  and  fertility,  apparently  destitute  of  inhab- 
itants yet  presenting  the  appearance  of  extensive  manors,  under  the  fas- 
tidious cultivation  of  lordly  proprietors. 


THE    WILD    PRAIRIE. 


On  June  25,  they  went  ashore  and  found  some  fresh  traces  of  men  upon 
the  sand,  and  a  path  which  led  to  the  prairie.  The  men  remained  in  the 
boat,  and  Marquette  and  Joliet  followed  the  path  till  they  discovered  a 
village  on  the  banks  of  a  river,  and  two  other  villages  on  a  hill,  within  a 
half  league  of  the  first,  inhabited  by  Indians.  They  were  received  most 
hospitably  by  these  natives,  who  had  never  before  seen  a  white  person. 
After  remaining  a  few  days  they  re-embarked  and  descended  the  river  to 
about  latitude  33°,  where  they  found  a  village  of  the  Arkansas,  and  being 
satisfied  that  the  river  flowed  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  turned  their  course 


24  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

up  the  river,  and  ascending  the  stream  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois, 
rowed  up  that  stream  to  its  source,  and  procured  guides  from  that  point 
to  the  lakes.  "  Nowhere  on  this  journey,"  says  Marquette,  •'  did  we  see 
such  grounds,  meadows,  woods,  stags,  buffaloes,  deer,  wildcats,  bustards, 
swans,  ducks,  parroquets,  and  even  beavers,  as  on  the  Illinois  River." 
The  party,  without  loss  or  injury,  reached  Green  Bay  in  September,  and 
reported  their  discovery — one  of  the  most  important  of  the  age,  but  of 
which  no  record  was  preserved  save  Marquette's,  Joliet  losing  his  by 
the  upsetting  of  his  canoe  on  his  way-  to  Quebec.  Afterward  Marquette 
returned  to  the  Illinois  Indians  by  their  request,  and  ministered  to  them 
until  1675.  On  the  18th  of  May,  in  that  year,  as  he  was  passing  the 
mouth  of  a  stream — going  with  his  boatmen  up  Lake  Michigan — he  asked 
to  land  at  its  mouth  and  celebrate  Mass.  Leaving  his  men  with  the  canoe, 
he  retired  a  short  distance  and  began  his  devotions.  As  much  time 
passed  and  he  did  not  return,  his  men  went  in  search  of  him,  and  found 
him  upon  his  knees,  dead.  He  had  peacefully  passed  away  while  at 
prayer.  He  was  buried  at  this  spot.  Charlevoix,  who  visited  the  place 
fifty  years  after,  found  the  waters  had  retreated  from  the  grave,  leaving 
the  beloved  missionary  to  repose  in  peace.  The  river  has  since  been 
called  Marquette. 

While  Marquette  and  his  companions  were  pursuing  their  labors  in 
the  West,  two  men,  differing  widely  from  him  and  each  other,  were  pre- 
paring to  follow  in  his  footsteps  and  perfect  the  discoveries  so  well  begun 
by  him.  These  were  Robert  de  LaSalle  and  Louis  Hennepin. 

After  La  Salle's  return  from  the  discovery  of  the  Ohio  River  (see 
the  narrative  elsewhere),  he  established  himself  again  among  the  French 
trading  posts  in  Canada.  Here  he  mused  long  upon  the  pet  project  of 
those  ages — a  short  way  to  China  and  the  East,  and  was  busily  planning  an 
expedition  up  the  great  lakes,  and  so  across  the  continent  to  the  Pacific, 
when  Marquette  returned  from  the  Mississippi.  At  once  the  vigorous  mind 
of  LaSalle  received  from  his  and  his  companions'  stories  the  idea  that  by  fol- 
lowing the  Great  River  northward,  or  by  turning  up  some  of  the  numerous 
western  tributaries,  the  object  could  easily  be  gained.  He  applied  to 
Frontenac,  Governor  General  cf  Canada,  and  laid  before  him  the  plan, 
dim  but  gigantic.  Frontenac  entered  warmly  into  his  plans,  and  saw  that 
LaSalle's  idea  to  connect  the  great  lakes  by  a  chain  of  forts  with  ths  Gulf 
of  Mexico  would  bind  the  countiy  so  wonderfully  together,  give  un- 
measured power  to  France,  and  glory  to  himself,  under  whose  adminis- 
tration he  earnestly  hoped  all  would  be  realized. 

LaSalle  now  repaired  to  France,  laid  his  plans  before  the  King,  who 
warmly  approved  of  them,  and  made  him  a  Chevalier.  He  also  received 
from  all  the  noblemen  the  warmest  wishes  for  his  success.  The  Ohev 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


25 


alier  returned  to   Canada,  and  busily  entered  upon  his   work.     He  at 
once  rebuilt  Fort  Frontenac  and   constructed  the  first  ship  to  sail   on 
these  fresh-water  seas.     On  the  7th  of  August,  1679,  having  been  joined 
by  Hennepin,  he    began  his  voyage  in  the   Griffin  up  Lake  Erie, 
passed  over  this  lake,  through  the  straits  beyond,  up  Lake  St.  Clair  am 
into  Huron.     In  this  lake  they  encountered  heavy  storms, 
some  time  at  Michillimackinac,  where  LaSalle  founded  a  fort,  and  passed 
on  to  Green  Bay,  the  "  Baie  des  Puans"  of  the  French,  where  he  found 
a  laro-e  quantity  of  furs  collected  for  him.     He  loaded  the  Griffin  with 
these?  and   placing  her  under  the   care  of  a  pilot  and   fourteen   sailors, 


LA  SALLE   LANDING   ON   THE   SHORE   OF   GREEN   BAY. 


started  her  on  her  return  voyage.  The  vessel  was  never  afterward  heard 
of.  He  remained  about  these  parts  until  early  in  the  Winter,  when,  hear- 
ing nothing  from  the  Griffin,  he  collected  all  the  men-thirty  working 
men  and  three  monks-and  started  again  upon  his  great  undertaking. 

By  a  short  portage  they  passed  to  the  Illinois  or  Kankakee,  called  by 
the   Indians,    "Theakeke,"    wolf,    because   of   the   tribes   of    Indians   called 
by  that   name,  commonly  known   as   the  Mahingans,  dwelling  there.     Ol 
French    pronounced    it   Kiakiki,    which    became    corrupted    to    Kankakee. 
"Falling  down  the  said  river  by  easy  journeys,  the  better  to   observe  the 
country,"   about  the  last  of  December  they  reached  a  village   of  the 
noi«    Indians,    containing   some   five   hundred    cabins,   but   at   that    moment 


26  THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

no  inhabitants.  The  Seur  de  LaSalle  being  in  want  of  some  breadstuffs, 
took  advantage  of  the  absence  of  the  Indians  to  help  himself  to  a  suffi- 
ciency of  maize,  large  quantities  of  which  he  found  concealed  in  holes 
under  the  wigwams.  This  village  was  situated  near  the  present  village 
of  Utica  in  LaSalle  County,  Illinois.  The  corn  being  securely  stored, 
the  voyagers  again  betook  themselves  to  the  stream,  and  toward  evening, 
on  the  4th  day  of  January,  1680,  they  came  into  a  lake  which  must  have 
been  the  lake  of  Peoria.  This  was  called  by  the  Indians  Pim-i-te-wi,  that 
is,  a  place  where  there  are  many  fat  beasts.  Here  the  natives  were  met 
with  in  large  numbers,  but  they  were  gentle  and  kind,  and  having  spent 
some  time  with  them,  LaSalle  determined  to  erect  another  fort  in  that 
place,  for  he  had  heard  rumors  that  some  of  the  adjoining  tribes  were 
trying  to  disturb  the  good  feeling  which  existed,  and  some  of  his  men 
were  disposed  to  complain,  owing  to  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  travel. 
He  called  this  fort  "  Crevecceur"  (broken-heart),  a  name  expressive  of  the 
very  natural  sorrow  and  anxiety  which  the  pretty  certain  loss  of  his  ship, 
Griffin,  and  his  consequent  impoverishment,  the  danger  of  hostility  on  the 
part  of  the  Indians,  and  of  mutiny  among  his  own  men,  might  well  cause 
him.  His  fears  were  not  entirely  groundless.  At  one  time  poison  was 
placed  in  his  food,  but  fortunately  was  discovered. 

While  building  this  fort,  the  Winter  wore  away,  the  prairies  began  to 
look  green,  and  LaSalle,  despairing  of  any  reinforcements,  concluded  to 
return  to  Canada,  raise  new  means  and  new  men,  and  embark  anew  in 
the  enterprise.  For  this  purpose  he  made  Hennepin  the  leader  of  a  party 
to  explore  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  he  set  out  on  his  jour- 
ney. This  journey  was  accomplished  with  the  aid  of  a  few  persons,  and 
was  successfully  made,  though  over  an  almost  unknown  route,  and  in  a 
bad  season  of  the  year.  He  safely  reached  Canada,  and  set  out  again  for 
the  object  of  his  search. 

Hennepin  and  his  party  left  Fort  Crevecoeur  on  the  last  of  February, 
1680.  When  LaSalle  reached  this  place  on  his  return  expedition,  he 
found  the  fort  entirely  deserted,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  again  to 
Canada.  He  embarked  the  third  time,  and  succeeded.  Seven  days  after 
leaving  the  fort,  Hennepin  reached  the  Mississippi,  and  paddling  up  the 
icy  stream  as  best  he  could,  reached  no  higher  than  the  Wisconsin  River 
by  the  llth  of  April.  Here  he  and  his  followers  were  taken  prisoners  by  a 
band  of  Northern  Indians,  who  treated  them  with  great  kindness.  Hen- 
nepin's  comrades  were  Anthony  Auguel  and  Michael  Ako.  On  this  voy- 
age they  found  several  beautiful  lakes,  and  "  saw  some  charming  prairies." 
Their  captors  were  the  Isaute  or  Sauteurs,  Chippewas,  a  tribe  of  the  Sioux 
nation,  who  took  them  up  the  river  until  about  the  first  of  May,  when 
they  reached  some  falls,  which  Hennepin  christened  Falls  of  St.  Anthony 


THE    NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


in  honor  of  his  patron  saint.  Here  they  took  the  land,  and  traveling 
aearly  two  hundred  miles  to  the  northwest,  brought  them  to  their  villages. 
Here  they  were  kept  about  three  months,  were  treated  kindly  by  their 
captors,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time,  were  met  by  a  band  of  Frenchmen, 


BUFFALO    HUNT. 

headed  by  one  Seur  de  Luth,  who,  in  pursuit  of  trade  and  game,  had  pene- 
trated thus  far  by  the  route  of  Lake  Superior ;  and  with  these  fellow- 
countrymen  Hennepin  and  his  companions  were  allowed  to  return  to  the 
borders  of  civilized  life  in  November,  1680,  just  after  LaSalle  had 
returned  to  the  wilderness  on  his  second  trip.  Hennepin  soon  after  went 
to  France,  where  he  published  an  account  of  his  adventures. 


28  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

The  Mississippi  was  first  discovered  by  De  Soto  in  April,  1541,  in  his 
vain  endeavor  to  find  gold  and  precious  gems.  In  the  following  Spring, 
De  Soto,  weary  with  hope  long  deferred,  and  worn  out  with  his  wander- 
ings, he  fell  a  victim  to  disease,  and  on  the  21st  of  May  died.  His  followers, 
reduced  by  fatigue  and  disease  to  less  than  three  hundred  men,  wandered 
about  the  country  nearly  a  year,  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  rescue  them- 
selves by  land,  and  finally  constructed  seven  small  vessels,  called  brigan- 
tines,  in  which  they  embarked,  and  descending  the  river,  supposing  it 
would  load  them  to  the  sea,  in  July  they  came  to  the  sea  (Gulf  of 
Mexico),  and  by  September  reached  the  Island  of  Cuba. 

They  were  the  first  to  see  the  great  outlet  of  the  Mississippi ;  but, 
being  so  weary  and  discouraged,  made  no  attempt  to  claim  the  country, 
and  hardly  had  an  intelligent  idea  of  what  they  had  passed  through. 

To  La  Salle,  the  intrepid  explorer,  belongs  the  honor  of  giving  the 
first  account  of  the  mouths  of  the  river.  His  great  desire  was  to  possess 
this  entire  country  for  his  king,  and  in  January,  1682,  he  and  his  band  of 
explorers  left  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  on  their  third  attempt,  crossed 
the  portage,  passed  down  the  Illinois  River,  and  on  the  6th  of  February, 
reached  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

On  the  13th  they  commenced  their  downward  course,  which  they 
pursued  with  but  one  interruption,  until  upon  the  6th  of  March  they  dis- 
covered the  three  great  passages  by  which  the  river  discharges  its  waters 
into  the  gulf.  La  Salle  thus  narrates  the  event : 

"  We  landed  on  the  bank  of  the  most  western  channel,  about  three 
leagues  (nine  miles)  from  its  mouth.  On  the  seventh,  M.  de  LaSalle 
went  to  reconnoiter  the  shores  of  the  neighboring  sea,  and  M.  de  Tonti 
^meanwhile  examined  the  great  middle  channel.  They  found  the  main 
outlets  beautiful,  large  and  deep.  On  the  8th  we  reascended  the  river,  a 
little  above  its  confluence  with  the  sea,  to  find  a  dry  place  beyond  the 
reach  of  inundations.  The  elevation  of  the  North  Pole  was  here  about 
twenty-seven  degrees.  Here  we  prepared  a  column  and  a  cross,  and  to 
the  column  were  affixed  the  arms  of  France  with  this  inscription : 

Louis  Le  Grand,  Roi  De  France  et  de  Navarre,  regne  ;  Le  neuvisme  Avril,  1682. 

The  whole  party,  under  arms,  chanted  the  Te  Deum,  and  then,  after 
a  salute  and  cries  of  "  Vive  le  Roi,"  the  column  was  erected  by  M.  de 
La  Salle,  who,  standing  near  it,  proclaimed  in  a  loud  voice  the  authority  of 
the  King  of  France.  LaSalle  returned  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi settlements  in  Illinois,  thence  he  proceeded  to  France,  where 
another  expedition  was  fitted  out,  of  which  he  was  commander,  and  in  two 
succeeding  voyages  failed  to  find  the  outlet  of  the  river  by  sailing  along 
the  shore  of  the  gulf.  On  his  third  voyage  he  was  killed,  through  the 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


29 


treachery  of  his  followers,  and  the  objedt  of  his  expeditions  was  not 
accomplished  until  1699,  when  D'Iberville,  under  the  authority  of  the 
crown,  discovered,  on  the  second  of  March,  by  way  of  the  sea,  the  mouth 
of  the  "  Hidden  River."  This  majestic  stream  was  called  by  the  natives 
"  Malbouchia"  and  by  the  Spaniards,  "  la  Palissade^  from  the  great 


TRAPPING. 

number  of  trees  about  its  mouth.  After  traversing  the  several  outlets, 
and  satisfying  himself  as  to  its  certainty,  he  erected  a  fort  near  its  western 
outlet,  and  returned  to  France. 

An  avenue  of  trade  was  now  opened  out  which  was  fully  improved. 
In  1718,  New  Orleans  was  laid  out  and  settled  by  some  European  colo- 
nists. In  1762,  the  colony  was  made  over  to  Spain,  to  be  regained  by 
France  under  the  consulate  of  Napoleon.  In  1803,  it  was  purchased  by 


30  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

the  United  States  for  the  sum  of  fifteen  million  dollars,  and  the  territory 
of  Louisiana  and  commerce  of  the  Mississippi  River  came  under  the 
charge  of  the  United  States.  Although  LaSalle's  labors  ended  in  defeat 
and  death,  he  had  not  worked  and  suffered  in  vain.  He  had  thrown 
open  to  France  and  the  world  an  immense  and  most  valuable  country ; 
had  established  several  ports,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  more  than  one 
settlement  there.  "  Peoria,  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  are  to  this  day  monu- 
ments of  LaSalle's  labors ;  for,  though  he  had  founded  neither  of  them 
(unless  Peoria,  which  was  built  nearly  upon  the  site  of  Fort  Crevecoeur,) 
it  was  by  those  whom  he  led  into  the  West  that  these  places  were 
peopled  and  civilized.  He  was,  if  not  the  discoverer,  the  first  settler  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  as  such  deserves  to  be  known  and  honored." 

The  French  early  improved  the  opening  made  for  them.  Before  the 
year  1698,  the  Rev.  Father  Gravier  began  a  mission  among  the  Illinois, 
and  founded  Kaskaskia.  For  some  time  this  was  merely  a  missionary 
station,  where  none  but  natives  resided,  it  being  one  of  three  such  vil- 
lages, tlie  other  two  being  Cahokia  and  Peoria.  What  is  known  of 
these  missions  is  learned  from  a  letter  written  by  Father  Gabriel  Marest, 
dated  "  Aux  Cascaskias,  autrement  dit  de  I'lmmaculate  Conception  de 
la  Sainte  Vierge,  le  9  Novembre,  1712."  Soon  after  the  founding  of 
Kaskaskia,  the  missionary,  Pinet,  gathered  a  flock  at  Cahokia,  while 
Peoria  arose  near  the  ruins  of  Fort  Crevecceur.  This  must  have  been 
about  the  year  1700.  The  post  at  Vincennes  on  the  Oubache  river, 
(pronounced  WS,-bS,  meaning  summer  cloud  moving  swiftly")  was  estab- 
lished in  1702,  according  to  the  best  authorities.*  It  is  altogether  prob- 
able that  on  LaSalle's  last  trip  he  established  the  stations  at  Kaskaskia 
and  Cahokia.  In  July,  1701,  the  foundations  of  Fort  Ponchartrain 
were  laid  by  De  la  Motte  Cadillac  on  the  Detroit  River.  These  sta- 
tions, with  those  established  further  north,  were  the  earliest  attempts  to 
occupy  the  Northwest  Territory.  At  the  same  time  efforts  were  being 
made  to  occupy  the  Southwest,  which  finally  culminated  in  the  settle- 
ment and  founding  of  the  City  of  New  Orleans  by  a  colony  from  England 
in  1718.  This  was  mainly  accomplished  through  the  efforts  of  the 
famous  Mississippi  Company,  established  by  the  notorious  John  Law,, 
who  so  quickly  arose  .into  prominence  in  France,  and  who  with  his 
scheme  so  quickly  and  so  ignominiously  passed  away. 

From  the  time  of  the  founding  of  these  stations  for  fifty  years  the 
French  nation  were  engrossed  with  the  settlement  of  the  lower  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  war  with  the"  Chicasaws,  who  had,  in  revenge  for  repeated 

*  There  Is  considerable  dispute  about  this  date,  some  asserting  it  was  founded  as  late  as  1742.  When 
the  new  court  house  at  Vincennes  was  erected,  all  authorities  on  the  subject  were  carefully  examined,  and 
i/02  fixed  upon  as  the  correct  date.  It  was  accordingly  engraved  on  the  corner-stone  of  the  court  house. 


THE   NORTHWEST    TERRITORY.  31 

injuries,  cut  off  the  entire  colony  at  Natchez.  Although  the  company 
did  little  for  Louisiana,  as  the  entire  West  was  then  called,  yet  it  opened 
the  trade  through  the  Mississippi  River,  and  started  the  raising  of  grains 
indigenous  to  that  climate.  Until  the  year  1750,  but  little  is  known  of 
the  settlements  in  the  Northwest,  as  it  was  not  until  this  time  that  the 
attention  of  the  English  was  called  to  the  occupation  of  this  portion  of  the 
New  World,  which  they  then  supposed  they  owned.  Vivier,  a  missionary 
among  the  Illinois,  writing  from  "  Aux  Illinois,"  six  leagues  from  Fort 
Chartres,  June  8,  1750,  says:  "We  have  here  whites,  negroes  and 
Indians,  to  say  nothing  of  crossbreeds.  There  are  five  French  villages, 
and  three  villages  of  the  natives,  within  a  space  of  twenty-one  leagues 
situated  between  the  Mississippi  and  another  river  called  the  Karkadaid 
(Kaskaskias).  In  the  five  French  villages  are,  perhaps,  eleven  hundred 
whites,  three  hundred  blacks  and  some  sixty  red  slaves  or  savages.  The 
three  Illinois  towns  do  not  contain  more  than  eight  hundred  souls  all 
told.  Most  of  the  French  till  the  soil;  they  raise  wheat,  cattle,  pigs  and 
horses,  and  live  like  princes.  Three  times  as  much  is  produced  as  can 
be  consumed ;  and  great  quantities  of  grain  and  flour  are  sent  to  New 
Orleans."  This  city  was  now  the  seaport  town  of  the  Northwest,  and 
save  in  the  extreme  northern  part,  where  only  furs  and  copper  ore  were 
found,  almost  all  the  products  of  the  country  found  their  way  to  France 
by  the  mouth  of  the  Father  of  Waters.  In  another  letter,  dated  Novem- 
ber 7,  1750,  this  same  priest  says :  "  For  fifteen  leagues  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi  one  sees  no  dwellings,  the  ground  being  too  low 
to  be  habitable.  Thence  to  New  Orleans,  the  lands  are  only  partially 
occupied.  New  Orleans  contains  black,  white  and  red,  not  more,  I 
think,  than  twelve  hundred  persons.  To  this  point  come  all  lumber, 
bricks,  salt-beef,  tallow,  tar,  skins  and  bear's  grease  ;  and  above  all,  pork 
and  flour  from  the  Illinois.  These  things  create  some  commerce,  as  forty 
vessels  and  more  have  come  hither  this  year.  Above  New  Orleans, 
plantations  are  again  met  with ;  the  most  considerable  is  a  colony  of 
Germans,  some  ten  leagues  up  the  river.  At  Point  Coupee,  thirty-five 
leagues  above  the  German  settlement,  is  a  fort.  Along  here,  within  five 
or  six  leagues,  are  not  less  than  sixty  habitations.  Fifty  leagues  farther 
up  is  the  Natchez  post,  where  we  have  a  garrison,  who  are  kept  prisoners 
through  fear  of  the  Chickasaws.  Here  and  at  Point  Coupee,  they  raise 
excellent  tobacco.  Another  hundred  leagues  brings  us  to  the  Arkansas, 
where  we  have  also  a  fort  and  a  garrison  for  the  benefit  of  the  river 
traders.  *  *  .*  From  the  Arkansas  to  the  Illinois,  nearly  five  hundred 
leagues,  there  is  not  a  settlement.  There  should  be,  however,  a  fort  at 
the  Oubache  (Ohio),  the  only  path  by  which  the  English  can  reach  the 
Mississippi.  In  the  Illinois  country  are  numberless  mines,  but  no  one  to 


32 


THE    NORTHWEST    TERRITORY. 


work  them  as  they  deserve."  Father  Marest,  writing  from  the  post  at 
Vincennes  in  181 2,  makes  the  same  observation.  Vivier  also  says  :  "  Some 
individuals  dig  lead  near  the  surface  and  supply  the  Indians  and  Canada. 
Two  Spaniards  now  here,  who  claim  to  be  adepts,  say  that  our  mines  are 
like  those  of  Mexico,  and  that  if  we  would  dig  deeper,  we  should  find 
silver  under  the  lead  ;  and  at  any  rate  the  lead  is  excellent.  There  is  also 
in  this  country,  beyond  doubt,  copper  ore,  as  from  time  to  time  large 
pieces  are  found  in  the  streams." 


HUNTING- 


At  the  close  of  the  year  1750,  the  French  occupied,  in  addition  to  the 
lower  Mississippi  posts  and  those  in  Illinois,  one  at  Du  Quesne,  one  at 
the  Maumee  in  the  country  of  the  Miamis,  and  one  at  Sandusky  in  what 
may  be  termed  the  Ohio  Valley.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  Northwest 
they  had  stations  at  St.  Joseph's  on  the  St.  Joseph's  of  Lake  Michigan, 
at  Fort  Ponchartrain  (Detroit),  at  Michillimackanac  or  Massillimacanac, 
Fox  River  of  Green  Bay,  and  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  The  fondest  dreams  of 
LaSalle  were  now  fully  realized.  The  French  alone  were  possessors  of 
this  vast  realm,  basing  their  claim  on  discovery  and  settlement.  Another 
nation,  however,  was  now  turning  its  attention  to  this  extensive  country, 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


and  hearing  of  its  wealth,  began  to  lay  plans  for  occupying  it  and  for 
securing  the  great  profits  arising  therefrom. 

The  French,  however,  had  another  claim  to  this  country,  namely,  the 


DISCOVERY   OF   THE    OHIO. 

This  "Beautiful"  river  was  discovered  by  Robert  Cavalier  de  La- 
Salle  in  1669,  four  years  before  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  by  Joliet 
and  Marquette. 

While  LaSalle  was  at  his  trading  post  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  he  found 
leisure  to  study  nine  Indian  dialects,  the  chief  of  which  Was  the  Iroquois. 
He  not  only  desired  to  facilitate  his  intercourse  in  trade,  but  he  longed 
to  travel  and  explore  the  unknown  regions  of  the  West.  An  incident 
soon  occurred  which  decided  him  to  fit  out  an  exploring  expedition. 

While  conversing  with  some  Senecas,  he  learned  of  a  river  called  the 
Ohio,  which  rose  in  their  country  and  -flowed  to  the  sea,  but  at  such  a 
distance  that  it  required  eight  months  to  reach  its  mouth.  In  this  state- 
ment the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  were  considered  as  one  stream. 
LaSalle  believing,  as  most  of  the  French  at  that  period  did,  that  the  great 
rivers  flowing  west  emptied  into  the  Sea  of  California,  was  anxious  to 
embark  in  the  enterprise  of  discovering  a  route  across  the  continent  to 
the  commerce  of  China  and  Japan. 

He  repaired  at  once  to  Quebec  to  obtain  the  approval  of  the  Gov- 
ernor. His  eloquent  appeal  prevailed.  The  Governor  and  the  Intendant, 
Talon,  issued  letters  patent  authorizing  the  enterprise,  but  made  no  pro- 
vision to  defray  the  expenses.  At  this  juncture  the  seminary  of  St.  Sul- 
pice  decided  to  send  out  missionaries  in  connection  with  the  expedition, 
and  LaSalle  offering  to  sell  his  improvements  at  LaChine  to  raise  money, 
the  offer  was  accepted  by  the  Superior,  and  two  thousand  eight  hundred 
dollars  were  raised,  with  which  LaSalle  purchased  four  canoes  and  the 
necessary  supplies  for  the  outfit. 

On  the  6th  of  July,  1669,  the  party,  numbering  twenty-four  persons, 
embarked  in  seven  canoes  on  the  St.  Lawrence ;  two  additional  canoes 
carried  the  Indian  guides.  In  three  days  they  were  gliding  over  the 
bosom  of  Lake  Ontario.  Their  guides  conducted  them  directly  to  the 
Seneca  village  on  the  bank  of  the  Genesee,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present 
City  of  Rochester,  New  York.  Here  they  expected  to  procure  guides  to 
conduct  them  to  the  Ohio,  but  in  this  they  were  disappointed. 

The  Indians  seemed  unfriendly  to  the  enterprise.  LaSalle  suspected 
that  the  Jesuits  had  prejudiced  their  minds  against  his  plans.  After 
waiting  a  month  in  the  hope  of  gaining  their  object,  they  met  an  Indian 


34 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY. 


from  the  Iroquois  colony  at  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  who  assured  them 
that  they  could  there  find  guides,  and  offered  to  conduct  them  thence. 

On  their  way  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara  River,  when  they 
heard  for  the  first  time  the  distant  thunder  of  the  cataract.    Arriving 


CHlKtf. 


among  the  Iroquois,  they  met  with  a  friendly  reception,  and  learned 
from  a  Shawanee  prisoner  that  they  could  reach  the  Ohio  in  six  weeks. 
Delighted  with  the  unexpected  good  fortune,  they  made  ready  to  resume 
their  journey  ;  but  just  as  they  were  about  to  start  they  heard  of  the 
arrival  of  two  Frenchmen  in  a  neighboring  village.  One  of  them  proved 
to  be  Louis  Joliet,  afterwards  famous  as  an  explorer  in  the  West.  He 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  35 

had  been  sent  by  the  Canadian  Government  to  explore  the  copper  mines 
on  Lake  Superior,  but  had  failed,  and  was  on  his  way  back  to  Quebec. 
He  gave  the  missionaries  a  map  of  the  country  he  had  explored  in  the 
lake  region,  together  with  an  account  of  the  condition  of  the  Indians  in 
that  quarter.  This  induced  the  priests  to  determine  on  leaving  the 
expedition  and  going  to  Lake  Superior.  LaSalle  warned  them  that  the 
Jesuits  were  probably  occupying  that  field,  and  that  they  would  meet 
with  a  cold  reception.  Nevertheless  they  persisted  in  their  purpose,  and 
after  worship  on  the  lake  shore,  parted  from  LaSalle.  On  arriving  at 
Lake  Superior,  they  found,  as  LaSalle  had  predicted,  the  Jesuit  Fathers, 
Marquette  and  Dablon,  occupying  the  field. 

These  zealotis  disciples  of  Loyola  informed  them  that  they  wanted 
no  assistance  from  St.  Sulpice,  nor  from  those  who  made  him  their  patron 
saint ;  and  thus  repulsed,  they  returned  .to  Montreal  the  following  June 
without  having  made  a  single  discovery  or  converted  a  single  Indian. 

After  parting  with  the  priests,  LaSalle  went  to  the  chief  Iroquois 
village  at  Ononclaga,  where  he  obtained  guides,  and  passing  thence  to  a 
tributary  of  the  Ohio  south  of  Lake  Erie,  he  descended  the  latter  as  far 
as  the  falls  at  Louisville.  Thus  was  the  Ohio  discovered  by  LaSalle,  the 
persevering  and  successful  French  explorer  of  the  West,  in  1669. 

The  account  of  the  latter  part  of  his  journey  is  found  in  an  anony- 
mous paper,  which  purports  to  have  been  taken  from  the  lips  of  LaSalle 
himself  during  a  subsequent  visit  to  Paris.  In  a  letter  written  to  Count 
Frontenac  in  1667,  shortly  after  the  discovery,  he  himself  says  that  he 
discovered  the  Ohio  and  descended  it  to  the  falls.  This  was  regarded  as 
an  indisputable  fact  by  the  French  authorities,  who  claimed  the  Ohio 
Valley  upon  another  ground.  When  Washington  was  sent  by  the  colony 
of  Virginia  in  1758,  to  demand  of  Gordeur  de  St.  Pierre  why  the  French 
had  built  a  fort  on  the  Monongahela,  the  haughty  commandant  at  Quebec 
replied :  "  We  claim  the  country  on  the  Ohio  by  virtue  of  the  discoveries 
of  LaSalle,  and  will  not  give  it  up  to  the  English.  Our  orders  are  to 
make  prisoners  of  every  Englishman  found  trading  in  the  Ohio  Valley." 


ENGLISH  EXPLORATIONS  AND  SETTLEMENTS. 

When  the  new  year  of  1750  broke  in  upon  the  Father  of  Waters 
and  the  Great  Northwest,  all  was  still  wild  save  at  the  French  posts 
already  described.  In  1749,  when  the  English  first  began  to  think  seri- 
ously about  sending  men  into  the  West,  the  greater  portion  of  the  States 
of  Indiana,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota  were  yet 
under  the  dominion  of  the  red  men.  The  English  knew,  however,  pretty 


36  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

conclusively  of  the  nature  of  the  wealth  of  these  wilds.  As  early  as 
1710,  Governor  Spotswood,  of  Virginia,  had  commenced  movements  to 
secure  the  country  west  of  the  Alleghenies  to  the  English  crown.  In 
Pennsylvania,  Governor  Keith  and  James  Logan,  secretary  of  the  prov- 
ince, from  1719  to  1731,  represented  to  the  powers  of  England  the  neces- 
sity of  securing  the  Western  lands.  Nothing  was  done,  however,  by  that 
power  save  to  take  some  diplomatic  steps  to  secure  the  claims  of  Britain 
to  this  unexplored  wilderness. 

England  had  from  the  outset  claimed  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
on  the  ground  that  the  discovery  of  the  seacoast  and  its  possession  was  a 
discovery  and  possession  of  the  country,  and,  as  is  well  known,  her  grants 
to  the  colonies  extended  "  from  sea  to  sea."  This  was  not  all  her  claim. 
She  had  purchased  from  the  Indian  tribes  large  tracts  of  land.  This  lat- 
ter was  also  a  strong  argument.  As  early  as  1684,  Lord  Howard,  Gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  held  a  treaty  with  the  six  nations.  These  were  the 
great  Northern  Confederacy,  and  comprised  at  first  the  Mohawks,  Onei- 
das,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  arid  Senecas.  Afterward  the  Tuscaroras  were 
taken  into  the  confederacy,  and  it  became  known  as  the  Six  NATIONS. 
They  came  under  the  protection  of  the  mother  country,  and  again  in 
1701,  they  repeated  the  agreement,  and  in  September,  1726,  a  formal  deed 
was  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  chiefs.  The  validity  of  this  claim  has 
often  been  disputed,  but  never  successfully.  In  1744,  a  purchase  was 
made  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  of  certain  lands  within  the  "  Colony  of 
Virginia,"  for  which  the  Indians  received  .£200  in  gold  and  a  like  sum  in 
goods,  with  a  promise  that,  as  settlements  increased,  more  should  be  paid. 
The  Commissioners  from  Virginia  were  Colonel  Thomas  Lee  and  Colonel 
William  Beverly.  As  settlements  extended,  the  promise  of  more  pay  was 
called  to  mind,  and  Mr.  Conrad  Weiser  was  sent  across' the  mountains  with 
presents  to  appease  the  savages.  Col.  Lee,  and  some  Virginians  accompa- 
nied him  with  the  intention  of  sounding  the  Indians  upon  their  feelings 
regarding  the  English.  They  were  not  satisfied  with  their  treatment, 
and  plainly  told  the  Commissioners  why.  The  English  did  not  desire  the 
cultivation  of  the  country,  but  the  monopoly  of  the  Indian  trade.  In 
1748,  the  Ohio  Company  was  formed,  and  petitioned  the  king  for  a  grant 
of  land  beyond  the  Alleghenies.  This  was  granted,  and  the  government 
of  Virginia  was  ordered  to  grant  to  them  a  half  million  acres,  two  hun- 
dred thousand  of  which  were  to  be  located  at  once.  Upon  the  12th  of 
June,  1749,  800,000  acres  from  the  line  of  Canada  north  and  west  was 
made  to  the  Loyal  Company,  and  on  the  29th  of  October,  1751,  100,000 
acres  were  given  to  the  Greenbriar  Company.  All  this  time  the  French 
were  not  idle.  They  saw  that,  should  the  British  gain  a  foothold  in  the 
West,  especially  upon  the  Ohio,  they  might  not  only  prevent  the  French 


THE   NORTHWEST    TERRITORY.  37 

settling  upon  it,  but  in  time  would  come  to  the  lower  posts  and  so  gain 
possession  of  the  whole  country.  Upon  -the  10th  of  May,  1774,  Vaud- 
reuil,  Governor  of  Canada  and  the  French  possessions,  well  knowing  the 
consequences  that  must  arise  from  allowing  the  English  to  build  trading 
posts  in  the  Northwest,  seized  some  of  their  frontier  posts,  and  to  further 
secure  the  claim  of  the  French  to  the  West,  he,  in  1749,  sent  Louis  Cel- 
eron with  a  party  of  soldiers  to  plant  along  the  Ohio  River,  in  the  mounds 
and  at  the  mouths  of  its  principal  tributaries,  plates  of  lead,  on  which 
were  inscribed  the  claims  of  France.  These  were  heard  of  in  1752,  and 
within  the  memory  of  residents  now  living  along  the  "  Oyo,"  as  the 
beautiful  river  was  called  by  the  French.  One  of  these  plates  was  found 
with  the  inscription  partly  defaced.  It  bears  date  August  16,  1749,  and 
a  copy  of  the  inscription  with  particular  account  of  the  discovery  of  the 
plate,  was  sent  by  DeWitt  Clinton  to  the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
among  whose  journals  it  may  now  be  found.*  These  measures  did  not, 
however,  deter  the  English  from  going  on  with  their  explorations,  and 
though  neither  party  resorted  to  arms,  yet  the  conflict  was  gathering,  and 
it  was  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  storm  would  burst  upon  the 
frontier  settlements.  Iii  1750,  Christopher  Gist  was  sent  by  the  Ohio 
Company  to  examine  its  lands.  He  went  to  a  village  of  the  Twigtwees, 
on  the  Miami,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  above  its  mouth.  He 
afterward  spoke  of  it  as  very  populous.  From  there  he  went  down 
the  Ohio  River  nearly  to  the  falls  at  the  present  City  of  Louisville, 
and  in  November  he  commenced  a  survey  of  the  Company's  lands.  Dur- 
ing the  Winter,  General  Andrew  Lewis  performed  a  similar  work  for  the 
Greenbriar  Company.  Meanwhile  the  French  were  busy^in  preparing 
their  forts  for  defense,  and  in  opening  roads,  and  also  sent  a  small  party 
of  soldiers  to  keep  the  Ohio  clear.  This  party,  having  heard  of  the  Eng- 
lish post  on  the  Miami  River,  early  in  1652,  assisted  by  the  Ottawas  and 
Chippewas,  attacked  it,  and,  after  a  severe  battle,  in  which  fourteen  of 
the  natives  were  killed  and  others  wounded,  captured  the  garrison. 
(They  were  probably  garrisoned  in  a  block  house).  The  traders  were 
carried  away  to  Canada,  and  one  account  says  several  were  burned.  This 
fort  or  post  was  called  by  the  English  Pickawillany.  A  memorial  of  the 
king's  ministers  refers  to  it  as  "  Pickawillanes,  in  the  center  of  the  terri- 
tory between  the  Ohio  and  the  Wabash.  The  name  is  probably  some 
variation  of  Pickaway  or  Picqua  in  1773,  written  by  Rev.  David  Jones 
Pickaweke." 

•*  The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  inscription  on  the  plate:  "In  the  year  1749.  reign  of  Louis  XV., 
King  of  France,  we,  Celeron,  commandant  of  a  detachment  by  Monsieur  the  Marquis  of  Gallisoniere,  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  New  France,  to  establish  tranqtiility  in  certain  Indian  villages  of  these  cantons,  have 
buried  this  plate  at  the  confluence  of  the  Toradakoin,  this  twenty- ninth  of  July,  near  the  river  Ohio,  otherwise 
Beautiful  River,  as  a  monument  of  renewal  of  possession  which  we  have  taken  of  the  said  river,  and  all  its 
tributaries;  inasmuch  as  the  preceding  Kings  of  France  have  enjoyed  it,  and  maintained  it  by  their  arms  and 
treaties;  especially  by  those  of  Ryswick,  Utrecht,  and  Aix  La  Chapeile." 


88  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY, 

This  was  the  first  blood  shed  between  the  French  and  English,  and 
occurred  near  the  present  City  of  Piqua,  Ohio,  or  at  least  at  a  point  about 
forty-seven  miles  north  of  Dayton.  Each  nation  became  now  more  inter- 
ested in  the  progress  of  events  in  the  Northwest.  The  English  deter- 
mined to  purchase  from  the  Indians  a  title  to  the  lands  they  wished  to 
occupy,  and  Messrs.  Fry  (afterward  Commander-in-chief  over  Washing- 
ton at  the  commencement  of  the  French  War  of  1775-1763),  Lomax  and 
Patton  were  sent  in  the  Spring  of  1752  to  hold  a  conference  with  the 
natives  at  Logstown  to  learn  what  they  objected  to  in  the  treaty  of  Lan- 
caster already  noticed,  and  to  settle  all  difficulties.  On  the  9th  of  June, 
these  Commissioners  met  the  red  men  at  Logstown,  a  little  village  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Ohio,  about  seventeen  miles  below  the  site  of  Pitts- 
burgh. Here  had  been  a  trading  point  for  many  years,  but  it  was  aban- 
doned by  the  Indians  in  1750.  At  first  the  Indians  declined  to  recognize 
the  treaty  of  Lancaster,  but,  the  Commissioners  taking  aside  Montour, 
the  interpreter,  who  was  a  son  of  the  famous  Catharine  Montour,  and  a 
chief  among  the  six  nations,  induced  him  to  use  his  influence  in  their 
favor.  This  he  did,  and  upon  the  13th  of  June  they  all  united  in  signing 
a  deed,  confirming  the  Lancaster  treaty  in  its  full  extent,  consenting  to  a 
settlement  of  the  southeast  of  the  Ohio,  and  guaranteeing  that  it  should 
not  be  disturbed  by  them.  These  were  the  means  used  to  obtain  the  first 
treaty  with  the  Indians  in  the  Ohio  Valley. 

Meanwhile  the  powers  beyond  the  sea  were  trying  to  out-manosuvre 
each  other,  and  were  professing  to  be  at  peace.  The  English  generally 
outwitted  the  Indians,  and  failed  in  many  instances  to  fulfill  their  con- 
tracts. They  thereby  gained  the  ill-will  of  the  red  men,  and  further 
increased  the  feeling  by  failing  to  provide  them  with  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion. Said  an  old  chief,  at  Easton,  in  1758 :  "  The  Indians  on  the  Ohio 
left  you  because  of  your  own  fault.  When  we  heard  the  French  were 
coming,  we  asked  you  for  help  and  arms,  but  we  did  not  get  them.  The 
French  came,  they  treated  us  kindly,  and  gained  our  affections.  The 
Governor  of  Virginia  settled  on  our  lands  for  his  own  benefit,  and,  when 
we  wanted  help,  forsook  us." 

At  the  beginning  of  1653,  the  English  thought  they  had  secured  by 
title  the  lands  in  the  West,  but  the  French  had  quietly  gathered  cannon 
and  military  stores  to  be  in  readiness  for  the  expected  blow.  The  Eng- 
lish made  other  attempts  to  ratify  these  existing  treaties,  but  not  until 
the  Summer  could  the  Indians  be  gathered  together  to  discuss  the  plans 
of  the  French.  They  had  sent  messages  to  the  French,  warning  them 
away ;  but  they  replied  that  they  intended  to  complete  the  chain  of  forts 
already  begun,  and  would  not  abandon  the  field. 

Soon  after  this,  no  satisfaction  being  obtained  from  the  Ohio  regard- 


THE    NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  39 

ing  the  positions  and  purposes  of  the  French,  Governor  Dinwiddie  of 
Virginia  determined  to  send  to  them  another  messenger  and  learn  from 
them,  if  possible,  their  intentions.  For  this  purpose  he  selected  a  young 
man,  a  surveyor,  who,  at  the  early  age  of  nineteen,  had  received  the  rank 
of  major,  and  who  was 'thoroughly  posted  regarding  frontier  life.  This 
personage  was  no  other  than  the  illustrious  George  Washington,  who  then 
held  considerable  interest  in  Western  lands.  He  was  at  this  time  just 
twenty-two  years  of  age.  Taking  Gist  as  his  guide,  the  two,  accompanied 
by  four  servitors,  set  out  on  their  perilous  march.  They  left  Will's 
Creek  on  the  10th  of  November,  1753,  and  on  the  22d  reached  the  Monon- 
gahela,  about  ten  miles  above  the  fork.  From  there  they  went  to 
Logstown,  where  Washington  had  a  long  conference  with  the  chiefs  of 
the  Six  Nations.  From  them  he  learned  the  condition  of  th.e  French,  and 
also  heard  of  their  determination  not  to  come  down  the  river  till  the  fol- 
lowing Spring.  The  Indians  were  non-committal,  as  they  were  afraid  to 
turn  either  way,  and,  as  far  as  they  could,  desired  to  remain  neutral. 
Washington,  finding  nothing  could  be  done  with  them,  went  on  to 
Venango,  an  old  Indian  town  at  the  mouth  of  French  Creek.  Here  the 
French  had  a  fort,  called  Fort  Machault.  Through  the  rum  and  flattery 
of  the  French,  he  nearly  lost  all  his  Indian  followers.  Finding  nothing 
of  importance  here,  he  pursued  his  way  amid  great  privations,  and  on  the 
llth  of  December  reached  the  fort  at  the  head  of  French  Creek.  Here 
he  delivered  Governor  Dinwiddie's  letter,  received  his  answer,  took  his 
observations,  and  on  the  16th  set  out  upon  his  return  journey  with  no  one 
but  Gist,  his  guide,  and  a  few  Indians  who  still  remained  true  to  him, 
notwithstanding  the  endeavors  of  the  French  to  retain  them.  Their 
homeward  journey  was  one  of  great  peril  and  suffering  from  the  cold,  yet 
they  reached  home  in  safety  on  the  6th  of  January,  1754. 

From  the  letter  of  St.  Pierre,  commander  of  the  French  fort,  sent  by 
Washington  to  Governor  Dinwiddie,  it  was  learned  that  the  French  would 
not  give  up  without  a  struggle.  Active  preparations  were  at  once  made 
in  all  the  English  colonies  for  the  coming  conflict,  while  the  French 
finished  the  fort  at  Venango  and  strengthened  their  lines  of  fortifications, 
and  gathered  their  forces  to  be  in  readiness. 

The  Old  Dominion  was  all  alive.  Virginia  was  the  center  of  great 
activities ;  volunteers  were  called  for,  and  from  all  the  neighboring 
colonies  men  rallied  to  the  conflict,  and  everywhere  along  the  Potomac 
men  were  enlisting  under  the  Governor's  proclamation — which  promised 
two  hundred  thousand  acres  on  the  Ohio.  Along  this  river  they  were 
gathering  as  far  as  Will's  Creek,  and  far  beyond  this  point,  whither  Trent 
had  come  for  assistance  for  his  little  band  of  forty-one  men,  who  were 


40  THE    NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

working  away  in  hunger  and  want,  to  fortify  that  point  at  the  fork  of 
the  Ohio,  to  which  both  parties  were  looking  with  deep  interest. 

"  The  first  birds  of  Spring  filled  the  air  with  their  song  ;  the  swift 
river  rolled  by  the  Allegheny  hillsides,  swollen  by  the  melting  snows  of 
Spring  and  the  April  showers.  The  leaves  were  appearing  ;  a  few  Indian 
scouts  were  seen,  but  no  enemy  seemed  near  at  hand ;  and  all  was  so  quiet, 
that  Frazier,  an  old  Indian  scout  and  trader,  who  had  been  left  by  Trent 
in  command,  ventured  to  his  home  at  the  mouth  of  Turtle  Creek,  ten 
miles  up  the  Monongahela.  But,  though  all  was  so  quiet  in  that  wilder- 
ness, keen  eyes  had  seen  the  low  intrenchment  rising  at  the  fork,  and 
swift  feet  had  borne  the  news  of  it  up  the  river ;  and  upon  the  morning 
of  the  17th  of  April,  Ensign  Ward,  who  then  had  charge  of  it,  saw 
upon  the  Allegheny  a  sight  that  made  his  heart  sink — sixty  batteaux  and 
three  hundred  canoes  filled  with  men,  and  laden  deep  with  cannon  and 
stores.  *  *  *  That  evening  he  supped  with  his  captor,  Contrecoeur, 
and  the  next  day  he  was  bowed  off  by  the  Frenchman,  and  with  his  men 
and  tools,  marched  up  the  Monongahela." 

The  French  and  Indian  war  had  begun.  The  treaty  of  Aix  la 
Chapelle,  in  1748,  had  left  the  boundaries  between  the  French  and 
English  possessions  unsettled,  and  the  events  already  narrated  show  the 
French  were  determined  to  hold  the  country  watered  by  the  Mississippi 
and  its  tributaries ;  while  the  English  laid  claims  to  the  country  by  virtue 
of  the  discoveries  of  the  Cabots,  and  claimed  all  the  country  from  New- 
foundland to  Florida,  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The 
first  decisive  blow  had  now  been  struck,  and  the  first  attempt  of  the 
English,  through  the  Ohio  Company,  to  occupy  these  lands,  had  resulted 
disastrously  to  them.  The  French  and  Indians  immediately  completed 
the  fortifications  begun  at  the  Fork,  which  they  had  so  easily  captured, 
and  when  completed  gave  to  the  fort  the  name  of  DuQuesne.  Washing- 
ton was  at  Will's  Creek  when  the  news  of  the  capture  of  the  fort  arrived. 
He  at  once  departed  to  recapture  it.  On  his  way  he  entrenched  him- 
self at  a  place  called  the  "  Meadows,"  where  he  erected  a  fort  called 
by  him  Fort  Necessity.  From  there  he  surprised  and  captured  a  force  of 
French  and  Indians  marching  against  him,  but  was  soon  after  attacked 
in  his  fort  by  a  much  superior  force,  and  was  obliged  to  yield  on  the 
morning  of  July  4th.  He  was  allowed  to  return  to  Virginia. 

The  English  Government  immediately  planned  four  campaigns ;  one 
against  Fort  DuQuesne  ;  one  against  Nova  Scotia ;  one  against  Fort 
Niagara,  and  one  against  Crown  Point.  These  occurred  during  1755--6, 
and  were  not  successful  in  driving  the  French  from  their  possessions. 
The  expedition  against  Fort  DuQuesne  was  led  by  the  famous  General 
Braddock,  who,  refusing  to  listen  to  the  advice  of  Washington  and  those 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  41 

acquainted  with  Indian  warfare,  suffered  such  an  inglorious  defeat.  This 
occurred  on  the  morning  of  July  9th,  and  is  generally  known  as  the  battle 
of  Monongahela,  or  "  Braddock's  Defeat."  The  war  continued  with 
various  vicissitudes  through  the  years  1756-7 ;  when,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  1758,  in  accordance  with  the  plans  of  William  Pitt,  then  Secre- 
tary of  State,  afterwards  Lord  Chatham,  active  preparations  were  made  to 
carry  on  the  war.  Three  expeditions  were  planned  for  this  year :  one, 
under  General  Amherst,  against  Louisburg  ;  another,  under  Abercrombie, 
against  Fort  Ticonderoga  ;  and  a  third,  under  General  Forbes,  against 
Fort  DuQuesne.  On  the  26th  of  July,  Louisburg  surrendered  after  a 
desperate  resistance  of  more  than  forty  days,  and  the  eastern  part  of  the 
Canadian  possessions  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British.  Abercrombie 
captured  Fort  Frontenac,  and  when  the  expedition  against  Fort  DuQuesne, 
of  which  Washington  had  the  active  command,  arrived  there,  it  was 
found  in  flames  and  deserted.  The  English  at  once  took  possession, 
rebuilt  the  fort,  and  in  honor  of  their  illustrious  statesman,  changed  the 
name  to  Fort  Pitt. 

The  great  object  of  the  campaign  of  1759,  was  the  reduction  of 
Canada.  General  Wolfe  was  to  lay  siege  to  Quebec ;  Amherst  was  to 
reduce  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  and  General  Prideaux  was  to 
capture  Niagara.  This  latter  place  was  taken  in  July,  but  the  gallant 
Prideaux  lost  his  life  in  the  attempt.  Amherst  captured  Ticonderoga 
and  Crown  Point  without  a  blow  ;  and  Wolfe,  after  making  the  memor- 
able ascent  to  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  on  September  13th,  defeated 
Montcalrn,  and  on  the  18th,  the  city  capitulated.  In  this  engagement 
Montcolm  and  Wolfe  both  lost  their  lives.  De  Levi,  Montcalm's  successor, 
inarched  to  Sillery,  three  miles  above  the  city,  with  the  purpose  of 
defeating  the  English,  and  there,  on  the  28th  of  the  following  April,  was 
fought  one  of  the  bloodiest  battles  of  the  French  and  Indian  War.  It 
resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  French,  and  the  fall  of  the  City  of  Montreal. 
The  Governor  signed  a  capitulation  by  which  the  whole  of  Canada  was 
surrendered  to  the  English.  This  practically  concluded  the  war,  but  it 
was  not  until  1763  that  the  treaties  of  peace  between  France  and  England 
were  signed.  This  was  done  on  the  10th  of  February  of  that  year,  and 
under  its  provisions  all  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of 
the  Iberville  River,  in  Louisiana,  were  ceded  to  England.  At  the  same 
time  Spain  ceded  Florida  to  Great  Britain. 

On  the  13th  of  September,  1760,  Major  Robert  Rogers  was  sent 
from  Montreal  to  take  charge  of  Detroit,  the  only  remaining  French  post 
in  the  territory.  He  arrived  there  on  the  19th  of  November,  and  sum- 
moned the  place  to  surrender.  At  first  the  commander  of  the  post, 
Beletre  refused,  but  on  the  29th,  hearing  of  the  continued  defeat  of  the 


42  THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

French  arms,  surrendered.  Rogers  remained  there  until  December  23d 
under  the  personal  protection  of  the  celebrated  chief,  Pontiac,  to  whom, 
no  doubt,  he  owed  his  safety.  Pontiac  had  come  here  to  inquire  the 
purposes  of  the  English  in  taking  possession  of  the  country.  He  was 
assured  that  they  came  simply  to  trade  with  the  natives,  and  did  not 
desire  their  country.  This  answer  conciliated  the  savages,  and  did  much 
to  insure  the  safety  of  Rogers  and  his  party  during  their  stay,  and  while 
on  their  journey  home. 

Rogers  set  out  for  Fort  Pitt  on  'December  23,  and  was  just  one 
month  on  the  way.  His  route  was  from  Detroit  to  Maumee,  thence 
across  the  present  State  of  Ohio  directly  to  the  fort.  This  was  the  com- 
mon trail  of  the  Indians  in  their  journeys  from  Sandusky  to  the  fork  of 
the  Ohio.  It  went  from  Fort  Sandusky,  where  Sandusky  City  now  is, 
crossed  the  Huron  river,  then  called  Bald  Eagle  Creek,  to  ."  Mohickon 
John's  Town"  on  Mohickon  Creek,  the  northern  branch  of  White 
Woman's  River,  and  thence  crossed  to  Beaver's  Town,  a  Delaware  town 
on  what  is  now  Sandy  Creek.  At  Beaver's  Town  were  probably  one 
hundred  and  fifty  warriors,  and  not  less  than  three  thousand  acres  of 
cleared  land.  From  there  the  track  went  up  Sandy  Creek  to  and  across 
Big  Beaver,  and  up  the  Ohio  to  Logstown,  thence  on  to  the  fork. 

The  Northwest  Territory  was  now  entirely  under  the  English  rule. 
New  settlements  began  to  be  rapidly  made,  and  the  promise  of  a  large 
trade  was  speedily  manifested.  Had  the  British  carried  out  their  promises 
with  the  natives  none  of  those  savage  butcheries  would  have  been  perpe- 
trated, and  the  country  would  have  been  spared  their  recital. 

The  renowned  chief,  Pontiac,  was  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  these 
atrocities.  We  will  now  pause  in  our  narrative,  and  notice  the  leading 
events  in  his  life.  The  earliest  authentic  information  regarding  this 
noted  Indian  chief  is  learned  from  an  account  of  an  Indian  trader  named 
Alexander  Henry,  who,  in  the  Spring  of  1761,  penetrated  his  domains  as 
far  as  Missillimacnac.  Pontiac  was  then  a  great  friend  of  the  French, 
but  a  bitter  foe  of  the  English,  whom  he  considered  as  encroaching  on  his 
hunting  grounds.  Henry  was  obliged  to  disguise  himself  as  a  Canadian 
to  insure  safety,  but  was  discovered  by  Pontiac,  who  bitterly  reproached 
him  and  the  English  for  their  attempted  subjugation  of  the  West.  He 
declared  that  no  treaty  had  been  made  with  them ;  no  presents  sent 
them,  and  that  he  would  resent  any  possession  of  the  West  by  that  nation. 
He  was  at  the  time  about  fifty  years  of  age,  tall  and  dignified,  and  was 
civil  and  military  ruler  of  the  Ottawas,  Ojibwas  and  Pottawatamies. 

The  Indians,  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  borders  of  North  Carolina, 
were  united  in  this  feeling,  and  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  Paris,  ratified 
February  10,  1763,  a  general  conspiracy  was  formed  to  fall  suddenly 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


PONTIAC,  THE  OTTAWA  CHIEFTAIN. 


44  THE   NORTHWEST  TERRITORY. 

upon  the  frontier  British  posts,  and  with  one  blow  strike  every  man  dead. 
Pontiac  was  the  marked  leader  in  all  this,  and  was  the  commander 
of  the  Chippewas,  Ottawas,  Wyandots,  Miamis,  Shawanese,  Delawares 
and  Mingoes,  who  had,  for  the  time,  laid  aside  their  local  quarrels  to  unite 
in  this  enterprise. 

The  blow  came,  as  near  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  on  May  7,  1768. 
Nine  British  posts  fell,  and  the  Indians  drank,  "  scooped  up  in  the  hollow 
of  joined  hands,"  the  blood  of  many  a  Briton. 

Pontiac's  immediate  field  of  action  was  the  garrison  at  Detroit. 
Here,  however,  the  plans  were  frustrated  by  an  Indian  woman  disclosing 
the  plot  the  evening  previous  to  his  arrival.  Everything  was  carried  out, 
however,  according  to  Pontiac's  plans  until  the  moment  of  action,  when 
Major  Gladwyn,  the  commander  of  the  post,  stepping  to  one  of  the  Indian 
chiefs,  suddenly  drew  aside  his  blanket  and  disclosed  the  concealed 
musket.  Pontiac,  though  a  brave  man,  turned  pale  and  trembled.  He 
saw  his  plan  was  known,  and  that  the  garrison  were  prepared.  He 
endeavored  to  exculpate  himself  from  any  such  intentions ;  but  the  guilt 
was  evident,  and  he  and  his  followers  were  dismissed  with  a  severe 
reprimand,  and  warned  never  to  again  enter  the  walls  of  the  post. 

Pontiac  at  once  laid  siege  to  the  fort,  and  until  the  treaty  of  peace 
between  the  British  and  the  Western  Indians,  concluded  in  August,  1764, 
continued  to  harass  and  besiege  the  fortress.  He  organized  a  regular 
commissariat  department,  issued  bills  of  credit  written  out  on  bark, 
which,  to  his  credit,  it  may  be  stated,  were  punctually  redeemed.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  treaty,  in  which  it  seems  he  took  no  part,  he  went 
further  south,  living  many  years  among  the  Illinois. 

He  had  given  up  all  hope  of  saving  his  country  and  race.  After  a 
time  he  endeavored  to  unite  the  Illinois  tribe  and  those  about  St.  Louis 
in  a  war  with  the  whites.  His  efforts  were  fruitless,  and  only  ended  in  a 
quarrel  between  himself  and  some  Kaskaskia  Indians,  one  of  whom  soon 
afterwards  killed  him.  His  death  was,  however,  avenged  by  the  northern 
Indians,  who  nearly  exterminated  the  Illinois  in  the  wars  which  followed. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  treachery  of  a  few  of  his  followers,  his  plan 
for  the  extermination  of  the  whites,  a  masterly  one,  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  carried  out. 

It  was  in  the  Spring  of  the  year  following  Rogers'  visit  that  Alex- 
ander Henry  went  to  Missillimacnac,  and  everywhere  found  the  strongest 
feelings  against  the  English,  who  had  not  carried  out  their  promises,  and 
were  doing  nothing  to  conciliate  the  natives.  Here  he  met  the  chief, 
Pontiac,  who,  after  conveying  to  him  in  a  speech  the  idea  that  their 
French  father  would  awake  soon  and  utterly  destroy  his  enemies,  said : 
*'  Englishman,  although  you  have  conquered  the  French,  you  have  not 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  45 

yet  conquered  us  !  We  are  not  your  slaves!  These  lakes,  these  woods, 
these  mountains,  were  left  us  by  our  ancestors.  They  are  our  inheritance, 
and  we  will  part  with  them  to  none.  Your  nation  supposes  that  we,  like 
the  white  people,  can  not  live  without  bread  and  pork  and  beef.  But  you 
ought  to  know  that  He,  the  Great  Spirit  and  Master  of  Life,  has  provided 
food  for  us  upon  these  broad  lakes  and  in  these  mountains." 

He  then  spoke  of  the  fact  that  no  treaty  had  been  made  with  them, 
no  presents  sent  them,  and  that  he  and  his  people  were  yet  for  war. 
Such  were  the  feelings  of  the  Northwestern  Indians  immediately  after 
the  English  took  possession  of  their  country.  These  feelings  were  no 
doubt  encouraged  by  the  Canadians  and  French,  who  hoped  that  yet  the 
French  arms  might  prevail.  The  treaty  of  Paris,  however,  gave  to  the 
English  the  right  to  this  vast  domain,  and  active  preparations  were  going 
on  to  occupy  it  and  enjoy  its  trade  and  emoluments. 

In  1762,  France,  by  a  secret  treaty,  ceded  Louisiana  to  Spain,  to  pre- 
vent it  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  who  were  becoming  masters 
of  the  entire  West.  The  next  year  the  treaty  of  Paris,  signed  at  Fon- 
tainbleau,  gave  to  the  English  the  domain  of  the  country  in  question. 
Twenty  years  after,  by  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United  States 
and  England,  that  part  of  Canada  lying  south  and  west  of  the  Great 
Lakes,  comprehending  a  large  territory  which  is  the  subject  of  these 
sketches,  was  acknowledged  to  be  a  portion  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
twenty  years  still  later,  in  1803,  Louisiana  was  ceded  by  Spain  back,  to 
France,  and  by  France  sold  to  the  United  States. 

In  the  half  century,  from  the  building  of  the  Fort  of  Crevecceur  by 
LaSalle,  in  1680,  up  to  the  erection  of  Fort  Chartres,  many  French  set- 
tlements had  been  made  in  that  quarter.  These  have  already  been 
noticed,  being  those  at  St.  Vincent  (Vincennes),  Kohokia  or  Cahokia, 
Kaskaskia  and  Prairie  du  Rocher,  on  the  American  Bottom,  a  large  tract 
of  rich  alluvial  soil  in  Illinois,  on  the  Mississippi,  opposite  the  site  of  St. 
Louis. 

By  the  treaty  of  Paris,  the  regions  east  of  the  Mississippi,  including 
all  these  and  other  towns  of  the  Northwest,  were  given  over  to  England; 
but  they  do  not  appear  to  have  btan  taken  possession  of  until  1765,  when 
Captain  Stirling,  in  the  name  of  the  Majesty  of  England,  established  him- 
self at  Fort  Chartres  bearing  with  him  the  proclamation  of  General  Gage, 
dated  December  30,  1764,  which  promised  religious  freedom  to  all  Cath- 
olics who  worshiped  here,  and  a  right  to  leave  the  country  with  their 
effects  if  they  wished,  or  to  remain  with  the  privileges  of  Englishmen. 
It  was  shortly  after  the  occupancy  of  the  West  by  the  British  that  the 
war  with  Pontiac  opened.  It  is  already  noticed  in  the  sketch  of  that 
chieftain  By  it  many  a  Briton  lost  his  life,  and  many  a  frontier  settle- 


46  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

ment  in  its  infancy  ceased  to  exist.  This  was  not  ended  until  the  year 
1764,  when,  failing  to  capture  Detroit,  Niagara  and  Fort  Pitt,  his  confed- 
eracy became  disheartened,  and,  receiving  no  aid  from  the  French,  Pon- 
tiac  abandoned  the  enterprise  and  departed  to  the  Illinois,  among  whom 
he  afterward  lost  his  life. 

As  soon  as  these  difficulties  were  definitely  settled,  settlers  began 
rapidly  to  survey  the  country  and  prepare  for  occupation.  During  the 
year  1770,  a  number  of  persons  from  Virginia  and  other  British  provinces 
explored  and  marked  out  nearly  all  the  valuable  lands  on  the  Mononga- 
hela  and  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  as  far  as  the  Little  Kanawha.  This 
was  followed  by  another  exploring  expedition,  in  which  George  Washing- 
ton was  a  party.  The  latter,  accompanied  by  Dr.  Craik,  Capt.  Crawford 
and  others,  on  the  20th  of  October,  1770,  descended  the  Ohio  from  Pitts- 
burgh to  the  mouth  of  the  Kanawha ;  ascended  that  stream  about  fourteen 
miles,  marked  out  several  large  tracts  of  land,  shot  several  buffalo,  which 
were  then  abundant  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  and  returned  to  the  fort. 

Pittsburgh  was  at  this  time  a  trading  post,  about  which  was  clus- 
tered a  village  of  some  twenty  houses,  inhabited  by  Indian  traders.  This 
same  year,  Capt.  Pittman  visited  Kaskaskia  and  its  neighboring  villages. 
He  found  there  about  sixty-five  resident  families,  and  at  Cahokia  only 
forty-five  dwellings.  At  Fort  Chartres  was  another  small  settlement,  and 
at  Detroit  the  garrison  were  quite  prosperous  and  strong.  For  a  year 
or  two  settlers  continued  to  locate  near  some  of  these  posts,  generally 
Fort  Pitt  or  Detroit,  owing  to  the  fears  of  the  Indians,  who  still  main- 
tained some  feelings  of  hatred  to  the  English.  The  trade  from  the  posts 
was  quite  good,  and  from  those  in  Illinois  large  quantities  of  pork  and 
flour  found  their  way  to  the  New  Orleans  market.  At  this  time  the 
policy  of  the  British  Government  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  extension 
of  the  colonies  west.  In  1763,  the  King  of  England  forbade,  by  royal 
proclamation,  his  colonial  subjects  from  making  a  settlement  beyond  the 
sources  of  the  rivers  which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  At  the  instance 
of  the  Board  of  Trade,  measures  were  taken  to  prevent  the  settlement 
without  the  limits  prescribed,  and  to  retain  the  commerce  within  easy 
reach  of  Great  Britain. 

The  commander-in-chief  of  the  king's  forces  wrote  in  1769  :  "  In  the 
course  of  a  few  years  necessity  will  compel  the  colonists,  should  they 
extend  their  settlements  west,  to  provide  manufactures  of  some  kind  for 
themselves,  and  when  all  connection  upheld  by  commerce  with  the  mother 
country  ceases,  an  independency  in  their  government  will  soon  follow.'^ 

In  accordance  with  this  policy,  Gov.  Gage  issued  a  proclamation 
in  1772,  commanding  the  inhabitants  of  Vincennes  to  abandon  their  set- 
tlements and  join  some  of  the  Eastern  English  colonies.  To  this  they 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  47 

strenuously  objected,  giving  good  reasons  therefor,  and  were  allowed  to 
remain.  The  strong  opposition  to  this  policy  of  Great  Britain  led  to  its 
change,  and  to  such  a  course  as  to  gain  the  attachment  of  the  French 
population.  In  December,  1773,  influential  citizens  of  Quebec  petitioned 
the  king  for  an  extension  of  the  boundary  lines  of  that  province,  which 
was  granted,  and  Parliament  passed  an  act  on  June  2,  1774,  extend- 
ing the  boundary  so  as  to  include  the  territory  lying  within  the  present 
States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Michigan. 

In  consequence  of  the  liberal  policy  pursued  by  the  British  Govern- 
ment toward  the  French  settlers  in  the  West,  they  were  disposed  to  favor 
that  nation  in  the  war  which  soon  followed  with  the  colonies  ;  but  the 
early  alliance  between  France  and  America  soon  brought  them  to  the  side 
of  the  war  for  independence. 

In  1774,  Gov.  Dunmore,  of  Virginia,  began  to  encourage  emigration 
to  the  Western  lands.  He  appointed  magistrates  at  Fort  Pitt  under  the 
pretense  that  the  fort  was  under  the  government  of  that  commonwealth. 
One  of  these  justices,  John  Connelly,  who  possessed  a  tract  of  land  in  the 
Ohio  Valley,  gathered  a  force  of  men  and  garrisoned  the  fort,  calling  it 
Fort  Dunmore.  This  and  other  parties  were  formed  to  select  sites  for 
settlements,  and  often  came  in  conflict  with  the  Indians,  who  yet  claimed 
portions  of  the  valley,  and  several  battles  followed.  These  ended  in  the 
famous  battle  of  Kanawha  in  July,  where  the  Indians  were  defeated  and 
driven  across  the  Ohio. 

During  the  years  1775  and  1776,  by  the  operations  of  land  companies 
and  the  perseverance  of  individuals,  several  settlements  were  firmly  estab- 
lished between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Ohio  River,  and  western  land 
speculators  were  busy  in  Illinois  and  on  the  Wabash.  At  a  council  held 
in  Kaskaskia  on  July  5,  1773,  an  association  of  English  traders,  calling 
themselves  the  "  Illinois  Land  Company,"  obtained  from  ten  chiefs  of  the 
Kaskaskia,  Cahokia  and  Peoria  tribes  two  large  tracts  of  land  lying  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi  River  south  of  the  IHinois.  In  1775,  a  mer- 
chant from  the  Illinois  Country,  named  Viviat,  came  to  Post  Vincennes 
as  the  agent  of  the  association  called  the  "  Wabash  Land  Company."  On 
the  8th  of  October  he  obtained  from  eleven  Piankeshaw  chiefs,  a  deed  for 
37,497,600  acres  of  land.  This  deed  was  signed  by  the  grantors,  attested 
by  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Vincennes,  and  afterward  recorded  in 
the  office  of  a  notary  public  at  Kaskaskia.  This  and  other  land  com- 
panies had  extensive  schemes  for  the  colonization  of  the  West ;  but  all 
were  frustrated  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.  On  the  20th  of 
April,  17SO,  the  two  companies  named  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the 
"  United  Illinois  and  Wabash  Land  Company."  They  afterward  made 


48  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

strenuous  efforts  to  have  these  grants  sanctioned  by  Congress,  but  all 
signally  failed. 

When  the  War  of  the  Revolution  commenced,  Kentucky  was  an  unor- 
ganized country,  though  there  were  several  settlements  within  her  borders. 

In  Hutchins'  Topography  of  Virginia,  it  is  stated  that  at  that  time 
"  Kaskaskia  contained  80  houses,  and  nearly  1,000  white  and  black  in- 
habitants —  the  whites  being  a  little  the  more  numerous.  Caliokia  con- 
tains 50  houses  and  300  white  inhabitants,  and  80  negroes.  There  were 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  about  the  year  1771  "—when  these  observa- 
tions were  made  — "  300  white  men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  230 

negroes." 

From  1775  until  the  expedition  of  Clark,  nothing  is  recorded  and 
nothing  known  of  these  settlements,  save  what  is  contained  in  a  report 
made  by  a  committee  to  Congress  in  June,  1778.  From  it  the  following 

extract  is  made : 

"  Near  the  mouth  of  the  River  Kaskaskia,  there  is  a  village  which 
appears  to  have  contained  nearly  eighty  families  from  the  beginning  of 
the  late  revolution.  There  are  twelve  families  in  a  small  village  at  la 
Prairie  du  Rochers,  and  near  fifty  families  at  the  Kahokia  Village.  There 
are  also  four  or  five  families  at  Fort  Chartres  and  St.  Philips,  which  is  five 
miles  further  up  the  river." 

St.  Louis  had  been  settled  in  February,  1764,  and  at  this  time  con- 
tained, including  its  neighboring  towns,  over  six  hundred  whites  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  negroes.  It  must  be  remembered  that  all  the  country 
west  of  the  Mississippi  was  now  under  French  rule,  and  remained  so  until 
ceded  again  to  Spain,  its  original  owner,  who  afterwards  sold  it  and  the 
country  including  New  Orleans,  to  the  United  States.  At  Detroit  there 
were,  according  to  Capt.  Carver,  who  was  in  the  Northwest  from  1766  to 
1768,  more  than -one  hundred  houses,  and  the  river  was  settled  for  more 
than  twenty  miles,  although  poorly  cultivated— the  people  being  engaged 
in  the  Indian  trade.  This  old  town  has  a  history,  which  we  will  here 

relate. 

It  is  the  oldest  town  in  the  Northwest,  having  been  founded  by 
Antoiue  de  Lamotte  Cadillac,  in  1701.  It  was  laid  out  in  the  form  of  an 
oblong  square,  of  two  acres  in  length,  and  an  acre  and  a  half  in  width. 
As  described  by  A.  D.  Frazer,  who  first  visited  it  and  became  a  permanent 
resident  of  the  place,  in  1778,  it  comprised  within  its  limits  that  space 
between  Mr.  Palmer's  store  (Conant  Block)  and  Capt.  Perkins'  house 
(near  the  Arsenal  building),  and  extended  back  as  far  as  the  public  barn, 
and  was  bordered  in  front  by  the  Detroit  River.  It  was  surrounded  by 
oak  and  cedar  pickets,  about  fifteen  feet  long,  set  in  the  ground,  and  had 
four  gates  — east,  west,  north  and  south.  Over  the  first  three  of  these 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  49 

gates  were  block  houses  provided  with  four  guns  apiece,  each  a  six- 
pounder.  Two  six-gun  batteries  were  planted  fronting  the  river  and  in  a 
parallel  direction  with  the  block  houses.  There  were  four  streets  running 
east  and  west,  the  main  street  being  twenty  feet  wide  and  the  rest  fifteen 
feet,  while  the  four  streets  crossing  these  at  right  angles  were  from  ten 
to  fifteen  feet  in  width. 

At  the  date  spoken  of  by  Mr.  Frazer,  there  was  no  fort  within  the 
enclosure,  but  a  citadel  on  the  ground  corresponding  to  the  present 
northwest  corner  of  Jefferson  Avenue  and  Wayne  Street.  The  citadel  was 
inclosed  by  pickets,  and  within  it  were  erected  barracks  of  wood,  two 
stories  high,  sufficient  to  contain  ten  officers,  and  also  barracks  sufficient 
to  contain  four  hundred  men,  and  a  provision  store  built  of  brick.  The 
citadel  also  contained  a  hospital  and  guard-house.  The  old  town  of 
Detroit,  in  1778,  contained  about  sixty  houses,  most  of  them  one  story, 
with  a  few  a  story  and  a  half  in  height.  They  were  all  of  logs,  some 
hewn  and  some  round.  There  was  one  building  of  splendid  appearance, 
called  the  "  King's  Palace,"  two  stories  high,  which  stood  near  the  east 
gate.  It  was  built  for  Governor  Hamilton,  the  first  governor  commissioned 
by  the  British.  There  were  two  guard-houses,  one  near  the  west  gate  and 
the  other  near  the  Government  House.  Each  of  the  guards  consisted  of 
twenty -four  men  and  a  subaltern,  who  mounted  regularly  every  morning 
between  nine  and  ten  o'clock,  Each  furnished  four  sentinels,  who  weie 
relieved  every  two  hours.  There  was  also  an  officer  of  the  day,  who  pjr- 
formed  strict  duty.  Each  of  the  gates  was  shut  regularly  at  sunset ; 
even  wicket  gates  were  shut  at  nine  o'clock,  and  all  the  keys  were 
delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  commanding  officer.  They  were  opened 
in  the  morning  at  sunrise.  No  Indian  or  squaw  was  permitted  to  enter 
town  with  any  weapon,  such  as  a  tomahawk  or  a  knife.  It  was  a  stand- 
ing order  that  the  Indians  should  deliver  their  arms  and  instruments  of 
every  kind  before  they  were  permitted  to  pass  the  sentinel,  and  they  were 
restored  to  them  on  their  return.  No  more  than  twenty-five  Indians  were 
allowed  to  enter  the  town  at  any  one  time,  and  they  were  admitted  only 
at  the  east  and  west  gates.  At  sundown  the  drums  beat,  and  all  the 
Indians  were  required  to  leave  town  instantly.  There  was  a  council  house 
near  the  water  side  for  the  purpose  of  holding  council  with  the  Indians. 
The  population  of  the  town  was  about  sixty  families,  in  all  about  two 
hundred  males  and  one  hundred  females.  This  town  was  destroyed  by 
fire,  all  except  one  dwelling,  in  1805.  After  which  the  present  "  new  " 
town  was  laid  out. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  the  British  held  every  post  of 
importance  in  the  West.  Kentucky  was  formed  as  a  component  part  of 
Virginia,  and  the  sturdy  pioneers  of  the  West,  alive  to  their  interests, 


50  THE   NORTHWEST    TERRITORY. 

and  recognizing  the  great  benefits  of  obtaining  the  control  of  the  trade  in 
this  part  of  the  New  World,  held  steadily  to  their  purposes,  and  those 
within  the  commonwealth  of  Kentucky  proceeded  to  exercise  their 
civil  privileges,  by  electing  John  Todd  and  Richard  Gallaway, 
burgesses  to  represent  them  in  the  Assembly  of  the  parent  state. 
Early  in  September  of  that  year  (1777)  the  first  court  was  held 
in  Harrodsburg,  and  Col.  Bowman,  afterwards  major,  who  had  arrived 
in  August,  was  made  the  commander  of  a  militia  organization  which 
had  been  commenced  the  March  previous.  Thus  the  tree  of  loyalty 
was  growing.  The  chief  spirit  in  this  far-out  colony,  who  had  represented 
her  the  year  previous  east  of  the  mountains,  was  now  meditating  a  move 
unequaled  in  its  boldness.  He  had  been  watching  the  movements  of  the 
British  throughout  the  Northwest,  and  understood  their  whole  plan.  Ht 
saw  it  was  through  their  possession  of  the  posts  at  Detroit,  Vincennes, 
Kaskaskia,  and  other  places,  which  would  give  them  constant  and  easy 
access  to  the  various  Indian  tribes  in  the  Northwest,  that  the  British 
intended  to  penetrate  the  country  from  the  north  and  soutn,  ana  annihi- 
late the  frontier  fortresses.  This  moving,  energetic  man  was  Colonel, 
afterwards  General,  George  Rogers  Clark.  Ho  knew  the  Indians  were  not 
unanimously  in  accord  with  the  English,  and  he  was  convinced  that,  could 
the  British  be  defeated  and  expelled  from  the  Northwest,  the  natives 
might  be  easily  awed  into  neutrality  ;  and  by  spies  sent  for  the  purpose, 
he  satisfied  himself  that  the  enterprise  against  the  Illinois  settlements 
might  easily  succeed.  Having  convinced  himself  of  the  certainty  of  the 
project,  he  repaired  to  the  Capital  of  Virginia,  which  place  he  reached  on 
November  5th.  While  he  was  on  his  way,  fortunately,  on  October  17th, 
Burgoyne  had  been  defeated,  and  the  spirits  of  the  colonists  greatly 
encouraged  thereby.  Patrick  Henry  was  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  at 
once  entered  heartily  into  Clark's  plans.  The  same  plan  had  before  been 
agitated  in  the  Colonial  Assemblies,  but  there  was  no  one  until  Clark 
came  who  was  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  condition  rtf  affairs  at  the 
scene  of  action  to  be  able  to  guide  them. 

Clark,  having  satisfied  the  Virginia  leaders  of  the  feasibility  of  his 
plan,  received,  on  the  2d  of  January,  two  sets  of  instructions — one  secret, 
the  other  open  —  the  latter  authorized  him  to  proceed  to  enlist  seven 
companies  to  go  to  Kentucky,  subject  to  his  orders,  and  to  serve  three* 
months  from  their  arrival  in  the  West.  The  secret  order  authorized  him 
to  arm  these  troops,  to  procure  his  powder  and  lead  of  General  Hand 
at  Pittsburgh,  and  to  proceed  at  once  to  subjugate  the  country. 

With  these  instructions  Clark  repaired  to  Pittsburgh,  choosing  rather 
to  raise  his  men  west  of  the  mountains,  as  he  well  knew  all  were  needed 
in  the  colonies  in  the  conflict  there.  He  sent  Col.  W.  B.  Smith  to  Hoi- 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  51 

stem  for  the  same  purpose,  but  neither  succeeded  in  raising  the  required 
number  of  men.  The  settlers  in  these  parts  were  afraid  to  leave  their 
own  firesides  exposed  to  a  vigilant  foe,  and  but  few  could  be  induced  to 
join  the  proposed  expedition.  With  three  companies  and  several  private 
volunteers,  Clark  at  length  commenced  his  descent  of  the  Ohio,  which  he 
navigated  as  far  as  the  Falls,  where  he  took  possession  of  and  fortified 
Corn  Island,  a  small  island  between  the  present  Cities  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  and  New  Albany,  Indiana.  Remains  of  this  fortification  may 
yet  be  found.  At  this  place  he  appointed  Col.  Bowman  to  meet  him 
with  such  recruits  as  had  reached  Kentucky  by  the  s'outhern  route,  and 
as  many  as  could  be  spared  from  the  station.  Here  he  announced  to 
the  men  their  real  destination.  .Having  completed  his  arrangements, 
and  chosen  his  party,  he  left  a  small  garrison  upon  the  island,  and  on  the 
24th  of  June,  during  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  to  them  augured 
no  good,  and  which  fixes  beyond  dispute  the  date  of  starting,  he  with 
his  chosen  band,  fell  down  the  river.  His  plan  was  to  go  by  water  as 
far  as  Fort  Massac  or  Massacre,  and  thence  march  direct  to  Kaskaskia. 
Here  he  intended  to  surprise  the  garrison,  and  after  its  capture  go  to 
Cahokia,  then  to  Vincennes,  and  lastly  to  Detroit.  Should  he  fail,  he 
intended  to  march  directly  to  the  Mississippi  River,  and  cross  it  into  the 
Spanish  country.  Before  his  start  he  received  two  good  items  of  infor- 
mation :  one  that  the  alliance  had  been  formed  between  France  and  the 
United  States ;  and  the  other  that  the  Indians  throughout  the  Illinois 
country  and  the  inhabitants,  at  the  various  frontier  posts,  had  been  led  to 
believe  by  the  British  that  the  "  Long  Knives"  or  Virginians,  were  the 
most  fierce,  bloodthirsty  and  cruel  savages  that  ever  scalped  a  foe.  With 
this  impression  on  their  minds,  Clark  saw  that  proper  management  would 
cause  them  to  submit  at  once  from  fear,  if  surprised,  and  then  from  grati- 
tude would  become  friendly  if  treated  with  unexpected  leniency. 

The  march  to  Kaskaskia  was  accomplished  through  a  hot  July  sun, 
and  the  town  reached  on  the  evening  of  July  4.  He  captured  the  fort 
near  the  village,  and  soon  after  the  village  itself  by  surprise,  and  without 
the  loss  of  a  single  man  or  by  killing  any  of  the  enemy.  After  sufficiently 
working  upon  the  fears  of  the  natives,  Clark  told  them  they  were  at  per- 
fect liberty  to  worship  as  they  pleased,  and  to  take  whichever  side  of  the 
great  conflict  they  would,  also  he  would  protect  them  from  any  barbarity 
from  British  or  Indian  foe.  This  had  the  desired  effect,  and  the  inhab- 
itants, so  unexpectedly  and  so  gratefully  surprised  by  the  unlocked 
for  turn  of  affairs,  at  once  swore  allegiance  to  the  American  arms,  and 
when  Clark  desired  to  go  to  Cahokia  on  the  6th  of  July,  they  accom- 
panied him,  and  through  their  influence  the  inhabitants  of  the  place 
surrendered,  and  gladly  placed  themselves  under  his  protection.  Thus 


52  THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

the  two  important  posts  in  Illinois  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  English 
into  the  possession  of  Virginia. 

In  the  person  of  the  priest  at  Kaskaskia,  M.  Gibault,  Clark  found  a 
powerful  ally  and  generous  friend.  Clark  saw  that,  to  retain  possession 
of  the  Northwest  and  treat  successfully  with  the  Indians  within  its  boun- 
daries, he  must  establish  a  government  for  the  colonies  he  had  taken. 
St.  Vincent,  the  next  important  post  to  Detroit,remained  yet  to  be  taken 
before  the  Mississippi  Valley  was  conquered.  M.  Gibault  told  him  that 
he  would  alone,  by  persuasion,  lead  Vincennes  to  throw  off  its  connection 
with  England.  Clark  gladly  accepted  his  offer,  and  'on  the  14th  of  July, 
in  company  with  a  fellow-townsman,  M.  Gibault  started  on  his  mission  of 
peace,  and  on  the  1st  of  August  returned  with  the  cheerful  intelligence 
that  the  post  on  the  "  Oubache  "  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  Old  Dominion.  During  this  interval,  Clark  established  his  courts, 
placed  garrisons  at  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  successfully  re-enlisted  his 
men,  sent  word  to  have  a  fort,  which  proved  the  germ  of  Louisville, 
erected  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  and  dispatched  Mr.  Rocheblave,  who 
had  been  commander  at  Kaskaskia,  as  a  prisoner  of  war  to  Richmond. 
In  October  the  County  of  Illinois  was  established  by  the  Legislature 
of  Virginia,  John  Todd  appointed  Lieutenant  Colonel  and  Civil  Governor, 
and  in  November  General  Clark  and  his  men  received  the  thanks  of 
the  Old  Dominion  through  their  Legislature. 

In  a  speech  a  few  days  afterward,  Clark  made  known  fully  to  the 
natives  his  plans,  and  at  its  close  all  came  forward  and  swore  alle- 
giance to  the  Long  Knives.  While  he  was  doing  this  Governor  Hamilton, 
having  made  his  various  arrangements,  had  left  Detroit  and  moved  down 
the  Wabash  to  Vincennes  intending  to  operate  from  that  point  in  reducing 
the  Illinois  posts,  and  then  proceed  on  down  to  Kentucky  and  drive  the 
rebels  from  the  West.  Gen.  Clark  had,  on  the  return  of  M.  Gibault, 
dispatched  Captain  Helm,  of  Fauquier  County,  Virginia,  with  an  attend- 
ant named  Henry,  across  the  Illinois  prairies  to  command  the  fort. 
Hamilton  knew  nothing  of  the  capitulation  of  the  post,  and  was  greatly 
surprised  on  his  arrival  to  be  confronted  by  Capt.  Helm,  who,  standing  at 
the  entrance  of  the  fort  by  a  loaded  cannon  ready  to  fire  upon  his  assail- 
ants, demanded  upon  what  terms  Hamilton  demanded  possession  of  tha 
fort.  Being  granted  the  rights  of  a  prisoner  of  war,  he  surrendered  to 
the  British  General,  who  could  scarcely  believe  his  eyes  when  he  saw  the 
force  in  the  garrison. 

Hamilton,  not  realizing  the  character  of  the  men  with  whom  he  was 
contending,  gave  up  his  intended  campaign  for  the  Winter,  sent  his  four 
hundred  Indian  warriors  to  prevent  troops  from  coming  down  the  Ohio, 


THE   NORTHWEST  TERRITORY.  53 

and  to  annoy  the  Americans  in  all  ways,  and  sat  quietly  down  to  pass  the 
Winter.  Information  of  all  these  proceedings  having  reached  Clark,  he 
saw  that  immediate  and  decisive  action  was  necessary,  and  that  unless 
he  captured  Hamilton,  Hamilton  would  capture  him.  Clark  received  the 
news  on  the  29th  of  January,  1779,  and  on  February  4th,  having  suffi- 
ciently garrisoned  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia,  he  sent  down  the  Mississippi 
a  "  battoe,"  as  Major  Bowman  writes  it,  in  order  to  ascend  tire  Ohio  and 
Wabash,  and  operate  with  the  land  forces  gathering  for  the  fray. 

On  the  next  day,  Clark,  with  his  little  force  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  men,  set  out  for  the  post,  and  after  incredible  hard  marching 
through  much  mud,  the  ground  being  thawed  by  the  incessant  spring 
rains,  on  the  22d  reached  the  fort,  and  being  joined  by  his  "  battoe,"  at 
once  commenced  the  attack  on  the  post.  The  aim  of  the  American  back- 
woodsman was  unerring,  and  on  the  24th  the  garrison  surrendered  to  the 
intrepid  boldness  of  Clark.  The  French  were  treated  with  great  kind- 
ness, and  gladly  renewed  their  allegiance  to  Virginia.  Hamilton  was 
sent  as  a  prisoner  to  Virginia,  where  he  was  kept  in  close  confinement. 
During  his  command  of  the  British  frontier  posts,  he  had  offered  prizes 
to  the  Indians  for  all  the  scalps  of  Americans  they  would  bring  to  him, 
and  had  earned  in  consequence  thereof  the  title  u  Hair-buyer  General," 
by  which  he  was  ever  afterward  known. 

Detroit  was  now  without  doubt  within  easy  reach  of  the  enterprising 
Virginian,  could  he  but  raise  the  necessary  force.  Governor  Henry  being 
apprised  of  this,  promised  him  the  needed  reinforcement,  and  Clark  con- 
cluded to  wait  until  he  could  capture  and  sufficiently  garrison  the  posts. 
Had  Clark  failed  in  this  bold  undertaking,  and  Hamilton  succeeded  in 
uniting  the  western  Indians  for  the  next  Spring's  campaign,  the  West 
would  indeed  have  been  swept  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Allegheny 
Mountains,  and  the  great  blow  struck,  which  had  been  contemplated  from 
the  commencement,  by  the  British. 

"  But  for  this  small  army  of  dripping,  but  fearless  Virginians,  the 
union  of  all  the  tribes  from  Georgia  to  Maine  against  the  colonies  might 
have  been  effected,  and  the  whole  current  of  our  history  changed." 

At  this  time  some  fears  were  entertained  by  the  Colonial  Govern- 
ments that  the  Indians  in  the  North  and  Northwest  were  inclining  to  the 
British,  and  under  the  instructions  of  Washington,  now  Commander-in- 
Cliief  o£  the  Colonial  army,  and  so  bravely  fighting  for  American  inde- 
pendence, armed  forces  were  sent  against  the  Six  Nations,  and  upon  the 
Ohio  frontier,  Col.  Bowman,  acting  under  the  same  general's  orders, 
marched  against  Indians  within  the  present  limits  of  that  State.  These 
expeditions  were  in  the  main  successful,  and  the  Indians  were  compelled 
to  sue  for  peace. 


54  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

During  this  same  year  (1779)  the  famous  "  Land  Laws"  of  Virginia 
were  passed.  The  passage  of  these  laws  was  of  more  consequence  to  the 
pioneers  of  Kentucky  and  the  Northwest  than  the  gaining  of  a  few  Indian 
conflicts.  These  laws  confirmed  in  main  all  grants  made,  and  guaranteed 
to  all  actual  settlers  their  rights  and  privileges.  After  providing  for  the 
settlers,  the  laws  provided  for  selling  the  balance  of  the  public  lands  at 
forty  cents  per  acre.  To  carry  the  Land  Laws  into  effect,  the  Legislature 
sent  four  Virginians  westward  to  attend  to  the  various  claims,  over  many 
of  which  great  confusion  prevailed  concerning  their  validity.  These 
gentlemen  opened  their  court  on  October  13,  1779,  at  St.  Asaphs,  and 
continued  until  April  26,  1780,  when  they  adjourned,  having  decided 
three  thousand  claims.  They  were  succeeded  by  the  surveyor,  who 
came  in  the  person  of  Mr.  George  May,  and  assumed  his  duties  on  the 
10th  day  of  the  month  whose  name  he  bore.  With  the  opening  of  the 
next  year  (1780)  the  trouoles  concerning  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi commenced.  The  Spanish  Government  exacted  such  measures  in 
relation  to  its  trade  as  to  cause  the  overtures  made  to  the  United  States 
to  be  rejected.  The  American  Government  considered  they  had  a  right 
to  navigate  its  channel.  To  enforce  their  claims,  a  fort  was  erected  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  on  the  Kentucky  side  of  the  river.  The  settle- 
ments in  Kentucky  were  being  rapidly  filled  by  emigrants.  It  was  dur- 
ing this  year  that  the  first  seminary  of  learning  was  established  in  the 
West  in  this  young  and  enterprising  Commonwealth. 

The  settlers  here  did  not  look  upon  the  building  of  this  fort  in  a 
friendly  manner,  as  it  aroused  the  hostility  of  the  Indians.  Spain  had 
been  friendly  to  the  Colonies  during  their  struggle  for  independence, 
and  though  for  a  while  this  friendship  appeared  in  danger  from  the 
refusal  of  the  free  navigation  of  the  river,  yet  it  was  finally  settled  to  the 
satisfaction  of  both  nations. 

The  Winter  of  1779-80  was  one  of  the  most  unusually  severe  ones 
ever  experienced  in  the  West.  The  Indians  always  referred  to.it  as  the 
"Great  Cold."  Numbers  of  wild  animals  perished,  and  not  a  few 
pioneers  lost  their  lives.  The  following  Summer  a  party  of  Canadians 
and  Indians  attacked  St.  Louis,  and  attempted  to  take  possession  of  it 
in  consequence  of  the  friendly  disposition  of  Spain  to  the  revolting 
colonies.  They  met  with  such  a  determined  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
inhabitants,  even  the  women  taking  part  in  the  battle,  that  they  were 
compelled  to  abandon  the  contest.  They  also  made  an  attack  on  the 
settlements  in  Kentucky,  but,  becoming  alarmed  in  some  unaccountable 
manner,  they  fled  the  country  in  great  haste. 

About  this  time  arose  the  question  in  the  Colonial  Congress  con- 
cerning the  western  lands  claimed  by  Virginia,  New  York,  Massachusetts 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  55 

and  Connecticut.  The  agitation  concerning  this  subject  finally  led  New 
York,  on  the  19th  of  February,  1780,  to  pass  a  law  giving  to  the  dele- 
gates of  that  State  in  Congress  the  power  to  cede  her  western  lands  for 
the  benefit  of  the  United  States.  This  law  Was  laid  before  Congress 
during  the  next  month,  but  no  steps  were  taken  concerning  it  until  Sep- 
tember 6th,  when  a  resolution  passed  that  body  calling  upon  the  States 
claiming  western  lands  to  release  their  claims  in  favor  of  the  whole  body. 
This  basis  formed  the  union,  and  was  the  first  after  all  of  those  legislative 
measures  which  resulted  in  the  creation  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.  In  December  of  the  same 
year,  the  plan  of  conquering  Detroit  again  arose.  The  conquest  might 
have  easily  been  effected  by  Clark  had  the  necessary  aid  been  furnished 
him.  Nothing  decisive  was  done,  yet  the  heads  of  the  Government  knew 
that  th,e  safety  of  the  Northwest  from  British  invasion  lay  in  the  capture 
and  retention  of  that  important  post,  the  only  unconquered  one  in  the 
territory. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year,  Kentucky  was  divided  into  the  Coun- 
ties of  Lincoln,  Fayette  and  Jefferson,  and  the  act  establishing  the  Town 
of  Louisville  was  passed.  This  same  year  is  also  noted  in  the  annals  of 
American  history  as  the  year  in  which  occurred  Arnold's  treason  to  the 
United  States. 

Virginia,  in  accordance  with  the  resolution  of  Congress,  on  the  2d 
day  of  January,  1781,  agreed  to  yield  her  western  lands  to  the  United 
States  upon  certain  conditions,  which  Congress  would  not  accede  to,  and 
the  Act  of  Cession,  on  the  part  of  the  Old  Dominion,  failed,  nor  was 
anything  farther  done  until  1783.  During  all  that  time  the  Colonies 
were  busily  engaged  in  the  struggle  with  the  mother  country,  and  in 
consequence  thereof  but  little  heed  was  given  to  the  western  settlements. 
Upon  the  16th  of  April,  1781,  the  first  birth  north  of  the  Ohio  River  of 
American  parentage  occurred,  being  that  of  Mary  Heckewelder,  daughter 
of  the  widely  known  Moravian  missionary,  whose  band  of  Christian 
Indians  suffered  in  after  years  a  horrible  massacre  by  the  hands  of  the 
frontier  settlers,  who  had  been  exasperated  by  the  murder  of  several  of 
their  neighbors,  and  in  their  rage  committed,  without  regard  to  humanity, 
a  deed  which  forever  afterwards  cast  a  shade  of  shame  upon  their  lives. 
For  this  and  kindred  outrages  on  the  part  of  the  whites,  the  Indians 
committed  many  deeds  of  cruelty  which  darken  the  years  of  1771  and 
1772  in  the  history  of  the  Northwest. 

During  the  year  1782  a  number  of  battles  among  the  Indians  and 
frontiersmen  occurred,  and  between  the  Moravian  Indians  and  the  Wyan- 
dots.  In  these,  horrible  acts  of  cruelty  were  practised  on  the  captives, 
many  of  such  dark  deeds  transpiring  under  the  leadership  of  the  notorious 


56 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


frontier  outlaw,  Simon  Girty,  whose  name,  as  well  as  those  of  his  brothers, 
was  a  terror  to  women  and  children.  These  occurred  chiefly  in  the  Ohio 
valleys.  Cotemporary  with  them  were  several  engagements  in  Kentucky, 
in  which  the  famous  Daniel  Boone  engaged,  and  who,  often  by  his  skill 
and  knowledge  of  Indian  warfare,  saved  the  outposts  from  cruel  destruc- 


INDIANS   ATTACKING   FBONT1BK8MBN. 

tion.  By  the  close  of  the  year  victory  had  perched  upon  the  American 
banner,  and  on  the  30th  of  November,  provisional  articles  of  peace  had 
been  arranged  between  the  Commissioners  of  England  and  her  uncon- 
querable colonies.  Cornwallis  had  been  defeated  on  the  19th  of  October 
preceding,  and  the  liberty  of  America  was  assured.  On  the  19th  of 
April  following,  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  peace  was 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  57 

proclaimed  to  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  on  the  3d  of  the  next 
September,  the  definite  treaty  which  ended  our  revolutionary  struggle 
was  concluded.  By  the  terms  of  that  treaty,  the  boundaries  of  the  West 
were  as  follows :  On  the  north  the  line  was  to  extend  along  the  center  of 
the  Great  Lakes  ;  from  the  western  point  of  Lake  Superior  to  Long  Lake  ; 
thence  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods ;  thence  to  the  head  of  the  Mississippi 
River;  down  its  center  to  the  31st  parallel  of  latitude,  then  on  that  line 
east  to  the  head  of  the  Appalachicola  River ;  down  its  center  to  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Flint ;  thence  straight  to  the  head  of  St.  Mary's  River,  and 
thence  down  along  its  center  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

Following  the  cessation  of  hostilities  with  England,  several  posts 
were  still  occupied  by  the  British  in  the  North  and  West.  Among  these 
was  Detroit,  still  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Numerous  engagements 
with  the  Indians  throughout  Ohio  and  Indiana  occurred,  upon  whose 
lands  adventurous  whites  would  settle  ere  the  title  had  been  acquired  by 
the  proper  treaty. 

To  remedy  this  latter  evil,  Congress  appointed  commissioners  to 
treat  with  the  natives  and  purchase  their  lands,  and  prohibited  the  set- 
tlement of  the  territory  until  this  could  be  done.  Before  the  close  of  the 
year  another  attempt  was  made  to  capture  Detroit,  which  was,  however, 
not  pushed,  and  Virginia,  no  longer  feeling  the  interest  in  the  Northwest 
she  had  formerly  done,  withdrew  her  troops,  having  on  the  20th  of 
December  preceding  authorized  the  whole  of  her  possessions  to  be  deeded 
to  the  United  States.  This  was  done  on  the  1st  of  -March  following,  and 
the  Northwest  Territory  passed  from  the  control  of  (he  Old  Dominion. 
To  Gen.  Clark  arid  his  soldiers,  however,  she  gave  a  tract  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land,  to  be  situated  any  where  north  of  the 
Ohio  wherever  they  chose  to  locate  them.  They  selected  the  region 
opposite  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  where  is  now  the  dilapidated  village  of 
Clarksville,  about  midway  between  the  Cities  of  New  Albany  and  Jeffer- 
sonville,  Indiana. 

While  the  frontier  remained  thus,  and  Gen.  Haldimand  at  Detroit 
refused  to  evacuate  alleging  that  he  had  no  orders  from  his  King  to  do 
so,  settlers  were  rapidly  gathering  about  the  inland  forts.  In  the  Spring 
of  1784,  Pittsburgh  was  regularly  laid  out,  and  from  the  journal  of  Arthur 
Lee,  who  passed  through  the  town  soon  after  on  his  way  to  the  Indian 
council  at  Fort  Mclntosh,  we  suppose  it  was  not  very  prepossessing  in 
appearance.  He  says : 

"  Pittsburgh  is  inhabited  almost  entirely  by  Scots  and  Irish,  who 
live  in  paltry  log  houses,  and  are  as  dirty  as  if  in  the  north  of  Ireland  or 
even  Scotland.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  trade  carried  on,  the  goods  being 
bought  at  the  vast  expense  of  forty-five  shillings  per  pound  from  Phila- 


58  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

delphia  and  Baltimore.  They  take  in  the  shops  flour,  wheat,  skins  and 
money.  There  are  in  the  town  four  attorneys,  two  doctors,  and  not  a 
priest  of  any  persuasion,  nor  church  nor  chapel/' 

Kentucky  at  this  time  contained  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
was  beginning  to  discuss  measures  for  a  separation  from  Virginia.  A 
land  office  was  opened  at  Louisville,  and  measures  were  adopted  to  take 
defensive  precaution  against  the  Indians  who  were  yet,  in  some  instances, 
incited  to  deeds  of  violence  by  the  British.  Before  the  close  of  this  year, 
1784,  the  military  claimants  of  land  began  to  occupy  them,  although  no 
entries  were  recorded  until  1787. 

The  Indian  title  to  the  Northwest  was  not  yet  extinguished.  They 
held  large  tracts  'of  lands,  and  in  order  to  prevent  bloodshed  Congress 
adopted  means  for  treaties  with  the  original  owners  and  provided  for  the 
surveys  of  the  lands  gained  thereby,  as  well  as  for  those  north  of  the 
Ohio,  now  in  its  possession.  On  Jailuary  31,  1786,  a  treaty  was  made 
with  the  Wabash  Indians.  The  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  had  been  made 
in  1784.  That  at  Fort  Mclntosh  in  1785,  and  through  these  much  land 
was  gained.  The  Wabash  Indians,  however,  afterward  refused  to  comply 
with  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  made  with  them,  and  in  order  to  compel 
their  adherence  to  its  provisions,  force  was  used.  Daring  the  year  1786, 
the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  came  up  in  Congress,  and  caused 
various  discussions,  which  resulted  in  no  definite  action,  only  serving  to 
excite  speculation  in  regard  to  the  western  lands.  Congress  had  promised 
bounties  of  land  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution,  but  owing  to  the 
unsettled  condition  of  affairs  along  the  Mississippi  respecting  its  naviga- 
tion, and  the  trade  of  the  Northwest,  that  body  had,  in  1783,  declared- 
its  inability  to  fulfill  these  promises  until  a  treaty  could  be  concluded 
between  the  two  Governments.  Before  the  close  of  the  year  1786,  how- 
ever, it  was  able,  through  the  treaties  with  the  Indians,  to  allow  some 
grants  and  the  settlement  thereon,  and  on  the  14th  of  September  Con- 
necticut ceded  to  the  General  Government  the  tract  of  land  known  as 
the  "  Connecticut  Reserve,"  and  before  the  close  <sf  the  following  year  a 
large  tract  of  land  north  of  the  Ohio  was  sold  to  a  company,  who  at  once 
took  measures  to  settle  it.  By  the  provisions  of  this  grant,  the  company 
were  to  pay  the  United  States  one  dollar  per  acre,  subject  to  a  deduction 
of  one-third  for  bad  lands  and  other  contingencies.  They  received 
750,000  acres,  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  Ohio,  on  the  east  by  the 
seventh  range  of  townships,  on  the  west  by  the  sixteenth  range,  and  on 
the  north  by  a  line  so  drawn  as  to  make  the  grant  complete  without 
the  reservations.  In  addition  to  this,  Congress  afterward  granted  100,000 
acres  to  actual  settlers,  and  214,285  acres  as  army  bounties  under  the 
resolutions  of  1789  and  1790. 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


59 


While  Dr.  Cutler,  one  of  the  agents  of  the  company,  was  pressing 
its  claims  before  Congress,  that  body  was  bringing  into  form  an  ordinance- 
for  the  political  and  social  organization  of  this  Territory.  When  the 
cession  was  made  by  Virginia,  in  1784,  a  plan  was  offered,  but  rejected. 
A  motion  had  been  made  to  strike  from  the  proposed  plan  the  prohibition 
of  slavery,  which  prevailed.  The  plan  was  then  discussed  and  altered, 
and  finally  passed  unanimously,  with  the  exception  of  South  Carolina. 
By  this  proposition,  the  Territory  was  to  have  been  divided  into  states 


A    PRAIRIE    STORM. 


by  parallels  and  meridian  lines.  This,  it  was  thought,  would  make  ten 
states,  which  were  to  have  been  named  as  follows  —  beginning  at  the 
northwest  corner  and  going  southwardly :  Sylvania,  Michigania,  Cher- 
sonesus,  Assenisipia,  Mesopotamia,  Illenoia,  Saratoga,  Washington,  Poly- 
potamia  and  Pelisipia. 

There  was  a  more  serious  objection  to  this  plan  than  its  category  of 
names, —  the  boundaries.  The  root  of  the  difficulty  was  in  the  resolu- 
tion of  Congress  passed  in  October,  1780,  which  fixed  the  boundaries 
of  the  ceded  lands  to  be  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 


60  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

square.  These  resolutions  being  presented  to  the  Legislatures  of  Vir- 
ginia and  Massachusetts,  they  desired  a  change,  and  in  July,  1786,  the 
subject  was  taken  up  in  Congress,  and  changed  to  favor  a  division  into 
not  more  than  five  states,  and  not  less  than  three.  This  was  approved  by 
the  State  Legislature  of  Virginia.  The  subject  of  the  Government  was 
again  taken  up  by  Congress  in  1786,  and  discussed  throughout  that  year 
and  until  July,  1787,  when  the  famous  "Compact  of  1787"  was  passed, 
and  the  foundation  of  the  government  of  the  Northwest  laid.  This  com- 
pact is  fully  discussed  and  explained  in  the  history  of  Illinois  in  this  book, 
and  to  it  the  reader  is  referred. 

The  passage  of  this  act  and  the  grant  to  the  New  England  Company 
was  soon  followed  by  an  application  to  the  Government  by  John  Cleves 
Symmes,  of  New  Jersey,  for  a  grant  of  the  land  between  the  Miamis. 
This  gentleman  had  visited  these  lands  soon  after  the  treaty  of  1786,  and, 
being  greatly  pleased  with  them,  offered  similar  terms  to  those  given  to  the 
New  England  Company.  The  petition  was  referred  to  the  Treasury 
Board  with  power  to  act,  and  a  contract  was  concluded  the  following 
year.  During  the  Autumn  the  directors  of  the  New  England  Company 
were  preparing  to  occupy  their  grant  the  following  Spring,  and  upon  the 
23d  of  November  made  arrangements  for  a  party  of  forty-seven  men, 
under  the  superintendency  of  Gen.  Rufus  Putnam,  to  set  forward.  Six 
boat-builders  were  to  leave  at  once,  and  on  the  first  of  January  the  sur- 
veyors and  their  assistants,  twenty-six  in  number,  were  to  meet  at  Hart- 
ford and  proceed  on  their  journey  westward  ;  the  remainder  to  follow  as 
soon  as  possible.  Congress,  in  the  meantime,  upon  the  3d  of  October, 
had  ordered  seven  hundred  troops  for  defense  of  the  western  settlers,  and 
to  prevent  unauthorized  intrusions  ;  and  two  days  later  appointed  Arthur 
St.  Clair  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  the  Northwest. 

AMERICAN  SETTLEMENTS. 

The  civil  organization  of  the  Northwest  Territory  was  now  com- 
plete, and  notwithstanding  the  uncertainty  of  Indian  affairs,  settlers  from 
the  East  began  to  come  into  the  country  rapidly.  The  New  England 
Company  sent  their  men  during  the  Winter  of  1787-8  pressing  on  over 
the  Alleghenies  by  the  old  Indian  path  which  had  been  opened  into 
Braddock's  road,  and  which  has  since  been  made  a  national  turnpike 
from  Cumberland  westward.  Through  the  weary  winter  days  they  toiled 
on,  and  lyr  April  were  all  gathered  on  the  Yoliiogany,  where  boats  had 
been  built,  and  at  once  started  for  the  Muskingum.  Here  they  arrived 
on  the  7th  of  that  month,  and  unless  the  Moravian  missionaries  be  regarded 
as  the  pioneers  of  Ohio,  this  little  band  can  justly  claim  that  honor. 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


61 


Gen.  St.  Clair,  the  appointed  Governor  of  the  Northwest,  not  having 
yet  arrived,  a  set  of  laws  were  passed,  written  out,  and  published  by 
being  nailed  to  a  tree  in  the  embryo  town,  and  Jonathan  Meigs  appointed 
to  administer  them. 

Washington  in  writing  of  this,  the  first  American  settlement  in  the 
Northwest,  said :  "  No  colony  in  America  was  ever  settled  under 
such  favorable  auspices  as  that  which  has  just  commenced  at  Muskingum. 
Information,  property  and  strength  will  be  its  characteristics.  I  know 
many  of  its  settlers  personally,  and  there  never  were  men  better  calcu- 
lated to  promote  the  welfare  of  such  a  community.'1 


A    PIONEER    DWELLING. 


On  the  2d  of  July  a  meeting  of  the  directors  and  agents  was  held 
on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum,  "  for  the  purpose  of  naming  the  new- 
born city  and  its  squares."  As  yet  the  settlement  was  known  as  the 
"Muskingum,"  but  that  was  now  changed  to  the  name  Marietta,  in  honor 
of  Marie  Antoinette.  The  square  upon  which  the  block -houses  stood 
was  called  "  Campus  Martins  ;"  square  number  19,  "  Capitolium  ;"  square 
number  61,  "Cecilia;"  and  the  great  road  through  the  covert  way,  "  Sacra 
Via"  Two  days  after,  an  oration  was  delivered  by  James  M.  Varnum, 
who  with  S.  H.  Parsons  and  John  Armstrong  had  been  appointed  to  the 
judicial  bench  of  the  territory  on  the  16th  of  October,  1787.  On  July  9, 
Gov.  St.  Clair  arrived,  and  the  colony  began  to  assume  form.  The  act 
of  1787  provided  two  district  grades  of  government  for  the  Northwest, 


62  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

under  the  first  of  which  the  whole  power  was  invested  in  the  hands  of  a 
governor  and  three  district  judges.  This  was  immediately  formed  upon 
the  Governor's  arrival,  and  the  first  laws  of  the  colony  passed  on  the  25th 
of  July.  These  provided  for  the  organization  of  the  militia,  and  on  the 
next  day  appeared  the  Governor's  proclamation,  erecting  all  that  country 
that  had  been  ceded  by  the  Indians  east  of  the  Scioto  River  into  the 
County  of  Washington.  From  that  time  forward,  notwithstanding  the 
doubts  yet  existing  as  to  the  Indians,  all  Marietta  prospered,  and  on  the 
2d  of  September  the  first  court  of  the  territory  was  held  with  imposing 
ceremonies. 

The  emigration  westward  at  this  time  was  very  great.  The  com- 
mander at  Fort  Harmer,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum,  reported  four 
thousand  five  hundred  persons  as  having  passed  that  post  between  Feb- 
ruary and  June,  1788  —  many  of  whom  would  have  purchased  of  the 
"Associates,"  as  the  New  England  Company  was  called,  had  they  been 
ready  to  receive  them. 

On  the  26th  of  November,  1787,  Symmes  issued  a  pamphlet  stating 
the  terms  of  his  contract  and  the  plan  of  sale  he  intended  to  adopt.  In 
January,  1788,  Matthias  Denman,  of  New  Jersey,  took  an  active  interest 
in  Symmes'  purchase,  and  located  among  other  tracts  the  sections  upon 
which  Cincinnati  has  been  built.  Retainirig  one-third  of  this  locality,  he 
sold  the  other  two-thirds  to  Robert  Patterson  and  John  Filson,  and  the 
three,  about  August,  commenced  to  lay  out  a  town  on  the  spot,  which 
was  designated  as  being  opposite  Licking  River,  to  the  moulh  of  which 
they  proposed  to  have  a  road  cut  from  Lexington.  The  naming  of  the 
town  is  thus  narrated  in  the  "Western  Annals  "  : — "  Mr.  Filson,  who  had 
been  a  schoolmaster,  was  appointed  to  name  the  town,  and,  in  respect  to 
its  situation,  and  as  if  with  a  prophetic  perception  of  the  mixed  race  that 
were  to  inhabit  it  in  after  days,  he  named  it  Losantiville,  which,  being 
interpreted,  means  :  ville,  the  town  ;  anti,  against  or  opposite  to  ;  08,  the 
mouth  ;  L.  of  Licking." 

Meanwhile,  in  July,  Symmes  got  thirty  persons  and  eight  four-horse 
teams  under  way  for  the  West.  These  reached  Limestone  (now  Mays- 
ville)  in  September,  where  were  several  persons  from  Redstone.  Here 
Mr.  Symmes  tried  to  found  a  settlement,  but  the  great  freshet  of  1789 
caused  the  "  Point,"  as  it  was  and  is  yet  called,  to  be  fifteen  feet  under 
water,  and  the  settlement  to  be  abandoned.  The  little  band  of  settlers 
removed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Miami.  Before  Symmes  and  his  colony  left 
the  "  Point,"  two  settlements  had  been  made  on  his  purchase.  The  first 
was  by  Mr.  Stiltes,  the  original  projector  of  the  whole  plan,  who,  with  a 
colony  of  Redstone  people,  had  located  at  the  mouth  of  the  Miami, 
whither  Symmes  went  with  his  Maysville  colony.  Here  a  clearing  had 


THE    NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


63 


\>een  made  by  the  Indians  owing  to  the  great  fertility  of  the  soil.  Mr. 
Stiltes  with  his  colony  came  to  this  place  on  the- 18th  of  November,  1788, 
with  twenty-six  persons,  and,  building  a  block-house,  prepared  to  remain 
through  the  Winter.  They  named  the  settlement  Columbia.  Here  they 
were  kindly  treated  by  the  Indians,  but  suffered  greatly  from  the  flood 
of  1789. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
went  into  operation,  and  on  April  30,  George  Washington  was  inaug- 
urated President  of  the  American  people,  and  during  the  next  Summer, 
an  Indian  war  was  commenced  by  the  tribes  north  of  the  Ohio.  The 
President  at  first  used  pacific  means ;  but  these  failing,  he  sent  General 
Harmer  against  the  hostile  tribes.  He  destroyed  several  villages,  but 


BREAKING    PRAIRIE. 

was  defeated  in  two  battles,  near  the  present  City  of  Fort  Wayne, 
Indiana.  From  this  time  till  the  close  of  1795,  the  principal  events  were 
the  wars  with  the  various  Indian  tribes.  In  1796,  General  St.  Clair 
was  appointed  in  command,  and  marched  against  the  Indians ;  but  while 
he  was  encamped  on  a  stream,  the  St.  Mary,  a  branch  of  the  Maumee, 
he  was  attacked  and  defeated  with  the  loss  of  six  hundred  men. 

General  Wayne  was  now  sent  against  the  savages.  In  August,  1794, 
he  met  them  near  the  rapids  of  the  Maumee,  and  gained  a  complete 
victory.  This  success,  followed  by  vigorous  measures,  compelled  the 
Indians  to  sue  for  peace,  and  on  the  30th  of  July,  the  following  year,  the 
treaty  of  Greenville  was  signed  by  the  principal  chiefs,  by  which  a  large 
tract  of  country  was  ceded  to  the  United  States. 

Before  proceeding  in  our  narrative,  we  will  pause  to  notice  Fort 
Washington,  erected  in  the  early  part  of  this  war  on  the  site  of  Cincinnati. 
Nearly  all  of  the  great  cities  of  the  Northwest,  and  indeed  of  the 


64  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

whole  country,  have  had  their  nuclei  in  those  rude  pioneer  structures, 
known  as  forts  or  stockades.  Thus  Forts  Dearborn,  Washington,  Pon- 
chartrain,  mark  the  original  sites  of  the  now  proud  Cities  of  Chicago, 
Cincinnati  and  Detroit.  So  of  most  of  the  flourishing  cities  east  and  west 
of  the  Mississippi.  Fort  Washington,  erected  by  Doughty  in  1790,  was  a 
rude  but  highly  interesting  structure.  It  was  composed  of  a  number  of 
strongly-built  hewed  log  cabins.  Those  designed  for  soldiers'  barracks 
were  a  story  and  a  half  high,  while  those  composing  the  officers  quarters 
were  more  imposing  and  more  conveniently  arranged  and  furnished. 
The  whole  were  so  placed  as  to  form  a  hollow  square,  enclosing  about  an 
acre  of  ground,  with  a  block  house  at  each  of  the  four  angles. 

The  logs  for  the  construction  of  this  fort  were  cut  from  the  ground 
upon  which  it  was  erected.  It  stood  between  Third  and  Fourth  Streets 
of  the  present  city  (Cincinnati)  extending  east  of  Eastern  Row,  now 
Broadway,  which  was  then  a  narrow  alley,  and  the  eastern  boundary  of 
of  the  town  as  it  was  originally  laid  out.  On  the  bank  of  the  river, 
immediately  in  front  of  the  fort,  was  an  appendage  of  the  fort,  called  the 
Artificer's  Yard.  It  contained  about  two  acres  of  ground,  enclosed  by 
small  contiguous  buildings,  occupied  by  workshops  and  quarters  of 
laborers.  Within  this  enclosure  there  was  a  large  two-story  frame  house, 
familiarly  called  the  "  Yellow  House,"  lJuilt  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  Quartermaster  General.  For  many  years  this  was  the  best  finished 
and  most  commodious  edifice  in  the  Queen  City.  Fort  Washington  was 
for  some  time  th'e  headquarters  of  both  the  civil  and  military  governments 
of  the  Northwestern  Territory. 

Following  the  consummation  of  the  treaty  various  gigantic  land  spec- 
ulations were  entered  into  by  different  persons,  who  hoped  to  obtain 
from  the  Indians  in  Michigan  and  northern  Indiana,  large  tracts  of  lands. 
These  were  generally  discovered  in  time  to  prevent  the  outrageous 
schemes  from  being  carried  out,  and  from  involving  the  settlers  in  war. 
On  October  27,  1795,  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Spain 
was  signed,  whereby  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  secured. 

No  sooner  had  the  treat}7"  of  1795  been  ratified  than  settlements  began 
to  pour  rapidly  into  the  WTest.  The  great  event  of  the  year  1796  was  the 
occupation  of  that  part  of  the  Northwest  including  Michigan,  which  was 
this  year,  under  the  provisions  of  the  treaty,  evacuated  by  the  British 
forces.  The  United  States,  owing  to  certain  conditions,  did  not  feel 
justified  in  addressing  the  authorities  in  Canada  in  relation  to  Detroit 
and  other  frontier  posts.  When  at  last  the  British  authorities  were 
called  to  give  them  up,  they  at  once  complied,  and  General  Wayne,  who 
had  done  so  much  to  preserve  the  frontier  settlements,  and  who,  before 
the  year's  close,  sickened  and  died  near  Erie,  transferred  his  head- 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  6,5 

quarters  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  lakes,  where  a  county  named  after 
him  was  formed,  which  included  the  northwest  of  Ohio,  all  of  Michigan, 
and  the  northeast  of  Indiana.  During  this  same  year  settlements  wera» 
formed  at  the  present  City  of  Chillicothe,  along  the  Miami  from  Middle- 
town  to  Piqua,  while  in  the  more  distant  West,  settlers  and  speculators 
began  to  appear  in  great  numbers.  In  September,  the  City  of  Cleveland 
was  laid  out,  and  during  the  Summer  and  Autumn,  Samuel  Jackson  and 
Jonathan  Sharpless  erected  the  first  manufactory  of  paper — the  "Red- 
stone Paper  Mill  " —  in  the  West.  St.  Louis  contained  some  seventy 
houses,  and  Detroit  over  three  hundred,  and  along  the  river,  contiguous 
to  it,  were  more  than  three  thousand  inhabitants,  mostly  French  Canadians, 
Indians  and  half-breeds,  scarcely  any  Americans  venturing  yet  into  that 
part  of  the  Northwest. 

The  election  of  representatives  for  the  territory  had  taken  place, 
and  on  the  4th  of  February,  1799,  they  convened  at  Losantiville  —  now 
known  as  Cincinnati,  having  been  named  so  by  Gov.  St.  Clair,  and 
considered  the  capital  of  the  Territory — to  nominate  persons  from  whom 
the  members  of  the  Legislature  were  to  be  chosen  in  accordance  with 
a  previous  ordinance.  This  nomination  being  made,  the  Assembly 
adjourned  until  the  16th  of  the  following  September.  From  those  named 
the  President  selected  as  members  of  the  council,  Henry  Vandenburg, 
of  Vincennes,.  Robert  Oliver,  of  Marietta,  James  Findlay  and  Jacob 
Burnett,  of  Cincinnati,  and  David  Vance,  of  Vanceville.  On  the  16th 
of  September  the  Territorial  Legislature  met,  and  on  the  24th  the  two 
houses  were  duly  organized,  Henry  Vandenburg  being  elected  President 
of  the  Council. 

The  message  of  Gov.  St.  Clair  was  addressed  to  the  Legislature 
September  20th,  and  on  October  13th  that  body  elected  as  a  delegate  to 
Congress  Gen.  Wm.  Henry  Harrison,  who  received  eleven  of  the  votes 
cast,  being  a  majority  of  one  over  his  opponent,  Arthur  St.  Clair,  son  of 
Gen.  St.  Clair. 

The  whole  number  of  acts  passed  at  this  session,  and  approved  by 
the  Governor,  were  thirty-seven — eleven  others  were  passed,  but  received 
his  veto.  The  most  important  of  those  passed  related  to  the  militia,  to 
the  administration,  and  to  taxation.  On  the  19th  of  December  this  pro- 
tracted session  of  the.  first  Legislature  in  the  West  was  closed,  and  on  the 
30th  of  December  the  President  nominated  Charles  Willing  Bryd  to  the 
office  of  Secretary  of 'the  Territory  vice  Wm.  Henry  Harrison,'  elected  to 
Congress.  The  Senate  confirmed  his  nomination  the  next  day. 


6G  THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


DIVISION   OF   THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

The  increased  emigration  to  the  Northwest,  the  extent  of  the  domain, 
and  the  inconvenient  modes  of  travel,  made  it  very  difficult  to  conduct 
the  ordinary  operations  of  government,  and  rendered  the  efficient  action 
of  courts  almost  impossible.  To  remedy  this,  it  was  deemed  advisable  to 
divide  the  territory  for  civil  purposes.  Congress,  in  1800,  appointed  a 
committee  to  examine  the  question  and  report  some  means  for  its  solution. 
This  committee,  on  the  3d  of  March,  reported  that  : 

"  In  the  three  western  countries  there  has  been  but  one  court  having 
cognizance  of  crimes,  in  five  years,  and  the  immunity  which  offenders 
experience  attracts,  as  to  an  asylum,  the  most  vile  and  abandoned  crim- 
inals, and  at  the  same  time  deters  useful  citizens  from  making  settlements 
in  such  society.  The  extreme  necessity  of  judiciary  attention  and  assist- 
ance is  experienced  in  civil  as  well  as  in  criminal  cases.  *  *  *  *  To 
minister  a  remedy  to  these  and  other  evils,  it  occurs  to  this  committee 
that  it  is  expedient  that  a  division  of  said  territory  into  two  distinct  and 
separate  governments  should  be  made  ;  and  that  such  division  be  made 
by  a  line  beginning  at  the  mouth  of  the  Great  Miami  River,  running 
directly  north  until  it  intersects  the  boundary  between  the  United  States 
and  Canada." 

The  report  was  accepted  by  Congress,  and,  in  accordance  with  its 
suggestions,  that  body  passed  an  Act  extinguishing  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, which  Act  was  approved  May  7.  Among  its  provisions  were  these  : 

"  That  from  and  after  July  4  next,  all  that  part  of  the  Territory  of 
the  United  States  northwest  of  the  Ohio  River,  which  lies  to  the  westward 
of  a  line  beginning  at  a  point  on  the  Ohio,  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Kentucky  River,  and  running  thence  to  Fort  Recovery,  and  thence  north 
until  it  shall  intersect  the  territorial  line  between  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  shall,  for  the  purpose  of  temporary  government,  constitute  a 
separate  territory,  and  be  called  the  Indiana  Territory." 

After  providing  for  the  exercise  of  the  civil  and  criminal  powers  of 
the  territories,  and  other  provisions,  the  Act  further  provides  : 

"  That  until  it  shall  otherwise  be  ordered  by  the  Legislatures  of  the 
said  Territories,  respectively,  Chillicothe  on  the  Scioto  River  shall  be  the 
seat  of  government  of  the  Territory  of  the  United  States  northwest  of  the 
Ohio  River  ;  and  that  St.  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash  River  shall  be  the 
seat  of  government  for  the  Indiana  Territory." 

Gen.  Wm.  Henry,  Harrison  was  appointed  Governor  of  the  Indiana 
Territory,  and  entered  upon  his  duties  about  a  year  later.  Connecticut 
also  about  this  time  released  her  claims  to  the  reserve,  and  in  March  a  law 


CRETE 


: 

i 

Wi-~>. 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  67 

was  passed  accepting  this  cession.  Settlements  had  been  made  upon 
thirty -five  of  the  townships  in  the  reserve,  mills  had  been  built,  and  seven 
hundred  miles  of  road  cut  in  various  directions.  On  the  3d  of  November 
the  General  Assembly  met  at  Chillicothe.  Near  the  close  of  the  year, 
the  first  missionary  of  the  Connecticut  Reserve  came,  who  found  no 
township  containing  more  than  eleven  families.  It  was  upon  the  first  of 
October  that  the  secret  treaty  had  been  made  between  Napoleon  and  the 
King  of  Spain,  whereby  the  latter  agreed  to  cede  to  France  the  province 
of  Louisiana. 

In  January,  1802,  the  Assembly  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  char- 
tered the  college  at  Athens.  From  the  earliest  dawn  of  the  western 
colonies,  education  was  promptly  provided  for,  and  as  early  as  1787, 
newspapers  were  issued  from  Pittsburgh  and  Kentucky,  and  largely  read 
throughout  the  frontier  settlements.  Before  the  close  of  this  year,  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  granted  to  the  citizens  of  the  Northwestern 
territory  the  formation  of  a  State  government.  One  of  the  provisions  of 
the  "compact  of  1787"  provided  that  whenever  the  number  of  inhabit- 
ants within  prescribed  limits  exceeded  45,000,  they  should  be  entitled  to 
a  separate  government.  The  prescribed  limits  of  Ohio  contained,  from  a 
census  taken  to  ascertain  the  legality  of  the  act,  more  than  that  number, 
and  on  the  30th  of  April,  1802,  Congress  passed  the  act  defining  its  limits; 
and  on  the  29th  of  November  the  Constitution  of  the  new  State  of  Ohio, 
so  named  from  the  beautiful  river  forming  its  southern  boundary,  came 
into  existence.  The  exact  limits  of  Lake  Michigan  were  not  then  known, 
but  the  territory  now  included  within  the  State  of  Michigan  was  wholly 
within  the  territory  of  Indiana. 

Gen.  Harrison,  while  residing  at  Vincennes,  made  several  treaties 
with  the  Indians,  thereby  gaining  large  tracts  of  lands.  The  next  year  is 
memorable  in  the  history  of  the  West  for  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  from 
France  by  the  United  States  for  $15,000,000.  Thus  by  a  peaceful  mode, 
the  domain  of  the  United  States  was  extended  over  a  large  tract  of 
country  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  was  for  a  time  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Northwest  government,  and,  as  has  been  mentioned  in  the  early 
part  of  this  narrative,  was  called  the  "New  Northwest."  The  limits 
of  this  history  will  not  allow  a  description  of  its  territory.  The  same  year 
large  grants  of  land  were  obtained  from  the  Indians,  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  new  State  of  Ohio  signed  a  bill  respecting  the 
College  Township  in  the  district  of  Cincinnati. 

Before  the  close  of  the  year,  Gen.  Harrison  obtained  additional 
grants  of  lands  from  the  various  Indian  nations  in  Indiana  and  the  present 
limits  of  Illinois,  and  on  the  18th  of  August,  1804,  completed  a  treaty  at 
St.  Louis,  whereby  over  51,000,000  acres  of  lands  were  obtained  from  the 


68  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

aborigines.  Measures  were  also  taken  to  learn  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
and  about  Detroit. 

C.  Jouett,  the  Indian  agent  in  Michigan,  still  a  part  of  Indiana  Terri- 
tory, reported  as  follows  upon  the  condition  of  matters  at  that  post : 

"  The  Town  of  Detroit. — The  charter,  which  is  for  fifteen  miles 
square,  was  granted  in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  and  is  now, 
from  the  best  information  I  have  been  able  to  get,  at  Quebec.  Of  those 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  acres,  only  four  are  occupied  by  the  town 
and  Fort  Lenault.  The  remainder  is  a  common,  except  twenty-four 
acres,  which  were  added  twenty  years  ago  to  a  farm  belonging  to  Wm. 
Macomb.  *  *  *  A  stockade  incloses  the  town,  fort  and  citadel.  The 
pickets,  as  well  as  the  public  houses,  are  in  a  state  of  gradual  decay.  The 
streets  are  narrow,  straight  and  regular,  and  intersect  each  other  at  right 
angles.  The  houses  are,  for  the  most  part,  low  and  inelegant." 

During  this  year,  Congress  granted  a  township  of  land  for  the  sup- 
port of  a  college,  and  began  to  offer  inducements  for  settlers  in  these 
wilds,  and  the  country  now  comprising  the  State  of  Michigan  began  to 
fill  rapidly  with  settlers  along  its  southern  borders.  This  same  year,  also, 
a  law  was  passed  organizing  the  Southwest  Territory,  dividing  it  into  two 
portions,  the  Territory  of  New  Orleans,  which  city  was  made  the  seat  of 
government,  and  the  District  of  Louisiana,  which  was  annexed  to  the 
domain  of  Gen.  Harrison. 

On  the  llth  of  January,  1805,  the  Territory  of  Michigan  was  formed, 
Wm.  Hull  was  appointed  governor,  with  headquarters  at  Detroit,  the 
change  to  take  effect  on  June  30.  On  the  llth  of  that  month,  a  fire 
occurred  at  Detroit,  which  destroyed  almost  every  building  in  the  place. 
When  the  officers  of  the  new  territory  reached  the  post,  they  found  it  in 
ruins,  and  the  inhabitants  scattered  throughout  the  country.  Rebuild- 
ing, however,  soon  commenced,  and  ere  long  the  town  contained  more 
houses  than  before  the  fire,  and  many  of  them  much  better  built. 

While  this  was  being  done,  Indiana  had  passed  to  the  second  grade 
of  government,  and  through  her  General  Assembly  had  obtained  large 
tracts  of  land  from  the  Indian  tribes.  To  all  this  the  celebrated  Indian, 
Tecumthe  or  Tecumseh,  vigorously  protested,  and  it  was  the  main  cause 
of  his  attempts  to  unite  the  various  Indian  tribes  in  a  conflict  with  the 
settlers.  To  obtain  a  full  account  of  these  attempts,  the  workings  of  the 
British,  and  the  signal  failure,  culminating  in  the  death  of  Tecumseh  at 
the  battle  of  the  Thames,  and  the  close  of  the  war  of  1812  in  the  Northwest, 
we  will  step  aside  in  our  story,  and  relate  the  principal  events  of  his  life, 
and  his  connection  with  this  conflict. 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


TECUMSEH,  THE  SHAWANOE  CHIEFTAIN. 


?0  THE    NORTHWEST    TERRITORY. 


TECUMSEH,  AND  THE  WAR  OF  1812. 

This  famous  Indian  chief  was  born  about  the  year  1768,  not  far  from 
the  site  of  the  present  City  of  Piqua,  Ohio.  His  father,  Puckeshinwa, 
was  a  member  of  the  Kisopok  tribe  of  the  Swanoese  nation,  and  his 
mother,  Methontaske,  was  a  member  of  the  Turtle  tribe  of  the  same 
people.  They  removed  from  Florida  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century 
to  the  birthplace  of  Tecumseh.  In  1774,  his  father,  who  had  risen  to  be 
chief,  was  slain  at  the  battle  of  Point  Pleasant,  and  not  long  after  Tecum- 
seh, by  his  bravery,  became  the  leader  of  his  tribe.  In  1795  he  was 
declared  chief,  and  then  lived  at  Deer  Creek,  near  the  site  of  the 
present  City  of  Urbana.  He  remained  here  about  one  year,  when  he 
returned  to  Piqua,  and  in  1798,  he  went  to  White  River,  Indiana.  In 
1805,  he  and  his  brother,  Laulewasikan  (Open  Door),  who  had  announced 
himself  as  a  prophet,  went  to  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Wabash  River,  given 
them  by  the  Pottawatomies  and  Kickapoos.  From  this  date  the  chief 
comes  into  prominence.  He  was  now  about  thirty-seven  years  of  age, 
was  five  feet  and  ten  inches  in  height,  was  stoutly  built,  and  possessed  of 
enormous  powers  of  endurance.  His  countenance  was  naturally  pleas- 
ing, and  he  was,  in  general,  devoid  of  those  savage  attributes  possessed 
by  most  Indians.  It  is  stated  he  could  read  and  write,  and  had  a  confi- 
dential secretary  and  adviser,  named  Billy  Caldwell,  a  half-breed,  who 
afterward  became  chief  of  the  Pottawatomies.  He  occupied  the  first 
house  built  on  the  site  of  Chicago.  At  this  time,  Tecumseh  entered 
upon  the  great  work  of  his  life.  He  had  long  objected  to  the  grants  of 
land  made  by  the  Indians  to  the  whites,  and  determined  to  unite  all  the 
Indian  tribes  into  a  league,  in  order  that  no  treaties  or  grants  of  land 
could  be  made  save  by  the  consent  of  this  confederation. 

He  traveled  constantly,  going  from  north  to  south  ;  from  the  south 
to  the  north,  everywhere  urging  the  Indians  to  this  step.  He  was  a 
matchless  orator,  and  his  burning  words  had  their  effect. 

Gen.  Harrison,  then  Governor  of  Indiana,  by  watching  the  move- 
ments of  the  Indians,  became  convinced  that  a  grand  conspiracy  was 
forming,  and  made  preparations  to  defend  the  settlements.  Tecumseli's 
plan  was  similar  to  Pontiac's,  elsewhere  described,  and  to  the  cunning 
artifice  of  that  chieftain  was  added  his  own  sagacity. 

During  the  year  1809,  Tecumseh  and  the  prophet  were  actively  pre- 
paring for  the  work.  In  that  year,  Gen.  Harrison  entered  into  a  treaty 
with  the  Delawares,  Kickapoos,  Pottawatomies,  Miamis,  Eel  River  Indians 
and  Weas,  in  which  these  tribes  ceded  to  the  whites  certain  lands  upon 
the  Wabash,  to  all  of  which  Tecumseh  entered  a  bitter  protest,  averring 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  71 

as  one  principal  reason  that  he  did  not  want  the  Indians  to  give  up  any 
lands  north  and  west  of  the  Ohio  River. 

Tecumseh,  in  August,  1810,  visited  the  General  at  Vincennes  and 
held  a  council  relating  to  the  grievances  of  the  Indians.  Becoming  unduly 
angry  at  this  conference  he  was  dismissed  from  the  village,  and  soon  after 
departed  to  incite  the  southern  Indian  tribes  to  the  conflict. 

Gen.  Harrison  determined  to  move  upon  the  chief's  headquarters  at 
Tippecanoe,  and  for  this  purpose  went  about  sixty-five  miles  up  the 
Wabash,  where  he  built  Fort  Harrison.  From  this  place  he  went  to  the 
prophet's  town,  where  he  informed  the  Indians  he  had  no  hostile  inten- 
tions, provided  they  were  true  to  the  existing  treaties.  He  encamped 
near  the  village  early  in  October,  and  on  the  morning  of  November  7,  he 
was  attacked  by  a  large  force  of  the  Indians,  and  the  famous  battle  of 
Tippecanoe  occurred.  The  Indians  were  routed  and  their  town  broken 
up.  Tecumseh  returning  not  long  after,  was  greatly  exasperated  at  his 
brother,  the  prophet,  even  threatening  to  kill  him  for  rashly  precipitating 
the  war,  and  foiling  his  (Tecumseh's)  plans. 

Tecumseh  sent  word  to  Gen.  Harrison  that  he  was  now  returned 
from  the  South,  and  was  ready  to  visit  the  President  as  had  at  one  time 
previously  been  proposed.  Gen.  Harrison  informed  him  he  could  not  go 
as  a  chief,  which  method  Tecumseh  desired,  and  the  visit  was  never 
made. 

In  June  of  the  following  year,  he  visited  the  Indian  agent  at 
Fort  Wayne.  Here  he  disavowed  any  intention  to  make  a  war  against 
the  United  States,  and  reproached  Gen.  Harrison  for  marching  against  his 
people.  The  agent  replied  to  this  ;  Tecumseh  listened  with  a  cold  indif- 
ference, and  after  making  a  few  general  remarks,  with  a  haughty  air  drew 
his  blanket  about  him,  left  the  council  house,  and  departed  for  Fort  Mai- 
den, in  Upper  Canada,  where  he  joined  the  British  standard. 

He  remained  under  this  Government,  doing  effective  work  for  the 
Crown  while  engaged  in  the  war  of  1812  which  now  opened.  He  was, 
however,  always  humane  in  his  treatment  of  the  prisoners,  never  allow- 
ing his  warriors  to  ruthlessly  mutilate  the  bodies  of  those  slain,  or  wan- 
tonly murder  the  captive. 

In  the  Summer  of  1813,  Perry's  victory  on  Lake  Erie  occurred,  and 
shortly  after  active  preparations  were  made  to  capture  Maiden.  On  the 
27th  of  September,  the  American  array,  under  Gen.  Harrison,  set  sail  for 
the  shores  of  Canada,  and  in  a  few  hours  stood  around  the  ruins  of  Mai- 
den, from  which  the  British  army,  under  Proctor,  had  retreated  to  Sand- 
wich, intending  to  make  its  way  to  the  heart  of  Canada  by  the  Valley  of 
the  Thames.  On  the  29th  Gen.  Harrison  was  at  Sandwich,  and  Gen. 
McArthur  took  possession  of  Detroit  and  the  territory  of  Michigan. 


72 


THE   NORTHWEST    TERRITORY. 


On  the  2d  of  October,  the  Americans  began  their  pursuit  of  Proctor, 
whom  they  overtook  on  the  5th,  and  the  battle  of  the  Thames  followed. 
Early  in  the  engagement,  Tecumseh  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  column 
of  Indians  was  slain,  and  they,  no  longer  hearing  the  voice  of  their  chief- 
tain, fled.  The  victory  was  decisive,  and  practically  closed  the  war  in 
the  Northwest. 


gffr 


INDIANS    ATTACKING    A    STOCKADE. 


Just  who  killed  the  great  chief  has  been  a  matter  of  much  dispute  ; 
but  the  weight  of  opinion  awards  the  act  to  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
who  fired  at  him  with  a  pistol,  the  shot  proving  fatal. 

In  1805  occurred  Burr's  Insurrection.  He  took  possession  of  a 
beautiful  island  in  the  Ohio,  after  the  killing  of  Hamilton,  and  is  charged 
by  many  with  attempting  to  set  up  an  independent  government.  His 
plans  were  frustrated  by  the  general  government,  his  property  confiscated 
and  he  was  compelled  to  flee  the  country  for  safety. 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  73 

In  January,  1807,  Governor  Hull,  of  Michigan  Territory,  made  a 
treaty  with  the  Indians,  whereby  all  that  peninsula  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States.  Before  the  close  of  the  year,  a  stockade  was  built  about 
Detroit.  It  was  also  during  this  year  that  Indiana  and  Illinois  endeavored 
to  obtain  the  repeal  of  that  section  of  the  compact  of  1787,  whereby 
slavery  was  excluded  from  the  Northwest  Territory.  These  attempts, 
however,  all  signally  failed. 

In  1809  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  divide  the  Indiana  Territory. 
This  was  done,  and  the  Territory  of  Illinois  was  formed  from  the  western 
part,  the  seat  of  government  being  fixed  at  Kaskaskia.  The  next  year, 
the  intentions  of  Tecumseh  manifested  themselves  in  open  hostilities,  and 
then  began  the  events  already  narrated. 

While  this  war  was  in  progress,  emigration  to  the  West  went  on  with 
surprising  rapidity.  In  1811,  under  Mr.  Roosevelt  of  New  York,  the 
first  steamboat  trip  was  made  on  the  Ohio,  much  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  natives,  many  of  whom  fled  in  terror  at  the  appearance  of  the 
"  monster."  It  arrived  at  Louisville  on  the  10th  day  of  October.  At  the 
close  of  the  first  week  of  January,  1812,  it  arrived  at  Natchez,  after  being 
nearly  overwhelmed  in  the  great  earthquake  which  occurred  while  on  its 
downward  trip. 

The  battle  of  the  Thames  was  fought  on  October  6,  1813.  It 
effectually  closed  hostilities  in  the  Northwest,  although  peace  was  not 
fully  restored  until  July  22,  1814,  when  a  treaty  was  formed  at  Green- 
ville, under  the  direction  of  General  Harrison,  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Indian  tribes,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the  Indians  should 
cease  hostilities  against  the  Americans  if  the  war  were  continued.  Such, 
happily,  was  not  the  case,  and  on  the  24th  of  December  the  treaty 
of  Ghent  was  signed  by  the  representatives  of  England  and  the  United 
States.  This  treaty  was  followed  the  next  year  by  treaties  with  various 
Indian  tribes  throughout  the  West,  and  Northwest,  and  quiet  was  again 
restored  in  this  part  of  the  new  world. 

On  the  18th  of  March,  1816,  Pittsburgh  was  incorporated  as  a  city. 
It  then  had  a  population  of  8,000  people,  and  was  already  noted  for  its 
manufacturing  interests.  On  April  19,  Indiana  Territory  was  allowed 
to  form  a  state  government.  At  that  time  there  were  thirteen  counties 
organized,  containing  about  sixty-three  thousand  inhabitants.  The  first 
election  of  state  officers  was  held  in  August,  when  Jonathan  Jennings 
was  chosen  Governor.  The  officers  were  sworn  in  on  November  7,  and 
on  December  11,  the  State  was  formally  admitted  into  the  Union.  For 
some  time  the  seat  of  government  was  at  Corydon,  but  a  more  central 
location  being  desirable,  the  present  capital,  Indianapolis  (City  of  Indiana), 
was  laid  out  January  1,  1825. 


74  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

On  the  28th  of  December  the  Bank  of  Illinois,  at  Shawneetown,  was 
chartered,  with  a  capital  of  $300,000.  At  this  period  all  banks  were 
under  the  control  of  the  States,  and  were  allowed  to  establish  branches 
at  different  convenient  points. 

Until  this  time  Chillicothe  and  Cincinnati  had  in  turn  enjoyed  the 
privileges  of  being  the  capital  of  Ohio.  But  the  rapid  settlement  of  the 
northern  and  eastern  portions  of  the  State  demanded,  as  in  Indiana,  a 
more  central  location,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year,  the  site  of  Col- 
umbus was  selected  and  surveyed  as  the  future  capital  of  the  State. 
Banking  had  begun  in  Ohio  as  early  as  1808,  when  the  first  bank  was 
chartered  at  Marietta,  but  here  as  elsewhere  it  did  not  bring  to  the  state 
the  hoped-for  assistance.  It  and  other  banks  were  subsequently  unable 
to  redeem  their  currency,  and  were  obliged  to  suspend. 

In  1818,  Illinois  was  made  a  state,  and  all  the  territory  north  of  her 
northern  limits  was  erected  into  a  separate  territory  and  joined  to  Mich- 
igan for  judicial  purposes.  By  the  following  year,  navigation  of  the  lakes 
was  increasing  with  great  rapidity  and  affording  an  immense  source  of 
revenue  to  the  dwellers  in  the  Northwest,  but  it  was  not  until  1826  that 
the  trade  was  extended  to  Lake  Michigan,  or  that  steamships  began  to 
navigate  the  bosom  of  that  inland  sea. 

Until  the  year  1832,  the  commencement  of  the  Black  Hawk  War, 
but  few  hostilities  were  experienced  with  the  Indians.  Roads  were 
opened,  canals  were  dug,  cities  were  built,  common  schools  were  estab- 
lished, universities  were  founded,  many  of  which,  especially  the  Michigan 
University,  have  achieved  a  world  wide-reputation.  The  people  were 
becoming  wealthy.  The  domains  of  the  United  States  had  been  extended, 
and  had  the  sons  of  the  forest  been  treated  with  honesty  and  justice,  the 
record  of  many  years  would  have  been  that  of  peace  and  continuous  pros- 
perity. 

BLACK  HAWK  AND  THE  BLACK  HAWK  WAR. 

This  conflict,  though  confined  to  Illinois,  is  an  important  epoch  in 
the  Northwestern  history,  being  the  last  war  with  the  Indians, in  this  part 
of  the  United  States. 

Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah,  or  Black  Hawk,  was  born  in  the  principal 
Sac  village,  about  three  miles  from  the  junction  of  Rock  River  with  the 
Mississippi,  in  the  year  1767.  His  father's  name  was  Py-e-sa  or  Pahaes ; 
his  grandfather's,  Na-na-ma-kee,  or  the  Thunderer.  Black  Hawk  early 
distinguished  himself  as  a  warrior,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  was  permitted 
to  paint  and  was  ranked  among  the  braves.  About  the  year  1783,  he 
went  on  an  expedition  against  the  enemies  of  his  nation,  the  Osages,  one 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


76 


BLACK  HAWK,  THE  SAC  CHIEFTAIN. 


76  THE   NORTHWEST  TERRITORY. 

of  whom  he  killed  and  scalped,  and  for  this  deed  of  Indian  bravery  he  was 
permitted  to  join  in  the  scalp  dance.  Three  or  four  years  after  he,  at  the 
head  of  two  hundred  braves,  went  on  another  expedition  against  the 
Osages,  to  avenge  the  murder  of  some  women  and  children  belonging  to 
his  own  tribe.  Meeting  an  equal  number  of  Osage  warriors,  a  fierce 
battle  ensued,  in  which  the  latter  tribe  lost  one-half  their  number.  The 
Sacs  lost  only  about  nineteen  warriors.  He  next  attacked  the  Cherokees 
for  a  similar  cause.  In  a  severe  battle  with  them,  near  the  present  City 
of  St.  Louis,  his  father  was  slain,  and  Black  Hawk,  taking  possession  of 
the  "  Medicine  Bag,"  at  once  announced  himself  chief  of  the  Sac  nation. 
He  had  now  conquered  the  Cherokees,  and  about  the  year  1800,  at  the 
head  of  five  hundred  Sacs  and  Foxes,  and  a  hundred  lowas,  he  waged 
war  against  the  Osage  nation  and  subdued  it.  For  two  years  he  battled 
successfully  with  other  Indian  tribes,  all  of  whom  he  conquered. 

Black  Hawk  does  not  at  any  time  seem  to  have  been  friendly  to 
the  Americans.  When  on  a  visit  to  St.  Louis  to  see  his  "  Spanish 
Father,"  he  declined  to  see  any  of  the  Americans,  alleging,  as  a  reason, 
he  did  not  want  two  fathers. 

The  treaty  at  St.  Louis  was  consummated  in  1804.  The  next  year  the 
United  States  Government  erected  a  fort  near  the  head  of  the  Des  Moines 
Rapids,  called  Fort  Edwards.  This  seemed  to  enrage  Black  Hawk,  who 
at  once  determined  to  capture  Fort  Madison,  standing  on  the  west  side  of 
the  Mississippi  above  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines  River.  The  fort  was 
garrisoned  by  about  fifty  men.  Here  he  was  defeated.  The  difficulties 
with  the  British  Government  arose  about  this  time,  and  the  War  of  1812 
followed.  That  government,  extending  aid  to  the  Western  Indians,  by 
giving  them  arms  and  ammunition,  induced  them  to  remain  hostile  to  the 
Americans.  In  August,  1812,  Black  Hawk,  at  the  head  of  about  five 
hundred  braves,  started  to  join  the  British  forces  at  Detroit,  passing  on 
his  way  the  site  of  Chicago,  where  the  famous  Fort  Dearborn  Massacre 
^  a  few  days  before  occurred.  Of  his  connection  with  the  British 
.  eminent  but  little  is  known.  In  1813  he  with  his  little  band  descended 
the  Mississippi,  and  attacking  some  United  States  troops  at  Fort  Howard 
was  defeated. 

In  the  early  part  of  1815,  the  Indian  tribes  west  of  the  Mississippi 
were  notified  that  peace  had  been  declared  between  the  United  States 
and  England,  and  nearly  all  hostilities  had  ceased.  Black  Hawk  did  not 
sign  any  treaty,  however,  until  May  of  the  following  year.  He  then  recog- 
nized the  validity  of  the  treaty  at  St.  Louis  in  1804.  From  the  time  of 
signing  this  treaty  in  1816,  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1832,  he 
and  his  band  passed  their  time  in  the  common  pursuits  of  Indian  life. 

Ten  years  before  the  commencement  of  this  war,  the  Sac  and  Fox 


THE    NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  77 

Indians  were  urged  to  join  the  lowas  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Father  of 
Waters.  All  were  agreed,  save  the  band  known  as  the  British  Band,  of 
which  Black  Hawk  was  leader.  He  strenuously  objected  to  the  removal, 
and  was  induced  to  comply  only  after  being  threatened  with  the  power  of 
the  Government.  This  and  various  actions  on  the  part  of  the  white  set- 
tlers provoked  Black  Hawk  and  his  band  to  attempt  the  capture  of  his 
native  village  now  occupied  by  the  whites.  The  war  followed.  He  and 
his  actions  were  undoubtedly  misunderstood,  and  had  his  wishes  been 
acquiesced  in  at  the  beginning  of  the  struggle,  much  bloodshed  would 
have  been  prevented. 

Black  Hawk  was  chief  now  of  the  Sac  and  Fox  nations,  and  a  noted 
warrior.  He  and  his  tribe  inhabited  a  village  on  Rock  River,  nearly  three 
miles  above  its  confluence  with  the  Mississippi,  where  the  tribe  had  lived 
many  generations.  When  that  portion  of  Illinois  was  reserved  to  them, 
they  remained  in  peaceable  possession  of  their  reservation,  spending  their 
time  in  the  enjoyment  of  Indian  life.  The  fine  situation  of  their  village 
and  the  quality  of  their  lands  incited  the  more  lawless  white  settlers,  who 
from  time  to  time  began  to  encroach  upon  the  red  men's  domain.  From 
one  pretext  to  another,  and  from  one  step  to  another,  the  crafty  white 
men  gained  a  foothold,  until  through  whisky  and  artifice  they  obtained 
deeds  from  many  of  the  Indians  for  their  possessions.  The  Indians  were 
finally  induced  to  cross  over  the  Father  of  Waters  and  locate  among  the 
lowas.  Black  Hawk  was  strenuously  opposed  to  all  this,  but  as  the 
authorities  of  Illinois  and  the  United  States  thought  this  the  best  move,  he 
was  forced  to  comply.  Moreover  other  tribes  joined  the  whites  and  urged 
the  removal.  Black  Hawk  would  not  agree  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
made  with  his  nation  for  their  lands,  and  as  soon  as  the  military,  called  to 
enforce  his  removal,  had  retired,  he  returned  to  the  Illinois  side  of  the 
river.  A  large  force  was  at  once  raised  and  marched  against  him.  On 
the  evening  of  May  14,  1832,  the  first  engagement  occurred  between  a 
band  from  this  army  and  Black  Hawk's  band,  in  which  the  former  were 
defeated. 

This  attack  and  its  result  aroused  the  whites.  A  large  force  of  men 
was  raised,  and  Gen.  Scott  hastened  from  the  seaboard,  by  way  of  the 
lakes,  with  United  States  troops  and  artillery  to  aid  in  the  subjugation  of 
the  Indians.  On  the  24th  of  June,  Black  Hawk,  with  200  warriors,  was 
repulsed  by  Major  Demont  between  Rock  River  and  Galena.  The  Ameri- 
can army  continued  to  move  up  Rock  River  toward  the  main  body  of 
the  Indians,  and  on  the  21st  of  July  came  upon  Black  Hawk  and  his  band, 
and  defeated  them  near  the  Blue  Mounds. 

Before  this  action,  Gen.  Henry,  in  command,  sent  word  to  the  main 
army  by  whom  he  was  immediately  rejoined,  and  the  whole  crossed  the 


78  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

Wisconsin  in  pursuit  of  Black  Hawk  and  his  band  who  were  fleeing  to  the 
Mississippi.  They  were  overtaken  on  the  2d  of  August,  and  in  the  battle 
which  followed  the  power  of  the  Indian  chief  was  completely  broken.  He 
fled,  but  was  seized  by  the  Winnebagoes  and  delivered  to  the  whites. 

On  the  21st  of  September,  1832,  Gen.  Scott  and  Gov.  Reynolds  con- 
cluded a  treaty  with  the  Winnebagoes,  Sacs  and  Foxes  by  which  they 
ceded  to  the  United  States  a  vast  tract  of  country,  and  agreed  to  remain 
peaceable  with  the  whites.  For  the  faithful  performance  of  the  provi- 
sions of  this  treaty  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  it  was  stipulated  that 
Black  Hawk,  his  two  sons,  the  prophet  Wabokieshiek,  and  six  other  chiefs 
of  the  hostile  bands  should  be  retained  as  hostages  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  President.  They  were  confined  at  Fort  Barracks  and  put  in  irons. 

The  next  Spring,  by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  they  were  taken 
to  Washington.  From  there  they  were  removed  to  Fortress  Monroe, 
"there  to  remain  until  the  conduct  of  their  nation  was  such  as  to  justify 
their  being  set  at  liberty."  They  were  retained  here  until  the  4th  of 
June,  when  the  authorities  directed  them  to  be  taken  to  the  principal 
cities  so  that  they  might  see  the  folly  of  contending  against  the  white 
people.  Everywhere  they  were  observed  by  thousands,  the  name  of  the 
old  chief  being  extensively  known.  By  the  middle  of  August  they 
reached  Fort  Armstrong  on  Rock  Island,  where  Black  Hawk  was  soon 
after  released  to  go  to  his  countrymen.  As  he  passed  the  site  of  his  birth- 
place, now  the  home  of  the  white  man,  he  was  deeply  moved.  His  village 
where  he  was  born,  where  he  had  so  happily  lived,  and  where  he  had 
hoped  to  die,  was  now  another's  dwelling  place,  and  he  was  a  wanderer. 

On  the  next  day  after  his  release,  he  went  at  once  to  his  tribe  and 
his  lodge,  His  wife  was  yet  living,  and  with  her  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  days.  To  his  credit  it  may  be  said  that  Black  Hawk  always  re- 
mained true  to  his  wife,  and  served  her  with  a  devotion  uncommon  among 
the  Indians,  living  with  her  upward  of  forty  years. 

Black  Hawk  now  passed  his  time  hunting  and  fishing.  A  deep  mel- 
ancholy had  settled  over  him  from  which  he  could  not  be  freed.  At  all 
times  when  he  visited  the  whites  he  was  received  with  marked  atten- 
tion. He  was  an  honored  guest  at  the  old  settlers'  reunion  in  Lee  County, 
Illinois,  at  some  of  their  meetings,  and  received  many  tokens  of  esteem. 
In  September,  1838,  while  on  his  way  to  Rock  Island  to  receive  his 
annuity  from  the  Government,  he  contracted  a  severe  cold  which  resulted 
in  a  fatal  attack  of  bilious  fever  which  terminated  his  life  on  October  3. 
His  faithful  wife,  who  was  devotedly  attached  to  him,  mourned  deeply 
during  his  sickness.  After  his  death  he  was  dressed  in  the  uniform  pre- 
sented to  him  by  the  President  while  in  Washington.  He  was  buried  in 
a  grave  six  feet  in  depth,  situated  upon  a  beautiful  eminence.  "The 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  79 

body  was  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  grave,  in  a  sitting  posture,  upon  a 
seat  constructed  for  the  purpose.  On  his  left  side,  the  cane,  given  him 
by  Henry  Clay,  was  placed  upright,  with  his  right  hand  resting  upon  it. 
Many  of  the  old  warrior's  trophies  were  placed  in  the  grave,  and  some 
Indian  garments,  together  with  his  favorite  weapons." 

No  sooner  was  the  Black  Hawk  war  concluded  than  settlers  began 
rapidly  to  pour  into  the  northern  parts  of  Illinois,  and  into  Wisconsin, 
now  free  from  Indian  depredations.  Chicago,  from  a  trading  post,  had 
grown  to  a  commercial  center,  and  was  rapidly  coming  into  prominence. 
In  1835,  the  formation  of  a  State  Government  in  Michigan  was  discussed, 
but  did  not  take  active  form  until  two  years  later,  when  the  State  became 
a  part  of  the  Federal  Union. 

The  main  attraction  to  that  portion  of  the  Northwest  lying  west  of 
Lake  Michigan,  now  included  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  was  its  alluvial 
wealth.  Copper  ore  was  found  about  Lake  Superior.  For  some  time  this 
region  was  attached  to  Michigan  for  judiciary  purposes,  but  in  183<>  was 
made  a  territory,  then  including  Minnesota  and  Iowa.  The  latter  State 
was  detached  two  years  later.  In  1848,  Wisconsin  was  admitted  as  a 
State,  Madison  being  made  the  capital.  We  have  now  traced  the  various 
divisions  of  the  Northwest  Territory  (save  a  little  in  Minnesota)  from 
the  time  it  was  a  unit  comprising  this  vast  territory,  until  circumstances 
compelled  its  present  division.  ,  , 

OTHER   INDIAN   TROUBLES. 

Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  narrative,  we  will  narrate  briefly  the 
Indian  troubles  in  Minnesota  and  elsewhere  by  the  Sioux  Indians. 

In  August,  1862,  the  Sioux  Indians  living  on  the  western  borders  of 
Minnesota  fell  upon  the  unsuspecting  settlers,  and  in  a  few  hours  mas- 
sacred ten  or  twelve  hundred  persons.  A  distressful  panic  was  the 
immediate  result,  fully  thirty  thousand  persons  fleeing  from  their  homes 
to  districts  supposed  to  be  better  protected.  The  military  authorities 
at  once  took  active  measures  to  punish  the  savages,  and  a  large  number 
were  killed  and  captured.  About  a  year  after,  Little  Crow,  the  chief, 
was  killed  by  a  Mr.  Lampson  near  Scattered  Lake.  -Of  those  captured, 
thirty  were  hung  at  Mankato,  and  the  remainder,  through  fears  of  mob 
violence,  were  removed  to  Camp  McClellan,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  City 
of  Davenport.  It  was  here  that  Big  Eagle  came  into  prominence  and 
secured  his  release  by  the  following  order : 


80 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


EAGLE. 


THE    NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  81 

"Special  Order,  No.  430.  "WAR  DEPARTMENT, 

"  ADJUTANT  GENERAL'S  OFFICE,  WASHINGTON,  Dec.  3, 1864. 

"  Big  Eagle,  an  Indian  now  in  confinement  at  Davenport,  Iowa, 
will,  upon  the  receipt  of  this  order,  be  immediately  released  from  confine- 
ment and  set  at  liberty. 

"  By  order  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
"  Official :  "  E.  D.  TOWNSEND,  Ass't  Adft  G-en. 

" CAPT.  JAMES  VANDERVENTER,  Corny  Sub.  Voh. 

"  Through  Com'g  Gen'l,  Washington,  D.  C." 

Another  Indian  who  figures  more  prominently  than  Big  Eagle,  and 
who  was  more  cowardly  in  his  nature,  with  his  band  of  Modoc  Indians, 
is  noted  in  the  annals  of  the  New  Northwest:  we  refer  to  Captain  Jack. 
This  distinguished  Indian,  noted  for  his  cowardly  murder  of  Gen.  Canby, 
was  a  chief  of  a  Modoc  tribe  of  Indians  inhabiting  the  border  lands 
between  California  and  Oregon.  This  region  of  country  comprises  what 
is  known  as  the  "  Lava  Beds."  a  tract  of  land  described  as  utterly  impene- 
trable, save  by  those  savages  who  had  made  it  their  home. 

The  Modocs  are  known  as  an  exceedingly  fierce  and  treacherous 
race.  They  had,  according  to  their  own  traditions,  resided  here  for  many 
generations,  and  at  one  time  were  exceedingly  numerous  and  powerful. 
A  famine  carried  off  nearly  half  their  numbers,  and  disease,  indolence 
and  the  vices  of  the  white  man  have  reduced  them  to  a  poor,  weak  and 
insignificant  tribe. 

Soon  after  the  settlement  of  California  and  Oregon,  complaints  began 
to  be  heard  of  massacres  of  emigrant  trains  passing  through  the  Modoc 
country.  In  1847,  an  emigrant  train,  comprising  eighteen  souls,  was  en- 
tirely destroyed  at  a  place  since  known  as  "  Bloody  Point."  These  occur- 
rences caused  the  United  States  Government  to  appoint  a  peace  commission, 
who,  after  repeated  attempts,  in  1864.  made  a  treaty  with  the  Modocs, 
Snakes  and  Klamaths,  in  which  it  was  agreed  on  their  part  to  remove  to 
a  reservation  set  apart  for  them  in  the  southern  part  of  Oregon. 

With  the  exception  of  Captain  Jack  and  a  band  of  his  followers,  who 
remained  at  Clear  Lake,  about  six  miles  from  Klamath,  all  the  Indians 
complied.  The  Modocs  who  went  to  the  reservation  were  under  chief 
Schonchin.  Captain  Jack  remained  at  the  lake  without  disturbance 
until  1869,  when  he  was  also  induced  to  remove  to  the  reservation.  The 
Modocs  and  the  Klamaths  soon  became  involved  in  a  quarrel,  and  Captain 
Jack  and  his  band  returned  to  the  Lava  Beds. 

Several  attempts  were  made  by  the  Indian  Commissioners  to  induce 
them  to  return  to  the  reservation,  and  finally  becoming  involved  in  a 


82  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

difficulty  with  the  commissioner  and  his  military  escort,  a  fight  ensued, 
in  which  the  chief  and  his  band  were  routed.  They  were  greatly  enraged, 
and  on  their  retreat,  before  the  day  closed,  killed  eleven  inoffensive  whites. 

The  nation  was  aroused  and  immediate  action  demanded.  A  com- 
mission was  at  once  appointed  by  the  Government  to  see  what  could  be 
done.  It  comprised  the  following  persons  :  Gen.  E.  R.  S.  Canby:  Rev. 
Dr.  E.  Thomas,  a  leading  Methodist  divine  of  California;  Mr.  A.  B. 
Meacham,  Judge  Rosborough,  of  California,  and  a  Mr.  Dyer,  of  Oregon. 
After  several  interviews,  in  which  the  savages  were  always  aggressive, 
often  appearing  with  scalps  in  their  belts,  Bogus  Charley  came  to  the 
commission  on  the  evening  of  April  10,  1873,  and  informed  them  that 
Capt.  Jack  and  his  band  would  have  a  "  talk  "  to-morrow  at  a  place  near 
Clear  Lake,  about  three  miles  distant.  Here  the  Commissioners,  accom- 
panied by  Charley,  Riddle,  the  interpreter,  and  Boston  Charley  repaired. 
After  the  usual  greeting  the  council  proceedings  commenced.  On  behalf 
of  the  Indians  there  were  present :  Capt.  Jack,  Black  Jim,  Schnac  Nasty 
Jim,  Ellen's  Man,  and  Hooker  Jim.  They  had  no  guns,  but  carried  pis- 
tols. After  short  speeches  by  Mr.  Meacham,  Gen.  Canby  and  Dr.  Thomas, 
Chief  Schonchin  arose  to  speak.  He  had  scarcely  proceeded  when, 
as  if  by  a  preconcerted  arrangement,  Capt.  Jack  drew  his  pistol  and  shot 
Gen.  Canby  dead.  In  less  than  a  minute  a  dozen  shots  were  fired  by  the 
savages,  and  the  massacre  completed.  Mr.  Meacham  was  shot  by  Schon- 
chin, and  Dr.  Thomas  by  Boston  Charley.  Mr.  Dyer  barely  escaped,  being 
fired  at  twice.  Riddle,  the  interpreter,  and  his  squaw  escaped.  The 
troops  rushed,  to  the  spot  where  they  found  Gen.  Canby  and  Dr.  Thomas 
dead,  and  Mr.  Meacham  badly  wounded.  The  savages  had  escaped  to 
their  impenetrable  fastnesses  and  could  not  be  pursued. 

The  whole  country  was  aroused  by  this  brutal  massacre ;  but  it  was 
not  until  the  following  May  that  the  murderers  were  brought  to  justice. 
At  that  time  Boston  Charley  gave  himself  up,  and  offered  to  guide  the 
troops  to  Capt.  Jack's  stronghold.  This  led  to  the  capture  of  his  entire 
gang,  a  number  of  whom  were  murdered  by  Oregon  volunteers  while  on 
their  way  to  trial.  The  remaining  Indians  were  held  as  prisoners  until 
July  when  their  trial  occurred,  which  led  to  the  conviction  of  Capt. 
Jack,  Schonchin,  Boston  Charley,  Hooker  Jim,  Broncho,  alias  One-Eyed 
Jim,  and  Slotuck,  who  were  sentenced  to  be  hanged.  These  sentences 
were  approved  by  the  President,  save  in  the  case  of  Slotuck  and  Broncho 
whose  sentences  were  commuted  to  imprisonment  for  life.  The  others 
were  executed  at  Fort  Klamath,  October  3,  1873. 

These  closed  the  Indian  troubles  for  a  time  in  the  Northwest,  and  for 
several  years  the  borders  of  civilization  remained  in  peace.  They  were 
again  involved  in  a  conflict  with  the  savages  about  the  country  of  the 


CRETE 


THfc 
OP  TBi 


THE    NORTHWEST    TERRITORY. 


CAPTAIN  JACK,  THE  MODOC  CHIEFTAIN. 


84  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

Black  Hills,  in  which  war  the  gallant  Gen.  Ouster  lost  his  life.  Just 
now  the  borders  of  Oregon  and  California  are  again  in  fear  of  hostilities  ; 
but  as  the  Government  has  learned  how  to  deal  with  the  Indians,  they 
will  be  of  short  duration.  The  red  man  is  fast  passing  away  before  the 
march  of  the  white  man,  and  a  few  more  generations  will  read  of  the 
Indians  as  one  of  the  nations  of  the  past. 

The  Northwest  abounds  in  memorable  places.  We  have  generally 
noticed  them  in  the  narrative,  but  our  space  forbids  their  description  in 
detail,  save  of  the  most  important  places.  Detroit,  Cincinnati,  Vincennes, 
Kaskaskia  and  their  kindred  towns  have  all  been  described.  But  ere  we 
leave  the  narrative  we  will  present  our  readers  with  an  account  of  the 
Kinzie  house,  the  old  landmark  of  Chicago,  and  the  discovery  of  the 
source  of  the  Mississippi  River,  each  of  which  may  well  find  a  place  in 
the  annals  of  the  Northwest. 

Mr.  John  Kinzie,  of  the  Kinzie  house,  represented  in  the  illustra- 
tion, established  a  trading  house  at  Fort  Dearborn  in  1804.  The  stockade 
had  been  erected  the  year  previous,  and  named  Fort  Dearborn  in  honor 
of  the  Secretary  of  War.  It  had  a  block  house  at  each  of  the  two  angles, 
on  the  southern  side  a  sallyport,  a  covered  way  on  the  north  side,  that  led 
down  to  the  river,  for  the  double  purpose  of  providing  means  of  escape, 
and  of  procuring  water  in  the  event  of  a  siege. 

Fort  Dearborn  stood  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Chicago  River,  about 
half  a  mile  from  its  mouth.  When  Major  Whistler  built  it,  his  soldiers 
hauled  all  the  timber,  for  he  had  no  oxen,  and  so  economically  did  he 
work  that  the  fort  cost  the  Government  only  fifty  dollars.  For  a  while 
the  garrison  could  get  no  grain,  and  W  histler  and  his  men  subsisted  on 
acorns.  Now  Chicago  is  the  greatest  grain  center  in  the  world. 

Mr.  Kinzie  bought  the  hut  of  the  first  settler,  Jean  Baptiste  Point  au 
Sable,  on  the  site  of  which  he  erected  his  mansion.  Within  an  inclosure 
in  front  he  planted  some  Lombardy  poplars,  seen  in  the  engraving,  and  in 
the  rear  he  soon  had  a  fine  garden  and  growing  orchard. 

In  1812  the  Kinzie  house  and  its  surroundings  became  the  theater 
of  stirring  events.  The  garrison  of  Fort  Dearborn  consisted  of  fifty-four 
men,  under  the  charge  of  Capt.  Nathan  Heald,  assisted  by  Lieutenant 
Lenai  T.  Helm  (son-in-law  to  Mrs.  Kinzie),  and  Ensign  Ronan.  The 
surgeon  was  Dr.  Voorhees.  The  only  residents  at  the  post  at  that  time 
were  the  wives  of  Capt.  Heald  and  Lieutenant  Helm  and  a  few  of  the 
soldiers,  Mr.  Kinzie  and  his  family,  and  a  few  Canadian  voyagers  with  their 
wives  and  children.  The  soldiers  and  Mr.  Kinzie  were  on  the  most 
friendly  terms  with  the  Pottawatomies  and  the  Winnebagoes,  the  prin- 
cipal tribes  around  them,  but  they  could  not  win  them  from  their  attach- 
ment to  the  British. 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


85 


After  the  battle  of  Tippecanoe  it  was  observed  that  some  of  the  lead- 
ing chiefs  became  sullen,  for  some  of  their  people  had  perished  in  that 
conflict  with  American  troops. 

One  evening  in  April,  1812,  Mr.  Kinzie  sat  playing  his  violin  and  his 
children  were  dancing  to  the  music,  when  Mrs.  Kinzie  came  rushing  into 
the  house  pale  with  terror,  and  exclaiming,  "  The  Indians  !  the  Indians  !  " 
"  What  ?  Where  ?  "  eagerly  inquired  Mr.  Kinzie.  "  Up  at  Lee's,  killing 
and  scalping,"  answered  the  frightened  mother,  who,  when  the  alarm  was 
given,  was  attending  Mrs.  Burns,  a  newly-made  mother,  living  not  far  off. 


KITTZIE    HOUSE. 


Mr.  Kinzie  and  his  family  crossed  the  river  in  boats,  and  took  refuge  in 
the  fort,  to  which  place  Mrs.  Burns  and  her  infant,  not  a  day  old,  were 
conveyed  in  safety  to  the  shelter  of  the  guns  of  Fort  Dearborn,  and  the 
rest  of  the  white  inhabitants  fled.  The  Indians  were  a  scalping  party  of 
Winnebagoes,  who  hovered  around  the  fort  some  days,  when  they  dis- 
appeared, and  for  several  weeks  the  inhabitants  were  not  disturbed  by 
alarms. 

Chicago  was  then  so  deep  in  the  wilderness,  that  the  news  of  the 
declaration  of  war  against  Great  Britain,  made  on  the  19th  of  June,  1812, 
did  not  reach  the  commander  of  the  garrison  at  Fort  Dearborn  till  the  7th 
of  August.  Now  the  fast  mail  train  will  carry  a  man  from  New  York  to 
Chicago  in  twenty-seven  hours,  and  such  a  declaration  might  be  sent, 
every  word,  by  the  telegraph  in  less  than  the  same  number  of  minutes. 


THE  tfOETHWEST   TERRITORY. 


PRESENT    CONDITION    OF    THE    NORTHWEST 

Preceding  chapters  have  brought  us  to  the  close  of  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  and  we  now  turn  to  the  contemplation  of  the  growth  and  prosperity 
of  the  Northwest  under  the  smile  of  peace  and  the  blessings  of  our  civili- 
The  pioneers  of  this  region  date  events  back  to  the  deep  snow 


A    REPRESENTATIVE    PIONEER. 


of  1831,  no  one  arriving  here  since  that  date  taking  first  honors.  The 
inciting  cause  of  the  immigration  which  overflowed  the  prairies  early  in 
the  '80s  was  the  reports  of  the  marvelous  beauty  and  fertility  of  the 
region  distributed  through  the  East  by  those  who  had  participated  in  the 
Black  Hawk  campaign  with  Gen.  Scott.  Chicago  and  Milwaukee  then 
had  a  few  hundred  inhabitants,  and  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard's  trail  from  the 
former  city  to  Kaskaskia  led  almost  through  a  wilderness.  Vegetables 
and  clothing  were  largely  distributed  through  the  regions  adjoining  the 


88  THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY. 

Lakes  by  steamers  from  the  Ohio  towns.  There  are  men  now  living  in 
Illinois  who  came  to  the  state  when  barely  an  acre  was  in  cultivation, 
and  a  man  now  prominent  in  the  business  circles  of  Chicago  looked  over 
the  swampy,  cheerless  site  of  that  metropolis  in  1818  and  went  south- 
ward into  civilization.  Emigrants  from  Pennsylvania  in  1830  left  behind 


LINCOLN    MONUMENT,    SPRINGFIELD,    ILLINOIS. 

them  but  one  small  railway  in  the  coal  regions,  thirty  miles  in  length, 
and  made  their  way  to  the  Northwest  mostly  with  ox  teams,  finding  in 
Northern  Illinois  petty  settlements  scores  of  miles  apart,  although  the 
southern  portion  of  the  state  was  fairly  dotted  with  farms.  The 
water  courses  of  the  lakes  and  rivers  furnished  transportation  to  the 
second  great  army  of  immigrants,  and  about  1850  railroads  were 
pushed  to  that  extent  that  the  crisis  of  1837  was  precipitated  upon  us, 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


89 


from  the  effects  of  which  the  "Western  country  had  not  fully  recovered 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Hostilities  found  the  colonists  of  the  prairies 
fully  alive  to  the  demands  of  the  occasion,  and  the  honor  of  recruiting 


the  vast  armies  of  the  Union  fell  largely  to  Gov.  Yates,  of  Illinois,  and 
<rov.  Morton,  of  Indiana.  To  recount  the  share  of  the  glories  of  the 
campaign  won  bj  cur  Western  troops  is  a  needless  task,  except  to 
mention  the  fact  that  Illinois  gave  to  the  nation  the  President  who  save/1 


90 


THJE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


it,  and  sent  out  at  the  head  of  one  of  its  regiments  tne  general  who  led 
ts  armies  to  the  final  victory  at  Appomattox.      The  struggle,  on  the 


FAKM    VIEW    IN    WINTER. 


whole,  had  a  marked  effect  for  the  better  on  the  new  Northwest,  g:  fing 
it  an  impetus  which  twenty  years  of  peace  would  not  have  produced. 
In  a  large  degree  this  prosperity  was  an  inflated  one,  and  with  the  rest 
of  the  Union  we  have  since  been  compelled  to  atone  therefor  by  four 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  93 

years  of  depression  of  values,  of  scarcity  of  employment,  and  loss  of 
fortune.  To  a  less  degree,  however,  than  the  manufacturing  or  mining 
regions  has  the  West  suffered  during  the  prolonged  panic  now  so  near  its 
end.  Agriculture,  still  the  leading  feature  in  our  industries,  has  been 
quite  prosperous  through  all  these  dark  years,  and  the  farmers  have 
cleared  away  many  incumbrances  resting  over  them  from  the  period  of 
fictitious  values.  The  population  has  steadily  increased,  the  arts  a 
sciences  are  gaining  a  stronger  foothold,  the  trade  area  of  the  region  is 
becoming  daily  more  extended,  and  we  have  been  largely  exempt  from 
the  financial  calamities  which  have  nearly  wrecked  communities  on  the 
seaboard  dependent  wholly  on  foreign  commerce  or  domestic  manufacture. 

At  the  present  period  there  are  no  great  schemes  broached  for  the 
Northwest,  no  propositions  for  government  subsidies  or  national  works 
of  improvement,  but  the  capital  of  the  world  is  attracted  hither  for  the 
purchase  of  our  products  or  the  expansion  of  our  capacity  for  serving  tha 
nation  at  large.  A  new  era  is  dawning  as  to  transportation,  and  we  bid 
fair  to  deal  almost  exclusively  with  the  increasing  and  expanding  lines 
of  steel  rail  running  through  every  few  miles  of  territory  on  the  prairies. 
The  lake  marine  will  no  doubt  continue  to  be  useful  in  the  warmer 
season,  and  to  serve  as  a  regulator  of  freight  rates;  but  experienced 
navigators  forecast  the  decay  of  the  system  in  moving  to  the  seaboard 
the  enormous  crops  of  the  West.  Within  the  past  five  years  it  has 
become  quite  common  to  see  direct  shipments  to  Europe  and  the  West 
Indies  going  through  from  the  second-class  towns  along  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri. 

As  to  popular  education,  the  standard  has  of  late  risen  very  greatly, 
and  our  schools  would  be  creditable  to  any  section  of  the  Union. 

More  and  more  as  the  events  of  the  war  pass  into  obscurity  will  the 
fate  of  the  Northwest  be  linked  with  that  of  the  Southwest,  and  the 
next  Congressional  apportionment  will  give  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
absolute  control  of  the  legislation  of  the  nation,  and  do  much  toward 
securing  the  removal  of  the  Federal  capitol  to  some  more  central  location. 

Our  public  men  continue'  to  wield  the  full  share  of  influence  pertain- 
ing to  their  rank  in  the  national  autonomy,  and  seem  not  to  forget  that 
for  the  past  sixteen  years  they  and  their  constituents  have  dictated  the 
principles  which  should  govern  the  country. 

In  a  work  like  this,  destined  to  lie  on  the  shelves  of  the  library  for 
generations,  and  not  doomed  to  daily  destruction  like  a  newspaper,  one 
can  not  indulge  in  the  same  glowing  predictions,  the  sanguine  statements 
of  actualities  that  fill  the  columns  of  ephemeral  publications.  Time  may 
bring  grief  to  the  pet  projects  of  a  writer,  and  explode  castles  erected  on 
a  pedestal  of  facts.  Yet  there  are  unmistakable  indications  before  us  of 


94 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


LAKE  BLUFF. 

The  frontage  of  Lake  Bluff  Grounds  on  Lake  Michigan,  -with  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet  of  gradual  ascent. 


HIGH  BRIDGE,  LAKE  BLLTF,  LAKE  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS. 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  95 

the  same  radical  change  in  our  great  Northwest  which  characterizes  its 
history  for  the  past  thirty  years.  Our  domain  has  a  sort  of  natural 
geographical  border,  save  where  it  melts  away  to  the  southward  in  the 
cattle  raising  districts  of  the  southwest. 

Our  prime  interest  will  for  some  years  doubtless  be  the  growth  of 
the  food  of  the  world,  in  which  branch  it  has  already  outstripped  all 
competitors,  and  our  great  rival  in  this  duty  will  naturally  be  the  fertile 
plains  of  Kansas,  Nebraska  and  Colorado,  to  say  nothing  of  the  new 
empire  so  rapidly  growing  up  in  Texas.  Over  these  regions  there  is  a 
continued  progress  in  agriculture  and  in  railway  building,  and  we  must 
look  to  our  laurels.  Intelligent  observers  of  events  are  fully  aware  of 
the  strides  made  in  the  way  of  shipments  of  fresh  meats  to  Europe, 
many  of  these  ocean  cargoes  being  actually  slaughtered  in  the  West  and 
transported  on  ice  to  the  wharves  of  the  seaboard  cities.  That  this  new 
enterprise  will  continue  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt.  There  are  in 
Chicago  several  factories  for  the  canning  of  prepared  meats  for  European 
consumption,  and  the  orders  for  this  class  of  goods  are  already  immense. 
English  capital  is  becoming  daily  more  and  more  dissatisfied  with  railway 
loans  and  investments,  and  is  gradually  seeking  mammoth  outlays  in 
lands  and  live  stock.  The  stock  yards  in  Chicago,  Indianapolis  and  East 
St.  Louis  are  yearly  increasing  their  facilities,  and  their  plant  steadily 
grows  more  valuable.  Importations  of  blooded  animals  from  the  pro- 
gressive countries  of  Europe  are  destined  to  greatly  improve  the  quality 
of  our  beef  and  mutton.  Nowhere  is  there  to  be  seen  a  more  enticing 
display  in  this  line  than  at  our  state  and  county  fairs,  and  the  interest 
in  the  matter  is  on  the  increase. 

To  attempt  to  give  statistics  of  our  grain  production  for  1877  would 
be  useless,  so  far  have  we  surpassed  ourselves  in  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  our  product.  We  are  too  liable  to  forget  that  we  are  giving 
the  world  its  first  article  of  necessity  —  its  food  supply.  An  opportunity 
to  learn  this  fact  so  it  never  can  be  forgotten  was  afforded  at  Chicago  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  great  panic  of  1873,  when  Canadian  purchasers, 
fearing  the  prostration  of  business  might  bring  about  an  anarchical  condition 
of  affairs,  went  to  that  city  with  coin  in  bulk  and  foreign  drafts  to  secure 
their  supplies  in  their  own  currency  at  first  hands.  It  may  be  justly 
claimed  by  the  agricultural  community  that  their  combined  efforts  gave 
the  nation  its  first  impetus  toward  a  restoration  of  its  crippled  industries, 
and  their  labor  brought  the  gold  premium  to  a  lower  depth  than  the 
government  was  able  to  reach  by  its  most  intense  efforts  of  legislation 
and  compulsion.  The  hundreds  of  millions  about  to  be  disbursed  for 
farm  products  have  already,  by  the  anticipation  common  to  all  commercial 


96 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


nations,  set  the  wheels  in  motion,  and  will  relieve  us  from  the  perils  so 
long  shadowing  our  efforts  to  return  to  a  healthy  tone. 

Manufacturing  has  attained  in  the  chief  cities  a  foothold  which  bids 
fair  to  render  the  Northwest  independent  of  the  outside  world.     Nearly 


our  whole  region  has  a  distribution  of  coal  measures  which  will  in  time 
support  the  manufactures  necessary  to  our  comfort  and  prosperity.  As 
to  transportation,  the  chief  factor  in  the  production  of  all  articles  excep  v 
food,  no  section  is  so  magnificently  endowed,  and  our  facilities  are  yearly 
increasing  beyond  those  of  any  other  region. 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  97 

The  period  from  a  central  point  of  the  war  to  the  outbreak  of  the 
panic  was  marked  by  a  tremendous  growth  in  our  railway  lines,  but  the 
depression  of  the  times  caused  almost  a  total  suspension  of  operations. 
Now  that  prosperity  is  returning  to  our  stricken  country  we  witness  its 
anticipation  by  the  railroad  interest  in  a  series  of  projects,  extensions, 
and  leases  which  bid  fair  to  largely  increase  our  transportation  facilities. 
The  process  of  foreclosure  and  sale  of  incumbered  lines  is  another  matter 
to  be  considered.  In  the  case  of  the  Illinois  Central  road,  which  formerly 
transferred  to  other  lines  at  Cairo  the  vast  burden  of  freight  destined  for 
the  Gulf  region,  we  now  see  the  incorporation  of  the  tracks  connecting 
through  to  New  Orleans,  every  mile  co-operating  in  turning  toward  the 
northwestern  metropolis  the  weight  of  the  inter-state  commerce  of  a 
thousand  miles  or  more  of  fertile  plantations.  Three  competing  routes 
to  Texas  have  established  in  Chicago  their  general  freight  and  passenger 
agencies.  Four  or  five  lines  compete  for  all  Pacific  freights  to  a  point  as 
as  far  as  the  interior  of  Nebraska.  Half  a  dozen  or  more  splendid  bridge 
structures  have  been  thrown  across  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  Rivers  by 
the  railways.  The  Chicago  and  Northwestern  line  has  become  an  aggre- 
gation of  over  two  thousand  miles  of  rail,  and  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
and  St.  Paul  is  its  close  rival  in  extent  and  importance.  The  three  lines 
running  to  Cairo  via  Vincennes  form  a  through  route  for  all  traffic  with 
the  states  to  the  southward.  The  chief  projects  now  under  discussion 
are  the  Chicago  and  Atlantic,  which  is  to  unite  with  lines  now  built  to 
Charleston,  and  the  Chicago  and  Canada  Southern,  which  line  will  con- 
nect with  all  the  various  branches  of  that  Canadian  enterprise.  Our 
latest  new  road  is  the  Chicago  and  Lake  Huron,  formed  of  three  lines, 
and  entering  the  city  from  Valparaiso  on  the  Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne 
and  Chicago  track.  The  trunk  lines  being  mainly  in  operation,  the 
progress  made  in  the  way  of  shortening  tracks,  making  air-line  branches, 
and  running  extensions  does  not  show  to  the  advantage  it  deserves,  as 
this  process  is  constantly  adding  new  facilities  to  the  established  order 
of  things.  The  panic  reduced  the  price  of  steel  to  a  point  where  the 
railways  could  hardly  afford  to  use  iron  rails,  and  all  our  northwestern 
lines  report  large  relays  of  Bessemer  track.  The  immense  crops  now 
being  moved  have  given  a  great  rise  to  the  value  of  railway  stocks,  and 
their  transportation  must  result  in  heavy  pecuniary  advantages. 

Few  are  aware  of  the  importance  of  the  wholesale  and  jobbing  trade 
of  Chicago.  One  leading  firm  has  since  the  panic  sold  $24,000,000  of 
dry  goods  in  one  year,  and  they  now  expect  most  confidently  to  add 
seventy  per  cent,  to  the  figures  of  their  last  year's  business.  In  boots 
and  shoes  and  in  clothing,  twenty  or  more  great  firms  from  the  east  have 
placed  here  their  distributing  agents  or  their  factories ;  and  in  groceries 


98 


THE   NORTHWEST    TERRITORY. 


Chicago  supplies  the  entire  Northwest  at  rates  presenting  advantages 
over  New  York. 

Chicago  has  stepped  in  between  New  York  and  the  rural  banks  as  a 
financial  center,  and  scarcely  a  banking  institution  in  the  grain  or  cattle 
regions  but  keeps  its  reserve  funds  in  the  vaults  of  our  commercial  insti- 
tutions. Accumulating  here  throughout  the  spring  and  summer  months, 
they  are  summoned  home  at  pleasure  to  move  the  products  of  the 
prairies.  This  process  greatly  strengthens  the  northwest  in  its  financial 
operations,  leaving  home  capital  to  supplement  local  operations  on 
behalf  of  home  interests. 

It  is  impossible  to  forecast  the  destiny  of  this  grand  and  growing 
section  of  the  Union.  Figures  and  predictions  made  at  this  date  might 
seem  ten  years  hence  so  ludicrously  small  as  to  excite  only  derision. 


ILLINOIS. 

Length,  380  miles,  mean  width  about  156  miles.  Area,  55,410  square 
miles,  or  35,462,400  acres.  Illinois,  as  regards  its  surface,  constitutes  a 
table-land  at  a  varying  elevation  ranging  between  350  and  800  feet  above 
the  sea  level ;  composed  of  extensive  and  highly  fertile  prairies  and  plains. 
Much  of  the  south  (3 'vision  of  the  State,  especially  the  river-bottoms,  are 
thickly  wooded.  The  prairies,  too,  have  oasis-like  clumps  of  trees 
scattered  here  and  there  at  intervals.  The  chief  rivers  irrigating  the 
State  are  the  Mississippi — dividing  it  from  Iowa  and  Missouri — the  Ohio 
(forming  its  south  barrier),  the  Illinois,  Wabash,  Kaskaskia,  and  San- 
gamon,  with  their  numerous  affluents.  The  total  extent  of  navigable 
streams  is  calculated  at  4,000  miles.  Small  lakes  are  scattered  over  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  State.  Illinois  is  extremely  prolific  in  minerals,  chiefly 
coal,  iron,  copper,  and  zinc  ores,  sulphur  and  limestone.  The  coal-field 
alone  is  estimated  to  absorb  a  full  third  of  the  entire  coal-deposit  of  North 
America.  Climate  tolerably  equable  and  healthy ;  the  mean  temperature 
standing  at  about  51°  Fahrenheit  As  an  agricultural  region,  Illinois  takes 
a  competitive  rank  with  neighboring  States,  the  cereals,  fruits,  and  root- 
crops  yielding  plentiful  returns ;  in  fact,  as.  a  grain-growing  State,  Illinois 
may  be  deemed,  in  proportion  to  her  size,  to  possess  a  greater  area  of 
lands  suitable  for  its  production  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union.  Stock- 
raising  is  also  largely  carried  on,  while  her  manufacturing  interests  in 
regard  of  woolen  fabrics,  etc.,  are  on  a  very  extensive  and  yearly  expand- 
ing scale.  The  lines  of  railroad  in  the  State  are  among  the  most  exten- 
sive of  the  Union.  Inland  water-carriage  is  facilitated  by  a  canal 
connecting  the  Illinois  River  with  Lake  Michigan,  and  thence  with  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  Atlantic.  Illinois  is  divided  into  102  counties ;  the 
chief  towns  being  Chicago,  Springfield  (capital),  Alton,  Quincy,  Peoria, 
Galena,  Bloomington,  Rock  Island,  Vandalia,  etc.  By  the  new  Consti- 
tution, established  in  1870,  the  State  Legislature  consists  of  51  Senators, 
elected  for  four  y^ars,  and  153  Representatives,  for  two  years ;  which 
numbers  were  to  be  decennially  increased  thereafter  to  the  number  of 
six  per  every  additional  half-million  of  inhabitants.  Religious  and 
educational  institutions  are  largely  diffused  throughout,  and  are  in  a  very 
flourishing  condition.  Illinois  has  a  State  Lunatic  and  a  Deaf  and  Dumb 
Asylum  at  Jacksonville ;  a  State  Penitentiary  at  Joliet ;  and  a  Home  for 

(99) 


100 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


Soldiers'  Orphans  at  Normal.  On  November  30,  1870,  the  public  debt  of 
the  State  was  returned  at  $4,870,937,  with  a  balance  of  $1,808,833 
unprovided  for.  At  the  same  period  the  value  of  assessed  and  equalized 
property  presented  the  following  totals :  assessed,  $840,031,703 ;  equal- 
ized $480,664,058.  The  name  of  Illinois,  through  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  embraced  most  of  the  known  regions  north  and 
west  of  Ohio.  French  colonists  established  themselves  in  1673,  at 
Cahokia  and  Kaskaskia,  and  the  territory  of  which  these  settlements 
formed  the  nucleus  was,  in  1763,  ceded  to  Great  Britain  in  conjunction 
with  Canada,  and  ultimately  resigned  to  the  United  States  in  1787. 
Illinois  entered  the  Union  as  a  State,  December  3,  1818;  and  now  sends 
19  Representatives  to  Congress.  Population,  2,539,891,  in  1870. 


4    WESTERN    DWELLING. 


THE   NORTHWEST  TERRITORY.  i(jl 


INDIANA. 

The  profile  of  Indiana  forms  a  nearly  exact  parallelogram,  occupy- 
ing one  of  the  most  fertile  portions  of  the  great  Mississippi  Valley.  The 
greater  extent  of  the  surface  embraced  within  its  limits  consists  of  gentle 
undulations  rising  into  hilly  tracts  toward  the  Ohio  bottom.  The  chief 
rivers  of  the  State  are  the  Ohio  and  Wabash,  with  their  numerous 
affluents.  The  soil  is  highly  productive  of  the  cereals  and  grasses — most 
particularly  so  in  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio,  Wabash,  Whitewater,  and 
White  Rivers.  The  northeast  and  central  portions  are  well  timbered 
with  virgin  forests,  and  the  west  section  is  notably  rich  in  coal,  constitut- 
ing an  offshoot  of  the  great  Illinois  carboniferous  field.  Iron,  copper, 
marble,  slate,  gypsum,  and  various  clays  are  also  abundant.  From  an 
agricultural  point  of  view,  the  staple  products  are  maize  and  wheat,  with 
the  other  cereals  in  lesser  yields  ;  and  besides  these,  flax,  hemp,  sorghum, 
hops,  etc.,  are  extensively  raised.  Indiana  is  divided  into  92  counties, 
and  counts  among  her  principal  cities  and  towns,  those  of  Indianapolis 
(the  capital),  Fort  Wayne,  Evansville,  Terre  Haute,  Madison,  Jefferson- 
ville,  Columbus,  Vincennes,  South  Bend,  etc.  The  public  institutions  of 
the  State  are  many  and  various,  and  on  a  scale  of  magnitude  and 
efficiency  commensurate  with  her  important  political  and  industrial  status. 
Upward  of  two  thousand  miles  of  railroads  permeate  the  State  in  all 
directions,  and  greatly  conduce  to  the  development  of  her  expanding 
manufacturing  interests.  Statistics  for  the  fiscal  year  terminating 
October  31,  1870,  exhibited  a  total  of  receipts,  $3,896,541  as  against  dis- 
bursements, $3,532,406,  leaving  a  balance,  $364,135  in  favor  of  the  State 
Treasury.  The  entire  public  debt,  January  5,  1871,  $3,971,000.  This 
State  was  first  settled  by  Canadian  voyageurs  in  1702,  who  erected  a  fort 
at  Vincennes ;  in  1763  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  and  was 
by  the  latter  ceded  to  the  United  States  in  1783.  From  1788  till  1791, 
an  Indian  warefare  prevailed.  In  1800,  all  the  region  west  and  north  of 
Ohio  (then  formed  into  a  distinct  territory)  became  merged  in  Indiana. 
In  1809,  the  present  limits  of  the  State  were  defined,  Michigan  and 
Illinois  having  previously  been  withdrawn.  In  1811,  Indiana  was  the 
theater  of  the  Indian  War  of  Tecumseh,  ending  with  the  decisive  battle 
of  Tippecanoe.  In  1816  (December  11),  Indiana  became  enrolled  among 
the  States  of  the  American  Union.  In  1834,  the  State  passed  through  a 
monetary  crisis  owing  to  its  having  become  mixed  up  with  railroad, 
canal,  and  other  speculations  on  a  gigantic  scale,  which  ended,  for  the 
time  being,  in  a  general  collapse  of  public  credit,  and  consequent  bank- 
ruptcy. Since  that  time,  however,  the  greater  number  of  the  public 


102  THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY. 

works  which  had  brought  about  that  imbroglio  —  especially  the  great 
Wabash  and  Erie  Canal  —  have  been  completed,  to  the  great  benefit  of 
the  State,  whose  subsequent  progress  has  year  by  year  been  marked  by 
rapid  strides  in  the  paths  of  wealth,  commerce,  and  general  social  and 
political  prosperity.  The  constitution  now  in  force  was  adopted  in  1851. 
Population,  1,680*637. 


IOWA. 

In  shape,  Iowa  presents  an  almost  perfect  parallelogram;  has  a 
length,  north  to  south,  of  about  300  miles,  by  a  pretty  even  width  of  208 
miles,  and  embraces  an  area  of  55,045  square  miles,  or  35,228,800  acres. 
The  surface  of  the  State  is  generally  undulating,  rising  toward  the 
middle  into  an  elevated  plateau  which  forms  the  "  divide "  of  the 
Missouri  and  Mississippi  basins.  Rolling  prairies,  especially  in  the  south 
section,  constitute  a  regnant  feature,  and  the  river  bottoms,  belted  with 
woodlands,  present  a  soil  of  the  richest  alluvion.  Iowa  is  well  watered  ; 
the  principal  rivers  being  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  which  form 
respectively  its  east  and  west  limits,  and  the  Cedar,.  Iowa,  and  Des 
Moines,  affluents  of  the  first  named.  Mineralogically,  Iowa  is  important 
as  occupying  a  section  of  the  great  Northwest  coal  field,  to  the  extent  of 
an  area  estimated  at  25,000  square  miles.  Lead,  copper,  zinc,  and  iron, 
are  also  mined  in  considerable  quantities.  The  soil  is  well  adapted  to 
the  production  of  wheat,  maize,  and  the  other  cereals ;  fruits,  vegetables, 
and  esculent  roots;  maize,  wheat,  and  oats  forming  the  chief  staples. 
Wine,  tobacco,  hops,  and  wax,  are  other  noticeable  items  of  the  agricul- 
tural yield.  Cattle-raising,  too,  is  a  branch  of  rural  industry  largely 
engaged  in.  The  climate  is  healthy,  although  liable  to  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold.  The  annual  gross  product  of  the  various  manufactures  carried 
on  in  this  State  approximate,  in  round  numbers,  a  sum  of  $20,000,000. 
Iowa  has  an  immense  railroad  system,  besides  over  500  miles  of  water- 
communication  by  means  of  its  navigable  rivers.  The  State  is  politically 
divided  into  99  counties,  with  the  following  centers  of  population  :  Des 
Moines  (capital),  Iowa  City  (former  capital),  Dubuque,  Davenport,  Bur- 
lington, Council  Bluffs,  Keokuk,  Muscatine,  and  Cedar  Rapids.  The 
State  institutions  of  Iowa — religious,  scholastic,  and  philanthropic  —  are 
on  a  par,  as  regards  number  and  perfection  of  organization  and  operation, 
with  those  of  her  Northwest  sister  States,  and  education  is  especially 
well  cared  for,  and  largely  diffused.  Iowa  formed  a  portion  of  the 
American  territorial  acquisitions  from  France,  by  the  so-called  Louisiana 
purchase  in  1803,  and  was  politically  identified  with  Louisiana  till  1812, 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  103 

when  it  merged  into  the  Missouri  Territory;  in  1834  it  came  under  the 
Michigan  organization,  and,  in  1836,  under  that  of  Wisconsin.  Finally, 
after  being  constituted  an  independent  Territory,  it  became  a  State  of 
the  Union,  December  28,  1846.  Population  in  1860,  674,913  ;  in  1870, 
1,191,792,  and  in  1875,  1,353,118. 


MICHIGAN. 

United  area,  56,243  square  miles,  or  35,995,520  acres.  Extent  of  the 
Upper  and  smaller  Peninsula  —  length,  316  miles;  breadth,  fluctuating 
between  36  and  120  miles.  The  south  division  is  416  miles  long,  by  from 
50  to  300  miles  wide.  Aggregate  lake-shore  line,  1,400  miles.  The 
Upper,  or  North,  Peninsula  consists  chiefly  of  an  elevated  plateau, 
expanding  into  the  Porcupine  mountain-system,  attaining  a  maximum 
height  of  some  2,000  feet.  Its  shores  along  Lake  Superior  are  eminently 
bold  and  picturesque,  and  its  area  is  rich  in  minerals,  its  product  of 
copper  constituting  an  important  source  of  industry.  Both  divisions  are 
heavily  wooded,  and  the  South  one,  in  addition,  boasts  of  a  deep,  rich, 
loamy  soil,  throwing  up  excellent  crops  of  cereals  and  other  agricultural 
produce.  The  climate  is  generally  mild  and  humid,  though  the  Winter 
colds  are  severe.  The  chief  staples  of  farm  husbandry  include  the  cereals, 
grasses,  maple  sugar,  sorghum,  tobacco,  fruits,  and  dairy-stuffs.  In  1870, 
the  acres  of  land  in  farms  were :  improved,  5,096,939 ;  unimproved 
woodland,  4,080,146  ;  other  unimproved  land,  842,057.  The  cash  value 
of  land  was  $398,240,578 ;  of  farming  implements  and  machinery, 
$13,711,979.  In  1869,  there  were  shipped  from  the  Lake  Superior  ports, 
874,582  tons  of  iron  ore,  and  45,762  of  smelted  pig,  along  with  14,188 
tons  of  copper  (ore  and  ingot).  Coal  is  another  article  largely  mined. 
Inland  communication  is  provided  for  by  an  admirably  organized  railroad 
system,  and  by  the  St.  Mary's  Ship  Canal,  connecting  Lakes  Huron  and 
Superior.  Michigan  is  politically  divided  into  78  counties ;  its  chief 
urban  centers  are  Detroit,  Lansing  (capital),  Ann  Arbor,  Marquette, 
Bay  City,  Niles,  Ypsilanti,  Grand  Haven,  etc.  The  Governor  of  the 
State  is  elected  biennially.  On  November  30, 1870,  the  aggregate  bonded 
debt  of  Michigan  amounted  to  $2,385,028,  and  the  assessed  valuation  of 
land  to  $266,929,278,  representing  an  estimated  cash  value  of  $800,000,000. 
Education  is  largely  diffused  and  most  excellently  conducted  and  pro- 
vided for.  The  State  University  at  Ann  Arbor,  the  colleges  of  Detroit 
and  Kalamazoo,  the  Albion  Female  College,  the  State  Normal  School  at 
Ypsilanti,  and  the  State  Agricultural  College  at  Lansing,  are  chief  among 
the  academic  institutions.  Michigan  (a  term  of  Chippeway  origin,  and 


104  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 

signifying  "  Great  Lake),  was  discovered  and  first  settled  by  French 
Canadians,  who,  in  1670,  founded  Detroit,  the  pioneer  of  a  series  of  trad- 
ing-posts on  the  Indian  frontier.  During  the  "  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac," 
following  the  French  loss  of  Canada,  Michigan  became  the  scene  of  a 
sanguinary  struggle  between  the  whites  and  aborigines.  In  1796,  it 
became  annexed  to  the  United  States,  which  incorporated  this  region 
with  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  then  with  Indiana  Territory,  till  1803, 
when  it  became  territorially  independent.  Michigan  was  the  theater  of 
warlike  operations  during  the  war  of  1812  with  Great  Britain,  and  in 
1819  was  authorized  to  be  represented  by  one  delegate  in  Congress ;  in 
1837  she  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  and  in  1869  ratified  the 
15th  Amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution.  Population,  1,184,059. 


WISCONSIN. 

It  has  a  mean  length  of  260  miles,  and  a  maximum  breadth  of  215. 
Land  area,  53,924  square  miles,  or  34,511,360  acres.  Wisconsin  lies  at  a 
considerable  altitude  above  sea-level,  and  consists  for  the  most  part  of  an 
upland  plateau,  the  surface  of  which  is  undulating  and  very  generally 
diversified.  Numerous  local  eminences  called  mounds  are  interspersed 
over  the  State,  and  the  Lake  Michigan  coast-line  is  in  many  parts  char- 
acterized by  lofty  escarped  cliffs,  even  as  on  the  west  side  the  banks  of 
the  Mississippi  form  a  series  of  high  and  picturesque  bluffs.  A  group  of 
islands  known  as  The  Apostles  lie  off  the  extreme  north  point  of  the 
State  in  Lake  Superior,  and  the  great  estuary  of  Green  Bay,  running  far 
inland,  gives  formation  to  a  long,  narrow  peninsula  between  its  waters 
and  those  of  Lake  Michigan.  The  river-system  of  Wisconsin  has  three 
outlets  —  those  of  Lake  Superior,  Green  Bay,  and  the  Mississippi,  which 
latter  stream  forms  the  entire  southwest  frontier,  widening  at  one  point 
into  the  large  watery  expanse  called  Lake  Pepin.  Lake  Superior  receives 
the  St.  Louis,  Burnt  Wood,  and  Montreal  Rivers ;  Green  Bay,  the 
Menomoiiee,  Peshtigo,  Oconto,  and  Fox ;  while  into  the  Mississippi 
empty  the  St.  Croix,  Chippewa,  Black,  Wisconsin,  and  Rock  Rivers. 
The  chief  interior  lakes  are  those  of  Winnebago,  Horicon,  and  Court 
Oreilles,  and  smaller  sheets  of  water  stud  a  great  part  of  the  surface. 
The  climate  is  healthful,  with  cold  Winters  and  brief  but  very  warm 
Summers.  Mean  annual  rainfall  31  inches.  The  geological  system 
represented  by  the  State,  embraces  those  rocks  included  between  the 
primary  and  the  Devonian  series,  the  former  containing  extensive 
deposits  of  copper  and  iron  ore.  Besides  these  minerals,  lead  and  zinc 
are  found  in  great  quantities,  together  with  kaolin,  plumbago,  gypsum, 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  105 

and  various  clays.  Mining,  consequently,  forms  a  prominent  industry, 
and  one  of  yearly  increasing  dimensions.  The  soil  of  Wisconsin  is  of 
varying  quality,  but  fertile  on  the  whole,  and  in  the  north  parts  of  the 
State  heavily  timbered.  The  agricultural  yield  comprises  the  cereals, 
together  with  flax,  hemp,  tobacco,  pulse,  sorgum,  and  all  kinds  of  vege- 
tables, and  of  the  hardier  fruits.  In  1870,  the  State  had  a  total  number 
of  102,904  farms,  occupying  11,715,321  acres,  of  which  5,899,348  con- 
sisted of  improved  land,  and  3,437,442  were  timbered.  Cash  value  of 
farms,  $300,414,064  ;  of  farm  implements  and  machinery,  $14,239,364. 
Total  estimated  value  of  all  farm  products,  including  betterments  and 
additions  to  stock,  $78,027,032  ;  of  orchard  and  dairy  stuffs,  $1,045,933 ; 
of  lumber,  $1,327,618 ;  of  home  manufactures,  $338,423 ;  of  all  live-stock, 
$45,310,882.  Number  of  manufacturing  establishments,  7,136,  employ- 
ing 39,055  hands,  and  turning  out  productions  valued  at  $85,624,966. 
The  political  divisions  of  the  State  form  61  counties,  and  the  chief  places 
of  wealth,  trade,  and  population,  are  Madison  (the  capital),  Milwaukee, 
Fond  du  Lac,  Oshkosh,  Prairie  du  Chien,  Janesville,  Portage  City, 
Racine,  Kenosha,  and  La  Crosse.  In  1870,  the  total  assessed  valuation 
reached  $333,209,838,  as  against  a  true  valuation  of  both  real  and  personal 
estate  aggregating  $602,207,329.  Treasury  receipts  during  1870,  $886,- 
696  ;  disbursements,  $906,329.  Value  of  church  property,  $4,749,983. 
Education  is  amply  provided  for.  Independently  of  the  State  University 
at  Madison,  and  those  of  Galesville  and  of  Lawrence  at  Appleton,  and 
the  colleges  of  Beloit,  Racine,  and  Milton,  there  are  Normal  Schools  at 
Platteville  and  Whitewater.  The  State  is  divided  into  4,802  common 
school  districts,  maintained  at  a  cost,  in  1870,  of  $2,094,160.  The  chari- 
table institutions  of  Wisconsin  include  a  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  an 
Institute  for  the  Education  of  the  Blind,  and  a  Soldiers'  Orphans'  School. 
In  January,  1870,  the  railroad  system  ramified  throughout  the  State 
totalized  2,779  miles  of  track,  including  several  lines  far  advanced  toward 
completion.  Immigration  is  successfully  encouraged  by  the  State  author- 
ities, the  larger  number  of  yearly  new-comers  being  of  Scandinavian  and 
German  origin.  The  territory  now  occupied  within  the  limits  of  the 
State  of  Wisconsin  was  explored  by  French  missionaries  and  traders  in 
1639,  and  it  remained  under  French  jurisdiction  until  1703,  when  it 
became  annexed  to  the  British  North  American  possessions.  In  1796,  it 
reverted  to  the  United  States,  the  government  of  which  latter  admitted 
it  within  the  limits  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  in  1809,  attached  it 
to  that  of  Illinois,  and  to  Michigan  in  1818.  Wisconsin  became  independ- 
ently territorially  organized  in  1836,  and  became  a  State  of  the  Union, 
March  3,  1847.  Population  in  1870,  1,0(54,985,  of  which  2,113  were  of 
the  colored  race,  and  11,521  Indians,  1,206  of  the  latter  being  out  of 
tribal  relations. 


106  THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


MINNESOTA. 

Its  length,  north  to  south,  embraces  an  extent  of  380  miles ;  its 
breadth  one  of  250  miles  at  a  maximum.  Area,  84,000  square  miles,  or 
54,760,000  acres.  The  surface  of  Minnesota,  generally  speaking,  con- 
sists of  a  succession  of  gently  undulating  plains  and  prairies,  drained  by 
an  admirable  water-system,  and  with  here  and  there  heavity-  timbered 
bottoms  and  belts  of  virgin  forest.  The  soil,  corresponding  with  such  a 
superfices,  is  exceptionally  rich,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of  a  dark, 
calcareous  sandy  drift  intermixed  with  loam.  A  distinguishing  physical 
feature  of  this  State  is  its  riverine  ramifications,  expanding  in  nearly 
every  part  of  it  into  almost  innumerable  lakes — the  whole  presenting  an 
aggregate  of  water-power  having  hardly  a  rival  in  the  Union.  Besides 
the  Mississippi  —  which  here  has  its  rise,  and  drains  a  basin  of  800  miles 
of  country  —  the  principal  streams  are  the  Minnesota  (334  miles  long), 
the  Red  River  of  the  North,  the  St.  Croix,  St.  Louis,  and  many  others  of 
lesser  importance ;  the  chief  lakes  are  those  called  Red,  Cass,  Leech, 
Mille  Lacs,  Vermillion,  and  Winibigosh.  Quite  a  concatenation  of  sheets 
of  water  fringe  the  frontier  line  where  Minnesota  joins  British  America, 
culminating  in  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  It  has  been  estimated,  that  of 
an  area  of  1,200,000  acres  of  surface  between  the  St.  Croix  and  Mis- 
sissippi Rivers,  not  less  than  73,000  acres  are  of  lacustrine  formation.  In 
point  of  minerals,  the  resources  of  Minnesota  have  as  yet  been  very 
imperfectly  developed  ;  iron,  copper,  coal,  lead  —  all  these  are  known  to 
exist  in  considerable  deposits ;  together  with  salt,  limestone,  and  potter's 
clay.  The  agricultural  outlook  of  the  State  is  in  a  high  degree  satis- 
factory ;  wheat  constitutes  the  leading  cereal  in  cultivation,  with  Indian 
corn  and  oats  in  next  order.  Fruits  and  vegetables  are  grown  in  great 
plenty  and  of  excellent  quality.  The  lumber  resources  of  Minnesota  are 
important ;  the  pine  forests  in  the  north  region  alone  occupying  an  area 
of  some  21,000  square  miles,  which  in  1870  produced  a  return  of  scaled 
logs  amounting  to  313,116,416  feet.  The  natural  industrial  advantages 
possessed  by  Minnesota  are  largely  improved  upon  by  a  railroad  system. 
The  political  divisions  of  this  State  number  78  counties ;  of  which  the 
chief  cities  and  towns  are  :  St.  Paul  (the  capital),  Stillwater,  Red  Wing, 
St.  Anthony,  Fort  Snelling,  Minneapolis,  and  Mankato.  Minnesota  has 
already  assumed  an  attitude  of  high  importance  as  a  manufacturing  State ; 
this  is  mainly  due  to  the  wonderful  command  of  water-power  she  pos- 
sesses, as  before  spoken  of.  Besides  her  timber-trade,  the  milling  of 
flour,  the  distillation  of  whisky,  and  the  tanning  of  leather,  are  prominent 
interests,  which,  in  1869,  gave  returns  to  the  amount  of  $14,831,043. 


THE   NORTHWEST   TERRITORY.  107 

Education  is  notably  provided  for  on  a  broad  and  catholic  scale,  the 
entire  amount  expended  scholastically  during  the  y5ar  1870  being  $857,' 
816  ;  while  on  November  30  of  the  preceding  year  the  permanent  school 
fund  stood  at  $2,476,222.  Besides  a  University  and  Agricultural  College, 
Normal  and  Reform  Schools  flourish,  and  with  these  may  be  mentioned 
such  various  philanthropic  and  religious  institutions  as  befit  the  needs  of 
an  intelligent  and  prosperous  community.  The  finances  of  the  State  for 
the  fiscal  year  terminating  December  1,  1870,  exhibited  a  balance  on  the 
right  side  to  the  amount  of  $136,164,  being  a  gain  of  $44,000  over  the 
previous  year's  figures.  The  earliest  exploration  of  Minnesota  by  the 
whites  was  made  in  1680  by  a  French  Franciscan,  Father  Hennepin,  who 
gave  the  name  of  St.  Antony  to  the  Great  Falls  on  the  Upper  Missisippi. 
In  1763,  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  ceded  this  region  to  England. 
Twenty  years  later,  Minnesota  formed  part  of  the  Northwest  Territory 
transferred  to  the  United  States,  and  became  herself  territorialized  inde- 
pendently in  1849.  Indian  cessions  in  1851  enlarged  her  boundaries,  and, 
May  11,  1857,  Minnesota  became  a  unit  of  the  great  American  federation 
of  States.  Population,  439,706. 


NEBRASKA. 

Maximum  length,  412  miles ;  extreme  breadth,  208  miles.  Area, 
75,905  square  miles,  or  48,636,800  acres.  The  surface  of  this  State  is 
almost  entirely  undulating  prairie,  and  forms  part  of  the  west  slope  of 
the  great  central  basin  of  the  North  American  Continent.  In  its  west 
division,  near  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  is  a  sandy  belt  of 
country,  irregularly  defined.  In  this  part,  too,  are  the  "  dunes,"  resem- 
bling a  wavy  sea  of  sandy  billows,  as  well  as  the  Mauvaises  Terres,  a  tract 
«f  singular  formation,  produced  by  eccentric  disintegrations  and  denuda- 
tions of  the  land.  The  chief  rivers  are  the  Missouri,  constituting  its  en- 
tire east  line  of  demarcation ;  the  Nebraska  or  Platte,  the  Niobrara,  the 
Republican  Fork  of  the  Kansas,  the  Elkhorn,  and  the  Loup  Fork  of  the 
Platte.  The  soil  is  very  various,  but  consisting  chiefly  of  rich,  bottomy 
loam,  admirably  adapted  to  the  raising  of  heavy  crops  of  cereals.  All 
the  vegetables  and  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone  are  produced  in  great 
size  and  plenty.  For  grazing  purposes  Nebraska  is  a  State  exceptionally 
well  fitted,  a  region  of  not  less  than  23,000,000  acres  being  adaptable  to 
this  branch  of  husbandry.  It  is  believed  that  the,  as  yet,  comparatively 
infertile  tracts  of  land  found  in  various  parts  of  the  State  are  susceptible 
of  productivity  by  means  of  a  properly  conducted  system  of  irrigation. 
Few  minerals  of  moment  have  so  far  been  found  within  the  limits  ot 


108 


THE  NORTHWEST   TERRITORY. 


Nebraska,  if  we  may  except  important  saline  deposits  at  the  head  of  Salt 
Creek  in  its  southeast  section.  The  State  is  divided  into  57  counties, 
independent  of  the  Pawnee  and  Winnebago  Indians,  and  of  unorganized 
territory  in  the  northwest  part.  The  principal  towns  are  Omaha,  Lincoln 
(State  capital),  Nebraska  City,  Columbus,  Grand  Island,  etc.  In  1870, 
the  total  assessed  value  of  property  amounted  to  $53,000,000,  being  an 
increase  of  $11,000,000  over  the  previous  year's  returns.  The  total 
amount  received  from  the  school-fund  during  the  year  1869-70  was 
$77,999.  Education  is  making  great  onward  strides,  the  State  University 
and  an  Agricultural  College  being  far  advanced  toward  completion.  In 
the  matter  of  railroad  communication,  Nebraska  bids  fair  to  soon  place 
herself  on  a  par  with  her  neighbors  to  the  east.  Besides  being  inter- 
sected by  the  Union  Pacific  line,  with  its  off-shoot,  the  Fremont  and  Blair, 
other  tracks  are  in  course  of  rapid  construction.  Organized  by  Con- 
gressional Act  into  a  Territory,  May  30,  1854,  Nebraska  entered  the 
Union  as  a  full  State,  March  1,  1867.  Population,  122,993. 


PRAIRIE    WOLVES    IX    AN    EARLY    DAY. 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  ILLINOIS. 


The  name  of  this  beautiful  Prairie  State  is  derived  from  Illim,  a 
Delaware  word  signifying  Superior  Men.  It  has  a  French  termination, 
and  is  a  symbol  of  how  the  two  races — the  French  and  the  Indians — 
were  intermixed  during  the  early  history  of  the  country. 

The  appellation  was  no  doubt  well  applied  to  the  primitive  inhabit- 
ants of  the  soil  whose  prowess  in  savage  warfare  long  withstood  the 
combined  attacks  of  the  fierce  Iroquois  on  the  one  side,  and  the  no  less 
savage  and  relentless  Sacs  and  Foxes  on  the  other.  The  Illinois  were 
once  a  powerful  confederacy,  occupying  the  most  beautiful  and  fertile 
region  in  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  which  their  enemies  coveted 
and  struggled  long  and  hard  to  wrest  from  them.  By  the  fortunes  of 
war  they  were  diminished  in  numbers,  and  finally  destroyed.  "  Starved 
Rock,"  on  the  Illinois  River,  according  to  tradition,  commemorates  their 
last  tragedy,  where,  it  is  said,  the  entire  tribe  starved  rather  than  sur- 
render. 

EARLY   DISCOVERIES. 

The  first  European  discoveries  in  Illinois  date  back  over  two  hun- 
dred years.  They  are  a  part  of  that .  movement  which,  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  brought  the  French 
Canadian  missionaries  and  fur  traders  into  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
and  which,  at  a  later  period,  established  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
authority  of  France  from  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  from  the  foot-hills  of  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  great  river  of  the  West  had  been  discovered  by  DeSoto,  the 
Spanish  conqueror  of  Florida,  three  quarters  of  a  century  before  the 
French  founded  Quebec  in  1608,  but  the  Spanish  left  the  country  a  wil- 
derness, without  further  exploration  or  settlement  within  its  borders,  in 
which  condition  it  remained  until  the  Mississippi  was  discovered  by  the 
agents  of  the  French  Canadian  government,  Joliet  and  Marquette,  in  1673. 
These  renowned  explorers  were  not  the  first  white  visitors  to  Illinois. 
In  1671 — two  years  in  advance  of  them — came  Nicholas  Perrot  to  Chicago. 
He  had  been  sent  by  Talon  as  an  agent  of  the  Canadian  government  to 

IOQ 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE   OF    ILLINOIS. 


HISTOBY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  Ill 

call  a  great  peace  convention  of  Western  Indians  at  Green  Bay,  prepara- 
tory to  the  movement  for  the  discovery  of  the  Mississippi.  It  was 
deemed  a  good  stroke  of  policy  to  secure,  as  far  as  possible,  the  friend- 
ship and  co-operation  of  the  Indians,  far  and  near,  before  venturing  upon 
an  enterprise  which  their  hostility  might  render  disastrous,  and  which 
their  friendship  and  assistance  would  do  so  much  to  make  successful ; 
and  to  this  end  Perrot  was  sent  to  call  together  in  council  the  tribes 
throughout  the  Northwest,  and  to  promise  them  the  commerce  and  pro- 
tection of  the  French  government.  He  accordingly  arrived  at  Green 
Bay  in  1671,  and  procuring  an  escort  of  Pottawattamies,  proceeded  in  a 
bark  canoe  upon  a  visit  to  the  Miamis,  at  Chicago.  Perrot  was  there- 
fore the  first  European  to  set  foot  upon  the  soil  of  Illinois. 

Still  there  were  others  before  Marquette.  In  1672,  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries, Fathers  Claude  Allouez  and  Claude  Dablon,  bore  the  standard 
of  the  Cross  from  their  mission  at  Green  Bay  through  western  Wisconsin 
and  northern  Illinois,  visiting  the  Foxes  on  Fox  River,  and  the  Masquo- 
tines  and  Kickapoos  at  the  mouth  of  the  Milwaukee.  These  missionaries 
penetrated  on  the  route  afterwards  followed  by  Marquette  as  far  as  the 
Kickapoo  village  at  the  head  of  Lake  Winnebago,  where  Marquette,  in 
his  journey,  secured  guides  across  the  portage  to  the  Wisconsin. 

The  oft-repeated  story  of  Marquette  and  Joliet  is  well  known. 
They  were  the  agents  employed  by  the  Canadian  government  to  discover 
the  Mississippi.  Marquette  was  a  native  of  France,  born  in  1637,  a 
Jesuit  priest  by  education,  and  a  man  of  simple  faith  and  of  great  zeal  and 
devotion  in  extending  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  among  the  Indians. 
Arriving  in  Canada  in  1666,  he  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  the  far 
Northwest,  and,  in  1668,  founded  a  mission  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  The  A^ 
following  year  he  moved  to  La  Pointe,  in  Lake  Superior,  where  he|| 
instructed  a  branch  of  the  Hurons  till  1670,  when  he  removed  south,  and 
founded  the  mission  at  St.  Ignace,  on  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw.  Here 
he  remained,  devoting  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  study  of  the  Illinois 
language  under  a  native  teacher  who  had  accompanied  him  to  the  mission 
from  La  Pointe,  till  he  was  joined  by  Joliet  in  the  Spring  of  1673.  By 
the  way  of  Green  Bay  and  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  Rivers,  they  entered 
the  Mississippi,  which  they  explored  to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  and 
returned  by  the  way  of  the  Illinois  and  Chicago  Rivers  to  Lake  Michigan. 

On  his  way  up  the  Illinois,  Marquette  visited  the  great  village  of 
the  Kaskaskias,  near  what  is  now  Utica,  in  the  county  of  LaSalle.  The 
following  year  he  returned  and  established  among  them  the  mission  of 
the  Immaculate  Virgin  Mary,  which  was  the  first  Jesuit  mission  founded 
in  Illinois  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The  intervening  winter  he 
had  spent  in  a  hut  which  his  companions  erected  on  the  Chicago  River,  a 
few  leagues  from  its  mouth.  The  founding  of  this  mission  was  the  last 


HISTORY    OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

act  of  Marquette's  life.     He  died  in  Michigan,  on  his  way  back  to  Green 
Bay,  May  18,  1675. 

FIRST  FRENCH  OCCUPATION. 

The  first  French  occupation  of  the  territory  now  embraced  in  Illi- 
nois was  effected  by  LaSalle  in  1680,  seven  years  after  the  time  of  Mar- 
quette  and  Joliet.  LaSalle,  having  constructed  a  vessel,  the  "  Griffin," 
above  the  falls  of  Niagara,  which  he  sailed  to  Green  Bay,  and .  having 
passed  thence  in  canoes  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  River,  by  which 
and  the  Kankakee  he  reached  the  Illinois,  in  January,  1680,  erected  Fort 
Crevecoeur,  at  the  lower  end  of  Peoria  Lake,  where  the  city  of  Peoria  is 
now  situated.  The  place  where  this  ancient  fort  stood  may  still  be  seen 
just  below  the  outlet  of  Peoria  Lake.  It  was  destined,  however,  to  a 
temporary  existence.  From  this  point,  LaSalle  determined  to  descend 
the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth,  but  did  not  accomplish  this  purpose  till  two 
years  later — in  1682.  Returning  to  Fort  Frontenac  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  materials  with  which  to  rig  his  vessel,  he  left  the  fort  in  charge  of 
Touti,  his  lieutenant,  who  during  his  absence  was  driven  off  by  the  Iro- 
quois  Indians.  These  savages  had  made  a  raid  upon  the  settlement  of 
the  Illinois,  and  had  left  nothing  in  their  track  but  ruin  and  desolation. 
Mr.  Davidson,  in  his  History  of  Illinois,  gives  the  following  graphic 
account  of  the  picture  that  met  the  eyes  of  LaSalle  and  his  companions 
on  their  return  : 

"  At  the  great  town  of  the  Illinois  they  were  appalled  at  the  scene 
which  opened  to  their  view.  No  hunter  appeared  to  break  its  death-like 
silence  with  a  salutatory  whoop  ot  welcome.  The  plain  on  which  the 
town  had  stood  was  now  strewn  with  charred  fragments  of  lodges,  which 
had  so  recently  swarmed  with  savage  life  and  hilarity.  To  render  more 
hideous  the  picture  of  desolation,  large  numbers  of  skulls  had  been 
placed  on  the  upper  extremities  of  lodge-poles  which  had  escaped  the 
devouring  flames.  In  the  midst  of  these  horrors  was  the  rude  fort  of 
the  spoilers,  rendered  frightful  by  the  same  ghastly  relics.  A  near 
approach  showed  that  the  graves  had  been  robbed  of  their  bodies,  and 
swarms  of  buzzards  were  discovered  glutting  their  loathsome  stomachs 
on  the  reeking  corruption.  To  complete  the  work  of  destruction,  the 
growing  corn  of  the  village  had  been  cut  down  and  burned,  while  the 
pits  containing  the  products  of  previous  years,  had  been  rifled  and  their 
contents  scattered  with  wanton  waste.  It  was  evident  the  suspected 
blow  of  the  Iroquois  had  fallen  with  relentless  fury." 

Tonti  had  escaped  LaSalle  knew  not  whither.  Passing  down  the 
lake  in  search  of  him  and  his  men,  LaSalle  discovered  that  the  fort  had 
been  destroyed,  but  the  vessel  which  he  had  partly  constructed  was  still 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE   OF  ILLINOIS. 

on  the  stocks,  and  but  slightly  injured.  After  further  fruitless  search, 
failing  to  find  Tonti,  he  fastened  to  a  tree  a  painting  representing  himself 
and  party  sitting  in  a  canoe  and  bearing  a  pipe  of  peace,  and  to  the  paint- 
ing attached  a  letter  addressed  to  Tonti. 

Tonti  had  escaped,  and,  after  untold  privations,  taken  shelter  among 
the  Pottawattamies  near  Green  J3ay.  These  were  friendly  to  the  French. 
One  of  their  old  chiefs  used  to  say,  "  There  were  but  three  great  cap- 
tains in  the  world,  himself,  Tonti  and  LaSalle." 

GENIUS  OF  LASALLE. 

We  must  now  return  to  LaSalle,  whose  exploits  stand  out  in  such 
bold  relief.  He  was  born  in  Rouen,  France,  in  1643.  His  father  was 
wealthy,  but  he  renounced  his  patrimony  on  entering  a  college  of  the 
Jesuits,  from  which  he  separated  and  came  to  Canada  a  poor  man  in  1666. 
The  priests  of  St.  Sulpice,  among  whom  he  had  a  brother,  were  then  the 
proprietors  of  Montreal,  the  nucleus  of  which  was  a  seminary  or  con- 
vent founded  by  that  order.  The  Superior  granted  to  LaSalle  a  large 
tract  of  land  at  LaChine,  where  he  established  himself  in  the  fur  trade. 
He  was  a  man  of  daring  genius,  and  outstripped  all  his  competitors  in 
'  exploits  of  travel  and  commerce  with  the  Indians.  In  1669,  he  visited 
the  headquarters  of  the  great  Iroquois  Confederacy,  at  Onondaga,  in  the 
heart  of  New  York,  and,  obtaining  guides,  explored  the  Ohio  River  to 
the  falls  at  Louisville. 

In  order  to  understand  the  genius  of  LaSalle,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  for  many  years  prior  to  his  time  the  missionaries  and  traders  were 
obliged  to  make  their  way  to  the  Northwest  by  the  Ottawa  River  (of 
Canada)  on  account  of  the  fierce  hostility  of  the  Iroquois  along  the  lower 
lakes  and  Niagara  River,  which  entirely  closed  this  latter  route  to  the 
Upper  Lakes.  They  carried  on  their  commerce  chiefly  by  canoes,  pad- 
dling them  through  the  Ottawa  to  Lake  Nipissing,  carrying  them  across 
the  portage  to  French  River,  and  descending  that  to  Lake  Huron.  This 
being  the  route  by  which  they  reached  the  Northwest,  accounts  for  the 
fact  that  all  the  earliest  Jesuit  missions  were  established  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Upper  Lakes.  LaSalle  conceived  the  grand  idea  of  opening 
the  route  by  Niagara  River  and  the  Lower  Lakes  to  Canadian  commerce 
by  sail  vessels,  connecting  it  with  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
thus  opening  a  magnificent  water  communication  from  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  truly  grand  and  comprehensive 
purpose  seems  to  have  animated  him  in  all  his  wonderful  achievements 
and  the  matchless  difficulties  and  hardships  he  surmounted.  As  the  first 
step  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  object  he  established  himself  on  Lake 
Ontario,  and  built  and  garrisoned  Fort  Frontenac,  the  site  of  the  present 


114  HISTORY  OF  THE   STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

city  of  Kingston,  Canada.  Here  he  obtained  a  grant  of  land  from  the 
French  crown  and  a  body  of  troops  by  which  he  beat  back  the  invading 
Iroq[uois  and  cleared  the  passage  to  Niagara  Falls.  Having  by  this  mas- 
terly stroke  made  it  safe  to  attempt  a  hitherto  untried  expedition,  his 
next  step,  as  we  have  seen,  was  to  advance  to  the  Falls  with  all  his 
outfit  for  building  a  ship  with  which  to  sail  the  lakes.  He  was  success- 
ful in  this  undertaking,  though  hu  ultimate  purpose  was  defeated  by  a 
strange  combination  of  untoward  circumstances.  The  Jesuits  evidently 
hated  LaSalle  and  plotted  against  him,  because  he  had  abandoned  them 
and  co-operated  with  a  rival  order.  The  fur  traders  were  also  jealous  of 
his  superior  success  in  opening  new  channels  of  commerce.  At  LaChine 
he  had  taken  the  trade  of  Lake  Ontario,  which  but  for  his  presence  there 
would  have  gone  to  Quebec.  While  they  were  plodding  with  their  barK 
canoes  through  the  Ottawa  he  was  constructing  sailing  vessels  to  com- 
mand the  trade  of  the  lakes  and  the  Mississippi.  These  great  plans 
excited  the  jealousy  and  envy  of  the  small  traders,  introduced  treason  and 
revolt  into  the  ranks  of  his  own  companions,  and  finally  led  to  the  foul 
assassination  by  which  his  great  achievements  were  prematurely  ended. 

In  1682,  LaSalle,  having  completed  his  vessel  at  Peoria,  descended 
the  Mississippi  to  its  confluence  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Erecting  a 
standard  on  which  he  inscribed  the  arms  of  France,  he  took  formal  pos- 
session of  the  whole  valley  of  the  mighty  river,  in  the  name  of  Louis 
XIV.,  then  reigning,  in  honor  of  whom  he  named  the  country  LOUISIANA. 

LaSalle  then  went  to  France,  was  appointed  Governor,  and  returned 
with  a  fleet  and  immigrants,  for  the  purpose  of  planting  a  colony  in  Illi- 
nois. They  arrived  in  due  time  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  failing  to 
find  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  up  which  LaSalle  intended  to  sail,  his 
supply  ship,  with  the  immigrants,  was  driven  ashore  and  wrecked  on. 
Matagorda  Bay.  With  the  fragments  of  the  vessel  he  constructed  a 
stockade  and  rude  huts  on  the  shore  for  the  protection  of  the  immigrants, 
calling  the  post  Fort  St.  Louis.  He  then  made  a  trip  into  New  Mexico, 
in  search  of  silver  mines,  but,  meeting  with  disappointment,  returned  to 
find  his  little  colony  reduced  to  forty  souls.  He  then  resolved  to  travel 
on  foot  to  Illinois,  and,  starting  with  his  companions,  had  reached  the 
valley  of  the  Colorado,  near  the  mouth  of  Trinity  river,  when  he  was 
shot  by  one  of  his  men.  This  occurred  on  the  19th  of  March,  1687. 

Dr.  J.  W.  Foster  remarks  of  him  :  "  Thus  fell,  not  far  from  the  banks 
of  the  Trinity,  Robert  Cavalier  de  la  Salle,  one  of  the  grandest  charac- 
ters that  ever  figured  in  American  history — a  man  capable  of  originating 
the  vastest  schemes,  and  endowed  with  a  will  and  a  judgment  capable  of 
carrying  them  to  successful  results.  Had  ample  facilities  been  placed  by 
the  King  of  France  at  his  disposal,  the  result  of  the  colonization  of  this 
continent  might  have  been  far  different  from  what  we  now  behold." 


HISTORY   OF   THE    STATE    OF    ILLINOIS.  115 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS. 

A  temporary  settlement  was  made  at  Fort  St.  Louis,  or  the  old  Kas- 
kaskia  village,  on  the  Illinois  River,  in  what  is  now  LaSalle  County,  in 
1682.  In  1690,  this  was  removed,  with  the  mission  connected  with  it,  to 
Kaskaskia,  on  the  river  of  that  name,  emptying  into  the  lower  Mississippi 
in  St.  Clair  County.  Cahokia  was  settled  about  the  same  time,  or  at 
least,  both  of  these  settlements  began  in  the  year  1690,  though  it  is  now 
pretty  well  settled  that  Cahokia  is  the  older  place,  and  ranks  as  the  oldest 
permanent  settlement  in  Illinois,  as  well  as  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
The  reason  for  the  removal  of  the  old  Kaskaskia  settlement  and  mission, 
was  probably  because  the  dangeroas  and  difficult  route  by  Lake  Michigan 
and  the  Chicago  portage  had  been  almost  abandoned,  and  travelers  and 
traders  passed  down  and  up  the  Mississippi  by  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin 
River  route.  They  removed  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Mississippi  in  order 
to  be  in  the  line  of  travel  from  Canada  to  Louisiana,  that  is,  the  lower 
part  of  it,  for  it  was  all  Louisiana  then  south  of  the  lakes. 

During  the  period  of  French  rule  in  Louisiana,  the  population  prob- 
ably never  exceeded  ten  thousand,  including  whites  and  blacks.  Within 
that  portion  of  it  now  included  in  Indiana,  trading  posts  were  established 
at  the  principal  Miami  villages  which  stood  on  the  head  waters  of  the 
Maumee,  the  Wea  villages  situated  at  Ouiatenon,  on  the  Wabash,  and 
the  Piankeshaw  villages  at  Post  Vincennes  ;  all  of  which  were  probably 
visited  by  French  traders  and  missionaries  before  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

In  the  vast  territory ,  claimed  by  the  French,  many  settlements  of 
considerable  importance  had  sprung  up.  Biloxi,  on  Mobile  Bay,  had 
been  founded  by  D'Iberville,  in  1699 ;  Antoine  de  Lamotte  Cadillac  had 
founded  Detroit  in  1701 ;  and  New  Orleans  had  been  founded  by  Bien- 
ville,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Mississippi  Company,  in  1718.  In  Illi- 
nois also,  considerable  settlements  had  been  made,  so  that  in  1730  they 
embraced  one  hundred  and  forty  French  families,  about  six  hundred  "  con- 
verted Indians,"  anoTmany  traders  and  voyageurs.  In  that  portion  of  the 
country,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Mississippi,  there  were  five  distinct  set- 
tlements, with  their  respective  villages,  viz. :  Cahokia,  near  the  mouth 
of  Cahokia  Creek  and  about  five  miles  below  the  present  city  of  St. 
Louis ;  St.  Philip,  about  forty-five  miles  below  Cahokia,  and  four  miles 
above  Fort  Chartres;  Fort  Chartres,  twelve  miles  above  Kaskaskia; 
Kaskaskia,  situated  on  the  Kaskaskia  River,  five  miles  above  its  conflu- 
ence with  the  Mississippi ;  and  Prairie  du  Rocher,  near  Fort  Chartres. 
To  these  must  be  added  St.  Genevieve  and  St.  Louis,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Mississippi.  These,  with  the  exception  of  St.  Louis,  are  among 


116 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE   OF  ILLINOIS.  117 

the  oldest  French  towns  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Kaskaskia,  in  its  best 
days,  was  a  town  of  some  two  or  three  thousand  inhabitants.  After  it 
passed  from  the  crown  of  France  its  population  for  many  years  did  not 
exceed  fifteen  hundred.  Under  British  rule,  in  1773,  the  population  had 
decreased  to  four  hundred  and  fifty.  As  early  as  1721,  the  Jesuits  had 
established  a  college  and  a  monastery  in  Kaskaskia. 

Fort  Chartres  was  first  built  under  the  direction  of  the  Mississippi 
Company,  in  1718,  by  M.  de  Boisbraint,  a  military  officer,  under  command 
of  Bienville.  It  stood  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  about  eighteen 
miles  below  Kaskaskia,  and  was  for  some  time  the  headquarters  of  the 
military  commandants  of  the  district  of  Illinois. 

In  the  Centennial  Oration  of  Dr.  Fowler,  delivered  at  Philadelphia, 
by  appointment  of  Gov.  Beveridge,  we  find  some  interesting  facts  with 
regard  to  the  State  of  Illinois,  which  we  appropriate  in  this  history: 

In  1682  Illinois  became  a  possession  of  the  French  crown,  a  depend- 
ency of  Canada,  and  a  part  of  Louisiana.  In  1765  the  English  flag  was 
run  up  on  old  Fort  Chartres,  and  Illinois  was  counted  among  the  treas- 
ures of  Great  Britain. 

In  1779  it  was  taken  from  the  English  by  Col.  George  Rogers  Clark. 
This  man  was  resolute  in  nature,  wise  in  council,  prudent  in  policy,  bold 
in  action,  and  heroic  in  danger.  Few  men  who  have  figured  in  the  his- 
tory of  America  are  more  deserving  than .  this  colonel.  Nothing  short  of 
first-class  ability  could  have  rescued  Vincens  and  all  Illinois  from  the 
English.  And  it  is  not  possible  to  over-estimate  the  influence  of  this 
achievement  upon  the  republic.  In  1779  Illinois  became  a  part  of  Vir- 
ginia. It  was  soon  known(as  Illinois  County.  In  1784  Virginia  ceded 
all  this  territory  to  the  general  government,  to  be  cut  into  States,  to  be 
republican  in  form,  with  "  the  same  right  of  sovereignty,  freedom,  and 
independence  as  the  other  States." 

In  1787  it  was  the  object  of  the  wisest  and  ablest  legislation  found 
in  any  merely  human  records.  No  man  can  study  the  secret  history  of 

THE  "COMPACT  OF  1787," 

and  not  feel  that  Providence  was  guiding  with  sleepless  eye  these  unborn 
States.  The  ordinance  that  on  July  13,  1787,  finally  became  the  incor- 
porating act,  has  a  most  marvelous  history.  Jefferson  had  vainly  tried 
to  secure  a  system  of  government  for  the  northwestern  terjitory.  He 
was  an  emancipationist  of  that  day,  and  favored  the  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  the  territory  Virginia  had  ceded  to  the  general  government ;  but 
the  South  voted  him  down  as  often  as  it  came  up.  In  1787,  as  late  as 
July  10,  an  organizing  act  without  the  anti-slavery  clause  was  pending. 
This  concession  to  the  South  was  expected  to  carry  it.  Congress  was  in 


118  HISTORY   OP   THE   STATE   OF   rLLINOIS. 

session  in  New  York  City.  On  July  5,  Rev.  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  of 
Massachusetts,  came  into  New  York  to  lobby  on  the  northwestern  terri- 
tory. Everything  seemed  to  fall  into  his  hands.  Events  were  ripe. 

The  state  of  the  public  credit,  the  growing  of  Southern  prejudice, 
the  basis  of  his  mission,  his  personal  character,  all  combined  to  complete 
one  of  those  sudden  and  marvelous  revolutions  of  public  sentiment  that 
once  in  five  or  ten  centuries  are  seen  to  sweep  over  a  country  like  the 
breath  of  the  Almighty.  Cutler  was  a  graduate  of  Yale — received  his 
A.M.  from  Harvard,  and  his  D.D.  from  Yale.  He  had  studied  and  taken 
degrees  in  the  three  learned  professions,  medicine,  law,  and  divinity.  He 
had  thus  America's  best  indorsement.  He  had  published  a  scientific 
examination  of  the  plants  of  New  England.  His  name  stood  second  only 
to  that  of  Franklin  as  a  scientist  in  America.  He  was  a  courtly  gentle- 
man of  the  old  style,  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  and  of  inviting 
face.  The  Southern  members  said  they  had  never  seen  such  a  gentleman 
in  the  North.  He  came  representing  a  company  that  desired  to  purchase 
a  tract  of  land  now  included  in  Ohio,  for  the  purpose  of  planting  a  colony. 
It  was  a  speculation.  Government  money  was  worth  eighteen  cents  an 
the  dollar.  This  Massachusetts  company  had  collected  enough  to  pur- 
chase 1,500,000  acres  of  land.  Other  speculators  in  New  York  made 
Dr.  Cutler  their  agent  (lobbyist).  On  the  12th  he  represented  a  demand 
for  5,500,000  acres.  This  would  reduce  the  national  debt.  Jefferson 
and  Virginia  were  regarded  as  authority  concerning  the  land  Virginia 
had  just  ceded.  Jefferson's  policy  wanted  to  provide  for  the  public  credit, 
and  this  was  a  good  opportunity  to  do  something. 

Massachusetts  then  owned  the  territory  of  Maine,  which  she  was 
crowding  on  the  market.  She  was  opposed  to  opening  the  northwestern 
region.  This  fired  the  zeal  of  Virginia.  The  South  caught  the  inspira- 
tion, and  all  exalted  Dr.  Cutler.  The  English  minister  invited  him  to 
dine  with  some  of  the  Southern  gentlemen.  He  was  the  center  of  interest. 

The  entire  South  rallied  round  him.  Massachusetts  could  not  vote 
against  him,  because  many  of  the  constituents  of  her  members  were 
interested  personally  in  the  western  speculation.  Thus  Cutler,  making 
friends  with  the  South,  and,  doubtless,  using  all  the  arts  of  the  lobby, 
was  enabled  to  command  the  situation.  True  to  deeper  convictions,  he 
dictated  one  of  the  most  compact  and  finished  documents  of  wise  states- 
manship that  has  ever  adorned  any  human  law  book.  He  borrowed  from 
Jefferson  the  term  "  Articles  of  Compact,"  which,  preceding  the  federal 
constitution,  rose  into  the  most  sacred  character.  He  then  followed  very 
closely  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  adopted  three  years  before. 
Its  most  marked  points  were  : 

1.  The  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  territory  forever. 

2.  Provision  for  public  schools,  giving  one  township  for  a  seminary, 


HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  119 

and  every  section  numbered  16  in  each  township  ;  that  is,  one-thirty-sixth 
of  all  the  land,  for  public  schools. 

3.  A  provision  prohibiting  the  adoption  of  any  constitution  or  the 
enactment  of  any  law  that  should  nullify  pre-existing  contracts. 

Be  it  forever  remembered  that  this  compact  declared  that  "  Religion, 
morality,  and  knowledge  being  necessary  to  good  government  and  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  always 
be  encouraged." 

Dr.  Cutler  planted  himself  on  this  platform  and  would  not  yield. 
Giving  his  unqualified  declaration  that  it  was  that  or  nothing — that  unless 
they  could  make  the  land  desirable  they  did  not  want  it — he  took  his 
horse  and  buggy,  and  started  for  the  constitutional  convention  in  Phila- 
delphia. On  July  13,  1787,  the  bill  was  put  upon  its  passage,  and  was 
unanimously  adopted,  every  Southern  member  voting  for  it,  and  only  one 
man,  Mr.  Yates,  of  New  York,  voting  against  it.  But  as  the  States  voted 
as  States,  Yates  lost  his  vote,  and  the  compact  was  put  beyond  repeal. 

Thus  the  great  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin— a  vast  empire,  the  heart  of  the  great  valley — were  consecrated 
to  freedom,  intelligence,  and  honesty.  Thus  the  great  heart  of  the  nation 
was  prepared  for  a  year  and  a  day  and  an  hour.  In  the  light  of  these  eighty- 
nine  years  I  affirm,  that  this  act  was  the  salvation  of  the  republic  and  the 
destruction  of  slavery.  Soon  the  South  saw  their  great  blunder,  and 
tried  to  repeal  the  compact.  In  1803  Congress  referred  it  to  a  committee 
of  which  John  Randolph  was  chairman.  He  reported  that  this  ordinance 
was  a  compact,  and  opposed  repeal.  Thus  it  stood  a  rock,  in  the  way 
of  the  on-rushing  sea  of  slavery. 

With  all  this  timely  aid  it  was,  after  all,  a  most  desperate  and  pro- 
tracted struggle  to  keep  the  soil  of  Illinois  sacred  to  freedom.  It  was 
the  natural  battle-field  for  the  irrepressible  conflict.  In  the  southern  end 
of  the  State  slavery  preceded  the  compact.  It  existed  among  the  old 
French  settlers,  and  was  hard  to  eradicate.  The  southern  part  of  the 
State  was  settled  from  the  slave  States,  and  this  population  brought  their 
laws,  customs,  and  institutions  with  them.  A  stream  of  population  from 
the  North  poured  into  the  northern  part  of  the  State.  These  sections 
misunderstood  and  hated  each  other  perfectly.  The  Southerners  regarded 
the  Yankees  as  a  skinning,  tricky,  penurious  race  of  peddlers,  filling  the 
country  with  tinware,  brass  clocks,  and  wooden  nutmegs.  The  North- 
erner thought  of  the  Southerner  as  a  lean,  lank,  lazy  creature,  burrowing 
in  a  hut,  and  rioting  in  whisky,  dirt  and  ignorance.  These  causes  aided 
in  making  the  struggle  long  and  bitter.  So  strong  was  the  sympathy 
with  slavery  that,  in  spite  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  in  spite  of  the 
deed  of  cession,  it  was  determined  to  allow  the  old  French  settlers  to 
retain  their  slaves.  Planters  from  the  slave  States  might  bring  their 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

slaves,  if  they  would  give  them  a  chance  to  choose  freedom  or  years 
of  service  and  bondage  for  their  children  till  they  should  become 
thirty  years  of  age.  If  they  chose  freedom  they  must  leave  the  State 
in  sixty  days  or  be  sold  as  fugitives.  Servants  were  whipped  for  offenses 
for  which  white  men  are  fined.  Each  lash  paid  forty  cents  of  the  fine.  A 
negro  ten  miles  from  home  without  a  pass  was  whipped.  These  famous 
laws  were  imported  from  the  slave  States  just  as  they  imported  laws  foi 
the  inspection  of  flax  and  wool  when  there  was  neither  in  the  State. 

These  Black  Laws  are  now  wiped  out.  A  vigorous  effort  was  made 
to  protect  slavery  in  the  State  Constitution  of  1817.  It  barely  failed. 
It  was  renewed  in  1825,  when  a  convention  was  asked  to  make  a  new 
constitution.  After  a  hard  fight  the  convention  was  defeated.  But 
slaves  did  not  disappear  from  the  census  of  the  State  until  1850.  There 
were  mobs  and  murders  in  the  interest  of  slavery.  Lovejoy  was  added 
to  the  list  of  martyrs — a  sort  of  first-fruits  of  that  long  life  of  immortal 
heroes  who  saw  freedom  as  the  one  supreme  desire  of  their  souls,  and 
were  so  enamored  of  her  that  they  preferred  to  die  rather  than  survive  her. 

The  population  of  12,282  that  occupied  the  territory  in  A.D.  1800, 
increased  to  45,000  in  A.D.  1818,  when  the  State  Constitution  was 
adopted,  and  Illinois  took  her  place  in  the  Union,  with  a  star  on  the  flag 
and  two  votes  in  the  Senate. 

Shadrach  Bond  was  the  first  Governor,  and  in  his  first  message  he 
recommended  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal. 

The  simple  economy  in  those  days  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  entire 
bill  for  stationery  for  the  first  Legislature  was  only  $13.50.  Yet  this 
simple  body  actually  enacted  a  very  superior  code. 

There  was  no  money  in  the  territory  before  the  war  of  1812.  Deer 
skins  and  coon  skins  were  the  circulating  medium.  In  1821,  the  Legis- 
lature ordained  a  State  Bank  on  the  credit  of  the  State.  It  issued  notes 
in  the  likeness  of  bank  bills.  These  notes  were  made  a  legal  tender  for 
every  thing,  and  the  bank  was  ordered  to  loan  to  the  people  $100  on  per- 
sonal security,  and  more  on  mortgages.  They  actually  passed  a  resolu- 
tion requesting  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  to 
receive  these  notes  for  land.  The  old  French  Lieutenant  Governor,  Col. 
Menard,  put  the  resolution  as  follows:  "  Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  :  It  is 
moved  and  seconded  dot  de  notes  of  dis  bank  be  made  land-office  money. 
All  in  favor  of  dat  motion  say  aye  ;  all  against  it  say  no.  It  is  decided 
in  de  affirmative.  Now,  gentlemen,  I  bet  you  one  hundred  dollar  he 
never  be  land-office  money ! "  Hard  sense,  like  hard  money,  is  always 
above  par. 

This  old  Frenchman  presents  a  fine  figure  up  against  the  dark  back- 
ground of  most  of  his  nation.  They  made  no  progress.  They  clung  to 
their  earliest  and  simplest  implements.  They  never  wore  hats  or  cap? 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE   OF  ILLINOIS.  121 

They  pulled  their  blankets  over  their  heads  in  the  winter  like  the  Indians, 
with  whom  they  freely  intermingled. 

t)emagogism  had  an  early  development.  One  John  Grammar  (only 
in  name),  elected  to  the  Territorial  and  State  Legislatures  of  1816  and 
1836,  invented  the  policy  of  opposing  every  new  thing,  saying,  "  If  it 
succeeds,  no  one  will  ask  who  voted  against  it.  If  it  proves  a  failure,  he 
could  quote  its  record."  In  sharp  contrast  with  Grammar  was  the  char- 
acter of  D.  P.  Cook,  after  whom  the  county  containing  Chicago  was 
named.  Such  was  his  transparent  integrity  and  remarkable  ability  that 
his  will  was  almost  the  law  of  the  State.  In  Congress,  a  young  man, 
and  from  a  poor  State,  he  was  made  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee.  He  was  pre-eminent  for  standing  by  his  committee,  regard- 
less of  consequences.  It  was  his  integrity  that  elected  John  Quincy 
Adams  to  the  Presidency.  There  were  four  candidates  in  1824,  Jackson, 
Clay,  Crawford,  and  John  Quincy  Adams.  There  being  no  choice  by  the 
people,  the  election  was  thrown  into  the  House.  It  was  so  balanced  that 
it  turned  on  his  vote,  and  that  he  cast  for  Adams,  electing  him ;  then 
went  home  to  face  the  wrath  of  the  Jackson  party  in  Illinois.  It  cost 
him  all  but  character  and  greatness.  It  is  a  suggestive  comment  on  the 
times,  that  there  was  no  legal  interest  till  1830.  It  often  reached  150 
per  cent.,  usually  50  per  cent.  Then  it  was  reduced  to  12,  and  now  to 
10  per  cent. 

PHYSICAL  FEATURES  OF  THE    PRAIRIE  STATE. 

In  area  the  State  has  55,410  square  miles  of  territory.  It  is  about 
150  miles  wide  and  400  miles  long,  stretching  in  latitude  from  Maine  to 
North  Carolina.  It  embraces  wide  variety  of  climate.  It  is  tempered 
on  the  north  by  the  great  inland,  saltless,  tideless  sea,  which  keeps  the 
thermometer  from  either  extreme.  Being  a  table  land,  from  600  to  1,600 
feet  above  "the  level  of  the  sea,  one  is  prepared  to  find  on  the  health 
maps,  prepared  by  the  general  government,  an  almost  clean  and  perfect 
record.  In  freedom  from  fever  and  malarial  diseases  and  consumptions, 
the  three  deadly  enemies  of  the  American  Saxon,  Illinois,  as  a  State, 
stands  without  a  superior.  She  furnishes  one  of  the  essential  conditions 
of  a  great  people — sound  bodies.  I  suspect  that  this  fact  lies  back  of 
that  old  Delaware  word,  Illini,  superior  men. 

The  great  battles  of  history  that  have  been  determinative  of  dynas- 
ties and  destinies  have  been  strategical  battles,  chiefly  the  question  of 
position.  Thermopylae  has  been  the  war-cry  of  freemen  for  twenty-four 
centuries.  It  only  tells  how  much  there  may  be  in  position.  All  this 
advantage  belongs  to  Illinois.  It  is  in  the  heart  of  the  greatest  valley  in 
the  world,  the  vast  region  between  the  mountains — a  valley  that  could 


122  HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE   OF  ILLINOIS. 

feed  mankind  for  one  thousand  years.  It  is  well  on  toward  the  center  of 
the  continent.  It  is  in  the  great  temperate  belt,  in  which  have  been 
found  nearly  all  the  aggressive  civilizations  of  history.  It  has  sixty-five 
miles  of  frontage  on  the  head  of  the  lake.  With  the  Mississippi  forming 
the  western  and  southern  boundary,  with  the  Ohio  running  along  the 
southeastern  line,  with  the  Illinois  River  and  Canal  dividing  the  State 
diagonally  from  the  lake  to  the  Lower  Mississippi,  and  with  the  Rock  and 
Wabash  Rivers  furnishing  altogether  2,000  miles  of  water-front,  con- 
necting with,  and  running  through,  in  all  about  12,000  miles  of  navi- 
gable water. 

But  this  is  not  all.'  These  waters  are  made  most  available  by  the 
fact  that  the  lake  and  the  State  lie  on  the  ridge  running  into  the  great 
valley  from  the  east.  Within  cannon-shot  of  the  lake  the  water  runs 
away  from  the  lake  to  the  Gulf.  The  lake  now  empties  at  both  ends, 
one  into  the  Atlantic  and  one  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  lake  thus 
seems  to  hang  over  the  land.  This  makes  the  dockage  most  serviceable ; 
there  are  no  steep  banks  to  damage  it.  Both  lake  and  river  are  made 
for  use. 

The  climate  varies  from  Portland  to  Richmond ;  it  favors  every  pro- 
duct of  the  continent,  including  the  tropics,  with  less  than  half  a  dozen 
exceptions.  It  produces  every  great  nutriment  of  the  world  except  ban- 
anas and  rice.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  the  most  productive 
spot  known  to  civilization.  With  the  soil  full  of  bread  and  the  earth  full 
of  minerals ;  with  an  upper  surface  of  food  and  an  under  layer  of  fuel ; 
with  perfect  natural  drainage,  and  'abundant  springs  and  streams  and 
navigable  rivers ;  half  way  between  the  forests  of  the  North  and  the  fruits 
of  the  South  ;  within  a  day's  ride  of  the  great  deposits  of  iron,  coal,  cop- 
per, lead,  and  zinc ;  containing  and  controlling  the  great  grain,  cattle, 
pork,  and  lumber  markets  of  the  world,  it  is  not  strange  that  Illinois  has 
the  advantage  of  position. 

This  advantage  has  been  supplemented  by  the  character  o'f  the  popu- 
lation. In  the  early  days  when  Illinois  was  first  admitted  to  the  Union, 
her  populatio^  were  chiefly  from  Kentucky  and  Virginia.  But,  in  the 
conflict  of  ideas  concerning  slavery,  a  strong  tide  of  emigration  came  in 
from  the  East,  and  soon  changed  this  composition.  In  1870  her  non- 
native  population  were  from  colder  soils.  New  York  furnished  133,290 ; 
Ohio  gave  162,623;  Pennsylvania  sent  on  98,352;  the  entire  South  gave 
us  only  206,734.  In  all  her  cities,  and  in  all  her  German  and  Scandina- 
vian and  other  foreign  colonies,  Illinois  has  only  about  one-fifth  of  her 
people  of  foreign  birth. 


HISTORY  OF   THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  123 


PROGRESS  OF  DEVELOPMENT. 

One  of  the  greatest  elements  in  the  early  development  of  Illinois  is 
the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  connecting  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi 
Rivers  with  the  lakes.  It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  State. 
It  was  recommended  by  Gov.  Bond,  the  first  governor,  in  his  first  message. 
In  1821,  the  Legislature  appropriated  $10,000  for  surveying  the  route. 
Two  bright  young  engineers  surveyed  it,  and  estimated  the  cost  at 
$600,000  or  $700,000.  It  finally  cost  $8,000,000.  In  1825,  a  law  was 
passed  to  incorporate  the  Canal  Company,  but  no  stock  was  sold.  In 
1826,  upon  the  solicitation  of  Cook,  Congress  gave  800,000  acres  of  land 
on  the  line  of  the  work.  In  1828,  another  law — commissioners  appointed, 
and  work  commenced  with  new  survey  and  new  estimates.  In  1834-35, 
George  Farquhar  made  an  able  report  on  the  whole  matter.  T^his  was, 
doubtless,  the  ablest  report  ever  made  to  a  western  legislature,  and  it 
became  the  model  for  subsequent  reports  and  action.  From  ,tfyis  the 
work  went  on  till  it  was  finished  in  1848.  It  cost  the  State  %  large 
amount  of  money ;  but  it  gave  to  the  industries  of  the  State  an;  impetus 
that  pushed  it  up  into  the  first  rank  of  greatness.  It  was  not  b  wit  as  a 
speculation  any  more  than  a  doctor  is  employed  on  a  speculatif »,-  But 
it  has  paid  into  the  Treasary  of  the  State  an  average  annual  n^jjpum  of 
over  $111,000.  f£ 

Pending  the  construction  of  the  canal,  the  land  and  town-jjctt  fever 
broke  out  in  the  State,  in  1834-35.  It  took  on  the  malignanMype  in 
Chicago,  lifting  the  town  up  into  a  city.  The  disease  spread  frfier  the 
entire  State  and  adjoining  States.  It  was  epidemic.  It  cut  ^]$J  men's 
farms  without  regard  to  locality,  and  £ut  up  the  purses  of  the  pujtehasers 
without  regard  to  consequences.  It  is  estimated  that  building  lots&nough 
were  sold  in  Indiana  alone  to  accommodate  every  citizen  thejgin  the 
United  States. 

Towns  and  cities  were  exported  to  the  Eastern  marketlty  $fie  ship- 
load. There  was  no  lack  of  buyers.  Every  up-ship  came  freighted  with 
speculators  and  their  money. 

This  distemper  seized  upon  the  Legislature  in  1836*37,  and  left  not 
one  to  tell  the  tale.  They  enacted  a  system  of  internal  .jiiprovement 
without  a  parallel  in  the  grandeur  of  its  conception.  Th^ordered  the 
construction  of  1,300  miles  of  railroad,  crossing  the  State -in  all  direc- 
tions. This  was  surpassed  by  the  river  and  canal  'improvements. 
There  were  a  few  counties  not  touched  by  either  railroad  or  river  or 
canal,  and  those  were  to  be  comforted  and  compensated  by  the  free  dis- 
tribution of  $200,000  among  them.  To  inflate  this  balloon  beyond  cre- 
dence it  was  ordered  that  work  should  be  commenced  on  both  ends  of 


124  HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE  OF   ILLINOIS. 

each  of  these  railroads  and  rivers,  and  at  each  river-crossing,  all  at  the 
same  time.  The  appropriations  for  these  vast  improvements  were  over 
$12,000,000,  and  commissioners  were  appointed  to  borrow  the  money  on 
the  credit  of  the  State.  Remember  that  all  this  was  in  the  early  days  of 
railroading,  when  railroads  were  luxuries;  that  the  State  had  whole 
counties  with  scarcely  a  cabin ;  and  that  the  population  of  the  State  was 
less  than  400,000,  and  you  can  form  some  idea  of  the  vigor  with  which 
these  brave  men  undertook  the  work  of  making  a  great  State.  In  the 
light  of  history  I  am  compelled  to  say  that  this  was  only  a  premature 
throb  of  the  power  that  actually  slumbered  in  the  soil  of  the  State.  It 
was  Hercules  in  the  cradle. 

At  this  juncture  the  State  Bank  loaned  its  funds  largely  to  Godfrey 
Oilman  &  Co.,  and  to  other  leading  houses,  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
trade  from  St.  Louis  to  Alton.  Soon  they  failed,  and  took  down  the 
bank  with  them. 

In  1840,  all  hope  seemed  gone.  A  population  of  480,000  were  loaded 
with  a  debt  of  $14,000,000.  It  had  only  six  small  cities,  really  only 
towns,  namely :  Chicago,  Alton,  Springfield,  Quincy,  Galena,  Nauvoo. 
This  debt  was  to  be  cared  for  when  there  was  not  a  dollar  in  the  treas- 
ury, and  when  the  State  had  borrowed  itself  out  of  all  credit,  and  when 
there  was  not  good  money  enough  in  the  hands  of  all  the  people  to  pay 
the  interest  of  the  debt  for  a  single  year.  Yet,  in  the  presence  of  all 
these  difficulties,  the  young  State  steadily  refused  to  repudiate.  Gov. 
Ford  took  hold  of  the  problem  and  solved  it,  bringing  the  State  through 
in  triumph. 

Having  touched  lightly  upon  some  of  the  more  distinctive  points  in 
the  history  of  the  development  of  Illinois,  let  us  next  briefly  consider  the 

MATERIAL  RESOURCES  OF  THE  STATE. 

It  is  a  garden  four  hundred  miles  long  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  wide.  Its  soil  is  chiefly  a  black  sandy  loam,  from  six  inches  to 
sixty  feet  thick.  On  the  American  bottoms  it  has  been  cultivated  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  without  renewal.  About  the  old  French 
towns  it  has  yielded  corn  for  a  century  and  a  half  without  rest  or  help. 
It  produces  nearly  everything  green  in  the  temperate  and  tropical  zones. 
She  leads  all  other  States  in  the  number  of  acres  actually  under  plow. 
Her  products  from  25,000,000  of  acres  are  incalculable.  Her  mineral 
wealth  is  scarcely  second  to  her  agricultural  power.  She  has  coal,  iron, 
lead,  copper,  zinc,  many  varieties  of  building  stone,  fire  clay,  cuma  clay, 
common  brick  clay,  sand  of  all  kinds,  gravel,  mineral  paint — every  thing 
needed  for  a  high  civilization.  Left  to  herself,  she  has  the  elements  of 
all  greatness.  The  single  item  of  coal  is  too  vast  for  an  appreciative 


HISTORY  OF  THE   STATE   OF  ILLINOIS.  125, 

handling  in  figures.  We  can  handle  it  in  general  terms  like  algebraical 
signs,  but  long  before  we  get  up  into  the  millions  and  billions  the  human 
mind  drops  down  from  comprehension  to  mere  symbolic  apprehension. 

When  I  tell  you  that  nearly  four-fifths  of  the  entire  State  is  under- 
laid with  a  deposit  of  coal  more  than  forty  feet  thick  on  the  average  (now 
estimated,  by  recent  surveys,  at  seventjr  feet  thick),  you  can  get  some 
idea  of  its  amount,  as  you  do  of  the  amount  of  the  national  debt.  There 
it  is !  41,000  square  miles — one  vast  mine  into  which  you  could  put 
any  of  the  States  ;  in  which  you  could  bury  scores  of  European  and 
ancient  empires,  and  have  room  enough  all  round  to  work  without  know- 
ing that  they  had  been  sepulchered  there. 

Put  this  vast  coal-bed  down  by  the  other  great  coal  deposits  of  the 
world,  and  its  importance  becomes  manifest.  Great  Britain  has  12,000 
square  miles  of  coal;  Spain,  3,000;  France,  1,719  ;  Belgium,  578 ;  Illinois 
about  twice  as  many  square  miles  as  all  combined.  Virginia  has  20,000 
square  miles ;  Pennsylvania,  16,000  ;  Ohio,  12,000.  Illinois  has  41,000 
square  miles.  One-seventh  of  all  the  known  coal  on  this  continent  is  in 
Illinois. 

Could  we  sell  the  coal  in  this  single  State  for  one-seventh  of  one  cent 
a  ton  it  would  pay  the  national  debt.  Converted  into  power,  even  with 
the  wastage  in  our  common  engines,  it  would  do  more  work  than  could 
be  done  by  the  entire  race,  beginning  at  Adam's  wedding  and  working 
ten  hours  a  day  through  all  the  centuries  till  the  present  time,  and  right 
on  into  the  future  at  the  same  rate  for  the  next  600,000  years. 

Great  Britain  uses  enough  mechanical  power  to-day  to  give  to  each 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  kingdom  the  help  and  service  of  nineteen 
untiring  servants.  No  wonder  she  has  leisure  and  luxuries.  No  wonder 
the  home  of  the  common  artisan  has  in  it  more  luxuries  than  could  be 
found  in  the  palace  of  good  old  King  Arthur.  Think,  if  you  can  conceive 
of  it,  of  the  vast  army  of  servants  that  slumber  in  the  soil  of  Illinois, 
impatiently  awaiting  the  call  of  Genius  to  come  forth  to  minister  to  our 
comfort. 

At  the  present  rate  of  consumption  England's  coal  supply  will  be 
exhausted  in  250  years.  When  this  is  gone  she  must  transfer  her  dominion 
either  to  the  Indies,  or  to  British  America,  which  I  would  not  resist ;  or 
to  some  other  people,  which  I  would  regret  as  a  loss  to  civilization. 

COAL  IS   KING. 

At  the  same  rate  of  consumption  (which  far  exceeds  our  own)  the 
deposit  of  coal  in  Illinois  will  last  120,000  years.  And  her  kingdom  shall 
be  an  everlasting  kingdom. 

Let  us  turn,  now  from  this  reserve  power  to  the  annual  products  of 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE   STATE   OF   ILLINOIS. 

the  State.  We  shall  not  be  humiliated  in  this  field.  Here  we  strike  the 
secret  of  our  national  credit.  Nature  provides  a  market  in  the  constant 
appetite  of  the  race.  Men  must  eat,  and  if  we  can  furnish  the  provisions 
we  can  command  the  treasure.  All  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his 
life. 

According  to  the  last  census  Illinois  produced  30,000,000  of  bushels 
of  wheat.  That  is  more  wheat  than  was  raised  by  any  other  State  in  the 
Union.  She  raised  In  1875,  130,000,000  of  bushels  of  corn — twice  as 
much  as  any  other  State,  and  one-sixth  of  all  the  corn  raised  in  the  United 
States.  She  harvested  2,747,000  tons  of  hay,  nearly  one-tenth  of  all  the 
hay  in  the  Republic.  It  is  not  generally  appreciated,  but  it  is  true,  that 
the  hay  crop  of  the  country  is  worth  more  than  the  cotton  crop.  The 
hay  of  Illinois  equals  the  cotton  of  Louisiana.  Go  to  Charleston,  S.  C., 
and  see  them  peddling  handfuls  of  hay  or  grass,  almost  as  a  curiosity, 
as  we  regard  Chinese  gods  or  the  cryolite  of  Greenland ;  drink  your 
coffee  and  condensed  milk ;  and  walk  back  from  the  coast  for  many  a 
league  through  the  sand  and  burs  till  you  get  up  into  the  better  atmos- 
phere of  the  mountains,  without  seeing  a  waving  meadow  or  a  grazing 
herd ;  then  you  will  begin  to  appreciate  the  meadows  of  the  Prairie  State, 
where  the  grass  often  grows  sixteen  feet  high. 

The  value  of  her  farm  implements  is  $211,000,000,  and  the  value  of 
her  live  stock  is  only  second  to  the  great  State  of  New  York.  in  1875 
she  had  25,000,000  hogs,  and  packed  2,113,845,  about  one-half  of  all  that 
were  packed  in  the  United  States.  This  is  no  insignificant  item.  Pork 
is  a  growing  demand  of  the  old  world.  Since  the  laborers  of  Europe 
have  gotten  a  taste  of  our  bacon,  and  we  have  learned  how  to  pack  it  dry 
in  boxes,  like  dry  goods,  the  world  has  become  the  market. 

The  hog  is  on  the  march  into  the  future.  His  nose  is  ordained  to 
uncover  the  secrets  of  dominion,  and  his  feet  shall  be  guided  by  the  star 
of  empire. 

Illinois  marketed  $57,000,000  worth  of  slaughtered  animals — more 
than  any  other  State,  and  a  seventh  of  all  the  States. 

Be  patient  with  me,  and  pardon  my  pride,  and  I  will  give  you  a  list 
of  some  of  the  things  in  which  Illinois  excels  all  other  States. 

Depth  and  richness  of  soil ;  per  cent,  of  good  ground  ;  acres  of 
improved  land ;  large  farms — some  farms  contain  from  40,000  to  60,000 
acres  of  cultivated  land,  40,000  acres  of  corn  on  a  single  farm  ;  number  of 
farmers ;  amount  of  wheat,  corn,  oats  and  honey  produced ;  value  of  ani- 
mals for  slaughter ;  number  of  hogs  ;  amount  of  pork  ;  number  of  horses 
— three  times  as  many  as  Kentucky,  the  horse  State. 

Illinois  excels  all  other  States  in  miles  of  railroads  and  in  miles  of 
postal  service,  and  in  money  orders  sold  per  annum,  and  in  the  amount  of 
lumber  sold  in  her  markets. 


HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  127 

Illinois  is  only  second  in  many  important  matters.  This  sample  list 
comprises  a  few  of  the  more  important :  Permanent  school  fund  (good 
for  a  young  state)  ;  total  income  for  educational  purposes  ;  number  of  pub- 
lishers of  books,  maps,  papers,  etc.;  value  of  farm  products  and  imple- 
ments, and  of  live  stock  ;  in  tons  of  coal  mined. 

The  shipping  of  Illinois  is  only  second  to  New  York.  Out  of  one 
port  during  the  business  hours  of  the  season  of  navigation  she  sends  forth 
a  vessel  every  ten  minutes.  This  does  not  include  canal  boats,  which  go 
one  every  five  minutes.  No  wonder  she  is  only  second  in  number  of 
bankers  and  brokers  or  in  physicians  and  surgeons. 

She  is  third  in  colleges,  teachers  and  schools ;  cattle,  lead,  hay, 
flax,  sorghum  and  beeswax. 

She  is  fourth  in  population,  in  children  enrolled  in  public  schools,  in 
law  schools,  in  butter,  potatoes  and  carriages. 

She  is  fifth  in  value  of  real  and  personal  property,  in  theological 
seminaries  and  colleges  exclusively  for  women,  in  milk  sold,  and  in  boots 
and  shoes  manufactured,  and  in  book-binding. 

She  is  only  seventh  in  the  production  of  wood,  while  she  is  the 
twelfth  in  area.  Surely  that  is  well  done  for  the  Prairie  State.  She  now 
has  much  more  wood  and  growing  timber  than  she  had  thirty  years  ago. 

A  few  leading  industries  will  justify  emphasis.  She  manufactures 
$205,000,000  worth  of  goods,  which  places  her  well  up  toward  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania.  The  number  of  her  manufacturing  establishments 
increased  from  1860  to  1870,  300  per  cent.;  capital  employed  increased  350 
per  cent.,  and  the  amount  of  product  increased  400  per  cent.  She  issued 
5,500,000  copies  of  commercial  and  financial  newspapers — only  second  to 
New  York.  She  has  6,759  miles  of  railroad,  thus  leading  all  other  States, 
worth  $636,458,000,  using  3,245  engines,  and  67,712  cars,  making  a  train 
long  enough  to  cover  one-tenth  of  the  entire  roads  of  the  State.  Her 
stations  are  only  five  miles  apart.  She  carried  last  year  15,795,000  passen- 
gers, an  average  of  36£  miles,  or  equal  to  taking  her  entire  population  twice 
across  the  State.  More  than  two-thirds  of  her  land  is  within  five  miles  of 
a  railroad,  and  less  than  two  per  cent,  is  more  than  fifteen  miles  away. 

The  State  has  a  large  financial  interest  in  the  Illinois  Central  railroad. 
The  road  was  incorporated  in  1850,  and  the  State  gave  each  alternate  sec- 
tion for  six  miles  on  each  side,  and  doubled  the  price  of  the  remaining 
land,  so  keeping  herself  good.  The  road  received  2,595,000  acres  of  land, 
and  pays  to  the  State  one-seventh  of  the  gross  receipts.  The  State 
receives  this  year  $350,000,  and  has  received  in  all  about  $7,000,000.  It 
is  practically  the  people's  road,  and  it  has  a  most  able  and  gentlemanly 
management.  Add  to  this  the  annual  receipts  from  the  canal,  $111,000, 
and  a  large  per  cent,  of  the  State  tax  is  provided  for. 


128  HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE   OF  ILLINOIS. 


THE   RELIGION  AND  MORALS 

of  the  State  keep  step  with  her  productions  and  growth.  She  was  born 
of  the  missionary  spirit.  It  was  a  minister  who  secured  for  her  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787,  by  which  she  has  been  saved  from  slavery,  ignorance,  and 
dishonesty.  Rev.  Mr.  Wiley,  pastor  of  a  Scotch  congregation  in  Randolph 
County,  petitioned  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1818  to  recognize 
Jesus  Christ  as  king,  and  the  Scriptures  as  the  only  necessary  guide  and 
book  of  law.  The  convention  did  not  act  in  the  case,  and  the  old  Cove- 
nanters refused  to  accept  citizenship.  They  never  voted  until  1824,  when 
the  slavery  question  was  submitted  to  the  people ;  then  they  all  voted 
against  it  and  cast  the  determining  votes.  Conscience  has  predominated 
whenever  a  great  moral  question  has  been  submitted  to  the  people. 

But  little  mob  violence  has  ever  been  felt  in  the  State.  In  1817 
regulators  disposed  of  a  band  of  horse-thieves  that  infested  the  territory. 
The  Mormon  indignities  finally  awoke  the  same  spirit.  Alton  was  also 
the  scene  of  a  pro-slavery  mob,  in  which  Lovejoy  was  added  to  the  list  of 
martyrs.  The  moral  sense  of  the  people  makes  the  law  supreme,  and  gives 
to  the  State  unruffled  peace. 

With  $22,300,000  in  church  property,  and  4,298  church  organizations, 
the  State  has  that  divine  police,  the  sleepless  patrol  of  moral  ideas,  that 
alone  is  able  to  secure  perfect  safety.  Conscience  takes  the  knife  from 
the  assassin's  hand  and  the  bludgeon  from  the  grasp  of  the  highwayman. 
We  sleep  in  safety,  not  because  we  are  behind  bolts  and  bars — these  only 
fence  against  the  innocent ;  not  because  a  lone  officer  drowses  on  a  distant 
corner  of  a  street ;  not  because  a  sheriff  may  call  his  posse  from  a  remote 
part  of  the  county ;  but  because  conscience  guards  the  very  portals  of  the 
air  and  stirs  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  public  mind.  This  spirit  issues 
within  the  State  9,500,000  copies  of  religious  papers  annually,  and  receives 
still  more  from  without.  Thus  the  crime  of  the  State  is  only  one-fourth 
that  of  New  York  and  one-half  that  of  Pennsylvania. 

Illinois  never  had  but  one  duel  between  her  own  citizens.  In  Belle- 
ville, in  1820,  Alphonso  Stewart  and  William  Bennett  arranged  to  vindi- 
cate injured  honor.  The  seconds  agreed  to  make  it  a  sham,  and  make 
them  shoot  blanks.  Stewart  was  in  the  secret.  Bennett  mistrusted  some- 
thing, and,  unobserved,  slipped  a  bullet  into  his  gun  and  killed  Stewart. 
He  then  fled  the  State.  After  two  years  he  was  caught,  tried,  convicted, 
and,  in  spite  of  friends  and  political  aid,  was  hung.  This  fixed  the  code 
of  honor  on  a  Christian  basis,  and  terminated  its  use  in  Illinois. 

The  early  preachers  were  ignorant  men,  who  were  accounted  eloquent 
according  to  the  strength  of  their  voices.  But  they  set  the  style  for  all 
public  speakers.  Lawyers  and  political  speakers  followed  this  rule.  Gov. 


HISTORY  OP  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  129 

Ford  says:  "Nevertheless,  these  first  preachers  were  of  incalculable 
benefit  to  the  country.  They  inculcated  justice  and  morality.  To  them 
are  we  indebted  for  the  first  Christian  character  of  the  Protestant  portion 
of  the  people." 

In  education  Illinois  surpasses  her  material  resources.  The  ordinance 
of  1787  consecrated  one  thirty-sixth  of  her  soil  to  common  schools,  and 
the  law  of  1818,  the  first  law  that  went  upon  her  statutes,  gave  three  per 
cent,  of  all  the  rest  to 

EDUCATION. 

The  old  compact  secures  this  interest  forever,  and  by  its  yoking 
morality  and  intelligence  it  precludes  the  legal  interference  with  the  Bible 
in  the  public  schools.  With  such  a  start  it  is  natural  that  we  should  have 
11,050  schools,  and  that  our  illiteracy  should  be  less  than  New  York  or 
Pennsylvania,  and  only  about  one-half  of  Massachusetts.  We  are  not  to 
blame  for  not  having  more  than  one-half  as  many  idiots  as  the  great 
States.  These  public  schools  soon  made  colleges  inevitable.  The  first 
college,  still  flourishing,  was  started  in  Lebanon  in  1828,  by  the  M.  E. 
church,  and  named  after  Bishop  McKendree.  Illinois  College,  at  Jackson- 
ville, supported  by  the  Presbyterians,  followed  in  1830.  In  1832  the  Bap- 
tists built  Shurtleff  College,  at  Alton.  Then  the  Presbyterians  built  Knox 
College,  at  Galesburg,  in  1838,  and  the  Episcopalians  built  Jubilee  College, 
at  Peoria,  in  1847.  After  these  early  years  colleges  have  rained  down. 
A  settler  could  hardly  encamp  on  the  prairie  but  a  college  would  spring 
up  by  his  wagon.  The  State  now  has  one  very  well  endowed  and  equipped 
university,  namely,  the  Northwestern  University,  at  Evanston,  with  six 
colleges,  ninety  instructors,  over  1,000  students,  and  $1,500,000  endow- 
ment. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Peck  was  the  first  educated  Protestant  minister  in  tne 
State.  He  settled  at  Rock  Spring,  in  St.  Glair  County,  1820,  and  left  his 
impress  on  the  State.  Before  1837  only  party  papers  were  published,  but 
Mr.  Peck  published  a  Gazetteer  of  Illinois.  Soon  after  John  Russell,  of 
Bluffdale,  published  essays  and  tales  showing  genius.  Judge  James  Hall 
published  The  Illinois  Monthly  Magazine  with  great  ability,  and  an  annual 
called  The  Western  Souvenir,  which  gave  him  an  enviable  fame  all  over  the 
United  States.  From  these  beginnings  Illinois  has  gone  on  till  she  has 
more  volumes  in  public  libaaries  even  than  Massachusetts,  and  of  the 
44,500,000  volumes  in  all  the  public  libraries  of  the  United  States,  she 
has  one-thirteenth.  In  newspapers  she  stands  fourth.  Her  increase  is 
marvelous.  In  1850  she  issued  5,000,000  copies;  in  1860,  27,590,000  ;  in 
1870,  113,140,000.  In  1860  she  had  eighteen  colleges  and  seminaries ;  in 
1870  she  had  eighty.  That  is  a  grand  advance  for  the  war  decade. 

This  brings  us  to  a  record  unsurpassed  in  the  history  of  any  age, 


130  HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE  OF   ILLINOIS. 


THE  WAR    RECORD  OF  ILLINOIS. 

I  hardly  know  where  to  begin,  or  how  to  advance,  or  what  to  say.  1 
can  at  best  give  you  only  a  broken  synopsis  of  her  deeds,  and  you  must 
put  them  in  the  order  of  glory  for  yourself.  Her  sons  have  always  been 
foremost  on  fields  of  danger.  In  1832-33,  at  the  call  of  Gov.  Reynolds, 
her  sons  drove  Blackhawk  over  the  Mississippi. 

When  the  Mexican  war  came,  in  May,  1846,  8,370  men  offered  them- 
selves when  only  3,720  could  be  accepted.  The  fields  of  Buena  Vista  and 
Vera  Cruz,  and  the  storming  of  Cerro  Gordo,  will  carry  the  glory  of  Illinois 
soldiers  along  after  the  infamy  of  the  cause  they  served  has  been  forgotten. 
But  it  was  reserved  till  our  day  for  her  sons  to  find  a  field  and  cause  and 
foemen  that  could  fitly  illustrate  their  spirit  and  heroism.  Illinois  put 
into  her  own  regiments  for  the  United  States  government  256,000  men, 
and  into  the  army  through  other  States  enough  to  swell  the  number  to 
290,000.  This  far  exceeds  all  the  soldiers  of  the  federal  government  in 
all  the  war  of  the  revolution.  Her  total  years  of  service  were  over  600,000. 
She  enrolled  men  from  eighteen  to  forty-five  years  of  age  when  the  law 
of -Congress  in  1864 — the  test  time — only  asked  for  those  from  twenty  to 
forty-five.  Her  enrollment  was  otherwise  excessive.  Her  people  wanted 
to  go,  and  did  not  take  the  pains  to  correct  the  enrollment.  Thus  the 
basis  of  fixing  the  quota  was  too  great,  and  then  the  quota  .itself,  at  least 
in  the  trying  time,  was  far  above  any  other  State. 

Thus  the  demand  on  some  counties,  as  Monroe,  for  example,  took  every 
able-bodied  man  in  the  county,  and  then  did  not  have  enough  to  fill  the 
quota.  Moreover,  Illinois  sent  20,844  men  for  ninety  or  one  hundred  days, 
for  whom  no  credit  was  asked.  When  Mr.  Lincoln's  attention  was  called 
to  the  inequality  of  the  quota  compared  with  other  States,  he  replied, 
"  The  country  needs  the  sacrifice.  We  must  put  the  whip  on  the  free 
horse."  In  spite  of  all  these  disadvantages  Illinois  gave  to  the  country 
73,000  years  of  service  above  all  calls.  With  one-thirteenth  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  loyal  States,  she  sent  regularly  one-tenth  of  all  the  soldiers, 
and  in  the  peril  of  the  closing  calls,  when  patriots  were  few  and  weary, 
she  then  sent  one-eighth  of  all  that  were  called  for  by  her  loved  and  hon- 
ored son  in  the  white  house.  Her  mothers  and  daughters  went  into  the 
fields  to  raise  the  grain  and  keep  the  children  together,  while  the  fathers 
and  older  sons  went  to  the  harvest  fields  of  the  world.  I  knew  a  father 
and  four  sons  who  agreed  that  one  of  them  must  stay  at  home  ;  and  they 
pulled  straws  from  a  stack  to  see  who  might  go.  The  father  was  left. 
The  next  day  he  came  into  the  camp,  saying  :  "  Mother  says  she  can  get 
the  crops  in,  and  I  am  going,  too."  I  know  large  Methodist  churches 
from  which  every  male  member  went  to  the  army.  Do  you  want  to  know 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE   OF   ILLINOIS. 

what  these  heroes  from  Illinois  did  in  the  field  ?  Ask  any  soldier  with  a 
good  record  of  his  own,  who  is  thus  able  to  judge,  and  he  will  tell  you 
that  the  Illinois  men  went  in  to  win.  It  is  common  history  that  the  greater 
victories  were  won  in  the  West.  When  everything  else  looked  dark  Illi- 
nois was  gaining  victories  all  down  the  river,  and  dividing  the  confederacy. 
Sherman  took  with  him  on  his  great  march  forty-five  regiments  of  Illinois 
infantry,  three  companies  of  artillery,  and  one  company  of  cavalry.  He 
could  not  avoid 

GOING  TO  THE  SEA. 

If  he  had  been  killed,  I  doubt  not  the  men  would  have  gone  right  on. 
Lincoln  answered  all  rumors  of  Sherman's  defeat  with,  "  It  is  impossible  ; 
there  is  a  mighty  sight  of  fight  in  100,000  Western  men."  Illinois  soldiers 
brought  home  300  battle-flags.  The  first  United  States  flag  that  floated 
over  Richmond  was  an  Illinois  flag.  She  sent  messengers  and  nurses  to 
every  field  and  hospital,  to  care  for  her  sick  and  wounded  sons.  She  said, 
"  These  suffering  ones  are  my  sons,  and  I  will  care  for  them." 

When  individuals  had  given  all,  then  cities  and  towns  came  forward 
with  their  credit  to  the  extent  of  many  millions,  to  aid  these  men  and 
their  families. 

Illinois  gave  the  country  the  great  general  of  the  war — Ulysses  S. 
Grant — since  honored  with  two  terms  of  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States. 

One  other  name  from  Illinois  comes  up  in  all  minds,  embalmed  in  all 
hearts,  that  must  have  the  supreme  place  in  this  story  of  our  glory  and 
of  our  nation's  honor ;  that  name  is  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois. 

The  analysis  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  character  is  difficult  on  account  of  its 
symmetry. 

In  this  age  we  look  with  admiration  at  his  uncompromising  honesty. 
And  well  we  may,  for  this  saved  us.  Thousands  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  our  country  who  knew  him  only  as  "  Honest  Old  Abe," 
voted  for  him  on  that  account ;  and  wisely  did  they  choose,  for  no  other 
man  could  have  carried  us  through  the  fearful  night  of  the  war.  When 
his  plans  were  too  vast  for  our  comprehension,  and  his  faith  in  the  cause 
too  sublime  for  our  participation ;  when  it  was  all  night  about  us,  and  all 
dread  before  us,  and  all  sad  and  desolate  behind  us ;  when  not  one  ray 
shone  upon  our  cause ;  when  traitors  were  haughty  and  exultant  at  the 
South,  and  fierce  and  blasphemous  at  the  North  ;  when  the  loyal  men  here 
seemed  almost  in  the  minority  ;  when  the  stoutest  heart  quailed,  the  bravest 
cheek  paled  ;  when  generals  were  defeating  each  other  for  place,  and 
contractors  were  leeching  out  the  very  heart's  blood  of  the  prostrate 
republic :  when  every  thing  else  had  failed  us,  we  looked  at  this  calm, 
patient  man  standing  like  a  rock  in  the  storm,  and  said :  "  Mr.  Lincoln 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE   STATE  OF   ILLINOIS. 

is  honest,  and  we  can  trust  him  still."  Holding  to  this  single  point  with 
the  energy  of  faith  and  despair  we  held  together,  and,  under  God,  he 
brought  us  through  to  victory. 

His  practical  wisdom  made  him  the  wonder  of  all  lands.  With  such 
oertainty  did  Mr.  Lincoln  follow  causes  to  their  ultimate  effects,  that  his 
foresight  of  contingencies  seemed  almost  prophetic. 

He  is  radiant  with  all  the  great  virtues,  and  his  memory  shall  shed  a 
glory  upon  this  age  that  shall  fill  the  eyes  of  men  as  they  look  into  his- 
tory. Other  men  have  excelled  him  in  some  point,  but,  taken  at  all 
points,  all  in  all,  he  stands  head  and  shoulders  above  every  other  man  of 
6,000  years.  An  administrator,  he  saved  the  nation  in  the  perils  of 
unparalleled  civil  war.  A  statesman,  he  justified  his  measures  by  their 
success.  A  philanthropist,  he  gave  liberty  to  one  race  and  salvation  to 
another.  A  moralist,  he  bowed  from  the  summit  of  human  power  to  the 
foot  of  the  Cross,  and  became  a  Christian.  A  mediator,  he  exercised  mercy 
under  the  most  absolute  abeyance  to  law.  A  leader,  he  was  no  partisan. 
A  commander,  he  was  untainted  with  blood.  A  ruler  in  desperate  times, 
he  was  unsullied  with  crime.  A  man,  he  has  left  no  word  of  passion,  no 
thought  of  malice,  no  trick  of  craft,  no  act  of  jealousy,  no  purpose  of 
selfish  ambition.  Thus  perfected,  without  a  model,  and  without  a  peer, 
he  was  dropped  into  these  troubled  years  to  adorn  and  embellish  all  that 
is  good  and  all  that  is  great  in  our  humanity,  and  to  present  to  all  coming 
time  the  representative  of  the  divine  idea  of  free  government. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  away  down  in  the  future,  when  the 
republic  has  fallen  from  its  niche  in  the  wall  of  time  ;  when  the  great 
war  itself  shall  have  faded  out  in  the  distance  like  a  mist  on  the  horizon ; 
when  the  Anglo-Saxon  language  shall  be  spoken  only  by  the  tongue  of 
the  stranger ;  then  the  generations  looking  this  way  shall  see  the  great 
president  as  the  supreme  figure  in  this  vortex  of  historv 

CHICAGO. 

It  is  impossible  in  our  brief  space  to  give  more  than  a  meager  sketch 
of  such  a  city  as  Chicago,  which  is  in  itself  the  greatest  marvel  of  the 
Prairie  State.  This  mysterious,  majestic,  mighty  city,  born  first  of  water, 
and  next  of  fire ;  sown  in  weakness,  and  raised  in  power ;  planted  among 
the  willows  of  the  marsh,  and  crowned  with  the  glory  of  the  mountains  ; 
sleeping  on  the  bosom  of  the  prairie,  and  rocked  on  the  bosom  of  the  sea , 
the  youngest  city  of  the  world,  and  still  the  eye  of  the  prairie,  as  Damas- 
cus, the  oldest  city  of  the  world,  is  the  eye  of  the  desert.  "With  a  com- 
merce far  exceeding  that  of  Corinth  on  her  isthmus,  in  the  highway  to 
the  East ;  with  the  defenses  of  a  continent  piled  around  her  by  the  thou- 
sand miles,  making  her  far  safer  than  Rome  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber ; 


^  _y 

LOCKPORT 


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HISTORY  OF   THE   STATE  OF   ILLINOIS. 


138 


TO 
TO 


334  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE   OF  ILLINOIS. 

with  schools  eclipsing  Alexandria  and  Athens ;  with  liberties  more  con- 
spicuous than  those  of  the  old  republics ;  with  a  heroism  equal  to  the  first 
Carthage,  and  with  a  sanctity  scarcely  second  to  that  of  Jerusalem-1— set 
your  thoughts  on  all  this,  lifted  into  the  eyes  of  all  men  by  the  miracle  of 
its  growth,  illuminated  by  the  flame  of  its  fall,  and  transfigured  by  the 
divinity  of  its  resurrection,  and  you  will  feel,  as  I  do,  the  utter  impossi- 
bility of  compassing  this  subject  as  it  deserves.  Some  impression  of  her 
importance  is  received  from  the  shock  her  burning  gave  to  the  civilized 
world. 

When  the  doubt  of  her  calamity  was  removed,  and  the  horrid  fact 
was  accepted,  there  went  a  shudder  over  all  cities,  and  a  quiver  over  all 
lands.  There  was  scarcely  a  town  in  the  civilized  world  that  did  not 
shake  on  the  brink  of  this  opening  chasm.  The  flames  of  our  homes  red- 
dened all  skies.  The  city  was  set  upon  a  hill,  and  could  not  be  hid.  All 
eyes  were  turned  upon  it.  To  have  struggled  and  suffered  amid  the 
scenes  of  its  fall  is  as  distinguishing  as  to  have  fought  at  Thermopylae,  or 
Salamis,  or  Hastings,  or  Waterloo,  or  Bunker  Hill. 

Its  calamity  amazed  the  world,  because  it  was  felt  to  be  the  common 
property  of  mankind. 

The  early  history  of  the  city  is  full  of  interest,  just  as  the  early  his- 
tory of  such  a  man  as  Washington  or  Lincoln  becomes  public  property, 
and  is  cherished  by  every  patriot. 

Starting  with  560  acres  in  1833,  it  embraced  and  occupied  23,000 
acres  in  1869,  and,  having  now  a  population  of  more  than  500,000,  it  com- 
mands general  attention. 

The  first  settler — Jean  Baptiste  Pointe  au  Sable,  a  mulatto  from  the 
West  Indies — came  and  began  trade  with  the  Indians  in  1796.  John 
Kinzie  became  his  successor  in  1804,  in  which  year  Fort  Dearborn  was 
erected. 

A  mere  trading-post  was  kept  here  from  that  time  till  about  the  time 
of  the  Blackhawk  war,  in  1832.  It  was  not  the  city.  It  was  merely  a 
cock  crowing  at  midnight.  The  morning  was  not  yet.  In  1833  the  set- 
tlement about  the  fort  was  incorporated  as  a  town.  The  voters  were 
divided  on  the  propriety  of  such  corporation,  twelve  voting  for  it  and  one 
against  it.  Four  years  later  it  was  incorporated  as  a  city,  and  embraced 
560  acres. 

The  produce  handled  in  this  city  is  an  indication  of  its  power.  Grain 
and  flour  were  imported  from  the  East  till  as  late  as  1837.  The  first 
exportation  by  way  of  experiment  was  in  1839.  Exports  exceeded  imports 
first  in  1842.  The  Board  of  Trade  was  organized  in  1848,  but  it  was  so 
weak  that  it  needed  nursing  till  1855.  Grain  was  purchased  by  the 
wagon-load  in  the  street. 

I  remember  sitting  with  my  father  on  a  load  of  wheat,  in  the  long 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS.  185 

line  of  wagons  along  Lake  street,  while  the  buyers  came  and  untied  the 
bags,  and  examined  the  grain,  and  made  their  bids.  That  manner  of 
business  had  to  cease  with  the  day  of  small  things.  Now  our  elevators 
will  hold  15,000,000  bushels  of  grain.  The  cash  value  of  the  produce 
handled  in  a  year  is  $215,000,000,  and  the  produce  weighs  7,000,000 
tons  or  700,000  car  loads.  This  handles  thirteen  and  a  half  ton  each 
minute,  all  the  year  round.  One  tenth  of  all  the  wheat  in  the  United 
States  is  handled  in  Chicago.  Even  as  long  ago  as  1853  the  receipts  of 
grain  in  Chicago  exceeded  those  of  the  goodly  city  of  St.  Louis,  and  in 
1854  the  exports  of  grain  from  Chicago  exceeded  those  of  New  York  and 
doubled  those  of  St.  Petersburg,  Archangel,  or  Odessa,  the  largest  grain 
markets  in  Europe. 

The  manufacturing  interests  of  the  city  are  not  contemptible.  In 
1873  manufactories  employed  45,000  operatives ;  in  1876,  60,000.  The 
manufactured  product  in  1875  was  worth  $177,000,000. 

No  estimate  of  the  size  and  power  of  Chicago  would  be  adequate 
that  did  not  put  large  emphasis  on  the  railroads.  Before  they  came 
thundering  along  our  streets  canals  were  the  hope  of  our  country.  But 
who  ever  thinks  now  of  traveling  by  canal  packets  ?  In  June,  1852, 
there  were  only  forty  miles  of  railroad  connected  with  the  city.  The 
old  Galena  division  of  the  Northwestern  ran  out  to  Elgin.  But  now, 
who  can  count  the  trains  and  measure  the  roads  that  seek  a  terminus  or 
connection  in  this  city  ?  The  lake  stretches  away  to  the  north,  gathering 
in  to  this  center  all  the  harvests  that  might  otherwise  pass  to  the  north 
of  us.  If  you  will  take  a  map  and  look  at  the  adjustment  of  railroads, 
you  will  see,  first,  that  Chicago  is  the  great  railroad  center  of  the  world, 
as  New  York  is  the  commercial  city  of  this  continent ;  and,  second,  that 
the  railroad  lines  form  the  iron  spokes  of  a  great  wheel  whose  hub  is 
this  city.  The  lake  furnishes  the  only  break  in  the  spokes,  and  this 
seems  simply  to  have  pushed  a  few  spokes  together  on  each  shore.  See 
the  eighteen  trunk  lines,  exclusive  of  eastern  connections. 

Pass  round  the  circle,  and  view  their  numbers  and  extent.  There 
is  the  great  Northwestern,  with  all  its  branches,  one  branch  creeping 
along  the  lake  shore,  and  so  reaching  to  the  north,  into  the  Lake  Superior 
regions,  away  to  the  right,  and  on  to  the  Northern  Pacific  on  the  left, 
swinging  around  Green  Bay  for  iron  and  copper  and  silver,  twelve  months 
in  the  year,  and  reaching  out  for  the  wealth  of  the  great  agricultural 
belt  and  isothermal  line  traversed  by  the  Northern  Pacific.  Another 
branch,  not  so  far  north,  feeling  for  the  heart  of  the  Badger  State. 
Another  pushing  lower  down  the  Mississippi — all  these  make  many  con- 
nections, and  tapping  all  the  vast  wheat  regions  of  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
Iowa,  and  all  the  regions  this  side  of  sunset.  There  is  that  elegant  road, 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy,  running  out  a  goodly  number  of 


136 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE   OF   ILLINOIS. 


OLD    FOKT   DEAKBOKN,   1830.       ' 


PRESENT    SITE    OF    LAKE    STREET    IUUDGE,    CHICAGO,    IX    1833. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   STATE   OF  ILLINOIS.  137 

branches,  and  reaping  the  great  fields  this  side  of  the  Missouri  River. 
I  can  only  mention  the  Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis,  our  Illinois  Central, 
described  elsewhere,  and  the  Chicago  &  Rock  Island.  Further  around 
we  come  to  the  lines  connecting  us  with  all  the  eastern  cities.  The 
Chicago,  Indianapolis  &  St.  Louis,  the  Pittsburgh,  Fort  Wayne  & 
Chicago,  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern,  and  the  Michigan  Cen- 
tral and  Great  Western,  give  us  many  highways  to  the  seaboard.  Thus  we 
reach  the  Mississippi  at  five  points,  from  St.  Paul  to  Cairo  and  the  Gull 
itself  by  two  routes.  We  also  reach  Cincinnati  and  Baltimore,  and  Pitts- 
burgh and  Philadelphia,  and  New  York.  North  and  south  run  the  water 
courses  of  the  lakes  and  the  rivers,  broken  just  enough  at  this  point  to 
make  a  pass.  Through  this,  from  east  to  west,  run  the  long  lines  that 
stretch  from  ocean  to  ocean. 

This  is  the  neck  of  the  glass,  and  the  golden  sands  of  commerce 
must  pass  into  our  hands.  Altogether  we  have  more  than  10,000  miles 
of  railroad,  directly  tributary  to  this  city,  seeking  to  unload  their  wealth 
in  our  coffers.  All  these  roads  have  come  themselves  by  the  infallible 
instinct  of  capital.  Not  a  dollar  was  ever  given  by  the  city  to  secure 
one  of  them,  and  only  a  small  per  cent,  of  stock  taken  originally  by  her 
citizens,  and  that  taken  simply  as  an  investment.  Coming  in  the  natural 
order  of  events,  they  will  not  be  easily  diverted. 

There  is  still  another  showing  to  all  this.  The  connection  between 
New  York  and  San  Francisco  is  by  the  middle  route.  This  passes  inevit- 
ably through  Chicago.  St.  Louis  wants  the  Southern  Pacific  or  Kansas 
Pacific,  and  pushes  it  out  through  Denver,  and  so  on  up  to  Cheyenne. 
But  before  the  road  is  fairly  under  way,  the  Chicago  roads  shove  out  to 
Kansas  City,  making  even  the  Kansas  Pacific  a  feeder,  and  actually  leav- 
ing St.  Louis  out  in  the  cold.  It  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  Dakota, 
Montana,  and  Washington  Territory  will  find  their  great  market  in  Chi- 
cago. 

But  these  are  not  all.  Perhaps  I  had  better  notice  here  the  ten  or 
fifteen  new  roads  that  have  just  entered,  or  are  just  entering,  our  city. 
Their  names  are  all  that  is  necessary  to  give.  Chicago  &  St.  Paul,  look- 
ing up  the  Red  River  country  to  the  British  possessions ;  the  Chicago, 
Atlantic  &  Pacific ;  the  Chicago,  Decatur  &  State  Line ;  the  Baltimore  & 
Ohio;  the  Chicago,  Danville  &  Vincennes;  the  Chicago  &  LaSalle  Rail- 
road ;  the  Chicago,  Pittsburgh  &  Cincinnati ;  the  Chicago  and  Canada 
Southern ;  the  Chicago  and  Illinois  River  Railroad.  These,  with  their 
connections,  and  with  the  new  connections  of  the  old  roads,  already  in 
process  of  erection,  give  to  Chicago  not  less  than  10,000  miles  of  new 
tributaries  from  the  richest  land  on  the  continent.  Thus  there  will  be 
added  to  the  reserve  power,  to  the  capital  within  reach  of  this  city,  not 
less  than  $1,000,000,000. 


138  HISTOBY  OF  THE   STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

Add  to  all  this  transporting  power  the  ships  that  sail  one  every  nine 
minutes  of  the  business  hours  of  the  season  of  navigation ;  add,  also,  the 
canal  boats  that  leave  one  every  five  minutes  during  the  same  time — and 
you  will  see  something  of  the  business  of  the  city. 

THE  COMMERCE  OF  THIS  CITY 

has  been  leaping  along  to  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  country 
around  us.  In  1852,  our  commerce  reached  the  hopeful  sum  of 
$ 20,000,000.  In  1870  it  reached  $400,000,000.  In  1871  it  was  pushed 
up  above  $450,000,000.  And  in  1875  it  touched  nearly  double  that. 

One-half  of  our  imported  goods  come  directly  to  Chicago.  Grain 
enough  is  exported  directly  from  our  docks  to  the  old  world  to  employ  a 
semi-weekly  line  of  steamers  of  3,000  tons  capacity.  This  branch  is 
not  likely  to  be  greatly  developed.  Even  after  the  great  Welland  Canal 
is  completed  we  shall  have  only  fourteen  feet  of  water.  The  great  ocean 
vessels  will  continue  to  control  the  trade. 

The  banking  capital  of  Chicago  is  $24,431,000.  Total  exchange  in 
1875,  $659,000,000.  Her  wholesale  business  in  1875  was  $294,000,000. 
The  rate  of  taxes  is  less  than  in  any  other  great  city. 

The  schools  of  Chicago  are  unsurpassed  in  America.  Out  of  a  popu- 
lation of  300,000  there  were  only  186  persons  between  the  ages  of  six 
and  twenty-one  unable  to  read.  This  is  the  best  known  record. 

In  1831  the  mail  system  was  condensed  into  a  half-breed,  who  went 
on  foot  to  Niles,  Mich.,  once  in  two  weeks,  and  brought  back  what  papers 
and  news  he  could  find.  As  late  as  1846  there  was  often  only  one  mail 
a  week.  A  post-office  was  established  in  Chicago  in  1833,  and  the  post- 
master nailed  up  old  boot-legs  on  one  side  of  his  shop  to  serve  as  boxes 
for  the  nabobs  and  literary  men. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  in  the  growth  of  the  young  city  that  in  the 
active  life  of  the  business  men  of  that  day  the  mail  matter  has  grown  to 
a  daily  average  of  over  6,500  pounds.  It  speaks  equally  well  for  the 
intelligence  of  the  people  and  the  commercial  importance  of  the  place, 
that  the  mail  matter  distributed  to  the  territory  immediately  tributary  to 
Chicago  is  seven  times  greater  than  that  distributed  to  the  territory 
immediately  tributary  to  St.  Louis. 

The  improvements  that  have  characterized  the  city  are  as  startling 
as  the  city  itself.  In  1831,  Mark  Beaubien  established  a  ferry  over  the 
river,  and  put  himself  under  bonds  to  carry  all  the  citizens  free  for  the 
privilege  of  charging  strangers.  Now  there  are  twenty-four  large  bridges 
and  two  tunnels. 

In  1833  the  government  expended  $30,000  on  the  harbor.  Then 
commenced  that  series  of  maneuvers  with  the  river  that  has  made  it  one 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

of  the  world's  curiosities.  It  used  to  wind  around  in  the  lower  end  of 
the  town,  and  make  its  way  rippling  over  the  sand  into  the  lake  at  the 
foot  of  Madison  street.  They  took  it  up  and  put  it  down  where  it  now 
is.  It  was  a  narrow  stream,  so  narrow  that  even  moderately  small  crafts 
had  to  go  up  through  the  willows  and  cat's  tails  to  the  point  near  Lake 
street  bridge,  and  back  up  one  of  the  branches  to  get  room  enough  in 
which  to  turn  around. 

In  1844  the  quagmires  in  the  streets  were  first  pontooned  by  plank 
roads,  which  acted  in  wet  weather  as  public  squirt-guns.  Keeping  you 
out  of  the  mud,  they  compromised  by  squirting  the  mud  over  you.  The 
wooden-block  pavements  came  to  Chicago  in  1857.  In  1840  water  was 
delivered  by  peddlers  in  carts  or  by  hand.  Then  a  twenty-five  horse- 
power engine  pushed  it  through  hollow  or  bored  logs  along  the  streets 
till  1854,  when  it  was  introduced  into  the  houses  by  new  works.  The 
first  fire-engine  was  used  in  1835,  and  the  first  steam  fire-engine  in  1859. 
Gas  was  utilized  for  lighting  the  city  in  1850.  The  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  was  organized  in  1858,  and  horse  railroads  carried  them 
to  their  work  in  1859.  The  museum  was  opened  in  1863.  The  alarm 
telegraph  adopted  in  1864.  The  opera-house  built  in  1865.  The  city 
grew  from  560  acres  in  1833  to  23,000  in  1869.  In  1834,  the  taxes 
amounted  to  $48.90,  and  the  trustees  of  the  town  borrowed  $60  more  for 
opening  and  improving  streets.  In  1835,  the  legislature  authorized  a  loan 
of  $2,000,  and  the  treasurer  and  street  commissioners  resigned  rather  than 
plunge  the  town  into  such  a  gulf. 

Now  the  city  embraces  36,  square  miles  of  territory,  and  has  30  miles 
of  water  front,  besides  the  outside  harbor  of  refuge,  of  400  acres,  inclosed 
by  a  crib  sea-wall.  One-third  of  the  city  has  been  raised  up  an  average 
of  eight  feet,  giving  good  pitch  to  the  263  miles  of  sewerage.  The  water 
of  the  city  is  above  all  competition.  It  is  received  through  two  tunnels 
extending  to  a  crib  in  the  lake  two  miles  from  shore.  The  closest  analy- 
sis fails  to  detect  any  impurities,  and,  received  35  feet  below  the  surface, 
it  is  always  clear  and  cold.  The  first  tunnel  is  five  feet  two  inches  in 
diameter  and  two  miles  long,  and  can  deliver  50,000,000  of  gallons  per 
day.  The  second  tunnel  is  seven  feet  in  diameter  and  six  miles  long, 
running  four  miles  under  the  city,  and  can  deliver  100,000,000  of  gal- 
lons per  day.  This  water  is  distributed  through  410  miles  of  water- 
mains. 

The  three  grand  engineering  exploits  of  the  city  are :  First,  lifting 
the  city  up  on  jack-screws,  whole  squares  at  a  time,  without  interrupting 
the  business,  thus  giving  us  good  drainage  ;  second,  running  the  tunnels 
under  the  lake,  giving  us  the  best  water  in  the  world ;  and  third,  the 
turning  the  current  of  the  river  in  its  own  channel,  delivering  us  from  the 
old  abominations,  and  making  decency  possible.  They  redound  about 


140  HISTORY   OF  THE   STATE  OF  ILLINOIS. 

equally  to  the  credit  of  the  engineering,  to  the  energy  of  the  people,  and 
to  the  health  of  the  city. 

That  which  really  constitutes  the  city,  its  indescribable  spirit,  its  soul, 
the  way  it  lights  up  in  every  feature  in  the  hour  of  action,  has  not  been 
touched.  In  meeting  strangers,  one  is  often  surprised  how  some  homely 
women  marry  so  well.  Their  forms  are  bad,  their  gait  uneven  and  awk- 
ward, their  complexion  is  dull,  their  features  are  misshapen  and  mismatch- 
ed, and  when  we  see  them  there  is  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  them. 
But  when  once  they  are  aroused  on  some  subject,  they  put  on  new  pro- 
portions. They  light  up  into  great  power.  The  real  person  comes  out 
from  its  unseemly  ambush,  and  captures  us  at  will.  They  have  power. 
They  have  ability  to  cause  things  to  come  to  pass.  We  no  longer  wonder 
why  they  are  in  such  high  demand.  So  it  is  with  our  city. 

There  is  no  grand  scenery  except  the  two  seas,  one  of  water,  the 
other  of  prairie.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a  spirit  about  it,  a  push,  a  breadth, 
a  power,  that  soon  makes  it  a  place  never  to  be  forsaken.  One  soon 
ceases  to  believe  in  impossibilities.  Balaams  are  the  only  prophets  that  are 
disappointed.  The  bottom  that  has  been  on  the  point  of  falling  out  has 
been  there  so  long  that  it  has  grown  fast.  It  can  not  fall  out.  It  has  all 
the  capital  of  the  world  itching  to  get  inside  the  corporation. 

The  two  great  laws  that  govern  the  growth  and  size  of  cities  are, 
first,  the  amount  of  territory  for  which  they  are  the  distributing  and 
receiving  points ;  second,  the  number  of  medium  or  moderate  dealers  that 
do  this  distributing.  Monopolists  build  up  themselves,  not  the  cities. 
They  neither  eat,  wear,  nor  live  in  proportion  to  their  business.  Both 
these  laws  help  Chicago. 

The  tide  of  trade  is  eastward — not  up  or  down  the  map,  but  across 
the  map.  The  lake  runs  up  a  wingdam  for  500  miles  to  gather  in  the 
business.  Commerce  can  not  ferry  up  there  for  seven  months  in  the  year, 
and  the  facilities  for  seven  months  can  do  the  work  for  twelve.  Then  the 
great  region  west  of  us  is  nearly  all  good,  productive  land.  Dropping 
south  into  the  trail  of  St.  Louis,  you  fall  into  vast  deserts  and  rocky  dis- 
tricts, useful  in  holding  the  world  together.  St.  Louis  and  Cincinnati, 
instead  of  rivaling  and  hurting  Chicago,  are  her  greatest  sureties  of 
dominion.  They  are  far  enough  away  to  give  sea-room, — farther  off  than 
Paris  is  from  London, — and  yet  they  are  near  enough  to  prevent  the 
springing  up  of  any  other  great  city  between  them. 

St.  Louis  will  be  helped  by  the  opening  of  the  Mississippi,  but  also 
hurt.  That  will  put  New  Orleans  on  her  feet,  and  with  a  railroad  running 
over  into  Texas  and  so  West,  she  will  tap  the  streams  that  now  crawl  up 
the  Texas  and  Missouri  road.  The  current  is  East,  not  North,  and  a  sea- 
port at  New  Orleans  can  not  permanently  help  St.  Louis. 

Chicago  is  in  the  field  almost  alone,  to  handle  the  wealth  of  one- 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE    OF   ILLINOIS.  141 

fourth  of  the  territory  of  this  great  republic.  This  strip  of  seacoast 
divides  its  margins  between  Portland,  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Baltimore  and  Savannah,  or  some  other  great  port  to  be  created  for  the 
South  in  the  next  decade.  But  Chicago  has  a  dozen  empires  casting  their 
treasures  into  her  lap.  On  a  bed  of  coal  that  can  run  all  the  machinery 
of  the  world  for  500  centuries ;  in  a  garden  that  can  feed  the  race  by  the 
thousand  years ;  at  the  head  of  the  lakes  that  give  her  a  temperature  as  a 
summer  resort  equaled  by  no  great  city  in  the  land ;  with  a  climate  that 
insures  the  health  of  her  citizens ;  surrounded  by  all  the  great  deposits 
of  natural  wealth  in  mines  aud  forests  and  herds,  Chicago  is  the  wonder 
of  to-day,  and  will  be  the  city  of  the  future. 

MASSACRE  AT  PORT  DEARBORN. 

During  the  war  of  1812,  Fort  Dearborn  became  the  theater  of  stirring 
events.  The  garrison  consisted  of  fifty-four  men  under  command  of 
Captain  Nathan  Heald,  assisted  by  Lieutenant  Helm  (son-in-law  of  Mrs. 
Kinzie)  and  Ensign  Ronan.  Dr.  Voorhees  was  surgeon.  The  only  resi- 
dents at  the  post  at  that  time  were  the  wives  of  Captain  Heald  and  Lieu- 
tenant Helm,  and  a  few  of  the  soldiers,  Mr.  Kinzie  and  his  family,  and 
a  few  Canadian  voyageurs,  with  their  wives  and  children.  The  soldiers 
and  Mr.  Kinzie  were  on  most  friendly  terms  with  the  Pottawattamies 
and  Winnebagos,  the  principal  tribes  around  them,  but  they  could  not 
win  them  from  their  attachment  to  the  British. 

One  evening  in  April,  1812,  Mr.  Kinzie  sat  playing  on  his  violin  and 
his  children  were  dancing  to  the  music,  when  Mrs.  Kinzie  came  rushing 
into  the  house,  pale  with  terror,  and  exclaiming :  "  The  Indians !  the 
Indians!"  "What?  Where?"  eagerly  inquired  Mr.  Kinzie.  "Up 
at  Lee's,  killing  and  scalping,"  answered  the  frightened  mother,  who, 
when  the  alarm  was  given,  was  attending  Mrs.  Barnes  (just  confined) 
living  not  far  off.  Mr.  Kinzie  and  his  family  crossed  the  river  and  took 
refuge  in  the  fort,  to  which  place  Mrs.  Barnes  and  her  infant  not  a  day 
old  were  safely  conveyed.  The  rest  of  the  inhabitants  took  shelter  in  the 
fort.  This  alarm  was  caused  by  a  scalping  party  of  Winnebagos,  who 
hovered  about  the  fort  several  days,  when  they  disappeared,  and  for  several 
weeks  the  inhabitants  were  undisturbed. 

On  the  7th  of  August,  1812,  General  Hull,  at  Detroit,  sent  orders  to 
Captain  Heald  to  evacuate  Fort  Dearborn,  and  to  distribute  all  the  United 
States  property  to  the  Indians  in  the  neighborhood — a  most  insane  order. 
The  Pottawattamie  chief,  who  brought  the  dispatch,  had  more  wisdom 
than  the  commanding  general.  He  advised  Captain  Heald  not  to  make 
the  distribution.  Said  he  :  "  Leave  the  fort  and  stores  as  they  are,  and 
let  the  Indians  make  distribution  for  themselves ;  and  while  they  ^are 
engaged  in  the  business,  the  white  people  may  escape  to  Fort  Wayne. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   STATE   OF  ILLINOIS.  143 

Captain  Heald  held  a  council  with  the  Indians  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  12th,  in  which  his  officers  refused  to  join,  for  they  had  been  informed 
that  treachery  was  designed — that  the  Indians  intended  to  murder  the 
white  people  in  the  council,  and  then  destroy  those  in  the  fort.  Captain 
Heald,  however,  took  the  precaution  to  open  a  port-hole  displaying  a 
cannon  pointing  directly  upon  the  council,  and  by  that  means  saved 
his  life. 

Mr.  Kinzie,  who  knew  the  Indians  well,  begged  Captain  Heald  not 
to  confide  in  their  promises,  nor  distribute  the  arms  and  munitions  among 
them,  for  it  would  only  put  power  into  their  hands  to  destroy  the  whites. 
Acting  upon  this  advice,  Heald  resolved  to  withhold  the  munitions  of 
war ;  and  on  the  night  of  the  13th,  after  the  distribution  of  the  other 
property  had  been  made,  the  powder,  ball  and  liquors  were  thrown  into 
the  river,  the  muskets  broken  up  and  destroyed. 

Black  Partridge,  a  friendly  chief,  came  to  Captain  Heald,  and  said : 
*'  Linden  birds  have  been  singing  in  my  ears  to-day:  be  careful  on  the 
march  you  are  going  to  take."  On  that  dark  night  vigilant  Indians  had 
crept  near  the  fort  and  discovered  the  destruction  of  their  promised  booty 
going  on  within.  The  next  morning  the  powder  was  seen  floating  on  the 
surface  of  the  river.  The  savages  were  exasperated  and  made  loud  com- 
plaints and  threats. 

On  the  following  day  when  preparations  were  making  to  leave  the 
fort,  and  all  the  inmates  were  deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  impend- 
ing danger,  Capt.  Wells,  an  uncle  of  Mrs.  Heald,  was  discovered  upon 
the  Indian  trail  among  the  sand-hills  on  the  borders  of  the  lake,  not  far 
distant,  with  a  band  of  mounted  Miamis,  of  whose  tribe  he  was  chief, 
having  been  adopted  by  the  famous  Miami  warrior,  Little  Turtle.  When 
news  of  Hull's  surrender  reached  Fort  Wayne,  he  had  started  with  this 
force  to  assist  Heald  in  defending  Fort  Dearborn.  He  was  too  late. 
Every  means  for  its  defense  had  been  destroyed  the  night  before,  and 
arrangements  were  made  for  leaving  the  fort  on  the  morning  of  the  15th. 

It  was  a  warm  bright  morning  in  the  middle  of  August.  Indications 
were  positive  that  the  savages  intended  to  murder  the  white  people ;  and 
when  they  moved  out  of  the  southern  gate  of  the  fort,  the  march  was 
like  a  funeral  procession.  The  band,  feeling  the  solemnity  of  the  occa- 
sion, struck  up  the  Dead  March  in  Saul. 

Capt.  Wells,  who  had  blackened  his  face  with  gun-powder  in  token 
of  his  fate,  took  the  lead  with  his  band  of  Miamis,  followed  by  Capt. 
Heald,  with  his  wife  by  his  side  on  horseback.  Mr.  Kinzie  hoped  by  his 
personal  influence  to  avert  the  impending  blow,  and  therefore  accompanied 
them,  leaving  his  family  in  a  boat  in  charge  of  a  friendly  Indian,  to  be 
taken  to  his  trading  station  at  the  site  of  Niles,  Michigan,  in  the  event  oi 
his  death. 


144 


HISTORY   OF   THE   STATE   OF   ILLINOIS. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   STATE   OF  ILLINOIS.  145 

The  procession  moved  slowly  along  the  lake  shore  till  they  reached 
the  sand-hills  between  the  prairie  and  the  beach,  when  the  Pottawattamie 
escort,  under  the  leadership  of  Blackbird,  filed  to  the  right,  placing  those 
hills  between  them  and  the  white  people.  Wells,  with  his  Miamis,  had 
kept  in  the  advance.  They  suddenly  came  rushing  back,  Wells  exclaim- 
ing, "  They  are  about  to  attack  us ;  form  instantly."  These  words  were 
quickly  followed  by  a  storm  of  bullets,  which  came  whistling  over  the 
little  hills  which  the  treacherous  savages  had  made  the  covert  for  their 
murderous  attack.  The  white  troops  charged  upon  the  Indians,  drove 
them  back  to  the  prairie,  and  then  the  battle  was  waged  between  fifty- 
four  soldiers,  twelve  civilians  and  three  or  four  women  (the  cowardly 
Miamis  having  fled  at  the  outset)  against  five  hundred  Indian  warriors. 
The  white  people,  hopeless,  resolved  to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as  possible. 
Ensign  Ronan  wielded  his  weapon  vigorously,  even  after  falling  upon  his 
knees  weak  from  the  loss  of  blood.  Capt.  Wells,  who  was  by  the  side  of 
his  niece,  Mrs.  Heald,  when  the  conflict  began,  behaved  with  the  greatest 
coolness  and  courage.  He  said  to  her,  "  We  have  not  the  slightest  chance 
for  life.  We  must  part  to  meet  no  more  in  this  world.  God  bless  you." 
And  then  he  dashed  forward.  Seeing  a  young  warrior,  painted  like  a 
demon,  climb  into  a  wagon  in  which  were  twelve  children,  and  tomahawk 
them  all,  he  cried  out,  unmindful  of  his  personal  danger,  "  If  that  is  your 
game,  butchering  women  and  children,  I  will  kill  too."  He  spurred  his 
horse  towards  the  Indian  camp,  where  they  had  left  their  squaws  and 
papooses,  hotly  pursued  by  swift-footed  young  warriors,  who  sent  bullets 
whistling  after  him.  One  of  these  killed  his  horse  and  wounded  him 
severely  in  the  leg.  With  a  yell  the  young  braves  rushed  to  make  him 
their  prisoner  and  reserve  him  for  torture.  He  resolved  not  to  be  made 
a  captive,  and  by  the  use  of  the  most  provoking  epithets  tried  to  induce 
them  to  kill  him  instantly.  He  called  a  fiery  young  chief  a  squaw,  when 
the  enraged  warrior  killed  Wells  instantly  with  his  tomahawk,  jumped 
upon  his  body,  cut  out  his  heart,  and  ate  a  portion  of  the  warm  morsel 
with  savage  delight ! 

In  this  fearful  combat  women  bore  a  conspicuous  part.  Mrs.  Heald 
was  an  excellent  equestrian  and  an  expert  in  the  use  of  the  rifle.  She 
fought  the  savages  bravely,  receiving  several  severe  wounds.  Though 
faint  from  the  loss  of  blood,  she  managed  to  keep  her  saddle.  A  savage 
raised  his  tomahawk  to  kill  her,  when  she  looked  him  full  in  the  face, 
and  with  a  sweet  smile  and  in  a  gentle  voice  said,  in  his  own  language, 
"Surely  you  will  not  kill  a  squaw!  "  The  arm  of  the  savage  fell,  and 
the  life  of  the  heroic  woman  was  saved. 

Mrs.  Helm,  the  step-daughter  of  Mr.  Kinzie,  had  an  encounter  with 
a  stout  Indian,  who  attempted  to  tomahawk  her.  Springing  to  one  side, 
she  received  the  glancing  blow  on  her  shoulder,  and  at  the  same  instant 


146  HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE  OF   ILLINOIS. 

seized  the  savage  round  the  neck  with  her  arms  and  endeavored  to  get 
hold  of  his  scalping  knife,  which  hung  in  a  sheath  at  his  breast.  While 
she  was  thus  struggling  she  was  dragged  from  her  antagonist  by  another 
powerful  Indian,  who  bore  her,  in  spite  of  her  struggles,  to  the  margin 
of  the  lake  and  plunged  her  in.  To  her  astonishment  she  was  held  by 
him  so  that  she  would  not  drown,  and  she  soon  perceived  that  she  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  friendly  Black  Partridge,  who  had  saved  her  life. 

The  wife  of  Sergeant  Holt,  a  large  and  powerful  woman,  behaved  as 
bravely  as  an  Amazon.  She  rode  a  fine,  high-spirited  horse,  which  the 
Indians  coveted,  and  several  of  them  attacked  her  with  the  butts  of  their 
guns,  for  the  purpose  of  dismounting  her ;  but  she  used  the  sword  which 
she  had  snatched  from  her  disabled  husband  so  skillfully  that  she  foiled 
them ;  and,  suddenly  wheeling  her  horse,  she  dashed  over  the  prairie, 
followed  by  the  savages  shouting,  "  The  brave  woman  !  the  brave  woman ! 
Don't  hurt  her !  "  They  finally  overtook  her,  and  while  she  was  fighting 
them  in  front,  a  powerful  savage  came  up  behind  her,  seized  her  by  the 
neck  and  dragged  her  to  the  ground.  Horse  and  woman  were  made 
captives.  Mrs.  Holt  was  a  long  time  a  captive  among  the  Indians,  but 
was  afterwards  ransomed. 

In  this  sharp  conflict  two-thirds  of  the  white  people  were  slain  and 
wounded,  and  all  their  horses,  baggage  and  provision  were  lost.  Only 
twenty-eight  straggling  men  now  remained  to  fight  five  hundred  Indians 
rendered  furious  by  the  sight  of  blood.  They  succeeded  in  breaking 
through  the  ranks  of  the  murderers  and  gaining  a  slight  eminence  on  the 
prairie  near  the  Oak  Woods.  The  Indians  did  not  pursue,  but  gathered 
on  their  flanks,  while  the  chiefs  held  a  consultation  on  the  sand-hills,  and 
showed  signs  of  willingness  to  parley.  It  would  have  been  madness  on 
the  part  of  the  whites  to  renew  the  fight;  and  so  Capt.  Heald  went  for- 
ward and  met  Blackbird  on  the  open  prairie,  where  terms  of  surrender 
were  soon  agreed  upon.  It  was  arranged  that  the  white  people  should 
give  up  their  arms  to  Blackbird,  and  that  the  survivors  should  become 
prisoners  of  war,  to  be  exchanged  for  ransoms  as  soon  as  practicable 
With  this  understanding  captives  and  captors  started  for  the  Indian 
camp  near  the  fort,  to  which  Mrs.  Helm  had  been  taken  bleeding  and 
suffering  by  Black  Partridge,  and  had  met  her  step-father  and  learned 
that  her  husband  was  safe. 

A  new  scene  of  horror  was  now  opened  at  the  Indian  camp.  The 
wounded,  not  being  included  in  the  terms  of  surrender,  as  it  was  inter- 
preted by  the  Indians,  and  the  British  general,  Proctor,  having  offered  a 
liberal  bounty  for  American  scalps,  delivered  at  Maiden,  nearly  all  the 
wounded  men  were  killed  and  scalped,  and  the  price  of  the  trophies  was 
afterwards  paid  by  the  British  government. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   STATE   OF   ILLINOIS. 


149 


SHABBONA. 


[This  was  engraved  from  a  daguerreotype,  taken  when  Shabbona  was  83  years  old.] 


This  celebrated  Indian  chief,  whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  deserves 
more  than  a  passing  notice.  Although  Shabbona  was  not  so  conspicuous  as 
Tecumseh  or  Black  Hawk,  yet  in  point  of  merit  he  was  superior  to  either 
of  them. 

Shabbona  was  born  at  -an  Indian  village  on  the  Kankakee  River,  now  in 
Will  County,  about  the  year  1775.  While  young  he  was  made  chief  of  the 
band,  and  went  to  Shabbona  Grove,  now  DeKalb  County,  where  they  were 
found  in  the  early  settlement  of  the  county. 

In  the  war  of  1812,  Shabbona,  with  his  warriors,  joined  Tecumseh,  was 


150  HISTORY    OF    THE    STATE    OF    ILLINOIS. 

aid  to  that  great  chief,  and  stood  by  his  side  when  lie  fell  at  the  battle  of 
the  Thames.  At  the  time  of  the  Winnebago  war,  in  1827,  he  visited  almost 
every  village  among  the  Pottawatomies,  and  by  his  persuasive  arguments 
prevented  them  from  taking  part  in  the  war.  By  request  of  the  citizens 
of  Chicago,  Shabbona,  accompanied  by  Billy  Caldwell  (Sauganash),  visited 
Big  Foot's  village  at  Geneva  Lake,  in  order  to  pacify  the  warriors,  as  fears 
were  entertained  that  they  were  about  to  raise  the  tomahawk  against  the 
whites.  Here  Shabbona  was  taken  prisoner  by  Big  Foot,  and  his  life 
threatened,  but  on  the  following  day  was  set  at  liberty.  From  that  time 
the  Indians  (through  reproach)  styled  him  "  the  white  man's  friend," 
und  many  times  his  life  was  endangered. 

Before  the  Black  Hawk  war,  Shabbona  met  in  council  at  two  differ- 
ent times,  and  by  his  influence  prevented  his  people  from  taking  part  with 
the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  After  the  death  of  Black  Partridge  and  Senachwine, 
no  chief  among  the  Pottawatomies  exerted  so  much  influence  as  Shabbona. 
Black  Hawk,  aware  of  this  influence,  visited  him  at  two  different  times,  in 
order  to  enlist  him  in  his  cause,  but  was  unsuccessful.  While  Black  Hawk 
was  a  prisoner  at  Jefferson  Barracks,  he  said,  had  it  not  been  for  Shabbona 
the  whole  Pottawatomie  nation  would  have  joined  his  standard,  and  he 
could  have  continued  the  war  for  years. 

To  Shabbona  many  of  the  early  settlers  of  Illinois  owe  the  pres- 
ervation of  their  lives,  for  it  is  a  well-known  fact,  had  he  not  notified  the 
people  of  their  danger,  a  large  portion  of  them  would  have  fallen  victims 
to  the  tomahawk  of  savages.  By  saving  the  lives  of  whites  he  endangered 
his  own,  for  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  threatened  to  kill  him,  and  made  two 
attempts  to  execute  their  threats.  They  killed  Pypeogee,  his  son,  and 
Pyps,  his  nephew,  and  hunted  him  down  as  though  he  was  a  wild  beast. 

Shabbona  had  a  reservation  of  two  sections  of  land  at  his  Grove,  but 
by  leaving  it  and  going  west  for  a  short  time,  the  Government  declared 
the  reservation  forfeited,  and  sold  it  the  same  as  other  vacant  land.  On 
Shabbona's  return,  and  finding  his  possessions  gone,  he  was  very  sad  and 
broken  down  in  spirit,  and  left  the  Grove  for  ever.  The  citizens  of  Ottawa 
raised  money  and  bought  him  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Illinois  River,  above 
Seneca,  in  Grundy  County,  on  which  they  built  a  house,  and  supplied 
him  with  means  to  live  on.  He  lived  here  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
on  the  17th  of  July,  1859,  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  and  was 
buried  with  great  pomp  in  the  cemetery  at  Morris.  His  squaw,  Pokanoka, 
was  drowned  in  Mazen  Creek,  Grundy  County,  on  the  30th  of  November, 
1864,  and  was  buried  by  his  side. 

In  1861  subscriptions  were  taken  up  in  many  of  the  river  towns,  to 
erect  a  monument  over  the  remains  of  Shabbona,  but  the  war  breaking 
out,  the  enterprise  was  abandoned.  Only  a  plain  marble  slab  marks  the 
resting-place  of  this  friend  of  the  white  man. 


3f 

C7?rt 


PLAINFIELO 


. 

Or 


ABSTRACT  OF    ILLINOIS    STATE  LAWS. 


BILLS  OF  EXCHANGE  AND  PROMISSORY  NOTES. 

No  promissory  note,  check,  draft,  bill  of  exchange,  order,  or  note,  nego- 
tiable instrument  payable  at  sight,  or  on  demand,  or  on  presentment,  shall 
be  entitled  to  days  of  grace.  All  other  bills  of  exchange,  drafts  or  notes  are 
entitled  to  three  days  of  grace.  All  the  above  mentioned  paper  falling 
due  on  Sunday,  New  Years'  Day,  the  Fourth  of  July,  Christmas,  or  any 
day  appointed  or  recommended  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  or 
the  G-overnor  of  the  State  as  a  day  of  fast  or  thanksgiving,  shall  be  deemed 
as  due  on  the  day  previous,  and  should  two  or  more  of  these  days  come 
together,  then  such  instrument  shall  be  treated  as  due  on  the  day  previous 
to  the  first  of  said  days.  No  defense  can  be  made  against  a  negotiable 
instrument  (assigned  before  due)  in  the  hands  of  the  assignee  without 
notice,  except  fraud  was  used  in  obtaining  the  same.  To  hold  an  indorser, 
due  diligence  must  be  used  by  suit,  in  collecting  of  the  maker,  unless  suit 
would  have  been  unavailing.  Notes  payable  to  person  named  or  to  order, 
in  order  to  absolutely  transfer  title,  must  be  indorsed  by  the  payee.  Notes 
payable  to  bearer  may  be  transferred  by  delivery,  and  when  so  payable 
every  indorser  thereon  is  held  as  a  guarantor  of  payment  unless  otherwise 
expressed. 

In  computing  interest  or  discount  on  negotiable  instruments,  a  month 
shall  be  considered  a  calendar  month  or  twelfth  of  a  year,  and  for  less 
than  a  month,  a  day  shall  be  figured  a  thirtieth  part  of  a  month.  Notes 
only  ~bear  interest  when  so  expressed,  but  after  due  they  draw  the  legal 
interest,  even  if  not  stated. 

INTEREST. 

The  legal  rate  of  interest  is  six  per  cent.  Parties  may  agree  in  writ- 
ing on  a  rate  not  exceeding  ten  per  cent.  If  a  rate  of  interest  greater 
than  ten  per  cent,  is  contracted  for,  it  works  a  forfeiture  of  the  whole  of 
said  interest,  and-only  the  principal  can  be  recovered. 

DESCENT. 

When  no  will  is  made,  the  property  of  a  deceased  person  is  distrib- 
uted as  follows : 


152  ABSTRACT   OP  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

First.  To  his  or  her  children  and  their  descendants  in  equal  parts  ; 
the  descendants  of  the  deceased  child  or  grandchild  taking  the  share  of 
their  deceased  parents  in  equal  parts  among  them. 

Second.  Where  there  is  no  child,  nor  descendant  of  such  child,  and 
no  widow  or  surviving  husband,  then  to  the  parents,  brothers  and  sisters 
of  the  deceased,  and  their  descendants,  in  equal  parts,  the  surviving 
parent,  if  either  be  dead,  taking  a  double  portion  ;  and  if  there  is  no 
parent  living,  then  to  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  intestate  and  their 
descendants. 

Third.  When  there  is  a  widow  or  surviving  husband,  and  no  child  or 
children,  or  descendants  of  the  same,  then  one-half  of  the  real  estate  and 
the  whole  of  the  personal  estate  shall  descend  to  such  widow  or  surviving 
husband,  absolutely,  and  the  other  half  of  the  real  estate  shall  descend  as 
in  other  cases  where  there  is  no  child  or  children  or  descendants  of  the 
same. 

Fourth.  When  there  is  a  widow  or  surviving  husband  and  also  a  child 
or  children,  or  descendants  of  the  latter,  then  one  third  of  all  the  personal 
estate  to  the  widow  or  surviving  husband  absolutely. 

Fifth.  If  there  is  no  child,  parent,  brother  or  sister,  or  descendants  qf 
either  of  them,  and  no  widow  or  surviving  husband,  then  in  equal  parts 
to  the  next  of  kin  to  the  intestate  in  equal  degree.  Collaterals  shall  not 
be  represented  except  with  the  descendants  of  brothers  arid  sisters  of  the 
intestate,  and  there  shall  be  no  distinction  between  kindred  of  the  whole 
and  the  half  blood. 

Sixth.  If  any  intestate  leaves  a  widow  or  surviving  husband  and  no 
kindred,  then  to  such  widow  or  surviving  husband ;  and  if  there  is  no  such 
widow  or  surviving  husband,  it  shall  escheat  to  and  vest  in  the  county 
where  the  same,  or  the  greater  portion  thereof,  is  situated. 

WILLS  AND  ESTATES  OF  DECEASED  PERSONS. 

No  exact  form  of  words  are  necessary  in  order  to  make  a  will  good  at 
law.  Every  male  person  of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  and  every  female 
of  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  qf  sound  mind  and  memory,  can  make  a  valid 
will ;  it  must  be  in  writing,  signed  by  the  testator  or  by  some  one  in  his 
or  her  presence  and  by  his  or  her  direction,  and  attested  by  two -or  more 
credible  witnesses.  Care  should  be  taken  that  the  witnesses  are  not  inter- 
ested in  the  will.  Persons  knowing  themselves  to  have  been  named  in  the 
will  or  appointed  executor,  must  within  thirty  days  of  the  death  of 
deceased  cause  the  will  to  be  proved  and  recorded  in  the  proper  county, 
or  present  it,  and  refuse  to  accept;  on  failure  to  do  so  are  liable  to  forfeit 
the  sum  of  twenty  dollars  per  month.  Inventory  to  be  made  by  executor 
or  administrator  within  three  months  from  date  of  letters  testamentary  or 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS.  163 

of  administration.  Executors'  and  administrators'  compensation  not  ta 
exceed  six  per  cent,  on  amount  of  personal  estate,  and  three  per  cent, 
on  money  realized  from  real  estate,  with  such  additional  allowance  a? 
shall  be  reasonable  for  extra  services.  Appraisers'  compensation  $2  pel 
day. 

Notice  requiring  all  claims  to  be  presented  against  the'estate  shall  bd 
given  by  the  executor  or  administrator  within  six  months  of  being  quali- 
fied. Any  person  having  a  claim  and  not  presenting  it  at  the  time  fixed 
by  said  notice  is  required  to  have  summons  issued  notifying  the  executor 
or  administrator  of  his  having  filed  his  claim  in  court ;  in  such  cases  the 
_costs  have  to  be  paid  by  the  claimant.  Claims  should  be  filed  within  two 
years  from  the  time  administration  is  granted  on  an  estate,  as  after  that 
time  they  are  forever  barred,  unless  other  estate  is  found  that  was  not  in- 
ventoried. Married  women,  infants,  persons  insane,  imprisoned  or  without 
the  United  States,  in  the  employment  of  the  United  States,  or  of  this 
State,  have  two  years  after  their  disabilities  are  removed  to  file  claims. 

Claims  are  classified  and  paid  out  of  the  estate  in  the  following  manner : 

First.     Funeral  expenses. 

Second.  The  widow's  award,  if  there  is  a  widow  ;  or  children  if  there 
are  children,  and  no  widow. 

Third.  Expenses  attending  the  last  illness,  not  including  physician's 
bill. 

Fourth.     Debts  due  the  common  school  or  township  fund . 

Fifth.  All  expenses  of  proving  the  will  and  taking  out  letters  testa- 
mentary or  administration,  and  settlement  of  the  estate,  and  the  physi- 
cians  bill  in  the  last  illness  of  deceased. 

Sixth.  Where  the  deceased  has  received  money  in  trust  for  any  pur- 
pose, his  executor  or  administrator  shall  pay  out  of  his  estate  the  amount 
received  and  not  accounted  for. 

Seventh.  All  other  debts  and  demands  of  whatsoever  kind,  without 
regard  to  quality  or  dignity,  which  shall  be  exhibited  to  the  court  within 
two  years  from  the  granting  of  letters. 

Award  to  Widow  and  Children,  exclusive  of  debts  and  legacies  or  be- 
quests, except  funeral  expenses : 

First.  The  family  pictures  and  wearing  apparel,  jewels  and  ornaments 
of  herself  and  minor  children. 

Second.     School  books  and  the  family  library  of  the  value  of  $100. 

Third.      One  sewing  machine. 

Fourth.     Necessary  beds,  bedsteads  and  bedding  for  herself  and  family. 

Fifth.  The  stoves  and  pipe  used  in  the  family,  with  the  necessary 
cooking  utensils,  or  in  case  they  have  none,  $50  in  money. 

Sixth.     Household  and  kitchen  furniture  to  the  value  of  $100. 

Seventh.      One  milch  cow  and  calf  for  every  four  members  of  her  family. 


154  ABSTRACT   OF    ILLINOIS    STATE   LAWS. 

Eighth.     Two  sheep  for  each  member  of  her  family,  and  the  fleeces 
taken  from  the  same,  and  one  horse,  saddle  and  bridle. 

Ninth.     Provisions  for  herself  and  family  for  one  year. 
Tenth      Food  for  the  stock  above  specified  for  six  months. 
Eleventh.     Fuel  for  herself  and  family  for  three  months. 
Twelfth.     One  hundred  dollars  worth  of  other  property  suited 
condition  in  life,  to  be  selected  by  the  widow. 

The  widow  if  she  elects  may  have  in  lieu  of  the  said  award,  the  same 
personal  property  or  money  in  place  thereof  as  is  or  may  be  exempt  from 
execution  or  attachment  against  the  head  of  a  family. 

TAXES. 

The  owners  of  real  and  personal  property,  on  the  first  day  of  May  in 
each  year,  are  liable  for  the  taxes  thereon. 

Assessments  should  be  completed  before  the  fourth  Monday  in  June, 
at  which  time  the  town  board  of  review  meets  to  examine  assessments 
hear  objections,  and  make  such  changes  as  ought  to  be  made.     The  county 
board  have  also  power  to  correct  or  change  assessments. 

The  tax  books  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  town  collector  on  or 
before  the  tenth  day  of  December,  who  retains  them  until  the  tenth  day 
of  March  following,  when  he  is  required  to  return  them  to  the  county 
treasurer,  who  then  collects  all  delinquent  taxes. 

No  costs  accrue  on  real  estate  taxes  till  advertised,  which  takes  place 
the  first  day  of  April,  when  three  weeks'  notice  is  required  before  judg- 
ment. Cost  of  advertising,  twenty  cents  each  tract  of  land,  and  ten  c 

eaCb Judgment  is  usually  obtained  at  May  term  of  County  Court.  Costs 
six  cents  each  tract  of  land,  and  five  cents  each  lot.  Sale  takes  place  in 
June.  Costs  in  addition  to  those  before  mentioned,  twenty-eight  cents 
each  tract  of  land,  and  twenty-seven  cents  each  town  lot. 

Real  estate  sold  for  taxes  may  be  redeemed  any  time  before  the  expi- 
ration of  two  years  from  the  date  of  sale,  by  payment  to  the  County  (  lerk 
of  the  amount  for  which  it  was  sold  and  twenty-five  per  cent,  thereon  i 
redeemed  within  six  months,  fifty  per  cent,  if  between  six  and  twelve 
months,  if  between  twelve  and  eighteen  months  seventy-five  per  . 
and  if  between  eighteen  months  and  two  years  one  hundred  per  cent., 
and  in  addition,  all  subsequent  taxes  paid  by  the  purchaser,  with  ten  per 
cent,  interest  thereon,  also  one  dollar  each  tract  if  notice  is  given  by  the 
purchaser  of  the  sale,  and  a  fee  of  twenty-five  cents  to  the 
certificate.  JURI8DICTION  OF  COURTS. 

Justices  have  jurisdiction  in  all  civil  cases  on  contracts  for ^the  recovery 
of  moneys  for  damages  for  injury  to  real  property,  or  taking,  detaining,  o 


ABSTRACT   OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS.  155 

injuring  personal  property ;  for  rent;  for  all  cases  to  recover  damages  done 
real  or  personal  property  by  railroad  companies,  in  actions  of  replevin,  and 
in  actions  for  damages  for  fraud  in  the  sale,  purchase,  or  exchange  of  per- 
sonal property,  when  the  amount  claimed  as  due  is  not  over  $200.  They 
have  also  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  for  violation  of  the  ordinances  of  cities, 
towns  or  villages.  A  justice  of  the  peace  may  orally  order  an  officer  or  a 
private  person  to  arrest  any  one  committing  or  attempting  to  commit  a 
criminal  offense.  He  also  upon  complaint  can  issue  his  warrant  for  the 
arrest  of  any  person  accused  of  having  committed  a  crime,  and  have  him 
brought  before  him  for  examination. 

COUNTY  COURTS 

Have  jurisdiction  in  all  matters  of  probate  (except  in  counties  having  a 
population  of  one  hundred  thousand  or  over),  settlement  of  estates  of 
deceased  persons,  appointment  of  guardians  and  conservators,  and  settle- 
ment of  their  accounts ;  all  matters  relating  to  apprentices;  proceedings 
for  the  collection  of  taxes  and  assessments,  and  in  proceedings  of  executors, 
administrators,  guardians  and  conservators  for  the  sale  of  real  estate.  In 
law  cases  they  have  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  Circuit  Courts  in  all 
cases  where  justices  of  the  peace  now  have,  or  hereafter  may  have, 
jurisdiction  when  the  amount  claimed  shall  not  exceed  $1,000,  and  in  all 
criminal  offenses  where  the  punishment  is  not  imprisonment  in  the  peni- 
tentiary, or  death,  and  in  all  cases  of  appeals  from  justices  of  the  peace 
and^police  magistrates;  excepting  when  the  county  judge  is  sitting  as  a 
justice  of  the  peace.  Circuit  Courts  have  unlimited  jurisdiction. 

LIMITATION  OF  ACTION. 

Accounts  five  years.  Notes  and  written  contracts  ten  years.  Judg- 
ments twenty  years.  Partial  payments  or  new  promise  in  writing,  within 
or  after  said  period,  will  revive  the  debt.  Absence  from  the  State  deducted, 
and  when  the  cause  of  action  is  barred  by  the  law  of  another  State,  it  has 
the  same  effect  here.  Slander  and  libel,  one  year.  Personal  injuries,  two 
years.  To  recover  land  or  make  entry  thereon,  twenty  years.  Action  to 
foreclose  mortgage  or  trust  deed,  or  make  a  sale,  within  ten  years. 

All  persons  in  possession  of  land,  and  paying  taxes  for  seven  consecu- 
tive years,  with  color  of  title,  and  all  persons  paying  taxes  for  seven  con- 
secutive years,  with  color  of  title,  on  vacant  land,  shall  be  held  to  be  the 
legal  owners  to  the  extent  of  their  paper  title. 

MARRIED  WOMEN 

May  sue  and  be  sued.  Husband  and  wife  not  liable  for  each  other's  debts, 
either  before  or  after  marriage,  but  both  are  liable  for  expenses  and  edu- 
cation of  the  family. 


156  ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS    STATE   LAWS. 

.  She  may  contract  the  same  as  if  unmarried,  except  that  in  a  partner- 
ship business  she  can  not,  without  consent  of  her  husband,  unless  he  has 
abandoned  or  deserted  her,  or  is  idiotic  or  insane,  or  confined  in  peniten- 
tiary ;  she  is  entitled  and  can  recover  her  own  earnings,  but  neither  hus- 
band nor  wife  is  entitled  to  compensation  for  any  services  rendered  for  the 
other.  At  the  death  of  the  husband,  in  addition  to  widow's  award,  a 
married  woman  has  a  dower  interest  (one-third)  in  all  real  .estate  owned 
by  her  husband  after  their  marriage,  and  which  has  not  been  released  by 
her,  and  the  husband  has  the  same  interest  in  the  real  estate  of  the  wife 
at  her  death. 

EXEMPTIONS  FROM  FORCED  SALE. 

Home  worth  $1,000,  and  the  following  Personal  Property :  Lot  of  ground 
and  buildings  thereon,  occupied  as  a  residence  by  the  debtor,  being  a  house- 
holder and  having  a  family,  to  the  value  of  $1,000.  Exemption  continues 
after  the  death  of  the  householder  for  the  benefit  of  widow  and  family,  some 
one  of  them  occupying  the  homestead  until  youngest  child  shall  become 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  until  death  of  widow.  There  is  no  exemption 
from  sale  for  taxes,  assessments,  debt  or  liability  incurred  for  the  purchase 
or  improvement  of  said  homestead.  No  release  or  waiver  of  exemption  is 
valid,  unless  in  writing,  and  subscribed  by  such  householder  and  wife  (if 
he  have  one),  and  acknowledged  as  conveyances  of  real  estate  are  required 
to  be  acknowledged.  The  following  articles  of  personal  property  owned 
by  the  debtor,  are  exempt  from  execution,  writ  of  attachment,  and  distress 
for  rent :  The  necessary  wearing  apparel,  Bibles,  school  books  and  family 
pictures  of  every  person  ;  and,  2d,  one  hundred  dollars  worth  of  other 
property  to  be  selected  by  the  debtor,  and,  in  addition,  when  the  debtor 
is  the  head  of  a  family  and  resides  with  the  same,  three  hundred  dollars 
worth  of  other  property  to  be  selected  by  the  debtor ;  provided  that  such 
selection  and  exemption  shall  not  be  made  by  the  debtor  or  allowed  to 
him  or  her  from  any  money,  salary  or  wages  due  him  or  her  from  any 
person  or  persons  or  corporations  whatever. 

When  the  head  of  a  family  shall  die,  desert  or  not  reside  with  the 
same,  the  family  shall  be  entitled  to  and  receive  all  the  benefit  and  priv- 
ileges which  are  by  this  act  conferred  upon  the  head  of  a  family  residing 
with  the  same.  No  personal  property  is  exempt  from  execution  when 
judgment  is  obtained  for  the  wages  of  laborers  or  servants.  Wages  of  a 
laborer  who  is  the  head  of  a  family  can  not  be  garnisheed,  except  the  sum 
due  him  be  in  excess  of  $25. 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS.  157 

DEEDS  AND  MORTGAGES. 

To  be  valid  there  must  be  a  valid  consideration.  Special  care  should 
be  taken  to  have  them  signed,  sealed,  delivered,  and  properly  acknowl- 
edged, with  the  proper  seal  attached.  Witnesses  are  not  required.  The 
acknowledgement  must  be  made  in  this  state,  before  Master  in  Chancery, 
Notary  Public,  United  States  Commissioner,  Circuit  or  County  Clerk,  Justice 
of  Peace,  or  any  Court  of  Record  having  a  seal,  or  any  Judge,  Justice,  or 
Clerk  of  any  such  Court.  When  taken  before  a  Notary  Public,  or  United 
States  Commissioner,  the  same  shall  be  attested  by  his  official  seal,  when 
taken  before  a  Court  or  the  Clerk  thereof,  the  same  shall  be  attested  by 
the  seal  of  such  Court,  and  when  taken  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  resid- 
ing out  of  the  county  where  the  real  estate  to  be  conveyed  lies,  there  shall 
be  added  a  certificate  of  the  County  Clerk  under  his  seal  of  office,  that  he 
was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  county  at  the  time  of  taking  the  same. 
A  deed  is  good  without  such  certificate  attached,  but  can  not  be  used  in 
evidence  unless  such  a  certificate  is  produced  or  other  competent  evidence 
introduced.  Acknowledgements  made  out  of  the  state  must  either  be 
executed  according  to  the  laws  of  this  state,  or  there  should  be  attached 
a  certificate  that  it  is  in  conformity  with  the  laws  of  the  state  or  country 
where  executed.  Where  this  is  not  done  the  same  may  be  proved  by  any 
other  legal  way.  Acknowledgments  where  the  Homestead  rights  are  to 
be  waived  must  state  as  follows :  "  Including  the  release  and  waiver  of 
the  right  of  homestead." 

Notaries  Public  can  take  acknowledgements  any  where  in  the  state. 

Sheriffs,  if  authorized  by  the  mortgagor  of  real  or  personal  property 
in  his  mortgage,  may  sell  the  property  mortgaged. 

In  the  case  of  the  death  of  grantor  or  holder  of  the  equity  of  redemp- 
tion of  real  estate  mortgaged,  or  conveyed  by  deed  of  trust  where  equity 
of  redemption  is  waived,  and  it  contains  power  of  sale,  must  be  foreclosed 
in  the  same  manner  as  a  common  mortgage  in  court. 

ESTRAYS. 

Norses,  mules,  asses,  neat  cattle,  swine,  sheep,  or  goats  found  straying 
at  any  time  during  the  year,  in  counties  where  such  animals  are  not  allowed 
to  run  at  large,  or  between  the  last  day  of  October  and  the  15th  day  of 
April  in  other  counties,  the  owner  thereof  being  unknown,  may  be  taken  up 
as  estrays. 

No  person  not  a  householder  in  the  county  where  estray  is  found  can 
lawfully  take  up  an  estray,  and  then  only  upon  or  about  his  farm  or  place 
of  residence.  Estrays  should  not  be  used  before  advertised,  except  animals 
giving  milk,  which  may  be  milked  for  their  benefit. 


158  ABSTRACT   OF    ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS. 

Notices  must  be  posted  up  within  five  (5)  days  in  three  (3)  of  the 
most  public  places  in  the  town  or  precinct  in  which  estray  was  found,  giv- 
ing the  residence  of  the  taker  up,  and  a  particular  description  of  the 
estray,  its  age,  color,  and  marks  natural  and  artificial,  and  stating  before 
what  justice  of  the  peace  in  such  town  or  precinct,  and  at  what  time,  not 
less  than  ten  (10)  nor  more  than  fifteen  (15)  days  from  the  time  of  post- 
ing such  notices,  he  will  apply  to  have  the  estray  appraised. 

A  copy  of  such  notice  should  be  filed  by  the  taker  up  with  the  town 
clerk,  whose  duty  it  is  to  enter  the  same  at  large,  in  a  book  kept  by  him 
for  that  purpose. 

If  the  owner  of  estray  shall  not  have  appeared  and  proved  ownership, 
and  taken  the  same  away,  first  paying  the  taker  up  his  reasonable  charges 
for  taking  up,  keeping,  and  advertising  the  same,  the  taker  up  shall  appear 
before  the  justice  of  the  peace  mentioned  in  above  mentioned  notice,  and 
make  an  affidavit  as  required  by  law. 

As  the  affidavit  has  to  be  made  before  the  justice,  and  all  other  steps  as 
to  appraisement,  etc.,  are  before  him,  who  is  familiar  therewith,  they  are 
therefore  omitted  here. 

Any  person  taking  up  an  estray  at  any  other  place  than  about  or 
upon  his  farm  or  residence,  or  without  complying  with  the  law,  shall  forfeit 
and  pay  a  fine  of  ten  dollars  with  costs. 

Ordinary  diligence  is  required  in  taking  care  of  estrays,  but  in  case 
they  die  or  get  away  the  taker  is  not  liable  for  the  same. 

GAME. 

It  is  unlawful  for  any  person  to  kill,  or  attempt  to  kill  or  destroy,  in 
any  manner,  any  prairie  hen  or  chicken  or  woodcock  between  the  15th  day 
of  January  and  the  1st  day  of  September ;  or  any  deer,  fawn,  wild-turkey, 
partridge  or  pheasant  between  the  1st  day  of  February  and  the  1st  day 
of  October ;  or  any  quail  between  the  1st  day  of  February  and  1st  day  of 
November ;  or  any  wild  goose,  duck,  snipe,  brant  or  other  water  fowl 
between  the  1st  day  of  May  and  15th  day  of  August  in  each  year. 
Penalty :  Fine  not  less  than  $5  nor  more  than  '$25,  for  each  bird  or 
animal,  and  costs  of  suit,  and  stand  committed  to  county  jail  until  fine  is 
paid,  but  not  exceeding  ten  days.  It  is  unlawful  to  hunt  with  gun,  dog 
or  net  within  the  inclosed  grounds  or  lands  of  another  without  permission. 
Penalty:  Fine  not  less  than  $3  nor  more  than  $100,  to  be  paid  into 
school  fund. 

WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES. 

Whenever  any  of  the  following  articles  shall  be  contracted  for,  or 
sold  or  delivered,  and  no  special  contract  or  agreement  shall  be  made  to 
the  contrary.,  the  weight  per  bushel  shall  be  as  follows,  to-wit : 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS. 


Pounds. 

Stone  Coal,     -  -  80 

Un slacked  Lime,  -       80 

Corn  in  the  ear,       -  -  70 

Wheat,  -       60 

Irish  Potatoes,  -  60 

White  Beans,       -  -       60 

Clover  Seed,   -  -  60 

Onions,  -       57 

Shelled  Corn,  -  56 

Rye,    -  -      56 

Flax  Seed,       -'  -  .56 

Sweet  Potatoes,  -  55 

Turnips,  -  55 

Fine  Salt,  55 


Pounds. 

Buckwheat,     -  -52 
Coarse  Salt,                   -        -       50 

Barley,    -  -  48 

Corn  Meal,  -       48 
Castor  Beans,                    -         -  46 

Timothy  Seed,     -  -       45 

Hemp  Seed,    -  -  44 

Malt,  -  -       38 

Dried  Peaches,  -  33 

Oats,  -  32 

Dried  Apples,  -  24 

Bran,  -  20 

Blue  Grass  Seed,     -  -  14 

Hair  (plastering),  8 


Penalty  for  giving  less  than  the  above  standard  is  double  the  amount 
of  property  wrongfully  not  given,  and  ten  dollars  addition  thereto. 

MILLERS. 

The  owner  or  occupant  of  every  public  grist  mill  in  this  state  shall 
grind  all  grain  brought  to  his  mill  in  its  turn.  The  toll  for  both  steam 
and  water  mills,  is,  for  grinding  and  bolting  wheat,  rye,  or  other  grain,  one 
eighth  part;  for  grinding  Indian  corn,  oats,  barley  and  buckwheat  not 
required  to  be  bolted,  one  seventh  part;  for  grinding  malt,  and  chopping  all 
kinds  of  grain,  one  eighth  part.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  miller  when  his 
mill  is  in  repair,  to  aid  and  assist  in  loading  and  unloading  all  grain  brought 
to  him  to  be  ground,  and  he  is  also  required  to  keep  an  accurate  half 
bushel  measure,  and  an  accurate  set  of  toll  dishes  or  scales  for  weighing 
the  grain.  The  penalty  for  neglect  or  refusal  to  comply  with  the  law  is 
$5,  to  the  use  of  any  person  to  sue  for  the  same,  to  be  recovered  before 
any  justice  of  the  peace  of  the  county  where  penalty  is  incurred.  Millers 
are  accountable  for  the  safe  keeping  of  all  grain  left  in  his  mill  for  the 
purpose  of  being  ground,  with  bags  or  casks  containing  same  (except  it 
results  from  unavoidable  accidents),  provided  that  such  bags  or  casks  are 
distinctly  marked  with  the  initial  letters  of  the  owner's  name. 

MARKS  AND  BRANDS. 

Owners  of  cattle,  horses,  hogs,  sheep  or  goats  may  have  one  earmark 
and  one  brand,  but  which  shall  be  different  from  his  neighbor's,  and  may 
be  recorded  by  the  county  clerk  of  the  county  in  which  such  property  is 
kept.  The  fee  for  such  record  is  fifteen  cents.  The  record  of  such  shall 
be  open  to  examination  free  of  charge.  In  cases  of  disputes  as  to  marks, 
or  brands,  such  record  is  prima  facie  evidence.  Owners  of  cattle,  horses, 
hogs,  sheep  or  goats  that  may  have  been  branded  by  the  former  owner, 


160  ABSTRACT   OP   ILLINOIS    STATE   LAWS. 

may  be  re-branded  in  presence  of  one  or  more  of  his  neighbors,  who  shall 
certify  to  the  facts  of  the  marking  or  branding  being  done,  when  done, 
and  in  what  brand  or  mark  they  were  re-branded  or  re-marked,  which 
certificate  may  also  be  recorded  as  before  stated. 

ADOPTION  OF  CHILDREN. 

Children  may  be  adopted  by  any  resident  of  this  state,  by  filing  a 
petition  in  the  Circuit  or  County  Court  of  the  county  in  which  he  resides, 
asking  leave  to  do  so,  and  if  desired  may  ask  that  the  name  of  the  child 
be  changed.  Such  petition,  if  made  by  a  person  having  a  husband  or 
wife,  will  not  be  granted,  unless  the  husband  or  wife  joins  therein,  as  the 
adoption  must  be  by  them  jointly. 

The  petition  shall  state  name,  sex,  and  age  of  the  child,  and  the  new 
name,  if  it  is  desired  to  change  the  name.  Also  the  name  and  residence 
of  the  parents  of  the  child,  if  known,  and  of  the  guardian,  if  any,  and 
whether  the  parents  or  guardians  consent  to  the  adoption. 

The  court  must  find,  before  granting  decree,  that  the  parents  of  the 
vhild,  or  the  survivors  of  them,  have  deserted  his  or  her  family  or  such 
child  for  one  year  next  preceding  the  application,  or  if  neither  are  living, 
the  guardian ;  if  no  guardian,  the  next  of  kin  in  this  state  capable  of  giving 
consent,  has  had  notice  of  the  presentation  of  the  petition  and  consents 
to  such  adoption.  If  the  child  is  of  the  age  of  fourteen  years  or  upwards, 
the  adoption  can  not  be  made  without  its  consent. 

SURVEYORS  AND  SURVEYS. 

There  is  in  every  county  elected  a  surveyor  known  as  county  sur- 
veyor, who  has  power  to  appoint  deputies,  for  whose  official  acts  he  is 
responsible.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  county  surveyor,  either  by  himself  or 
his  deputy,  to  make  all  surveys  that  he  may  be  called  upon  to  make  within 
his  county  as  soon  as  may  be  after  application  is  made.  The  necessary 
chainmen  and  other  assistance  must  be  employed  by  the  person  requiring 
the  same  to  be  done,  and  to  be  by  him  paid,  unless  otherwise  agreed ;  but 
the  chainmen  must  be  disinterested  persons  and  approved  by  the  surveyor 
and  sworn  by  him  to  measure  justly  and  impartially. 

The  County  Board  in  each  county  is  required  by  law  to  provide  a  copy 
of  the  United  States  field  notes  and  plats  of  their  surveys  of  the  lands 
in  the  county  to  be  kept  in  the  recorder's  office  subject  to  examination 
by  the  public,  and  the  county  surveyor  is  required  to  make  his  surveys 
in  conformity  to  said  notes,  plats  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  gov- 
erning such  matters.  The  surveyor  is  also  required  to  keep  a  record 
of  all  surveys  made  by  him,  which  shall  be  subject  to  inspection  by  any 
one  interested,  and  shall  be  delivered  up  to  his  successor  in  office.  A 


ABSTRACT   OF    ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS.  161 

certified  copy  of  the  said  surveyor's  record  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence 
of  its  contents. 

The  fees  of  county  surveyors  are  six  dollars  per  day.  The  county 
surveyor  is  also  ex  officio  inspector  of  mines,  and  as  such,  assisted  by  some 
practical  miner  selected  by  him,  shall  once  each  year  inspect  all  the 
mines  in  the  county,  for  which  they  shall  each  receive  such  compensa- 
tion as  may  be  fixed  by  the  County  Board,  not  exceeding  $5  a  day,  to 
be  paid  out  of  the  county  treasury. 

ROADS  AND  BRIDGES. 

Where  practicable  from  the  nature  of  the  ground,  persons  traveling 
in  any  kind  of  vehicle,  must  turn  to  the  right  of  the  center  of  the  road,  so 
as  to  permit  each  carriage  to  pass  without  interfering  with  each  other. 
The  penalty  for  a  violation  of  this  provision  is  $5  for  every  offense,  to 
be  recovered  by  the  party  injured;  but  to  recover,  there  must  have 
occurred  some  injury  to  person  or  property  resulting  from  the  violation. 
The  owners  of  any  carriage  traveling  upon  any  road  in  this  State  for  the 
conveyance  of  passengers  who  shall  employ  or  continue  in  his  employment 
as  driver  any  person  who  is  addicted  to  drunkenness,  or  the  excessive  use  of 
spiritous  liquors,  after  he  has  had  notice  of  the  same,  shall  forfeit,  at  the 
rate  of  $5  per  day,  and  if  any  driver  while  actually  engaged  in  driving 
any  such  carriage,  shall  be  guilty  of  intoxication  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
endanger  the  safety  of  passengers,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  owner,  on 
receiving  written  notice  of  the  fact,  signed  by  one  of  the  passengers,  and 
certified  by  him  on  oath,  forthwith  to  discharge  such  driver.  If  such  owner 
shall  have  such  driver  in  his  employ  within  three  months  after  such  notice, 
he  is  liable  for  $5  per  day  for  the  time  he  shall  keep  said  driver  in  his 
employment  after  receiving  such  notice. 

Persons  driving  any  carriage  on  any  public  highway  are  prohibited 
from  running  their  horses  upon  any  occasion  under  a  penalty  of  a  fine  not 
exceeding  $10,  or  imprisonment  not  exceeding  sixty  days,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  court.  Horses  attached  to  any  carriage  used  to  convey  passen- 
gers for  hire  must  be  properly  hitched  or  the  lines  placed  in  the  hands  of 
some  other  person  before  the  driver  leaves  them  for  any  purpose.  For 
violation  of  this  provision  each  driver  shall  forfeit  twenty  dollars,  to  be 
recovered  by  action,  to  be  commenced  within  six  months.  It  is  under- 
stood by  the  term  carriage  herein  to  mean  any  carriage  or  vehicle  used 
for  the  transportation  of  passengers  or  goods  or  either  of  them. 

The  commissioners  of  highways  in  the  different  towns  have  the  care 
and  superintendence  of  highways  and  bridges  therein.  They  have  all 
the  powers  necessary  to  lay  out,  vacate,  regulate  and  repair  all  roadsi 
build  and  repair  bridges.  In  addition  to  the  above,  it  is  their  duty  to 
erect  and  keep  in  repair  at  the  forks  or  crossing-place  of  the  most 


162  ABSTRACT   OP  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

important  roads  post  and  guide  boards  with  plain  inscriptions,  giving 
directions  and  distances  to  the  most  noted  places  to  which  such  road  may 
lead;  also  to  make  provisions  to  prevent  thistles,  burdock,  and  cockle 
burrs,  mustard,  yellow  dock,  Indian  mallow  and  jimson  weed  from 
seeding,  and  to  extirpate  the  same  as  far  as  practicable,  and  to  prevent 
all  rank  growth  of  vegetation  on  the  public  highways  so  far  as  the  same 
may  obstruct  public  travel,  and  it  is  in  their  discretion  to  erect  watering- 
places  for  public  use  for  watering  teams  at  such  points  as  may  be  deemed 
advisable. 

The  Commissioners,  on  or  before  the  1st  day  of  May  of  each  year, 
shall  make  out  and  deliver  to  their  treasurer  a  list  of  all  able-bodied  men 
in  their  town,  excepting  paupers,  idiots,  lunatics,  and  such  others  as  are 
exempt  by  law,  and  assess  against  each  the  sum  of  two  dollars  as  a  poll 
tax  for  highway  purposes.  Within  thirty  days  after  such  list  is  delivered 
they  shall  cause  a  written  or  printed  notice  to  be  given  to  each  person  so 
assessed,  notifying  him  of  the  time  when  and  place  where  such  tax  must 
be  paid,  or  its  equivalent  in  labor  performed  ;  they  may  contract  with 
persons  owing  such  poll  tax  to  perform  a  certain  amount  of  labor  on  any 
road  or  bridge  in  payment  of  the  same,  and  if  such  tax  is  not  paid  nor 
labor  performed  by  the  first  Monday  of  July  of  such  year,  or  within  ten 
days  after  notice  is  given  after  that  time,  they  shall  bring  suit  therefor 
against  such  person  before  a  justice  of  the  peace,  who  shall  hear  and 
determine  the  case  according  to  law  for  the  offense  complained  of,  and 
shall  forthwith  issue  an  execution,  directed  to  any  constable  of  the  county 
where  the  delinquent  shall  reside,  who  shall  forthwith  collect  the  moneys 
therein  mentioned. 

The  Commissioners  of  Highways  of  each  town  shall  annually  ascer- 
tain, as  near  as  practicable,  how  much  money  must  be  raised  by  tax  on  real 
and  personal  property  for  the  making  and  repairing  of  roads,  only,  to  any 
amount  they  may  deem  necessary,  not  exceeding  forty  cents  on  each  one 
hundred  dollars'  worth,  as  valued  on  the  assessment  roll  of  the  previous 
year.  The  tax  so  levied  on  property  lying  within  an  incorporated  village, 
town  or  city,  shall  be  paid  over  to  the  corporate  authorities  of  such  town, 
village  or  city.  Commissioners  shall  receive  $1.50  for  each  day  neces- 
sarily employed  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty. 

Overseers.  At  the  first  meeting  the  Commissioners  shall  choose  one 
of  their  number  to  act  General  Overseer  of  Highways  in  their  township, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  take  charge  of  and  safely  keep  all  tools,  imple- 
ments and  machinery  belonging  to  said  town,  and  shall,  by  the  direction 
of  the  Board,  have  general  supervision  of  all  roads  and  bridges  in  their 
town. 


ABSTRACT  OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS.  163 

As  all  township  and  county  officers  are  familiar  with  their  duties,  it 
is  only  intended  to  give  the  points  of  the  law  that  the  public  should  be 
familiar  with.  The  manner  of  laying  out,  altering  or  vacating  roads,  etc., 
will  not  be  here  stated,  as  it  would  require  more  space  than  is  contem- 
plated in  a  work  of  this  kind.  It  is  sufficient  to  state  that,  the  first  step 
is  by  petition,  addressed  to  the  Commissioners,  setting  out  what  is  prayed 
for,  giving  the  names  of  the  owners  of  lands  if  known,  if  not  known  so 
state,  over  which  the  road  is  to  pass,  giving  the  general  course,  its  place 
of  beginning,  and  where  it  terminates.  It  requires  not  less  than  twelve 
freeholders  residing  within  three  miles  of  the  road  who  shall  sign  the 
petition.  Public  roads  must  not  be  less  than  fifty  feet  wide,  nor  more 
than  sixty  feet  wide.  Roads  not  exceeding  two  miles  in  length,  if  peti- 
tioned for,  may  be  laid  out,  not  less  than  forty  feet.  Private  roads 
for  private  and  public  use,  may  be  laid  out  of  the  width  of  three  rods,  on- 
petition  of  the  person  directly  interested  ;  the  damage  occasioned  thereby 
shall  be  paid  by  the  premises  benefited  thereby,  and  before  the  road  is 
opened.  If  not  opened  in  two  years,  the  order  shall  be  considered 
rescinded.  Commissioners  in  their  discretion  may  permit  persons  who 
live  on  or  have  private  roads,  to  work  out  their  road  tax  thereon,  Public 
roads  must  be  opened  in  five  days  from  date  of  filing  order  of  location, 
or  be  deemed  vacated. 

DRAINAGE. 

Whenever  one  or  more  owners  or  occupants  of  land  desire  to  construct 
i  drain  gr  ditch  across  the  land  of  others  for  agricultural,  sanitary  or 
mining  purposes,  the  proceedings  are  as  follows : 

File  a  petition  in  the  Circuit  or  County  Court  of  the  county  in  which 
the  proposed  ditch  or  drain  is  to  be  constructed,  setting  forth  the  neces- 
sity for  the  same,  with  a  description  of  its  proposed  starting  point,  route 
and  terminus,  and  if  it  shall  be  necessary  for  the  drainage  of  the  land  or 
coal  mines  or  for  sanitary  purposes,  that  a  drain,  ditch,  levee  or  similar 
work  be  constructed,  a  description  of  the  same.  It  shall  also  set  forth 
the  names  of  all  persons  owning  the  land  over  which  such  drain  or  ditch 
shall  be  constructed,  or  if  unknown  stating  that  fact. 

No  private  property  shall  be  taken  or  damaged  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  a  ditch,  drain  or  levee,  without  compensation,  if  claimed  by 
the  owner,  the  same  to  be  ascertained  by  a  jury;  but  if  the  construction 
of  such  ditch,  drain  or  levee  shall  be  a  benefit  to  the  owner,  the  same 
shall  be  a  set  off  against  such  compensation. 

If  the  proceedings  seek  to  affect  the  property  of  a  minor,  lunatic  or 
married  woman,  the  guardian,  conservator  or  husband  of  the  same  shall 
be  made  party  defendant.  The  petition  may  be  amended  and  parties 
made  defendants  at  any  time  when  it  is  necessary  to  a  fair  trial. 


164  ABSTRACT   OP  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

When  the  petition  is  presented  to  the  judge,  he  shall  note  there  >n 
when  he  will  hear  the  same,  and  order  the  issuance  of  summonses  and 
the  publication  of  notice  to  each  non-resident  or  unknown  defendant. 

The  petition  may  be  heard  by  such  judge  in  vacation  as  well  as  in 
term  time.  Upon  the  trial,  the  jury  shall  ascertain  the  just  compensation 
to  each  owner  of  the  property  sought  to  be  damaged  by  the  construction 
of  such  ditch,  drain  or  levee,  and  truly  report  the  same. 

As  it  is  only  contemplated  in  a  work  of  this  kind  to  give  an  abstract 
of  the  laws,  and  as  the  parties  who  have  in  charge  the  execution  of  the 
further  proceedings  are  likely  to  be  familiar  with  the  requirements  of  the 
statute,  the  necessary  details  are  not  here  inserted. 

WOLF  SCALPS. 

The  County  Board  of  any  county  in  this  State  may  hereafter  allow 
such  bounty  on  wolf  scalps  as  the  board  may  deem  reasonable. 

Any  person  claiming  a  bounty  shall  produce  the  scalp  or  scalps  with 
the  ears  thereon,  within  sixty  days  after  the  wolf  or  wolves  shall  have 
been  caught,  to  the  Clerk  of  the  County  Board,  who  shall  administer  to 
said  person  the  following  oath  or  affirmation,  to-wit :  "  You  do  solemnly 
swear  (or  affirm,  as  the  case  may  be),  that  the  scalp  or  scalps  here  pro- 
duced by  you  was  taken  from  a  wolf  or  wolves  killed  and  first  captured 
by  yourself  within  the  limits  of  this  county,  and  within  the  sixty  days 
last  past." 

CONVEYANCES. 

When  the  reversion  expectant  on  a  lease  of  any  tenements  or  here- 
ditaments of  any  tenure  shall  be  surrendered  or  merged,  the  estate  which 
shall  for  the  time  being  confer  as  against  the  tenant  under  the  same  lease 
the  next  vested  right  to  the  same  tenements  or  hereditaments,  shall,  to 
the  extent  and  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  such  incidents  to  and  obli- 
gations on  the  same  reversion,  as  but  for  the  surrender  or  merger  thereof, 
would  have  subsisted,  be  deemed  the  reversion  expectant  on  the  same 
lease. 

PAUPERS. 

Every  poor  person  who  shall  be  unable  to  earn  a  livelihood  in  conse- 
quence of  any  bodily  infirmity,  idiocy,  lunacy  or  unavoidable  cause,  shall 
be  supported  by  the  father,  grand-father,  mother,  grand-mother,  children, 
grand-children,  brothers  or  sisters  of  such  poor  person,  if  they  or  either 
of  them  be  of  sufficient  ability ;  but  if  any  of  such  dependent  class  shall 
have  become  so  from  intemperance  or  other  bad  conduct,  they  shall  not  be 
entitled  to  support  from  any  relation  except  parent  or  child. 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS.  167 

The  children  shall  first  be  called  on  to  support  their  parents,  if  they 
are  able  ;  but  if  not,  the  parents  of  such  poor  person  shall  then  be  called 
on,  if  of  sufficient  ability ;  and  if  there  be  no  parents  or  children  able, 
then  the  brothers  and  sisters  of  such  dependent  person  shall  be  called 
upon ;  and  if  there  be  no  brothers  or  sisters  of  sufficient  ability,  the 
grand-children  of  such  person  shall  next  be  called  on ;  and  if  they  are 
not  able,  then  the  grand-parents.  Married  females,  while  their  husbands 
live,  shall  not  be  liable  to  contribute  for  the  support  of  their  poor  relations 
except  out  of  their  separate  property.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  state's 
(county)  attorney,  to  make  complaint  to  the  County  Court  of  his  county 
against  all  the  relatives  of  such  paupers  in  this  state  liable  to  his  support 
and  prosecute  the  same.  In  case  the  state's  attorney  neglects,  or  refuses,  to 
complain  in  such  cases,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  the  overseer  of  the  poor  to 
do  so.  The  person  called  upon  to  contribute  shall  have  at  least  ten  days' 
notice  of  such  application  by  summons.  The  court  has  the  power  to 
determine  the  kind  of  support,  depending  upon  the  circumstances  of  the 
parties,  and  may  also  order  two  or  more  of  the  different  degrees  to  main- 
tain such  poor  person,  and  prescribe  the  proportion  of  each,  according  to 
their  ability.  The  court  may  specify  the  time  for  which  the  relative  shall 
contribute — in  fact  has  control  over  the  entire  subject  matter,  with  power 
to  enforce  its  orders.  Every  county  (except  those  in  which  the  poor  are 
supported  by  the  towns,  and  in  such  cases  the  towns  are  liable)  is  required 
to  relieve  and  support  all  poor  and  indigent  persons  lawfully  resident 
therein.  Residence  means  the  actual  residence  of  the  party,  or  the  place 
where  he  was  employed ;  or  in  case  he  was  in  no  employment,  then  it 
shall  be  the  place  where  he  made  his  home.  When  any  person  becomes 
chargeable  as  a  pauper  in  any  county  or  town  who  did  not  reside  at  the 
commencement  of  six  months  immediately  preceding  his  becoming  so, 
but  did  at  that  time  reside  in  some  other  county  or  town  in  this  state, 
then  the  county  or  town,  as  the  case  may  be,  becomes  liable  for  the  expense 
of  taking  care  of  such  person  until  removed,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
overseer  to  notify  the  proper  authorities  of  the  fact.  If  any  person  shall 
bring  and  leave  any  pauper  in  any  county  in  this  state  where  such  pauper 
had  no  legal  residence,  knowing  him  to  be  such,  he  is  liable  to  a  fine  of 
$100.  In  counties  under  township  organization,  the  supervisors  in  each 
town  are  ex-officio  overseers  of  the  poor.  The  overseers  of  the  poor  act 
under  the  directions  of  the  County  Board  in  taking  care  of  the  poor  and 
granting  of  temporary  relief;  also,  providing  for  non-resident  persons  not 
paupers  who  may  be  taken  sick  and  not  able  to  pay  their  way,  and  in  case 
of  death  cause  such  person  to  be  decently  buried. 

The  residence  of  the  inmates  of  pool-houses  and  other  charitable 
institutions  for  voting  purposes  is  their  former  place  of  abode. 


168  ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

FENCES. 

In  counties  under  township  organization,  the  town  assessor  and  com- 
missioner of  highways  are  the  fence-viewers  in  their  respective  towns. 
In  other  counties  the  County  Board  appoints  three  in  each  precinct  annu- 
ally. A  lawful  fence  is  four  and  one-half  feet  high,  in  good  repair,  con- 
sisting of  rails,  timber,  boards,  stone,  hedges,  or  whatever  the  fence- 
viewers  of  the  town  or  precinct  where  the  same  shall  lie,  shall  consider 
equivalent  thereto,  but  in  counties  under  township  organization  the  annual 
town  meeting  may  establish  any  other  kind  of  fence  as  such,  or  the  County 
Board  in  other  counties  may  do  the  same.  Division  fences  shall  be  made 
and  maintained  in  just  proportion  by  the  adjoining  owners,  except  when 
the  owner  shall  choose  to  let  his  land  lie  open,  but  after  a  division  fence  is 
built  by  agreement  or  otherwise,  neither  party  can  remove  his  part  of  such 
fence  so  long  as  he  may  crop  or  use  such  land  for  farm  purposes,  or  without 
giving  the  other  party  one  year's  notice  in  writing  of  his  intention  to  remove 
his  portion.  When  any  person  shall  enclose  his  land  upon  the  enclosure 
of  another,  he  shall  refund  the  owner  of  the  adjoining  lands  a  just  pro- 
portion of  the  value  at  that  time  of  such  fence.  The  value  of  fence  and 
the  just  proportion  to  be  paid  or  built  and  maintained  by  each  is  to  be 
ascertained  by  two  fence-viewers  in  the  town  or  precinct.  Such  fence- 
viewers  have  power  to  settle  all  disputes  between  different  owners  as  to 
fences  built  or  to  be  built,  as  well  as  to  repairs  to  be  made.  Each  party 
chooses  one  of  the  viewers,  but  if  the  other  party  neglects,  after  eight 
days'  notice  in  writing,  to  make  his  choice,  then  the  other  party  maj 
select  both.  It  is  sufficient  to  notify  the  tenant  or  party  in  possession, 
when  the  owner  is  not  a  resident  of  the  town  or  precinct.  The  two 
fence-viewers  chosen,  after  viewing  the  premises,  shall  hear  the  state- 
ments of  the  parties ,  in  case  they  can't  agree,  they  shall  select  another 
fence-viewer  to  act  with  them,  and  the  decision  of  any  two  of  them  is 
final.  The  decision  must  be  reduced  to  writing,  and  should  plainly  set 
out  description  of  fence  and  all  matters  settled  by  them,  and  must  be 
filed  in  the  office  of  the  town  clerk  in  counties  under  township  organiza- 
tion, and  in  other  counties  with  the  county  clerk. 

Where  any  person  is  liable  to  contribute  to  the  erection  or  the 
repairing  of  a  division  fence,  neglects  or  refuses  so  to  do,  the  party 
injured,  after  giving  sixty  days  notice  in  writing  when  a  fence  is  to  be 
erected,  or  ten  days  when  it  is  only  repairs,  may  proceed  to  have  the 
work  done  at  the  expense  of  the  party  whose  duty  it  is  to  do  it,  to  be 
recovered  from  him  with  costs  of  suit,  and  the  party  so  neglecting  shall 
also  be  liable  to  the  party  injured  for  all  damages  accruing  from  such 
neglect  or  refusal,  to  be  determined  by  any  two  fence-viewers  selected 
as  before  provided,  the  appraisement  to  be  reduced  to  writing  and  signed, 


/ 

JOLICT 


TO 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS.  169 

Where  a  person  shall  conclude  to  remove  his  part  of  a  division  fence, 
and  )et  his  land  lie  open,  and  having  given  the  year's  notice  required,  the 
adjoining  owner  may  cause  the  value  of  said  fence  to  be  ascertained  by 
fence-viewers  as  before  provided,  and  on  payment  or  tender  of  the 
amount  of  such  valuation  to  the  owner,  it  shall  prevent  the  removal.  A 
party  removing  a  division  fence  without  notice  is  liable  for  the  damages 
accruing  thereby. 

Where  a  fence  has  been  built  on  the  land  of  another  through  mis- 
take, the  owner  may  enter  upon  such  premises  and  remove  his  fence  and 
material  within  .six  months  after  the  division  line  has  been  ascertained. 
Where  the  material  to  build  such  a  fence  has  been  taken  from  the  land 
on  which  it  was  built,  then  before  it  can  be  removed,  the  person  claiming 
must  first  pay  for  such  material  to  the  owner  of  the  land  from  which  it 
was  taken,  nor  shall  hiuch.  a  fence  be  removed  at  a  time  wh'en  the  removal 
will  throw  open  or  expose  the  crops  of  the  other  party ;  a  reasonable 
time  must  be  given  beyond  the  six  months  to  remove  crops. 

The  compensation  <)f  fence-viewers  is  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  a 
day  each,  to  be  paid  in  the  first  instance  by  the  party  calling  them,  but 
in  the  end  all  expenses,  including  amount  charged  by  the  fence-viewers, 
must  be  paid  equally  by  the  parties,  except  in  cases  where  a  party  neglects 
or  refuses  to  make  or  maintain  a  just  proportion  of  a  division  fence,  when 
the  party  in  default  shall  pay  them. 

DAMAGES  FROM  TRESPASS. 

Where  stock  of  any  kind  breaks  into  any  person's  enclosure,  the 
fence  being  good  and  sufficient,  the  owner  is  liable  for  the  damage  done  ; 
but  where  the  damage  is  done  by  stock  running  at  large,  contrary  to  law, 
the  owner  is  liable  where  thore  is  not  such  a  fence.  Where  stock  is 
found  trespassing  on  the  enclosure  of  another  as  aforesaid,  the  owner  01 
occupier  of  the  premises  may  take  possession  of  such  stock  and  keep  the 
same  until  damages,  with  reasonable  charges  for  keeping  and  feeding  and 
all  costs  of  suit,  are  paid.  Any  person  taking  or  rescuing  such  stock  so 
held  without  his  consent,  shall  be  liable  to  a  fine  of  not  less  than  three 
nor  more  than  five  dollars  for  each  animal  rescued,  to  be  recovered  by 
suit  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  the  use  of  the  school  fund.  Within 
twenty-four  hours  after  taking  such  animal  into  his  possession,  the  per- 
son taking  it  up  must  give  notice  of  the  fact  to  the  owner,  if  known,  or 
if  unknown,  notices  must  be  posted  in  some  public  place  near  the  premises. 

LANDLORD  AND  TENANT. 

The  owner  of  lands,  or  his  legal  representatives,  can  sue  for  and 
recover  rent  therefor,  in  any  of  the  following  cases  : 

First.     When  rent  is  due  and  in  arrears  on  a  lease  for  life  or  lives. 


170  ABSTRACT  OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

Second.  When  lands  are  held  and  occupied  by  any  person  without 
any  special  agreement  for  rent. 

Third.  When  possession  is  obtained  under  an  agreement,  written 
or  verbal,  for  the  purchase  of  the  premises  and  before  deed  given,  the 
right  to  possession  is  terminated  by  forfeiture  on  con-compliance  with  the 
agreement,  and  possession  is  wrongfully  refused  or  neglected  to  be  given 
upon  demand  made  in  writing  by  the  party  entitled  thereto.  Provided 
that  all  payments  made  by  the  vendee  or  his  representatives  or  assigns, 
may  be  set  off  against  the  rent. 

Fourth.  When  land  has  been  sold  upon  a  judgment  or  a  decree  of 
court,  when  the  party  to  such  judgment  or  decree,  or  person  holding  under 
him,  wrongfully  refuses,  or  neglects,  to  surrender  possession  of  the  same, 
after  demand  in  writing  by  the  person  entitled  to  the  possession. 

Fifth.  When  the  lands  have  been  sold  upon  a  mortgage  or  trust 
deed,  and  the  mortgagor  or  grantor  or  person  holding  under  him,  wrong- 
fully refuses  or  neglects  to  surrender  possession  of  the  same,  after  demand 
in  writing  by  the  person  entitled  to  the  possession. 

If  any  tenant,  or  any  person  who  shall  come  into  possession  from  or 
under  or  by  collusion  with  such  tenant,  shall  willfully  hold  over  any  lands, 
etc.,  after  the  expiration  the  term  of  their  lease,  and  after  demand  made 
in  writing  for  the  possession  thereof,  is  liable  to  pay  double  rent.  A 
tenancy  from  year  to  year  requires  sixty  days  notice  in  writing,  to  termi- 
nate the  same  at  the  end  of  the  year ;  such  notice  can  be  given  at  any 
time  within  four  months  preceding  the  last  sixty  days  of  the  year. 

A  tenancy  by  the  month,  or  less  than  a  year,  where  the  tenant  holds 
over  without  any  special  agreement,  the  landlord  may  terminate  the 
tenancy,  by  thirty  days  notice  in  writing. 

When  rent  is  due,  the  landlord  may  serve  a  notice  upon  the  tenant, 
stating  that  unless  the  rent  is  paid  within  not  less  than  five  days,  his  lease 
will  be  terminated  ;  if  the  rent  is  not  paid,  the  landlord  may  consider  the 
lease  ended.  When  default  is  made  in  any  of  the  terms  of  a  lease,  it 
shall  not  be  necessary  to  give  more  than  ten  days  notice  to  quit  or  of  the 
termination  of  such  tenancy ;  and  the  same  may  be  terminated  on  giving 
such  notice  to  quit,  at  any  time  after  such  default  in  any  of  the  terms  of 
such  lease  ;  which  notice  may  be  substantially  in  the  following  form,  viz: 

To ,  You  are  hereby  notified  that,  in  consequence  of  your  default 

in  (here  insert  the  character  of  the  default),  of  the  premises  now  occupied 
by  you,  being  etc.  (here  describe  the  premises),  I  have  elected  to  deter- 
mine your  lease,  and  you  are  hereby  notified  to  quit  and  deliver  up  pos- 
session of  the  same  to  me  within  ten  days  of  this  date  (dated,  etc.) 

The  above  to  be  signed  by  the  lessor  or  his  agent,  and  no  other  notice 
or  demand  of  possession  or  termination  of  such  tenancy  is  necessary. 

Demand  may  be  made,  or  notice  served,  by  delivering  a  written  or 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS.  171 

pnnted,  or  partly  either,  copy  thereof  to  the  tenant,  or  leaving  the  same 
with  some  person  above  the  age  of  twelve  years  residing  on  or  in  posses- 
sion of  the  premises ;  and  in  case  no  one  is  in  the  actual  possession  of  the 
said  premises,  then  by  posting  the  same  on  the  premises.  When  the 
tenancy  is  for  a  certain  time,  and  the  term  expires  by  the  terms  of  the 
lease,  the  tenant  is  then  bound  to  surrender  possession,  and  no  notice 
to  quit  or  demand  of  possession  is  necessary. 

Distress  for  rent. — In  all  cases  of  distress  for  rent,  the  landlord,  by 
himself,  his  agent  or  attorney,  may  seize  for  rent  any  personal  property  of 
his  tenant  that  may  be  found  in  the  county  where  the  tenant  resides  ;  the 
property  of  any  other  person,  even  if  found  on  the  premises,  is  not 
liable. 

An  inventory  of  the  property  levied  upon,  with  a  statement  of  the 
amount  of  rent  claimed,  should  be  at  once  filed  with  some  justice  of  the  , 
peace,  if  not  over  $200 ;  and  if  above  that  sum,  with  the  clerk  of  a  court 
of  record  of  competent  jurisdiction.     Property  may  be  released,  by  the 
party  executing  a  satisfactory  bond  for  double  the  amount. 

The  landlord  may  distrain  for  rent,  any  time  within  six  months  after 
the  expiration  of  the  term  of  the  lease,  or  when  terminated. 

In  all  cases  where  the  premises  rented  shall  be  sub-let,  or  the  lease 
assigned,  the  landlord  shall  have  the  same  right  to  enforce  lien  against 
such  lessee  or  assignee,  that  he  has  against  the  tenant  to  whom  the  pre- 
mises were  rented. 

When  a  tenant  abandons  or  removes  from  the  premises  or  any  part 
thereof,  the  landlord,  or  his  agent  or  attorney,  may  seize  upon  any  grain 
or  other  crops  grown  or  growing  upon  the  premises,  or  part  thereof  so 
abandoned,  whether  the  rent  is  due  or  not.  If  such  grain,  or  other  crops, 
or  any  part  thereof,  is  not  fully  grown  or  matured,  the  landlord,  or  his 
agent  or  attorney,  shall  cause  the  same  to  be  properly  cultivated,  harvested 
or  gathered,  and  may  sell  the  same,  and  from  the  proceeds  pay  all  his 
labor,  expenses  and  rent.  The  tenant  may,  before  the  sale  of  such  pro- 
perty, redeem  the  same  by  tendering  the  rent  and  reasonable  compensation 
for  work  done,  or  he  may  replevy  the  same. 

Exemption. — The  same  articles  of  personal  property  which  are  bylaw 
exempt  from  execution,  except  the  crops  as  above  stated,  is  also  exempt 
from  distress  for  rent. 

If  any  tenant  is  about  to  or  shall  permit  or  attempt  to  sell  and 
remove  from  the  premises,  without  the  consent  of  his  landlord,  such 
portion  of  the  crops  raised  thereon  as  will  endanger  the  lien  of  the  land- 
lord upon  such  crops,  for  the  rent,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  landlord  to 
distress  before  rent  is  due. 


172  ABSTRACT   OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

LIENS. 

Any  person  who  shall  by  contract,  express  or  implied,  or  partly  both, 
with  the  owner  of  any  lot  or  tract  of  land,  furnish  labor  or  material,  or 
services  as  an  architect  or  superintendent,  in  building,  altering,  repairing 
or  ornamenting  any  house  or  other  building  or  appurtenance  thereto  on 
such  lot,  or  upon  any  street  or  alley,  and  connected  with  such  improve* 
ments,  shall  have  a  lien  upon  the  whole  of  such  lot  or  tract  of  land,  and 
upon  such  house  or  building  and  appurtenances,  for  the  amount  due  to 
him  for  such  labor,  material  or  services.  If  the  contract  is  expressed,  and 
the  time  for  the  completion  of  the  work  is  beyond  three  years  from  the  com- 
mencement thereof ;  or,  if  the  time  of  payment  is  beyond  one  year  from 
the  time  stipulated  for  the  completion  of  the  work,  then  no  lien  exists. 
If  the  contract  is  implied,  then  no  lien  exists,  unless  the  work  be  done  or 
material  is  furnished  within  one  year  from  the  commencement  of  the  work 
or  delivery  of  the  materials.  As  between  different  creditors  having  liens, 
no  preference  is  given  to  the  one  whose  contract  was  first  made  ;  but  each 
shares  pro-rata.  Incumbrances  existing  on  the  lot  or  tract  of  the  land  at 
the  time  the  contract  is  made,  do  not  operate  on  the  improvements,  and 
are  only  preferred  to  the  extent  of  the  value  of  the  land  at  the  time  of 
making  the  contract.  The  above  lien  can  not  be  enforced  unless  suit  is 
commenced  within  six  months  after  the  last  payment  for  labor  or  materials 
shall  have  become  due  and  payable.  Sub-contractors,  mechanics,  workmen 
and  other  persons  furnishing  any  material,  or  performing  any  labor  for  a 
contractor  as  before  specified,  have  a  lien  to  the  extent  of  the  amount  due 
the  contractor  at  the  time  the  following  notice  is  served  upon  the  owner 
of  the  land  who  made  the  contract : 

To ,  You  are  hereby  notified,  that  I  have  been  employed  by 

(here  state  whether  to  labor  or  furnish  material,  and  substantially  the 
nature  of  the  demand)  upon  your  (here  state  in  general  terms  description 
and  situation  of  building),  and  that  I  shall  hold  the  (building,  or  as  the 
case  may  be),  and  your  interest  in  the  ground,  liable  for  the  amount  that 

may  (is  or  may  become)  due  me  on  account  thereof.     Signature, 

Date, 

If  there  is  a  contract  in  writing  between  contractor  and  sub-contractor, 
a  copy  of  it  should  be  served  with  above  notice,  and  said  notice  must  be 
served  within  forty  days  from  the  completion  of  such  sub-contract,  if  there 
is  one  ;  if  not,  then  from  the  time  payment  should  have  been  made  to  the 
person  performing  the  labor  or  furnishing  the  material.  If  the  owner  is 
not  a  resident  of  the  county,  or  can  not  be  found  therein,  then  the  above 
notice  must  be  filed  with  the  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court,  with  his  fee,  fifty 
cents,  and  a  copy  of  said  notice  must  be  published  in  a  newspaper  pub- 
lished in  the  county,  for  four  successive  weeks. 


ABSTRACT   OF  ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS.  173 

When  the  owner  or  agent  is  notified  as  above,  he  can  retain  any 
money  due  the  contractor  sufficient  to  pay  such  claim  ;  if  more  than  one 
claim,  and  not  enough  to  pay  all,  they  are  to  be  paid  pro  rata. 

The  owner  has  the  right  to  demand  in  writing,  a  statement  of  the 
contractor,  of  what  he  owes  for  labor,  etc.,  from  time  to  time  as  the  work 
progresses,  and  on  his  failure  to  comply,  forfeits  to  the  owner  $50  for 
every  offense. 

The  liens  referred  to  cover  any  and  all  estates,  whether  in  fee  for 
life,  for  years,  or  any  other  interest  which  the  owner  may  have. 

To  enforce  the  lien  of  sub-contractors,  suit  must  be  commenced  within 
three  months  from  the  time  of  the  performance  of  the  sub-contract,  or 
during  the  work  or  furnishing  materials. 

Hotel,  inn  and  boarding-house  keepers,  have  a  lien  upon  the  baggage 
and  other  valuables  of  their  guests  or  boarders,  brought  into  such  hotel, 
inn  or  boarding-house,  by  their  guests  or  boarders,  for  the  proper  charges 
due  from  such  guests  or  boarders  for  their  accommodation,  board  and 
lodgings,  and  such  extras  as  are  furnished  at  their  request. 

Stable-keepers  and  other  persons  have  a  lien  upon  the  horses,  car- 
riages and  harness  kept  by  them,  for  the  proper  charges  due  for  the  keep- 
ing thereof  and  expenses  bestowed  thereon  at  the  request  of  the  owner 
or  the  person  having  the  possession  of  the  same. 

Agisters  (persons  who  take  care  of  cattle  belonging  to  others),  and 
persons  keeping,  yarding,  feeding  or  pasturing  domestic  animals,  shall 
have  a  lien  upon  the  animals  agistered,  kept,  yarded  or  fed,  for  the  proper 
charges  due  for  such  service. 

All  persons  who  may  furnish  any  railroad  corporation  in  this  state 
with  fuel,  ties,  material,  supplies  or  any  other  article  or  thing  necessary 
for  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation  or  repair  of  its  road  by  con- 
tract, or  may  perform  work  or  labor  on  the  same,  is  entitled  to  be  paid  as 
part  of  the  current  expenses  of  the  road,  and  have  a  lien  upon  all  its  pro- 
perty. Sub-contractors  or  laborers  have  also  a  lien.  The  conditions  and 
limitations  both  as  to  contractors  and  sub-contractors,  are  about  the  same 
as  herein  stated  as  to  general  liens. 

DEFINITION   OF  COMMERCIAL  TERMS. 

$ means  dollars,  being  a  contraction  of  U.  S.,  which  was  formerly 

placed  before  any  denomination  of  money,  and  meant,  as  it  means  now, 
United  States  Currency. 

£ means  pounds,  English  money. 

@  stands  for  at  or  to.  ft>  for  pound,  and  bbl.  for  barrel ;  *$  for  per  or 
by  the.  Thus,  Butter  sells  at  20@30c  ^  lb,  and  Flour  at  $8@12  f  bbl. 

%  for  per  cent  and  #  for  number. 

May  1. — Wheat  sells  at  $1.20@1.25,  "seller  June."      Seller  June 


174  ABSTRACT   OF    ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS. 

* 

means  that  the  person  who  sells  the  wheat  has  the  privilege  of  delivering 
it  at  any  time  during  the  month  of  June. 

Selling  short,  is  contracting  to  deliver  a  certain  amount  of  grain  or 
stock,  at  a  fixed  price,  within  a  certain  length  of  time,  when  the  seller 
has  not  the  stock  on  hand.  It  is  for  the  interest  of  the  person  selling 
"short,"  to  depress  the  market  as  much  as  possible,  in  order  that  he  may 
buy  and  fill  his  contract  at  a  profit.  Hence  the  "  shorts  "  are  termed 
"  bears." 

Buying  long,  is  to  contract  to  purchase  a  certain  amount  of  grain  or 
shares  of  stock  at  a  fixed  price,  deliverable  within  a  stipulated  time, 
expecting  to  make  a  profit  by  the  rise  of  prices.  The  "longs"  are 
termed  "bulls,"  as  it  is  for  their  interest  to  "operate"  so  as  to  "toss" 
the  prices  upward  as  much  as  possible. 

NOTES. 

Form  of  note  is  legal,  worded  in  the  simplest  way,  so  that  the 
amount  and  time  of  payment  are  mentioned. 

$100.  Chicago,  111.,  Sept.  15,  1876. 

Sixty  days  from  date  I  promise  to  pay  to  E.  F.  Brown, 
or  order,  One  Hundred  dollars,  for  value  received. 

L.  D.  LOWJRY. 

A  note  to  be  payable  in  any  thing  else  than  money  needs  only  the 
facts  substituted  for  money  in  the  above  form. 

ORDERS. 

Orders  should  be  worded  simply,  thus : 

Mr.  F.  H.  COATS:  Chicago,  Sept.  15,  1876. 

Please  pay  to  H.  Birdsall,  Twenty-five  dollars,  and  charge  to 

F.  D.  SILVA. 

RECEIPTS. 

Receipts  should  always  state  when  received  and  what  for,  thus  : 

$100.  Chicago,  Sept.  15,  1876. 

Received  of  J.  W.  Davis,  One  Hundred  dollars,  for  services 
rendered  in  grading  his  lot  in  Fort  Madison,  on  account. 

THOMAS   BRADY. 
If  receipt  is  in  full  it  should  be  so  stated. 

BILLS  OF   PURCHASE. 

W.  N.  MASON,  Salem,  Illinois,  Sept.  15,  1876. 

Bought  of  A.  A.  GRAHAM. 

4  Bushels  of  Seed  Wheat,  at  $1.50      -  $6.00 

2  Seamless  Sacks  "        .30  -  -  .60 


Received  payment,  $6.60 

A.  A.  GRAHAM. 


ABSTRACT  OF  ILLINOIS  STATE  LAWS.  176 

ARTICLES  OF  AGREEMENT. 

An  agreement  is  where  one  party  promises  to  another  to  do  a  certain 
thing  in  a  certain  time  for  a  stipulated  sum.  Good  business  men  always 
reduce  an  agreement  to  writing,  which  nearly  always  saves  misunder- 
standings and  trouble.  No  particular  form  is  necessary,  but  the  facts  must 
be  clearly  and  explicitly  stated,  and  there  must,  to  make  it  valid,  be  a 
reasonable  consideration. 

GENERAL  FORM  OF  AGREEMENT. 

THIS  AGREEMENT,  made  the  Second  day  of  October,  1876,  between 
John  Jones,  of  Aurora,  County  of  Kane,  State  of  Illinois,  of  the  first  part, 
and  Thomas  Whiteside,  of  the  same  place,  of  the  second  part  — 

WITNESSETH,  that  the  said  John  Jones,  in  consideration  of  the  agree- 
ment of  the  party  of  the  second  part,  hereinafter  contained,  contracts  and 
agrees  to  and  with  the  said  Thomas  Whiteside,  that  he  will  deliver,  in 
good  and  marketable  condition,  at  the  Village  of  Batavia,  111.,  during  the 
month  of  November,  of  this  year,  One  Hundred  Tons  of  Prairie  Hay,  in 
the  following  lots,  and  at  the  following  specified  times  ;  namely,  twenty- 
five  tons  by  the  seventh  of  November,  twenty-five  tons  additional  by  the 
fourteenth  of  the  month,  twenty-five  tons  more  by  the  twenty -first,  and 
the  entire  one  hundred  tons  to  be  all  delivered  by  the  thirtieth  of 
November. 

And  the  said  Thomas  Whiteside,  in  consideration  of  the  prompt 
fulfillment  of  this  contract,  on  the  part  of  the  party  of  the  first  part, 
contracts  to  and  agrees  with  the  said  John  Jones,  to  pay  for  said  hay  five 
dollars  per  ton,  for  each  ton  as  soon  as  delivered. 

In  case  of  failure  of  agreement  by  either  of  the  parties  hereto,  it  is 
hereby  stipulated  and  agreed  that  the  party  so  failing  shall  pay  to  the 
other,  One  Hundred  Dollars,  as  fixed  and  settled  damages. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands  the  day  and 
year  first  above  written.  JOHN  JONES, 

THOMAS  WHITESIDE. 

AGREEMENT  WITH  CLERK  FOR  SERVICES. 

THIS  AGREEMENT,  made  the  first  day  of  May,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seventy-six,  between  Reuben  Stone,  of  Chicago,  County 
of  Cook,  State  of  Illinois,  party  of  the  first  part,  and  George  Barclay,  of 
Englewood,  County  of  Cook,  State  of  Illinois,  party  of  the  second  part  — 

WITNESSETH,  that  said  George  Barclay  agrees  faithfully  and  dili- 
gently to  work  as  clerk  and  salesman  for  the  said  Reuben  Stone,  for 
and  during  the  space  of  one  year  from  the  date  hereof,  should  both 
live  such  length  of  time,  without  absenting  himself  from  his  occupation ; 


176  ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS. 

during  which  time  he,  the  said  Barclay,  in  the  store  of  said  Stone,  of 
Chicago,  will  carefully  and  honestly  attend,  doing  and  performing  all 
duties  as  clerk  and  salesman  aforesaid,  in  accordance  and  in  all  respects 
as  directed  and  desired  by  the  said  Stone. 

In  consideration  of  which  services,  so  to  be  rendered  by  the  said 
Barclay,  the  said  Stone  agrees  to  pay  to  said  Barclay  the  annual  sum  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  payable  in  twelve  equal  monthly  payments,  each 
upon  the  last  day  of  each  month  ;  provided  that  all  dues  for  days  of 
absence  from  business  by  said  Barclay,  shall  be  deducted  from  the  sum 
otherwise  by  the  agreement  due  and  payable  by  the  said  Stone  to  the  said 
Barclay. 

Witness  our  hands.  REUBEN  STONE. 

GEORGE  BARCLAY. 

BILLS  OF  SALE. 

A  bill  of  sale  is  a  written  agreement  to  another  party,  for  a  consider- 
ation to  convey  his  right  and  interest  in  the  personal  property.  The 
purchaser  must  take  actual  possession  of  the  property.  Juries  have 
power  to  determine  upon  the  fairness  or  unfairness  of  a  bill  of  sale. 

COMMON  FORM  OF  BILL  OF  SALE. 

KNOW  ALL  MEN  by  this  instrument,  that  I,  Louis  Clay,  of  Princeton, 
Illinois,  of  the  first  part,  for  and  in  consideration  of  Five  Hundred 
and  Ten  dollars,  to  me  paid  by  John  Floyd,  of  the  same  place,  of  the 
second  part,  the  receipt  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged,  have  sold,  and 
by  this  instrument  do  convey  unto  the  said  Floyd,  party  of  the  second 
part,  his  executors,  administrators,  and  assigns,  my  undivided  half  of 
ten  acres  of  corn,  now  growing  on  the  farm  of  Thomas  Tyrrell,  in  the 
town  above  mentioned ;  one  pair  of  horses,  sixteen  sheep,  and  five  cows, 
belonging  to  me,  and  in  my  possession  at  the  farm  aforesaid ;  to  have  and 
to  hold  the  same  unto  the  party  of  the  second  part,  his  executors  and 
assigns,  forever.  And  I  do,  for  myself  and  legal  representatives,  agree 
with  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  and  his  legal  representatives,  to 
warrant  and  defend  the  sale  of  the  afore-mentioned  property  and  chattels 
unto  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  and  his  legal  representatives, 
against  all  and  every  person  whatsoever. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  affixed  my  hand,  this  tenth  day 
of  October,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-six. 

Louis  CLAY. 

BONDS. 

A  bond  is  a  written  admission  on  the  part  of  the  maker  in  which  h« 
pledges  a  certain  sum  to  another,  at  a  certain  time. 


ABSTRACT   OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS.  177 

COMMON  FORM  OF  BOND. 

KNOW  ALL  MEN  by  this  instrument,  that  I,  George  Edgerton,  of 
Watseka,  Iroquois  County,  State  of  Illinois,  am  firmly  bound  unto  Peter 
Kirchoff,  of  the  place  aforesaid,  in  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars,  to  be 
paid  to  the  said  Peter  Kirchoff,  or  his  legal  representatives ;  to  which 
payment,  to  be  made,  I  bind  myself,  or  my  legal  representatives,  by  this 
instrument. 

Sealed  with  my  seal,  and  dated  this  second  day  of  November,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-four. 

The  condition  of  this  bond  is  such  that  if  I,  George  Edgerton,  my 
heirs,  administrators,  or  executors,  shall  promptly  pay  the  sum  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  three  equal  annual  payments  from  the  date 
hereof,  with  annual  interest,  then  the  above  obligation  to  be  of  no  effect ; 
otherwise  to  be  in  full  force  and  valid. 
Sealed  and  delivered  in 

presence  of  GEORGE  EDGERTON.     [L.S.] 

WILLIAM  TURNER. 

CHATTEL  MORTGAGES. 

A  chattel  mortgage  is  a  mortgage  on  personal  property  for  payment 
of  a  certain  sum  of  money,  to  hold  the  property  against  debts  of  other 
creditors.  The  mortgage  must  describe  the  property,  and  must  be 
acknowledged  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  the  township  or  precinct 
where  the  mortgaged  resides,  and  entered  upon  his  docket,  and  must  be 
recorded  in  the  recorder's  office  of  the  county. 

GENERAL  FORM  OF  CHATTEL  MORTGAGE. 

THIS  INDENTURE,  made  and  entered  into  this  first  day  of  January ,. 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-five, 
between  Theodore  Lottinville,  of  the  town  of  Geneseo  in  the  County 
of  Henry,  and  State  of  Illinois,  party  of  the  first  part,  and  Paul  Henshaw, 
of  the  same  town,  county,  and  State,  party  of  the  second  part. 

Witnesseth,  that  the  said  party  of  the  first  part,  for  and  in  consider- 
ation of  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars,  in  hand  paid,  the  receipt  whereof 
is  hereby  acknowledged,  does  hereby  grant,  sell,  convey,  and  confirm  unto 
the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever,  all  and 
singular  the  following  described  goods  and  chattels,  to  wit : 

Two  three-year  old  roan-colored  horses,  one  Burdett  organ,  No.  987, 
one  Brussels  carpet,  15x20  feet  in  size,  one  marble-top  center  table,  one 
Home  Comfort  cooking  stove,  No.  8,  one  black  walnut  bureau  with  mirror 
attached,  one  set  of  parlor  chairs  (six  in  number),  upholstered  in  green 
rep,  with  lounge  corresponding  with  same  in  style  and  color  of  upholstery, 
now  in  possession  of  said  Lottinville,  at  No.  4  Prairie  Ave.,  Geneseo,  111.; 


178  ABSTRACT   OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

Together  with  all  and  singular,  the  appurtenances  thereunto  "belong- 
ing,  or  in  any  wise  appertaining ;  to  have  and  to  hold  the  above  described 
goods  and  chattels,  unto  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs  and 
assigns,  forever. 

Provided,  always,  and  these  presents  are  upon  this  express  condition, 
that  if  the  said  Theodore  Lottinville,  his  heirs,  executors,  administrators, 
or  assigns,  shall,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  January,  A.D.,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-six,  pay,  or  cause  to  be  paid,  to  the  said  Paul 
Ranslow,  or  his  lawful  attorney  or  attorneys,  heirs,  executors,  adminis- 
trators, or  assigns,  the  sum  of  One  Thousand  dollars,  together  with  the 
interest  that  may  accrue  thereon,  at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent.  ,per  annum, 
from  the  first  day  of  January,  A.D.  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-five,  until  paid,  according  to  the  tenor  of  one  promissory  note 
bearing  even  date  herewith  for  the  payment  of  said  sum  of  money,  that 
then  and  from  thenceforth,  these  presents,  and  everything  herein  con- 
tained, shall  cease,  and  be  null  and  void,  anything  herein  contained  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding. 

Provided,  also,  that  the  said  Theodore  Lottinville  may  retain  the 
possession  of  and  have  the  use  of  said  goods  and  chattels  until  the  day 
of  payment  aforesaid ;  and  also,  at  his  own  expense,  shall  keep  said  goods 
and  chattels ;  and  also  at  the  expiration  of  said  time  of  payment,  if  said 
sum  of  money,  together  with  the  interest  as  aforesaid,  shall  not  be  paid, 
shall  deliver  up  said  goods  and  chattels,  in  good  condition,  to  said  Paul 
Ranslow,  or  his  heirs,  executors,  administrators,  or  assigns. 

And  provided,  also,  that  if  default  in  payment  as  aforesaid,  by  said 
party  of  the  first  part,  shall  be  made,  or  if  said  party  of  the  second  part 
shall  at  any  time  before  said  promissory  note  becomes  due,  feel  himself 
unsafe  or  insecure,  that  then  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  or  his 
attorney,  agent,  assigns,  or  heirs,  executors,  or  administrators,  shall  have 
the  right  to  take  possession  of  said  goods  and  chattels,  wherever  they 
may  or  can  be  found,  and  sell  the  same  at  public  or  private  sale,  to  the 
highest  bidder  for  cash  in  hand,  after  giving  ten  days'  notice  of  the  time 
and  place  of  said  sale,  together  with  a  description  of  the  goods  and  chat- 
tels to  be  sold,  by  at  least  four  advertisements,  posted  up  in  public  places 
in  the  vicinity  where  said  sale  is  to  take  place,  and  proceed  to  make  the 
sum  of  money  and  interest  promised  as  aforesaid,  together  with  all  reason- 
able costs,  charges,  and  expenses  in  so  doing  ;  and  if  there  shall  be  any 
overplus,  shall  pay  the  same  without  delay  to  the  said  party  of  the  first 
part,  or  his  legal  representatives. 

In  testimony  whereof,  the  said  party  of  the  first  part  has  hereunto 
set  his  hand  and  affixed  his  seal,  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 
Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in 

presence  of  THEODORE  LOTTINVILLE.     [L.S.] 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN. 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS    STATE   LAWS.  179 


LEASE  OF  FARM  AND   BUILDINGS  THEREON. 

THIS  INDENTURE,  made  this  second  day  of  June,  1875,  between  David 
Patton  of  the  Town  of  Bisbee,  State  of  Illinois,  of  the  first  part,  and  John 
Doyle  of  the  same  place,  of  the  second  part, 

Witnesseth,  that  the  said  David  Patton,  for  and  in  consideration  of 
the  covenants  hereinafter  mentioned  and  reserved,  on  the  part  of  the  said 
John  Doyle,  his  executors,  administrators,  and  assigns,  to  be  paid,  kept, 
and  performed,  hath  let,  and  by  these  presents  doth  grant,  demise,  and 
let,  unto  the  said  John  Doyle,  his  executors,  administrators,  and  assigns, 
all  that  parcel  of  land  situate  in  Bisbee  aforesaid,  bounded  and  described 
as  follows,  to  wit :  . 

[Here  describe  the  land.~\ 

Together  with  all  the  appurtenances  appertaining  thereto.  To  have 
and  to  hold  the  said  premises,  with  appurtenances  thereto  belonging,  unto 
the  said  Doyle,  his  executors,  administrators,  and  assigns,  for  the  term  of 
five  years,  from  the  first  day  of  October  next  following,  at  a  yearly  rent 
of  Six  Hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  in  equal  payments,  semi-annually,  as 
long  as  said  buildings  are  in  good  tenantable  condition. 

And  the  said  Doyle,  by  these  presents,  covenants  and  agrees  to  pay 
all  taxes  and  assessments,  and  keep  in  repair  all  hedges,  ditches,  rail,  and 
other  fences ;  (the  said  David  Patton,  his  heirs,  assigns  and  administra- 
tors, to  furnish  all  timber,  brick,  tile,  and  other  materials  necessary  for 
such  repairs.)  . 

Said  Doyle  further  covenants  and  agrees  to  apply  to  said  land,  in  a 
farmer-like  manner,  all  manure  and  compost  accumulating  upon  said 
farm,  and  cultivate  all  the  arable  land  in  a  husbandlike  manner,  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  custom  among  farmers  in  the  neighborhood ;  he  also 
agrees  to  trim  the  hedges  at  a  seasonable  time,  preventing  injury  from 
cattle  to  such  hedges,  and  to  all  fruit  and  other  trees  on  the  said  premises. 
That  he  will  seed  down  with  clover  and  timothy  seed  twenty  acres  yearly 
of  arable  land,  ploughing  the  same  number  of  acres  each  Spring  of  land 
now  in  grass,  and  hitherto  unbroken. 

It  is  further  agreed,  that  if  the  said  Doyle  shall  fail  to  perform  the 
whole  or  any  one  of  the  above  mentioned  covenants,  then  and  in  that 
case  the  said  David  Patton  may  declare  this  lease  terminated,  by  giving 
three  months'  notice  of  the  same,  prior  to  the  first  of  October  of  any 
year,  and  may  distrain  any  part  of  the  stock,  goods,  or  chattels,  or  other 
property  in  possession  of  said  Doyle,  for  sufficient  to  compensate  for  the 
non-performance  of  the  above  written  covenants,  the  same  to  be  deter- 
mined, and  amounts  so  to  be  paid  to  be  determined,  by  three  arbitrators, 
chosen  as  follows :  Each  of  the  parties  to  this  instrument  to  choose  one, 


180  ABSTRACT   OF  ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS. 

and  the  two  so  chosen  to  select  a  third  ;    the  decision  of  said  arbitrators 
to  be  final. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereto  set  our  hands  and  seals. 
Signed,  sealed,  and  delivered 

in  presence  of  DAVID  PATTON.     [L.S.} 

JAMES  WALDRON.  JOHN  DOYLE.         [L.S.] 

FORM  OF  LEASE  OF  A  HOUSE. 

THIS  INSTRUMENT,  made  the  first  day  of  October,  1875,  witnesseth 
that  Amos  Griest  of  Yorkville,  County  of  Kendall,  State  of  Illinois,  hath 
rented  from  Aaron  Young  of  Logansport  aforesaid,  the  dwelling  and  lot 
No.  13  Ohio  Street,  situated  in  said  City  of  Yorkville,  for  five  years 
from  the  above  date,  at  the  yearly  rental  of  Three  Hundred  dollars,  pay- 
able monthly,  on  the  first  day  of  each  month,  in  advance,  at  the  residence 
of  said  Aaron  Young. 

At  the  expiration  of  said  above  mentioned  term,  the  said  Griest 
agrees  to  give  the  said  Young  peaceable  possession  of  the  said  dwelling,. 
in  as  good  condition  as  when  taken,  ordinary  wear  and  casualties  excepted. 

In  witness  whereof,  we  place  our  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year 
aforesaid. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  AMOS  GRIEST.     [L.S.] 

in  presence  of 

NlCKOLAS   SCHUTZ,  AARON  YOUNG.    [L.S.] 

Notary  Public. 

LANDLORD'S  AGREEMENT. 

THIS  certifies  that  I  have  let  and  rented,  this  first  day  of  January  > 
1876,  unto  Jacob  Schmidt,  my  house  and  lot,  No.  15  Erie  Street,  in  the 
City  of  Chicago,  State  of  Illinois,  and  its  appurtenances ;  he  to  have  the 
free  and  uninterrupted  occupation  thereof  for  one  year  from  this  date,  at 
the  yearly  rental  of  Two  Hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  monthly  in  advance  ; 
rent  to  cease  if  destroyed  by  fire,  or  otherwise  made  untenantable. 

PETER  FUNK. 
TENANT'S  AGREEMENT. 

THIS  certifies  that  I  have  hired  and  taken  from  Peter  Funk,  his 
house  and  lot,  No.  15  Erie  Street,  in  the  City  of  Chicago,  State  of  Illi- 
nois, with  appurtenances  thereto  belonging,  for  one  year,  to  commence 
this  day,  at  a  yearly  rental  of  Two  Hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  monthly 
in  advance ;  unless  said  house  becomes  untenantable  from  fire  or  other 
causes,  in  which  case  rent  ceases  ;  and  I  further  agree  to  give  and  yield 
said  premises  one  year  from  this  first  day  of  January  1876,  in  as  good 
condition  as  now,  ordinary  wear  and  damage  by  the  elements  excepted. 

Given  under  my  hand  this  day.  JACOB  SCHMIDT* 


ABSTRACT  OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS.  181 

NOTICE  TO  OUIT. 

To  F.  W.  ABLEN, 

Sir :  Please  observe  that  the  term  of  one  year,  for  which  the  house 
and  land,  situated  at  No.  6  Indiana  Street,  and  now  occupied  by  you, 
were  rented  to  you,  expired  on  the  first  day  of  October,  1875,  and  as  I 
desire  to  repossess  said  premises,  you  are  hereby  requested  and  required 
to  vacate  the  same.  Respectfully  Yours, 

P.  T.  BABNUM. 

LINCOLN,  NEB.,  October  4,  1875. 

TENANT'S  NOTICE  OF  LEAVING. 

DEAR  SIB:  . 

The  premises  I  now  occupy  as  your  tenant,  at  No.  6  Indiana  Street, 
I  shall  vacate  on  the  first  day  of  November,  1875.  You  will  please  take 
notice  accordingly. 

Dated  this  tenth  day  of  October,  1875.  F.  W.  ABLEN. 

To  P,  T.  BABNUM,  ESQ. 

REAL  ESTATE  MORTGAGE  TO  SECURE  PAYMENT  OF  MONEY. 

THIS  INDENTUBE,  made  this  sixteenth  day  of  May,  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two,  between  William 
Stocker,  of  Peoria,  County  of  Peoria,  and  State  of  Illinois,  and  Olla,  his 
wife,  party  of  the  first  part,  and  Edward  Singer,  party  of  the  second  part. 

Whereas,  the  said  party  of  the  first  part  is  justly  indebted  to  the  said 
party  of  the  second  part,  in  the  sum  of  Two  Thousand  dollars,  secured 
to  be  paid  by  two  certain  promissory  notes  (bearing  even  date  herewith) 
the  one  due  and  payable  at  the  Second  National  Bank  in  Peoria,  Illinois, 
with  interest,  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  May,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  seventy-three ;  the  other  due  and  payable  at  the  Second 
National  Bank  at  Peoria,  111.,  with  interest,  on  the  sixteenth  day  of  May, 
in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sevent}r-four. 

Now,  therefore,  this  indenture  witnesseth,  that  the  said  party  of  the 
first  part,  for  the  better  securing  the  payment  of  the  money  aforesaid, 
with  interest  thereon,  according  to  the  tenor  and  effect  of  the  said  two 
promissory  notes  above  mentioned  ;  and,  also  in  consideration  of  the  fur- 
ther sum  of  one  dollar  to  them  in  hand  paid  by  the  said  party  of  the  sec- 
ond part,  at  the  delivery  of  these  presents,  the  receipt  whereof  is  hereby 
acknowledged,  have  granted,  bargained,  sold,  and  conveyed,  and  by  these 
presents  do  grant,  bargain,  sell,  and  convey,  unto  the  said  party  of  the 
second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  forever,  all  that  certain  parcel  of  land, 
situate,  etc. 

[Describing  the  premises.] 

To  have  and  to  hold  the  same,  together  with  all  and  singular  the 
Tenements,  Hereditaments,  Privileges  and  Appurtenances  thereunto 


182  ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS. 

belonging  or  in  any  wise  appertaining.  And  also,  all  the  estate,  interest, 
and  claim  whatsoever,  in  law  as  well  as  in  equity  which  the  party  of 
the  first  part  have  in  and  to  the  premises  hereby  conveyed  unto  the  said 
party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  and  to  their  only  proper 
use,  benefit  and  behoof.  And  the  said  William  Stocker,  and  Olla,  his 
wife,  party  of  the  first  part,  hereby  expressly  waive,  relinquish,  release, 
and  convey  unto  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs,  executors, 
administrators,  and  assigns,  all  right,  title,  claim,  interest,  and  benefit 
whatever,  in  and  to  the  above  described  premises,  and  each  and  every 
part  thereof,  which  is  given  by  or  results  from  all  laws  of  this  state  per- 
taining to  the  exemption  of  homesteads. 

Provided  always,  and  these  presents  are  upon  this  express  condition, 
that  if  the  said  party  of  the  first  part,  their  heirs,  executors,  or  adminis- 
trators, shall  well  and  truly  pay,  or  cause  to  be  paid,  to  the  said  party  of 
the  second  part,  his  heirs,  executors,  administrators,  or  assigns,  the  afore- 
said sums  of  money,  with  such  interest  thereon,  at  the  time  and  in  the 
manner  specified  in  the  above  mentioned  promissory  notes,  according  to 
the  true  intent  and  meaning  thereof,  then  in  that  case,  these  presents  and 
every  thing  herein  expressed,  shall  be  absolutely  null  and  void. 

In  witness  whereof,  the  said  part}7"  of  the  first  part  hereunto  set  their 
hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 
Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  presence  of 

JAMES  WHITEHEAD,  WILLIAM  STOCKER.     [L.S.] 

FRED.  SAMUELS.  OLLA  STOCKER.  [L.S.] 

WARRANTY  DEED  WITH  COVENANTS. 

THIS  INDENTURE,  made  this  sixth  day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  oui 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two,  between  Henry  Best 
of  Lawrence,  County  of  Lawrence,  State  of  Illinois,  and  Belle,  his  wife, 
of  the  first  part,  and  Charles  Pearson  of  the  same  place,  of  the  second  part, 

Witnesseth,  that  the  said  party  of  the  first  part,  for  and  in  consideration 
of  the  sum  of  Six  Thousand  dollars  in  hand  paid  by  the  said  party  of  the 
second  part,  the  receipt  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged,  have  granted, 
bargained,  and  sold,  and  by  these  presents  do  grant,  bargain,  and  sell, 
unto  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  all  the  fol- 
lowing described  lot,  piece,  or  parcel  of  land,  situated  in  the  City  of  Law- 
rence, in  the  County  of  Lawrence,  and  State  of  Illinois,  to  wit : 
[Here  describe  the  property.] 

Together  with  all  and  singular  the  hereditaments  and  appurtenances 
thereunto  belonging  or  in  any  wise  appertaining,  and  the  reversion  and 
reversions,  remainder  and  remainders,  rents,  issues,  and  profits  thereof; 
and  all  the  estate,  rignt,  title,  interest,  claim,  and  demand  whatsoever,  of 
the  said  party  of  the  nrst  part,  either  in  law  or  equity,  of,  in,  and  to  tht 


ABSTRACT   OF   ILLINOIS   STATE   LAWS.  185 

above  bargained  premises,  with  the  hereditaments  and  appurtenances. 
To  have  and  to  hold  the  said  premises  above  bargained  and  described, 
with  the  appurtenances,  unto  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs 
and  assigns,  forever.  And  the  said  Henry  Best,  and  Belle,  his  wife,  par- 
ties of  the  first  part,  hereby  expressly  waive,  release,  and  relinquish  unto 
the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs,  executors,  administrators,  and 
assigns,  all  right,  title,  claim,  interest,  and  benefit  whatever,  in  and  to  the 
above  described  premises,  and  each  and  every  part  thereof,  which  is  given 
by  or  results  from  all  laws  of  this  state  pertaining  to  the  exemption  of 
homesteads. 

And  the  said  Henry  Best,  and  Belle,  his  wife,  party  of  the  first 
part,  for  themselves  and  their  heirs,  executors,  and  administrators,  do 
covenant,  grant,  bargain,  and  agree,  to  and  with  the  said  party  of  the 
second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  that  at  the  time  of  the  ensealing  and 
delivery  of  these  presents  they  were  well  seized  of  the  premises  above 
conveyed,  as  of  a  good,  sure,  perfect,  absolute,  and  indefeasible  estate  of 
inheritance  in  law,  and  in  fee  simple,  and  have  good  right,  full  power, 
and  lawful  authority  to  grant,  bargain,  sell,  and  convey  the  same,  in 
manner  and  form  aforesaid,  and  that  the  same  are  free  and  clear  from  all 
former  and  other  grants,  bargains,  sales,  liens,  taxes,  assessments,  and 
encumbrances  of  what  kind  or  nature  soever ;  and  the  above  bargained 
premises  in  the  quiet  and  peaceable  possession  of  the  stdd  party  of  the 
second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  against  all  and  every  person  or  persons 
lawfully  claiming  or  to  claim  the  whole  or  any  part  thereof,  the  said  party 
of  the  first  part  shall  and  will  warrant  and  forever  defend. 

In  testimony  whereof,  the  said  parties  of  the  first  part  have  hereunto 
set  their  hands  and  seals  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 
Signed,  sealed  and  delivered 

in  presence  of  HENRY  BEST,     [L.S.] 

JERRY  LINKLATER.  BELLE  BEST.      [L.S.] 

QUIT-CLAIM  DEED. 

THIS  INDENTURE,  made  the  eighth  day  of  June,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-four,  between  David  Tour, 
of  Piano,  County  of  Kendall,  State  of  Illinois,  party  of  the  first  part, 
and  Larry  O'Brien,  of  the  same  place,  party  of  the  second  part, 

Witnesseth,  that  the  said  party  of  the  first  part,  for  and  in  considera- 
tion of  Nine  Hundred  dollars  in  hand  paid  by  the  said  party  of  the  sec- 
ond part,  the  receipt  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged,  and  the  said  party 
of  the  second  part  forever  released  and  discharged  therefrom,  has  remised, 
released,  sold,  conveyed,  and  quit-claimed,  and  by  these  presents  does 
remise,  release,  sell,  convey,  and  quit-claim,  unto  the  said  party  of  the 
second  part,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  forever,  all  the  right,  title,  interest, 


186  ABSTRACT  OF  ILLINOIS   STATE  LAWS. 

claim,  and  demand,  which  the  said  party  of  the  first  part  has  in  and  to 
the  following  described  lot,  piece,  or  parcel  of  land,  to  wit : 

[Here  describe  the  land.~\ 

To  have  and  to  hold  the  same,  together  with  all  and  singular  the 
appurtenances  and  privileges  thereunto  belonging,  or  in  any  wise  there- 
unto appertaining,  and  all  the  estate,  right,  title,  interest,  and  claim 
whatever,  of  the  said  party  of  the  first  part,  either  in  law  or  equity,  to 
the  only  proper  use,  benefit,  and  behoof  of  the  said  party  of  the  second 
part,  his  heirs  and  assigns  forever. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  party  of  the  first  part  hereunto  set  his 
hand  and  seal  the  day  and  year  above  written. 
Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  DAVID  TOUR.     [L.S.] 

in  presence  of 
THOMAS  ASHLEY. 

The  above  forms  of  Deeds  and  Mortgage  are  such  as  have  heretofore 
been  generally  used,  but  the  following  are  much  shorter,  and  are  made 
equally  valid  by  the  laws  of  this  state. 

WARRANTY  DEED. 

The  grantor  (here  insert  name  or  names  and  place  of  residence),  for 
and  in  consideration  of  (here  insert  consideration)  in  hand  paid,  conveys 
and  warrants  to  (here  insert  the  grantee's  name  or  names)  the  following 
described  real  estate  (here  insert  description),  situated  in  the  County  of 
in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Dated  this day  of  — -  A.  D.  18 .      \,.'  . 

QUIT  CLAIM  DEED. 

The  grantor  (here  insert  grantor's  name  or  names  and  place  of  resi- 
dence), for  the  consideration  of  (here  insert  consideration)  convey  and 
quit-claim  to  (here  insert  grantee's  name  or  names)  all  interest  in  the 
following  described  real  estate  (here  insert  description),  situated  in  the 
County  of in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Dated  this day  of  A.  D.  18 . 

MORTGAGE. 

The  mortgagor  (here  insert  name  or  names)  mortgages  and  warrants 
to  (here  insert  name  or  names  of  mortgagee  or  mortgagees),  to  secure  the 
payment  of  (here  recite  the  nature  and  amount  of  indebtedness,  showing 
when  due  and  the  rate  of  interest,  and  whether  secured  by  note  or  other- 
wise), the  following  described  real  estate  (here  insert  description  thereof), 
situated  in  the  County  of in  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Dated  this day  of A.  D.  18 . 

RELEASE. 

KNOW  ALL  MEN  by  these  presents,  that  I,  Peter  Ahlund,  of  Chicago, 
of  the  County  of  Cook,  and  State  of  Illinois,  for  and  in  consideration  of 
One  dollar,  to  me  in  hand  paid,  and  for  other  good  and  valuable  considera- 


s 


MANHATTAN  TP. 


f  ILUMflJ* 


AND  ITS   AMENDMENTS.  205 

ity,  then  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose 
the  Vice-President ;  a.  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds 
of  the  whole  number  of  Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  But  no  person  constitutionally  ineligible 
to  the  office  of  President  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States. 

AETICLE  XIII. 

SECTION  1.  Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a 
punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted, 
shall  exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  juris- 
diction. 

SEC.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appro- 
priate legislation. 

ARTICLE  XIV. 

SECTION  1.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States  and 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  state  wherein  they  reside.  No  state  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law 
which  shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States;  nor  shall  any  state  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction 
the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 

SEC.  2.  Representatives  shall  be  appointed  among  the  several  states 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  number  of  per- 
sons in  each  state,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed ;  but  when  the  right  to 
vote  at  any  election  for  the  choice  of  Electors  for  President  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  Representatives  in  Congress,  the  execu- 
tive and  judicial  officers  of  a  state,  or  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of  such  state,  being 
twenty-one  years  of  age  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  way 
abridged  except  for  participation  in  rebellion  or  other  crimes,  the  basis  of 
representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  proportion  which  the  num- 
ber of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole  number  of  male  citizens 
twenty-one  years  of  age  in  such  state. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Congress, 
or  Elector  of  President  and  Vice-President,  or  hold  any  office,  civil  or 
military,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  state,  who,  having  previ- 
ously taken  an  oath  as  a  Member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the 
United  States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  state  Legislature,  or  as  an  execu- 
tive or  judicial  officer  of  any  state  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the 
same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof.  But  Congress  mav 
by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  each  house,  remove  such  disability. 

SEC.  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States  author- 
ized by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of  pensions  and  boun- 
ties for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  rebellion,  shall  not  be  ques- 
tioned. But  neither  the  United  States  nor  any  state  shall  pay  any  debt 
or  obligation  incurred  in  the  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  or  any  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave,  but  such  debts, 
obligations,  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal  and  void. 


206 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   UNITED   STATES. 


SEC.  5.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate 
legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

ARTICLE  XV. 

SECTION  1.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by  any  state,  on 
account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

SEC.  2.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appro- 
priate legislation. 


ELECTORS  OF  PRESIDENT  AND  VICE-PRESIDENT. 

NOVEMBER  7,  1876. 


COUNTIES. 

Hayes  and 
wheeler, 
Republican. 

Tilden  and 
Hendricks, 
Democrat. 

PeterCooper 
Greenback. 

Smith, 
Prohibition  | 

Anti  -Secret  I 
Societies. 

COUNTIES. 

Hayes  and 
wheeler. 
Republican. 

Tilden  and 
Hendricks, 
Democrat. 

PeterCooper 
Greenback. 

Smith, 
Prohibition. 

Anti-Secret] 
1  Socleties.il 

Adams  
Alexander  

4953 
1219 
1520 
1965 
944 
3719 
441 
2231 
1209 
4530 
2501 
1814 
1416 
1329 
2957 
36548 
1355 
1145 
3679 
1928 
1631 
2129 
2715 
970 
1145 
1881 
1601 
966 
4187 
703 
1695 
1996 
627 
3496 
330 
1315 
4177 
3768 
2040 

630S 
1280 
1142 
363 
1495 
2218 
900 
918 
1618 
3103 
3287 
2197 
1541 
1989 
2822 
39240 
1643 
1407 
1413 
1174 
1357 
1276 
2883 
466 
2265 
2421 
742 
1302 
4669 
1140 
3160 
1142 
1433 
4207 
611 
1015 
1928 
2578 
2071 

41 

11 

Livingston  
Logan  

3550 
2788 
3120 
3567 
4554 
2009 
1553 
1566 
1231 
2952 
3465 
6363 
1115 
2209 
845 
2486 
3069 
1245 
3833 
4665 
1319 
1541 
1807 
8055 
1043 
646 
2357 
1410 
3912 
980 
4851 
1522 
910 
2069 
1140 
4708 
3198 
2850 
978 
4372 
650 
2795 
1911 
1570 
1297 
3851 
4770 
1672 
4505 
1733 

2134 
2595 
2782 
4076 
4730 
2444 
1430 
1939 
793 
2811 
1874 
4410 
1657 
1428 
1651 
3013 
3174 
1672 
1921 
5443 
800 
1383 
1316 
4040 
772 
459 
2589 
1552 
2838 
1081 
5847 
1804 
1269 
3553 
786 
5891 
2758 
3171 
2155 
3031 
936 
1984 
1671 
1751 
2066 
2131 
3999 
1644 
1568 
2105 

1170 
37 
268 
114 
39 
209 
135 
86 
20 
347 
34 
518 
10 
90 
7 
201 
109 
28 
104 
95 
5 
48 
117 
35 

it 

Bond  

17 
43 
183 
145 

Macon  

16 

Boone  

2 
2 

"ii 

Macoupin  

Brown  ...  

Madison  
Marlon  

.    1 

Bureau  

Calhoun  

Marshall  .  .  

"* 

1 

Carroll  

111 
74 
604 
207 
236 
112 
132 
102 
277 
38 
129 
65 
746 
94 
25 
161 
61 
43 
57 
204 
391 
89 
282 
1 
108 
770 

7 
'"i 

3 

Mason  

Cass  

Massac  

Champaign  

6 
9 

McDonough  

Christian  

McHenry  

"g 

3 

7 

Clark... 

McLean  

Clay  

Menard  

Clinton  

Mercer  

3 

Cook     

Montgomery  

Crawford  

Morgan  
Moultrie  

S 

Cumberland    . 

DeKalb  

"16 

3 
3 

Ogle  

8 

DeWitt  

Peorla  

Douglas  

Pope  

DuPage  

8 

Perry  

Edgar  

Piatt.... 

Edwards    

Pike  

'    I 

4 

Pulaski       

Fayrite  

Putnam  

14 
2 
55 
27 
641 
29 
115 
182 
341 
96 
99 
26 
44 
3 
288 
207 
138 
39 
482 
469 
133 
677 
41 
70 
237 

Foru 

Franklin  

Richland  

.... 

Fulton  

"2 

1 
"9 

Rock  Island  

Gallatin  

Saline   

Grundy  

Schuyler  

Hamilton  

4 

Scott.  

Hancock"  . 

Shelby  . 

Hardin 

134 
1 
340 
249 
106 

Stark          

Henderson  

"4 

14 

"6 

St.  Clair  
Stephenson  

:"« 

1 

Henry  

Iroquois  

Tazewell  

Jasper  

Vermilion  

9 

1346 
1345 
2907 
1367 
5398 
2627 
1869 
5235 
2619 
6277 
1198 
3087 

1667 
2166 
2276 
893 
2850 
1363 
524 
2632 
1647 
6001 
1329 
2080 

647 

Y40 
61 
172 
26 
309 
141 
55 
514 
27 
100 

Wabash  

Jersey  

12 
2 

"3 

Warren  
Washington  

1 

Jo  Daviess  

Kane  

5 
2 

White  

"8 

4 
1 

Kankakee  

Whiteslde  

Kendall  

Will  

Knox     

1 
1 
15 

Williamson  

'  13 

"2 

4 

Lake  

Wlnnebago  

LaSalle  

Woodford  

Lee  

2 

6 

Total  

275958 

257099 

16951 

130 

157 

PRACTICAL  RULES  FOR  EVERY  DAY  USE, 


How  to  find  the  gain  or  loss  per  cent,  when  the  cost  and  selling  price 
art  given. 

RULE. — Find  the  difference  between  the  cost  and  selling  price,  which 
will  be  the  gain  or  loss. 

Annex  two  ciphers  to  the  gain  or  loss,  and  divide  it  by  the  cost 
price  ;  the  result  will  be  the  gain  or  loss  per  cent. 

How  to  change  gold  into  currency. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  given  sum  of  gold  by  the  price  of  gold. 

How  to  change  currency  into  gold. 

Divide  the  amount  in  currency  by  the  price  of  gold. 

How  to  find  each  partner's  share  of  the  gain  or  loss  in  a  copartnership 
business. 

RULE. — Divide  the  whole  gain  or  loss  by  the  entire  stock,  the  quo- 
tient will  be  the  gain  or  loss  per  cent. 

Multiply  each  partner's  stock  by  this  per  cent.,  the  result  will  be 
each  one's  share  of  the  gain  or  loss. 

How  to  find  gross  and  net  weight  and  price  of  hogs. 

A  short  and  simple  method  for  finding  the  net  weight,  or  price  of  hogs, 
when  the  gross  weight  or  price  is  given,  and  vice  versa. 

NOTE.— It  is  generally  assumed  that  the  gross  weight  of  Hogs  diminished  by  1-5  or  20  per  cent 
of  itself  gives  the  net  weight,  and  the  net  weight  increased  by  X  or  25  per  cent,  of  itself  equals  the 
(Cross  weight. 

To  find  the  net  weight  or  gross  price. 

Multiply  the  given  number  by  .8  (tenths.) 

To  find  the  gross  weight  or  net  price. 
[.       Divide  the  given  number  by  .8  (tenths.) 

How  to  find  the  capacity  of  a  granary,  bin,  or  wagon-bed. 

RULE. — Multiply  (by  short  method)  the  number  of  cubic  feet  by 
6308,  and  point  off  ONE  decimal  place — the  result  will  be  the  correct 
answer  in  bushels  and  tenths  of  a  bushel. 

For  only  an  approximate  answer,  multiply  the  cubic  feet  by  8,  and 
point  off  one  decimal  place. 

How  to  find  the  contents  of  a  corn-crib. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  number  of  cubic  feet  by  54,  short  metliod,  or 

(207) 


208  MISCELLANEOUS    INFORMATION. 

by  4i  ordinary  method,  and  point  off  ONE  decimal  place — the  result  will 
be  the  answer  in  bushels. 

NOTE.— In  estimating  corn  in  the  ear,  the  quality  and  the  time  it  has  been  cribbed  must  be  taken 
into  consideration,  since  corn  will  shrink  considerably  during  the  Winter  and  Spring.  This  rule  generally  holds 
good  for  corn  measured  at  the  time  it  is  cribbed,  provided  it  is  sound  and  clean. 

How  to  find  the  contents  of  a  cistern  or  tank. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  square  of  the  mean  diameter  by  the  depth  (all 
in  feet)  and  this  product  by  5681  (short  method),  and  point  off  ONE 
decimal  place — the  result  will  be  the  contents  in  barrels  of  31£  gallons. 

How  to  find  the  contents  of  a  barrel  or  cask. 

RULE. — Under  the  square  of  the  mean  diameter,  write  the  length 
(all  in  inches)  in  REVERSED  order,  so  that  its  UNITS  will  fall  under  the 
TENS  ;  multiply  by  short  method,  and  this  product  again  by  430  ;  point 
off  one  decimal  place,  and  the  result  will  be  the  answer  in  wine  gallons. 

How  to  measure  boards. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  length  (in  feet)  by  the  width  (in  inches)  and 
divide  the  product  by  12 — the  result  will  be  the  contents  in  square  feet. 

How  to  measure  scantlings,  joists,  planks,  sills,  etc. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  width,  the  thickness,  and  the  length  together 
(the  width  and  thickness  in  inches,  and  the  length  in  feet),  and  divide 
the  product  by  12 — the  result  will  be  square  feet. 

How  to  find  the  number  of  acres  in  a  body  of  land. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  length  by  the  width  (in  rods),  and  divide  the 
product  by  160  (carrying  the  division  to  2  decimal  places  if  there  is  a 
remainder)  ;  the  result  will  be  the  answer  in  acres  and  hundredths. 

When  the  opposite  sides  of  a  piece  of  land  are  of  unequal  length, 
add  them  together  and  take  one-half  for  the  mean  length  or  width. 

How  to  find  the  number  of  square  yards  in  a  Jloor  or  wall. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  length  by  the  width  or  height  (in  feet),  and 
divide  the  product  by  9,  the  result  will  be  square  yards. 

How  to  find  the  number  of  bricks  required  in  a  building. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  number  of  cubic  feet  by  22£. 

The  number  of  cubic  feet  is  found  by  multiplying  the  length,  height 
and  thickness  (in  feet)  together. 

Bricks  are  usually  made  8  inches  long,  4  inches  wide,  and  two  inches 
thick  ;  hence,  it  requires  27  bricks  to  make  a  cubic  foot  without  mortar, 
but  it  is  generally  assumed  that  the  mortar  fills  1-6  of  the  space. 

How  to  find  the  number  of  shingles  required  in  a  roof. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  number  of  square  feet  in  the  roof  by  8,  if  the 
shingles  are  exposed  4£  inches,  or  by  7  1-5  if  exposed  5  inches. 

To  find  the  number  of  square  feet,  multiply  the  length  of  the  roof  by 
twice  the  length  of  the  rafters. 


MISCELLANEOUS    INFORMATION.  209 

To  find  the  length  of  the  rafters,  at  ONE-FOUKTH  pitch,  multiply  the 
width  of  the  building  by  .56  (hundredths) ;  at  ONE-THIED  pitch,  by  .6 
(tenths)  ;  at  TWO-FIFTHS  pitch,  by  .64  (hundredths)  ;  at  ONE-HALF 
pitch,  by  .71  (hundredths).  This  gives  the  length  of  the  rafters  from 
the  apex  to  the  end  of  the  wall,  and  whatever  they  are  to  project  must  be 
taken  inty  consideration. 

NOTE.— By  X  or  %  pitch  is  meant  that  the  apex  or  comb  of  the  roof  is  to  be  X  or  %  the  width  of  the 
building  higher  than  the  walls  or  base  of  the  rafters. 

How  to  reckon  the  cost  of  hay. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  number  of  pounds  by  half  the  price  per  ton, 
and  remove  the  decimal  point  three  places  to  the  left. 

How  to  measure  grain. 

RULE. — Level  the  grain ;  ascertain  the  space  it  occupies  in  cubic 
feet ;  multiply  the  number  of  cubic  feet  by  8,  and  point  off  one  place  to 
the  left. 

NOTE.— Exactness  requires  the  addition  to  every  three  hundred  bushels  of  one  extra  bushel. 

The  foregoing  rule  may  be  used  for  finding  the  number  of  gallons,  by 
multiplying  the  number  of  bushels  by  8. 

If  the  corn  in  the  box  is  in  the  ear,  divide  the  answer  by  2,  to  find 
the  number  of  bushels  of  shelled  corn,  because  it  requires  2  bushels  of  ear 

corn  to  make  1  of  shelled  corn. 

i 

Rapid  rules  for  measuring  land  without  instruments. 

In  measuring  land,  the  first  thing  to  ascertain  is  the  contents  of  any 
given  plot  in  square  yards ;  then,  given  the  number  of  yards,  find  out  the 
number  of  rods  and  acres. 

The  most  ancient  and  simplest  measure  of  distance  is  a  step.  Now, 
an  ordinary-sized  man  can  train  himself  to  cover  one  yard  at  a  stride,  on 
the  average,  with  sufficient  accuracy  for  ordinary  purposes. 

To  make  use  of  this  means  of  measuring  distances,  it  is  essential  to 
walk  in  a  straight  line  ;  to  do  this,  fix  the  eye  on  two  objects  in  a  line 
straight  ahead,  one  comparatively  near,  the  other  remote  ;  and,  in  walk- 
ing, keep  these  objects  constantly  in  line. 

Farmers  and  others  by  adopting  the  following  simple  and  ingenious  con- 
trivance, may  always  carry  with  them  the  scale  to  construct  a  correct  yard 
measure. 

Take  a  foot  rule,  and  commencing  at  the  base  of  the  little  finger  of 
the  left  hand,  mark  the  quarters  of  the  foot  on  the  outer  borders  of  the 
left  arm,  pricking  in  the  marks  with  indelible  ink. 

To  find  how  many  rods  in  length  will  make  an  acre,  the  width  being  given. 
RULE. — Divide  160  by  the  width,  and  the  quotient  will  be  the  answer. 


210  MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION. 

How  to  find  the  number  of  acres  in  any  plot  of  land,  the  number  of  rods 
being  given. 

RULE. — Divide  the  number  of  rods  by  8,  multiply  the  quotient  by  5, 
and  remove  the  decimal  point  two  places  to  the  left. 

The  diameter  being  given,  to  find  the  circumference. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  diameter  by  3  1-7. 

How  to  find  the  diameter,  when  the  circumference  is  given. 

RULE. — Divide  the  circumference  by  3  1-7. 

To  find  how  many  solid  feet  a  round  stick  of  timber  of  the  same  thick- 
ness throughout  will  contain  when  squared. 

RULE. — Square  half  the  diameter  in  inches,  multiply  by  2,  multiply 
by  the  length  in  feet,  and  divide  the  product  by  144. 

G-eneral  rule  for  measuring  timber,  to  find  the  solid  contents  in  feet. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  depth  in  inches  by  the  breadth  in  inches,  and 
then  multiply  by  the  length  in  feet,  and  divide  by  144. 

To  find  the  number  of  feet  of  timber  in  trees  with  the  bark  on. 

RULE. — Multiply  the  square  of  one-fifth  of  the  circumference  in 
inches,  by  twice  the  length,  in  feet,  and  divide  by  M4.  Deduct  1-10  to 
1-15  according  to  the  thickness  of  the  bark. 

Howard's  new  rule  for  computing  interest. 

RULE. — The  reciprocal  of  the  rate  is  the  time  for  which  the  interest 
on  any  sum  of  money  will  be  shown  by  simply  removing  the  decimal 
point  two  places  to  the  left ;  for  ten  times  that  time,  remove  the  point 
one  place  to  the  left ;  for  1-10  of  the  same  time,  remove  the  point  three 
places  to  the  left. 

Increase  or  dimmish  the  results  to  suit  the  time  given. 

NOTE.— The  reciprocal  of  the  rate  is  found  by  inverting  the  rate  ;  thus  3  per  cent,  per  month.  In- 
verted, becomes  M  of  a  month,  or  10  days. 

When  the  rate  is  expressed  by  one  figure,  always  write  it  thus :  3-1, 
three  ones. 

Rule  for  converting  English  into  American  currency. 

Multiply  the  pounds,  with  the  shillings  and  pence  stated  in  decimals, 
by  400  plus  the  premium  in  fourths,  and  divide  the  product  by  90. 

U.  S.  GOVERNMENT  LAND  MEASURE. 

A  township — 36  sections  each  a  mile  square. 
A  section — 640  acres. 

A  quarter  section,  half  a  mile  square — 160  acres. 
An  eighth  section,  half  a  mile  long,  north  and  south,  and  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  wide — 80  acres. 

A  sixteenth  section,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  square — 40  acres. 


MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION.  211 

The  sections  are  all  numbered  1  to  36,  commencing  at  the  north-east 
corner. 

The  sections  are  divided  into  quarters,  which  are  named  by  the 
cardinal  points.  The  quarters  are  divided  in  the  same  way.  The  de- 
scription of  a  forty  acre  lot  would  read :  The  south  half  of  the  west  half  of 
the  south-west  quarter  of  section  1  in  township  24,  north  of  range  7  west, 
or  as  the  case  might  be ;  and  sometimes  will  fall  short  and  sometimes 
overrun  the  number  of  acres  it  is  supposed  to  contain. 

The  nautical  mile  is  795  4-5  feet  longer  than  the  common  mile. 

SURVEYORS'  MEASURE. 

7  92-100  inches make  1  link. 

25  links "     1  rod. 

4  rods "     1  chain. 

80  chains "     1  mile. 

.  NOTE. — A  chain  is  100  links,  equal  to  4  rods  or  66  feet. 

Shoemakers  formerly  used  a  subdivision  of  the  inch  called  a  barley- 
corn ;  three  of  which  made  an  inch. 

Horses  are  measured  directly  over  the  fore  feet,  and  the  standard  of 
measure  is  four  inches — called  a  hand. 

In  Biblical  and  other  old  measurements,  the  term  span  is  sometimes 
used,  which  is  a  length  of  nine  inches. 

The  sacred  cubit  of  the  Jews  was  24.024  inches  in  length. 

The  common  cubit  of  the  Jews  was  21.704  inches  in  length. 

A  pace  is  equal  to  a  yard  or  36  inches. 

A  fathom  is  equal  to  6  feet. 

A  league  is  three  miles,  but  its  length  is  variable,  for  it  is  strictly 
speaking  a  nautical  term,  and  should  be  three  geographical  miles,  equal 
to  3.45  statute  miles,  but  when  used  on  land,  three  statute  miles  are  said 
to  be  a  league. 

In  cloth  measure  an  aune  is  equal  to  li  yards,  or  45  inches. 

An  Amsterdam  ell  is  equal  to  26.796  inches. 

A  Trieste  ell  is  equal  to  25.284  inches. 

A  Brabant  ell  is  equal  to  27.116  inches. 

HOW  TO  KEEP  ACCOUNTS. 

Every  farmer  and  mechanic,  whether  he  does  much  or  little  business, 
should  keep  a  record  of  his  transactions  in  a  clear  and  systematic  man- 
ner. For  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  ac- 
quiring a  primary  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  book-keeping,  we  here 
present  a  simple  form  of  keeping  accounts  which  is  easily  comprehended, 
and  well  adapted  to  record  the  business  transactions  of  farmers,  mechanics 
and  laborers. 


212 


MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION. 


1875. 


A.  H.  JACKSON. 


Dr. 


O. 


"  13 
"  27 

April  9 
9 

May        6 


Jan.      lOTo  7  bushels  Wheat at  $1.25 

17  By  shoeing  span  of  Horses 

Feb.       4  To  14  bushels  Oats at  $  .45 

4To51bs.  Butter .at      .25 

March    8  By  new  Harrow 

By  sharpening  2  Plows 

By  new  Double-Tree 

To  Cow  and  Calf 

To  half  ton  of  Hay 

By  Cash 

By  repairing  Corn-Planter. 

one  Sow  with  Pigs 

July  4  By  Cash,  to  balance  account 


24  To 


4800 
6 


1750 


$8805 


$8805 


50 


1800 
40 
25 


2500 

75 


15 


1875.                                  CASSA   MASON.                            Dr.          Cr. 

March  21 
"      21 
"      23 
May        1 
1 
June     19 
26 
July     10 
"       29 
Aug.     12 
12 
Sept.      1 

By  3  days'  labor  at  $1.25 

$6 
8 

10 

2 

2 

20 

18 

00 
10 

00 

75 

TO 

00 
20 

S3 

25 

12 

18 
9 

75 

00 
00 

00 
00 

To  2  Shoats                     .       at    3.00 

To  18  bushels  Corn     _.               at      .45 

By  1  month's  Labor  _ 

To   Cash   .            

By  8  days'  Mowing  at  $1  50 

To  50  Ibs.  Flour.  

To  27  Ibs.  Meat  •_  at  $  .10 

By  9  days'  Harvesting         at    2.00 

By  6  days'  Labor      at    1.50 

To  Cash   

To  Cash  to  balance  account  . 

$67 

75 

$67 

75 

INTEREST  TABLE. 

A  SIMPLE  RULE  FOB  ACCURATELY  COMPUTING    INTEREST  AT  ANY  GIVEN  PER  CENT.  FOR  ANY 

LENGTH  OP  TIME. 

Multiply  the  principal  (amount  of  money  at  interest)  by  the  time  reduced  to  days;  then  divide  this  product 
by  the  quotient  obtained  by  dividing  360  (the  number  of  days  in  the  Interest  year)  by  the  per  cent,  of  Interest, 
and  the  quotient  thus  obtained  will  be  the  required  Interest. 


ILLUSTRATION. 

Require  the  interest  of  $462.50  for  one  month  and  eighteen  days  at  6  per  cent.    An 


Solution. 
$462.50 

.48 


Interest  month  Is  30  days;  one  month  and  eighteen  days  equal  48  days.  $462.50  multi- 
plied by  .48  gives  $222.0000;  360  divided  by  6  (the  per  cent,  of  interest)  gives  60,  and 
S^'J.OOOO  divided  by  60  will  give  you  the  exact  Interest,  whicli  is  $3.70.  ff  the  rate  of  370000 

Interest  in  the  above  example  were  12  per  cent.,  we  would  divide  the  $222.0000  by  30  6)360  \     185000 


(because  360  divided  by  12  gives  30);  if  4  per 'cent.,  we  would  divide  by  90;  if  8  per 
cent,  by  45:  and  in  like  manner  for  any  other  per  cent. 


60/$222.0000($3.70 
180 

"420 
420 

~00 


MISCELLANEOUS  TABLE. 


12  units,  or  things,  1  Dozen. 
12  dozen,  1  Gross. 
20  things,  1  Score. 


196  pounds,  1  Barrel  of  Flour. 
200  pounds,  1  Barrel  of  Pork. 
56  pounds,  1  Firkin  of  Butter. 


24  sheets  of  paper.  1  Quire. 

20  quires  paper  1  Ream. 

4  ft.  wide,  4  ft.  high,  and  8  ft.  long,  1  Cord  Wood. 


MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION.  213 

NAMES  OF  THE  STATES  OF  THE  UNION,  AND  THEIR  SIGNIFICATIONS. 

Virginia. — The  oldest  of  the  States,  was  so  called  in  honor  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  the  "Virgin  Queen,"  in  whose  reign  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  made 
his  first  attempt  to  colonize  that  region. 

Florida. — Ponce  de  Leon  landed  on  the  coast  of  Florida  on  Easter 
Sunday,  and  called  the  country  in  commemoration  of  the  day,  which  was 
the  Pasqua  Florida  of  the  Spaniards,  or  "  Feast  of  Flowers." 

Louisiana  was  called  after  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  who  at  one  time 
owned  that  section  of  the  country. 

Alabama  was  so  named  by  the  Indians,  and  signifies  "  Here  we  Rest." 

Mississippi  is  likewise  an  Indian  name,  meaning  "  Long  River." 

Arkansas,  from  Kansas,  the  Indian  word  for  "  smoky  water."  Its 
prefix  was  really  arc,  the  French  word  for  "  bow." 

The  Carolinas  were  originally  one  tract,  and  were  called  "Carolana," 
after  Charles  the  Ninth  of  France. 

G-eorgia  owes  its  name  to  George  the  Second  of  England,  who  first 
established  a  colony  there  in  1732. 

Tennessee  is  the  Indian  name  for  the  "  River  of  the  Bend,"  i.  e.,  the 
Mississippi  which  forms  its  western  boundary. 

Kentucky  is  the  Indian  name  for  "  at  the  head  of  the  river." 

Ohio  means  "  beautiful ;  "  Iowa,  "  drowsy  ones ;  "  Minnesota,  "  cloudy 
water,"  and  Wisconsin,  "  wild-rushing  channel." 

Illinois  is  derived  from  the  Indian  word  illini,  men,  and  the  French 
suffix  ois,  together  signifying  "  tribe  of  men." 

Michigan  was  called  by  the  name  given  the  lake,  fish-weir,  which  was 
so  styled  from  its  fancied  resemblance  to  a  fish  trap. 

Missouri  is  from  the  Indian  word  "  muddy,"  which  more  properly 
applies  to  the  river  that  flows  through  it. 

Oregon  owes  its  Indian  name  also  to  its  principal  river. 

Cortes  named  California. 

Massachusetts  is  the  Indian  for  "The  country  around  the  great  hills." 

Connecticut,  from  the  Indian  Quon-ch-ta-Cut,  signifying  "Long 
River." 

Maryland,  after  Henrietta  Maria,  Queen  of  Charles  the  First,  of 
England. 

New  York  was  named  by  the  Duke  of  York. 

Pennsylvania  means  "  Penn's  woods,"  and  was  so  called  after  William 
Penn,  its  orignal  owner. 


214 


MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION. 


Delaware  after  Lord  De  La  Ware. 

New  Jersey,  so  called  in  honor  of  Sir  George  Carteret,  who  was 
Governor  of  the  Island  of  Jersey,  in  the  British  Channel. 

Maine  was  called  after  the  province  of  Maine  in  France,  in  compli- 
ment of  Queen  Henrietta  of  England,  who  owned  that  province. 

Vermont,  from  the  French  word  Vert  Mont,  signifying  Green 
Mountain. 

New  Hampshire,  from  Hampshire  county  in  England.  It  was 
formerly  called  Laconia. 

The  little  State  of  Rhode  Island  owes  its  name  to  the  Island  of 
Rhodes  in  the  Mediterranean,  which  domain  it  is  said  to  greatly 
resemble. 

Texas  is  the  American  word  for  the  Mexican  name  by  which  all  that 
section  of  the  country  was  called  before  it  was  ceded  to  the  United  States. 


POPULATION  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES. 

POPULATION  OF  FIFTY 
PRINCIPAL  CITIES. 

STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

Total 
Population. 

CITIES. 

Aggregate 
Population. 

996.992 
484,  471 
560,247 
537,454 
125,015 
187,748 
1.184,109 
2,539,891 
1,680,637 
1,191,792 
364,399 
1.321,011 
726,915 
626,915 
780,894 
1,457,351 
1,184,059 
439,706 
827,922 
1,721,295 

ArKansas  

•California  
Connecticut  
Delaware  
Florida  
Georgia  
Jtllinois  
Indi  ana  

Kansas  
Kentucky  
Louisiana  
Maine  
Maryland  
Massachusetts  —  
Michigan  
Minnesota  
Mississippi  
Missouri  

New  York,  N.  Y..., 
Philadelphia,  Pa  •••  
Brooklyn,  N.  Y  
St.  Louis,  Mo  
Chicago,  111  
Baltimore,  Md  
Boston,  Mass  
Cincinnati,  Ohio  
New  Orleans,  La.  
San  Francisco,  Cal  
Buffalo,  N.  Y  
Washington,  D.  C  
Newark,  N.  J  
Louisville,  Ky  
Cleveland,  Ohio  
Pittsburg,  Pa  
Jersey  City,  N.  J  

942,292 

674,022 
396,099 
310,864 
298.977 
267,354 
250,526 
216,239 
191,418 
149,473 
117,714 
109,199 
105,059 
100,753 
92,829 
8ti,076 
82  546 

Nevada  
New  Hampshire  
New  Jersey  
New  York  .  
North  Carolina  
Ohio  
Oregon  
Pennsylvania  
Bhode  Island  
South  Carolina  
Tennessee  
Texas  ,  
Vermont  
Virginia  
West  Virginia  
Wisconsin  

Total  States  

42,491 
318,300 
906.096 
4,382.759 
1,071,361 
2,665.260 
90,923 
3,521,791 
217,353 
705,606 
1,258,520 
818,579 
330,551 
1,225,163 
442,014 
1,054,670 

38,113,253 

Detroit,  Mich  
Milwaukee,  Wis  
Albany,  N.  Y  
Providence,  R.  I  
Rochester,  N.  Y  
Allegheny,  Pa  
Richmond,  Va  
New  Haven,  Conn  
Charleston,  S.  C  
Indianapolis,  Ind.  
Troy,  NTY  
Syracuse,  N.  Y  
Worcester,  Mass  
Lowell,  Mass  
Memphis,  Tenn  
Cambridge,  Mass  
Hartford,  Conn  
Scran  ton,  Pa  

79,577 
71,440 
69,422 
(18,904 
62,386 
53,180 
51,038 
50,840 
48,956 
48,244 
46,465 
43,051 
41,105 
40.9-28 
40,226 
39,634 
37,180 
35,092 
33,930 
33,579 
32,260 
32,034 
31,584 
31,413 
31,274 
30.841 
30,473 
28,921 
28,804 
28,323 
28,235 
28,233 

9.K  7KK 

Arizona  
Colorada  
Dakota  
District  of  Columbia  ... 
Idaho  

9,658 

39,  SHI 
14,181 
131.700 
14,999 

Paterson,  N.  J  
Kansas  City,  Mo  
Mobile,  Ala  
Toledo,  Ohio  
Portland,  Me  

New  Mexico  
Utah  
Washington  
Wyoming  

Total  Territories,  

91,874 
H6.78(i 
23,955 
9,118 

442,730 

Wilmington,  Del  
Dayton,  Ohio  
Lawrence,  Mass  
Utica,  N.  Y  
Charlestown,  Mass  
Savannah,  Ga  
Lynn.  Mass  

Total  United  States  

38,555,983 

MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION. 


210 


POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


STATES  AND 
TERRITORIES. 

Area  in 
square 
Miles. 

POPULATION. 

R.  R. 

1872. 

STATES  AND 
TERRITORIES. 

Area  in 
square 
Miles. 

POPULATION. 

Miles 
R.  R. 
1872. 

1870. 

1875. 

1870. 

1875. 

States. 
Alabama  

50,722 
52,198 
188,981 
4.674 
2,120 
59,268 
58,000 
55,410 
33,809 
55,045 
81,318 
37,600 
41,346 
31,776 
11,184 
7,800 
56,451 
83,531 
47,156 
65,350 
75.9P5 
112,090 
9,280 
8.320 
47,000 
50,704 
39,964 
95,244 
s  of  Mic 

996,992 
484,471 
560,247 
537,454 
125,015 
187,748 
1,184,109 
2,539,891 
1,680,637 
1,191.792 
364,399 
1,321,011 
726,915 
626.915 
780,894 
1,457,351 
1,184,059 
439.706 
827,922 
1,721,295 
123,993 
42,491 
318,300 
906,096 
4,382,759 
1,071,361 
2,665.260 
90,923 
higan  tak 

1,671 
25 
1,013 
820 
227 
466 
2,108 
5,904 
3.529 
3.160 
1,760 
1,123 
539 
871 
820 
1,606 
2,235 
1,612 
990 
2,580 
828 
593 
790 
1.265 
4,470 
1,190 
3,740 
Io9 

States. 
Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island  
South  Carolina... 
Tennessee  
Texas  

46,000 
1,306 
29,385 
45,600 
237,504 
10,212 
40,904 
23,000 
53,924 

3,521,791 
217,353 
705,606 
1,258,520 
818,579 
330,551 
1,225,163 
442,014 
1,054.670 

5,113 
136 
1,201 
1,520 
865 
675 
1,490 
485 
1,725 

Arkansas  

258,239 
925,145 

Connecticut  

Delaware  

Florida  

Vermont  

Georgia  

Virginia  

Illinois  
Indiana  

West  Virginia  
Wisconsin  

1,236,729 

1,350,544 
528,349 

"857!639 

Total  States  

Territories. 
Arizona  

Kansas  

1,950,171 

113,916 

104,500 
147,490 
60 
90,932 
143.776 
121,201 
80,056 
69,944 
93,107 

38,113,253 

9,658 
39,864 
14,181 
131,700 
14,999 
20,595 
91,874 
86,786 
23,955 
9,118 

59,587 

Kentucky  
Louisiana  

Maine  

Maryland  

Colorado  

392 

Massachusetts.  .  . 
Michigan*  
Minnesota  

1,651,912 
1,334,031 
598,429 

Dakota  

Dist.  of  Columbia. 
Idaho.  

* 

Mississippi  

Montana  

Missouri.  
Nebraska  

'246,280 
52,540 

New  Mexico  

Utah  

875 

Nevada  

New  Hampshire. 
New  Jersey  
New  York  

Wyoming  

498 

1,026,502 
4,705,208 

Total  Territories. 

Aggregate  of  U.  S.. 
*  Included  in  t 

965,032 

2,915,203 
he  Railro 

442,730 

1,265 

North  Carolina.  . 
Ohio  
Oregon   

38,555,983 
ul  Mileage 

60,852 
d. 

*  Last  Censu 

en  in  1874 

of  Marylar 

PRINCIPAL  COUNTRIES  OF  THE  WORLD; 
POPULATION  AND  AREA. 


COUNTRIES. 

Population. 

Date  of 

Census. 

Area  in 
Square 
Miles. 

Inhabitants 
to  Square 
Mile. 

CAPITALS. 

Population. 

China  

446  500  000 

1871 

3  741  846 

119  3 

Pekin  

1,648,800 

British  Empire  

226  817  108 

1871 

4  677  432 

48  6 

3,251,800 

Russia  

81,925  400 

1871 

8  003  778 

10  2 

St.  Petersburg  

667,000 

United  States  with  Alaska  .  .  . 

38  925  600 

1870 

••I  603  884 

7  78 

Washington  

109,199 

France  

36  469  800 

1866 

'204*091 

178  7 

Paris  

1  825,300 

Austria  and  Hungary  

35  404  4(10 

1869 

240  348 

149  4 

833,900 

Japan    

34  785  300 

1871 

149  399 

232  8 

Yeddo      

1,554,900 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  .  .  . 

31  817  100 

1871 

121  315 

262  3 

London  

3,251,800 

German  Empire  

29  906  092 

1871 

160  207 

187 

Berlin   

825,400 

Italy  

27  439  921 

1871 

118  847 

230.9 

Rome  

244,484 

Spain  

16  642  000 

1867 

195  775 

85 

Madrid  

332,000 

Brazil          

10  000  000 

3  2V1029 

3  07 

Rio  Janeiro  

420,000 

Turkey  
Mexico  

16,463,000 
9  173  000 

1869 

*672!621 
761  526 

24.4 

Constantinople  

1,075,000 

210.300 

Sweden  and  Norway  

5'  921  500 

1870 

292  871 

20. 

Stockholm  

136,900 

Persia  

5  000  000 

1870 

635  964 

7  8 

120,000 

5  021  300 

1869 

11  373 

441  5 

314,100 

4  861  400 

1871 

29  292 

165  9 

169  500 

Portugal  

3'995'  200 

1868 

34  494 

115  8 

224,063 

Holland         

3?  688  300 

1870 

12  680 

290  9 

90,100 

N  ew  Grenada  

8  000  000 

1870 

357  157 

8  4 

45,000 

Chili  

2  000  000 

1869 

132*616 

15  1 

115,400 

2  669*100 

1870 

15  992 

166  9 

36,000 

Peru  

2'SOO'OOO 

1871 

471*838 

5  3 

160,100 

Bolivia  

2  000  000 

497  321 

4 

25,000 

Argentine  Republic  

1  812*000 

1869 

871  848 

2  1 

Buenos  Ayres  

177.800 

Wurtemburg  

1  818  500 

1871 

7  533 

241  4 

Stuttgart  

91,600 

Denmark  

1  784*700 

1870 

14*753 

120  9 

162,042 

1500  000 

368  238 

4  2 

47,000 

Baden  

1,461*,  400 

1871 

5  912 

247 

36!  600 

Greece  

1  457  900 

1870 

19  353 

43,400 

Guatemala  

1*180  000 

1871 

40  879 

28  9 

40,000 

Ecuador  

1  300  000 

2  18'  928 

5  9 

Quito     

70.000 

Paraguay  

1  000*000 

1871 

63*787 

15  6 

48,000 

Hesse  

'823*138 

2  969 

277 

Darmstadt  

30,000 

Liberia  

718  000 

1871 

9*576 

74  9 

3,000 

San  Salvador.... 

600  000 

1871 

7*335 

81  8 

Sal  Salvador  

15,000 

Haytl  

572  000 

10  205 

56 

Port  au  Prince  

20,000 

Nicaragua  

350  000 

1871 

58*171 

i 

10,000 

Uruguay  

300  000 

1871 

66  722 

6  5 

44,500 

Honduras  

350  QUO 

1871 

47  092 

7  4 

12,000 

San  Domingo  

136  000 

7  6 

20,000 

Costa  Rica  

165  000 

1870 

21  505 

7  7 

2,000 

Hawaii  

62!950 

7*633 

80. 

Honolulu  

7,633 

216 


MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION 


POPULATION    OF   ILLINOIS, 
BY  COUNTIES. 


COUNTIES. 

AGGREGATE. 

1870. 

1860. 

1850. 

26508 
2484 

6144 
7624 
7198 
8841 

3231 

4586 

7253 
2649 
32O3 
9532 
4289 

5139 
9335 
43385 

7135 

37i8 
7540 
5002 

1840. 

1830. 

182O. 

Adams           --  -  

56362 
10564 
I3I52 
12942 
I22O5 

32415 
6562 
16705 
11580 

32737 
20363 
18719 

15875 
16285 

25235 
349966 

13889 
12223 
23265 
14768 

13484 
16685 
2I45O 
7565 
15653 
19638 
9103 
12652 
38291 
"134 
20277 
14938 
13014 
35935 
5H3 
12582 
35506 
25782 

I9634 
11234 
17864 

15054 
27820 
11248 
39091 
24352 
12399 
39522 
21014 
60792 

12533 
27171 

3I47I 
23053 

41323 
4707 
9815 
11678 
9938 
26426 

5144 
"733 
"325 
14629 
10492 
14987 
9336 
10941 
14203 
144954 

"551 
8311 
19086 
10820 
7140 
14701 
16925 

5454 
7816 
11189 
1979 
9393 
33338 
8055 
16093 
10379 

9915 
29061 

3759 
9501 
20660 
12325 

9589 
8364 
12965 
12051 
27325 
9342 
30062 
15412 

13074 
28663 

18257 
48332 
9214 

17651 
"637 
14272 

14476 

3313 
5060 

1705 
4183 
3067 
1741 
1023 
2981 

1475 
1878 

7453 
3228 
37i8 
9616 

I020I 
4422 

2186 
1390 
3124 

Alexander     _._-   .  -  

626 
2931 

Bond   .        

Boone    ....       

Brown  

Bureau   .     ...    --  

Calhoun  .  .  

logo 

Carroll              

Cass  ...  

Champaign  .  .  

Christian  

Clark              

3940 

755 
2330 

931 

Clay 

Clinton  

Coles  

Cook           

Crawford           ........  .  . 

3"7 

*23 

2999 

Cumberland  

De  Kalb           

1697 
3247 

De  Witt             

Douglas  .  

Du  Page   

9290 
10692 
3524 
3799 
8075 

3535 
8225 
3070 

1675 
6328 

Edgar  

4071 
1649 

Edwards          ...   -    .... 

3444 

Effingham.  

Fayette  

2704 

Ford..  

Franklin  

5681 
22508 
5448 
12429 
3023 
6362 
14652 
2887 
4612 
3807 
4149 
5862 
3220 
8109 

7354 
18604 

4"4 
16703 

3682 
13142 
10760 
"951 

4083 
1841 
7405 
7674 

1763 

Fulton  

Gallatin  --. 

3155 

Greene       ....   .  .   

Grundy   .....      

Hamilton    .  _         ..  

3945 
9946 

1378 

2616 

483 

Hancock   .      ..  

Hardin  

Henderson  .     .  

Henry   ..   _    ..   

1260 

1695 
3566 
1472 
5762 

4535 
6180 
3626 
6501 

4i 

Iroquois  ..   ....  ..  

Jackson  

1828 

1542 

Jasper  .  

Jefferson  ....           .... 

2555 

691 

Jersey  .. 

Jo  Daviess  

2III 
1596 

Johnson 

843 

Kane  ....  .    

Kankakee.   .    .  

Kendall  

7730 

13279 
14226 
17815 
6iei 
5-292 

J553 
5128 

Knox  

7060 
2634 
9348 
7092 
2035 
759 

2m 

274 

Lake  .... 

La  Salle  

Lawrence  ..... 

3668 

Lee   

Livingston  .  

Logan  .  . 

MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION. 


217 


POPULATION  OF   ILLINOIS— CONCLUDED. 


COUNTIES. 

AGGREGATE. 

1870. 

I860. 

1850. 

1840. 

1830. 

182O. 

Macon  ..  .  .     .  

26481 
32726 

44I3I 
20622 
16950 
16184 
9581 
26509 
23762 
53988 
"735 
18769 

12982 

253M 
28463 

10385 
27492 
47540 
13723 
10953 
30708 

H437 
8752 
6280 
20859 
12803 
29783 
12714 
46352 
17419 
10530 
25476 
10751 

51068 
30608 
27903 
16518 
30388 
8841 
23174 
17599 
19758 
16846 
27503 
43013 
17329 
29301 
18956 

13738 
24602 
3I25I 
12739 
13437 
10931 
6213 
20069 
22089 
28772 

9584 
15042 

12832 

13979 
22II2 

6385 
22888 
36601 
9552 
6l27 

27249 
6742 

3943 

5587 
17205 

97" 
21005 

9331 

32274 
14684 
9069 

14613 
9004 

37694 
25112 
21470 
11181 
19800 
7313 
18336 
I373I 
12223 
12403 

18737 
29321 
12205 
24491 
13282 

1711951 

3988 

12355 
20441 
6720 
5l8o 

5921 
4092 
7616 

14978 
10163 

6349 
5246 

7679 

6277 
16064 

3234 
IOO2O 

17547 
5278 
l6o6 
18819 

3975 
2265 

3924 
11079 
4012 
6937 
5588 
19228 

10573 
7914 
7807 
3710 

20180 
11666 
12052 
76i5 
11492 
4690 
8176 

6953 
6825 
8925 
536i 
16703 
7216 
"773 
4415 

851470 

3039 
7926 

14433 
4742 
1849 

1122 
1990 
6221 
2125 

Macoupin  _  . 

Madison  

13550 

Marion  

Marshall  

Mason  

Massac  

McDonough  

5308 
2578 
6565 
4431 
2352 

4481 
449° 
19547 

("*) 

McHenry  .  

McLean.  

Menard  .. 

Mercer  .  .  

26 

200O 

2953 
I27I4 

Monroe.    .-...- 

*2I 
I5l6 

Montgomery  _. 

Morgan  

Moultrie  

Ogle  

3479 
6i53 
3222 

Peoria  -  

M 
1215 

Perry  

Piatt  

Pike  ..  .. 

11728 
4994 

2396 
3316 

Pope  

26lO 

Pulaski  

Putnam  _  ..  ..    . 

2131 
7944 

<ri3io 

4429 

Randolph  

3492 

Richland  .       .. 

Rock  Island  .  . 

2610 

Saline  

Sangamon  

14716 
6972 
6215 
6659 
1573 

13631 
2800 
7221 
5524 
9303 
4240 

6739 
4810 

5133 
7919 

2514 
10167 

4457 
4609 

12960 
^2959 

Schuyler 

Scott  

Shelby 

2972 

Stark  

St.Clair  

7078 

*5 
5248 

Stephenson  .  __ 

Tazewell..  __       

4716 

3239 
5836 
2710 
308 
1675 
2553 
6091 

Union  _  . 

2362 

Vermilion               . 

Wabash   

Warren  . 

Washington  

1517 
1114 

4828 

Wayne  

White  

Whitesides  

Will  

Williamson  . 

Winnebago  

Woodford  

Total  

2539891 

476183 

157445 

*49 
55162 

218 


MISCELLANEOUS  INFORMATION. 


STATE  LAWS 
RELATING  TO  RAT.ES  OF  INTEREST  AND  PENALTIES  FOR  USURY. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 


Legal  I  Rate  al- 
Rate  of:  lowed  by 
Interest.  Contract. 


Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Dakota 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia  .. 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Ontario,  Canada 

Oregon .-., 

Pennsylvania 

Quebec,  Canada 

Rhode  Island 

South  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont — 

Virginia 

Washington  Territory 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 


per  cent 

8 
10 

6 
10 

IO 

7 

6 
6 
8 

7 

10 
6 
6 
6 
8 
6 

6 

6 

6 

7 

7 

6 

6 
10 
10 

IO 

6 

7 
6 

7 
6 
6 
6 
10 
6 
6 
6 

6 

8 
10 

6 

6 
10 

6 

7 

12 


per  cent. 

8 

Any  rate. 
10 

Any  rate. 
Any  rate. 
7 

12 

6 

10 

Any  rate. 

12 
24 
10 
10 
10 
12 


Any  rate 

6 
Any  rate 

10 

12 

10 

10 
Any  rate 

12 

Any  rate 
6 

7 
Any  rate 

7 


Any  rate 

12 

Any  rate 
Any  rate 
Any  rate 
Any  rate 

10 

12 

Any  rate 
6 
6* 

Any  rate 
6* 
10 

Any  rate, 


Penalties  for  Usury. 


Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  principal  and  interest. 


Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  principal. 
Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Fine  and  imprisonment. 

Forfeiture  of  entire  interest 

Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  ex.  of  in.  above  12  per  cent. 

Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  ex.  of  in.  above  7  per  cent. 
No  Usury  Law  in  this  State. 
Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  thrice  the  excess  and  costs. 
Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  contract. 
Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  excess  abo^  e  6  per  cent. 


Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 

Forfeiture  of  excess  of  interest. 
Forfeiture  of  entire  interest. 


*  Except  in  cases  defined  by  statutes  of  the  State. 


MISCELLANEOUS   INFORMATION. 


219 


STATE   LAWS 

RELATING  TO  LIMITATIONS  OF  ACTIONS  :  SHOWING  LIMIT  OF  TIME  IN  WHICH 
ACTION  MAY  BE  BROUGHT  ON  THE  FOLLOWING  : 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

Assault 
slander. 
&c. 

Open 

Accts. 

Notes. 

Judg- 
ments. 

Sealed  and 
witnessed 
Instru- 
ments. 

Years. 
I 

Years, 
•i 

Years. 
6 

Years. 
2O 

Years. 
IO 

I 

5 

IO 

I 

2 

Col  orado  

I 

6 

6 

Connecticut  

•} 

6 

6 

20 

17 

Dakota     

2 

6 

6 

20 

I 

3 

6 

20 

2O 

I 

2 

e 

20 

2O 

I 

6 

7 

2O 

2 

2 

c 

C 

Illinois  

I 

5 

10 

2O 

IO 

2 

6 

20 

2o 

2O 

2 

e 

IO 

20 

IO 

Kansas  

1 

•2 

c 

e 

JC 

Kentucky  

I 

2 

I  c 

I  c 

JC 

I 

1 

c 

IO 

20 

2 

6 

20 

20 

20 

Maryland  

1 

•3 

•I 

12 

12 

2 

6 

20 

2O 

20 

2 

6 

6 

6 

IO 

2 

6 

6 

JO 

6 

Mississippi  

I 

•3 

6 

7 

7 

Missouri  

2 

C 

IO 

2O 

IO 

Montana  '.  

2 

c 

JO 

IO 

IO 

I 

c 

e 

IO 

Nevada  

2 

2 

A 

e 

4 

New  Hampshire  

2 

6 

6 

20 

20 

New  Jersey  

2 

6 

6 

20 

16 

New  Mexico  

I 

6 

10 

IO 

IO 

New  York  

2 

6 

6 

20 

20 

North  Caroli  na  

•} 

•3 

•3 

IO 

IO 

Ohio  

I 

6 

1C 

1C 

1C 

Ontario  (U.  Canada)  

2 

6 

6 

20 

20 

Oregon  

2 

6 

6 

IO 

20 

Pennsylvania  

6 

6 

20 

20 

Quebec  (  L.  Canada)  

5 

5 

•zo 

3° 

Rhode  Island  ,  

6 

6 

20 

20 

South  Carolina  

2 

6 

6 

20 

20 

Tennessee  

6 

6 

IO 

6 

Texas  

2 

4 

IO 

5 

Utah  

2 

4 

5 

7 

Vermont  

2 

6 

4 

8 

8 

Virginia  

I 

e 

5 

IO 

20 

Washington  Territory  

2 

•2 

6 

6 

6 

West  Virginia  

I 

5 

IO 

IO 

10 

Wisconsin  -  

2 

6 

6 

20 

20 

Wyoming... 

I 

6 

iq 

IS 

15 

PRODUCTIONS  OF  AGRICULTURE,  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS,  BY  COUNTIES.— 1870. 


JOUNTIES. 
Total  

Improved 
Land. 

Woodl'nd 

Other  tin  - 
improved 

Spring 
Wheat. 

Winter 
Wheat. 

Rye. 

Indian 
Corn. 

Oats. 

Number. 
19.329,952 

Number. 
5,061.578 

Xumber. 
1.491.331 

Bushels. 
10.133.207 

Bushels. 
19.995.19g 

Bushels. 
3.456.578 

Bushels. 
129,921.39? 

JHisliels. 
12.780.851 

Adams  

287,926 
13,836 
145,045 
137.307 
57,062 
398,611 
37,684 
186,864 
92.902 
419,368 
241,472 
118,594 
146,922 
150,177 
208,337 
348,824 
105,505 
75,342 
334,502 
168,539 
147,633 
564,874 
,465,458 
58,912 
120,343 
187,196 
141,228 
80,749 
228,132 
49,572 
175,408 
193,999 
88,996 
311,517 
28,117 
140,954 
265,904 
322,510 
78,548 
90,867 
118,951 
94,147 
156,517 
57,820 
240,120 
312,182 
164,004 
330,829 
207,779 
533,724 
87,828 
322,212 
377,505 
321,709 
205,259 
231.059 
257,032 
173,081 
166,057 
209,453 
25,151 
261,635 
230,566 
494.978 
134,173 
222.809 
92,810 
276,682 
293,450 
144,220 
316,883 
170,729 
93,754 
94,454 
233,785 
55,980 
19,319 
37,271 
140,764 
75,079 
155,214 
72,309 
421,748 
96,195 
85,331 
310,179 
138,129 
231,117 
254,857 
229,126 
75,832 
360,251 
54,063 
266.187 
177.592 
147,352 
92,398 
289,809 
419,442 
128,448 
241,373 
225,504 

112,576 
17,761 
42,613 
29,886 
35,491 
41,866 
63.443 
29,793 
33,493 
16,789 
19,803 
102,201 
80,612 
48,868 
45,214 
19,635 
78,350 
40,334 
17,722 
29,548 
11,897 
17,243 
66,803 
57,585 
56,330 
93,460 
2,996 
3,994 
123,823 
68,750 
93,242 
6,256 
93,878 
43.385 
44,771 
34,705 
12,620 
22,478 
87,642 
67,023 
94,888 
51,427 
82,07b 

34,646 
10,978 
14,244 
41,566 
21,072 
48,117 
72,738 
12,071 
12,462 
17,394 
18,153 
81,224 
89,450 
61,579 
?8,260 
-.11,739 
33,396 
52,547 
53,293 
40,366 
34,931 
45,977 
83,369 
47,804 
60,217 
24,783 
43,643 
48,666 
68,470 
5,978 
128,953 
87,754 
12,516 
17,184 
162,274 
50,618 
31,239 
70,393 
51,085 
62,477 
44,633 
74,908 
12,375 
76,591 
43.167 
45,268 
83,606 
53,078 
37,558 
27,294 
55,852 
146,794 
78,167 
21.823 
24,261 
116.949 
37.238 
25,217 

19,370 

16,191 

947,616 
42,658 
368.625 
599 
117.502 
724 
221,298 
260 
127,054 
123,091 
504,041 
195,118 
85,737 
610,888 
154,485 
4,904 
212,924 
84,697 
190 
.11,695 
65,461 
693 
247,360 
122,703 
195,716 
351,310 
1,008 
111,324 
223,930 
83,093 
577,400 
150 
92,347 
232,750 
32,306 
69,062 
445 
10,480 
329,036 
87,808 
100,553 
558,367 
555 
92,191 
325 
480 
1,249 
7.654 
221 
2,193 
264,134 
2.260 
1,339 
40,963 
196,613 
861,398 
1,207,181 
173,652 
900 
125,628 
72.316 
36,146 
270 
10,955 
45,793 
13,203 
651,767 
744,891 
357,523 
196,436 
5,580 
31,843 
350,446 
39,762 
1,057,497 
70,457 
44,922 
796 
1,031,022 
150,268 
2.279 
83.011 
247,658 
165,721 
266.105 
452,015 

20,989 
30 
6,240 
35,871 
4,742 
43,811 
186 
25,721 
2.772 
45,752 
10,722 
7,308 
3,221 
1,619 
8,825 
20,171 
15,497 
14,798 
21,018 
11.540 
9,017 
7,532 
37,508 
528 
19,759 
25,328 
11,577 
5.195 
131,711 
512 
415 
4,930 
11,672 
133,533 
865 
96,430 
35,766 
23,259 
524 
9,165 
5,934 

1,452,905 
244,220 
1,064,052 
466,985 
337.769 
3,030,404 
234,041 
1.367  965 
1,146:980 
3,924,720 
1,883,336 
614,582 
1,019,994 
813.257 
2,133,111 
570,427 
581,964 
403,075 
1,023,849 
'1,311,635 
1,680,225 
331,981 
2,107,615 
352,371 
620,247 
962,525 
565,671 
653,209 
1,508,763 
509,491 
1,051,313 
295,971 
735,252 
1,510,401 
172,651 
1,712,901 
2,541,683 
799,810 
611,951 
461,345 
887,981 
519,120 
1,286,326 
343,298 
674,333 
637.39S 
681,267 
2,708,319 
517,353 
3,077,028 
656,363 
1,656,978 
1,182,691 
4,221,64(1 
2,214,468 
1,051,54-1 
2.127,549 
1,034,057 
1,182,903 
2,648,721 
133,12(i 
1,362,490 
1,145,005 
3,723.379 
1,973.881 
2,054,962 
543,718 
1,527,898 
3,198,835 
1,753.141 
1,787,066 
969,224 
384,446 
1,029,725 
1,399,188 
315,958 
195,735 
334,259 
510,080 
482.59-1 
1,459,653 
531,516 
4,388,763 
440,975 
752,771 
2,082,578 
1,149878 
1,423.121 
1,615,679 
2,062.053 
679.753 
2,818,027 
421,361 
2.982.853 
836.115 
1,179,291 
870.521 
2,162,943 
1,131,458 
655  710 
1.237,406 
2,154.185 

759,074 
21,627 
461,097 
579,127 
70,852 
987.426 
26.234 
775,100 
168,784 
721,375 
383,821 
212.628 
269.945 
446,324 
315.954 
1,584,225 
136,*55 
171,880 
1,087,074 
216,756 
225,074 
860,809 
290,679 
129,152 
386.073 
497,395 
154,589 
222,426 
261,390 
27,164 
64,029 
269,332 
203,464 
579,599 
26,991 
229,286 
668,367 
430,746 
149,931 
149,214 
285,949 
71,770 
874,016 
74,525 
785,608 
772,408 
468,890 
787,952 
699,069 
1,509,642 
131,386 
903,197 
659,300 
490,226 
454,648 
459,417 
475,252 
389.446 
362,604 
272,660 
22.097 
280,717 
910,397 
911,127 
235,091 
452,889 
152,251 
668,424 
198,724 
263,992 
141,540 
334,892 
338,760 
130,610 
161,419 
67,886 
16,511 
86,519 
414.487 
204,634 
276,575 
69.793 
397,718 
119.359 
13,463 
637.812 
316,726 
476.851 
960.620 
505,841 
124,473 
436.051 
110,793 
601.054 
533.398 
404,482 
119.653 
880.838 
1,868.682 
180.986 
868.903 
744,581 

Alexander 

Bond  

1.915 

2,658 
25.608 
15.803 
2,754 
33,302 
6,604 
58,502 
19,173 
5,420 
5,225 
8,722 
3,274 
17,337 
27,185 
5,604 
6,551 
17,633 
7,316 
3.851 
14,282 
830 
26,206 
16,786 
63,976 
86,710 
4,076 
2,565 
29,653 
4,505 
3,343 
18,480 
107 
14,243 
31,459 
63,498 
5,991 
12,250 
778 
1,363 
45,779 
79,141 
399 
10,598 
2,283 
25.155 
24,399 
2,356 
3,273 
7,409 
41,788 
408 
9,115 
7,343 
13,675 
4,142 
2,976 
31,013 
30 
14,035 
57.998 
49,087 
13,952 
22,588 
666 
8,495 
1,376 
13,112 
14,913 
2,516 
220 
13,897 
9,302 

700 
241,042 
13.27C 
465,236 
75 
418,073 
12,165 
102,577 
18,360 

Boone  

Brown  

Bureau  

Calhoun  

Carroll  

Cass  

Champaign  

Christian  

Clark 

Clay  

1,894 
500 
2,651 
144,296 
60 
550 
398.059 
106,493 
7,683 
106,096 
13,283 

Clinton  . 

Coles  

Cook  

Crawford  

DeKalb  

DeWitt  

Douglas  

DuPage  

Effliigham  

77 

Ford        

42,571 
365 
193,669 

Franklin  

Fulton  

Gallatin 

Grundy  

21,700 
129 
181,378 
13 
161,112 
462,379 
57,160 
890 

Hamilton  

Hancock  

Hardin  

Henderson  ,  

Henry   

Iroquois.  

Jackson   

JoDaviess.   

282,758 

7.185 
2,468 
23,618 
12,935 
5.163 
113,547 
5.87C 
48,308 
1,121 
14,829 
26,163 
37.232 
29,223 
•  2,404 
3,685 
1'4,517 
36,135 
49,182 
544 
52,401 
29,264 
39,824 
4,283 
40,778 
1,425 
3,296 
5,535 
6,670 
157,504 
99!  50:2 
1,016 
9,248 
25,303 
2,309 
222 
7,707 
3,235 
3.401 
20,003 
568 
23,073 
20,841 
930 
23,686 
30,534 
1,008 
135,362 
59,027 
1,737 
52,476 

""72;  2  12 

2,576 
8,665 
418 
31,658 
8.030 
6,228 
137,985 
20.426 

K.ane  

188,826 
103,466 
90,681 
267,764 
168,914 
271,181 

Kankakee  

Kendall  

Knox  

\ake  

LaSalle  

Lee  

450,793 
120,206 
198,056 
55,239 
160 
550 

Livingston  

Logan  

Macon  

Macoupin  

Marion  

Marshall  

'106,129 
73,261 

Mason  

McDonough 

273,871 
401,790 
211,801 
36,152 
289,291 

McHenry  

McLean  

Menard  

Mercer  

Montgomery  

59 
18,196 
17,128 
497,038 
92,361 

Morgan  

Moultrie  

Ogle  

Peoria  

Perry  

Piatt.  .  . 

26,382 
130 

Pike  

Pope 

Pulaski  

Putnam  

4.174 
1,170 
2.025 
20,755 
809 
19,932 
21,294 
1,610 
9,314 
2,783 
2,016 
13,701 
14,846 
5,300 
31,122 
509 
14,583 
1,931 
10,486 
869 
37.310 
6,335 
1,648 
15,237 
23,135 

.  28,137 
450 

Randolph  

Richland 

Bock  Island  

243,541 
200 
89,304 
56,221 
18 
15,526 
124,630 
2,550 
527,394 
132,417 

""ii;  806 
""18&290 

Saline  

Sangamon  

Scnuyler  

Scott  

Shelby.  .  . 

Stark  

St.Clair  

1,562.621 
2,118 
72,410 
180,231 
249.558 
202.201 
5,712 
672,486 
164,689 
184,321 
264 
1,996 
170,787 
2.468 
108,307 

Stephenson  

Tazewell  

Union  

Vermilion... 

Wabash  

Warren  

Washington  

Wayne  ... 

266 

White  ... 

Whitcsides..., 

457,455 
195,286 
176 
408,606 
178,139 

Will  

Williamson  

Winnebago  

V/oodf  ord  

Ifsi 


/  pf  r 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

BY  HON.  GEORGE  H.  WOODRUFF. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

It  is  probably  well  known  to  most  who  will  read  these  pages,  that  the  writer, 
some  few  years  since,  delivered  two  lectures  on  the  early  history  of  Joliet  and 
Will  County,  which  Mr.  James  Goodspeed  thought  worth  printing  and  publish- 
ing. Those  lectures  were  hastily  prepared,  and  the  record  which  they  gave 
was  very  imperfect.  Many  names  of  early  settlers  were  overlooked,  and  one 
entire  settlement  was  strangely  omitted  in  copying.  The  writer  is,  therefore, 
very  glad  of  an  opportunity  to* revise  and  rewrite  the  sketch,  adding  many  more 
names  of  the  first  settlers  and  noticing  many  matters  in  our  later  history.  We 
will,  at  the  same  time,  omit  much  that  appears  in  "Forty  Years  Ago,"  that 
was  not  strictly  historical.  There  will  be  found  in  the  following  pages  brief 
notices,  also,  of  many  of  our  early  prominent  citizens  who  have  passed  away. 
But  no  one  will  be  more  sensible  than  the  writer  that  the  record  will  still  be 
imperfect,  and  that  some  names  will  probably  be  left  out,  and  many  matters 
escape  notice  which  some"one  will  think  to  be  unpardonable  omissions.  This  is 
one  of  the  things  which  detract  from  the  pleasure  of  writing  local  annals ;  but 
it  seems  unavoidable,  as  no  one  can  know  and  remember  everything,  and  both 
the  time  and  space  allotted  to  the  writer  are  limited. 

In  one  respect,  the  writer  is  happy.  In  the  previous  effort  to  preserve  a 
little  of  our  early  history,  the  letter  "I"  occurred  quite  often — disagreeably 
so.  The  writer  did  not  then  know  that  he  had  the  right  to  use  the  word  "  we." 
He  supposed  that  the  editorial  fraternity  had  the  exclusive  privilege  of  hiding 
behind  that  impenetrable  shield.  But  having  discovered  that  there  is  no  law 
to  prevent  its  free  use  by  any  one  who  desires  to  do  so,  he  has  adopted  it  and 
will  use  it  freely,  leaving  the  reader  to  guess  when  it  means  only  the  writer  and 
when  it  means  a  clique,  a  city,  a  township  or  a  county. 

The  writer  regrets  that  circumstances  have  made  him  a  fixture  in  Joliet, 
and  that,  like  the  sessile  crustacean  known  as  the  barnacle,  he  cannot  go  about 
in  search  of  historic  food,  and  can  only  gather  up  that  which  comes  within  the 
reach  of  his  tentacles.  But,  fortunately,  he  is  to  be  followed  now  by  others, 
who  will  gather  up  the  history  of  each  township  separately,  and  will  thus  re- 
cord the  many  names  and  facts  which  he  will  overlook.  This,  too,  will  atone 


224  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

for  the  prominence  which  he  has  given  to  Joliet — a  thing  which  was  unavoid- 
able, as  an  annalist  must  necessarily  say  most  about  events  and  circumstances 
"  most  of  which  he  saw,  and  part  of  which  he  was." 

BOUNDARIES   AND   TOPOGRAPHY. 

Will  County,  as  it  is  now  constituted,  consists  of  twenty- three  and  about 
one-half  townships  of  land,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Du  Page  and  Cook 
Counties :  on  the  east  by  Cook  County  and  the  State  of  Indiana ;  on  the 
south  by  Kankakee  County,  and  on  the  west  by  Grundy  and  Kendall  Counties. 
It  has  an  area,  therefore,  of  (about)  541,440  acres,  or  840  square  miles.  In 
its  widest  part  it  is  (about)  thirty-seven  and  one-half  miles  east  and  west,  and 
thirty-six  miles  north  and  south.  The  fractional  half  township  is  occasioned 
by  its  embracing  a  strip  about  one  and  a  half  sections  wide  of  Townships  33 
and  34  north,  Range  15  east,  which  lie  between  Range  14  and  the  State  line, 
and  are  added  to  the  towns  of  Crete  (34)  and  Washington  (33).  Otherwise,  and 
excepting  the  towns  of  Wesley  and  Custer  (which  are  divided  by  the  Kan- 
kakee), and  the  town  of  Reed,  which  is  the  west  half  of  T.  32,  R.  9,  the 
town  organizations  are  identical  with  the  survey  of  townships — that  is,  each 
town  consists  of  a  township  of  land.  This  will  b%  apparent  at  once  to  the  eye 
by  reference  to  the  map  which  forms  a  part  of  this  work. 

The  plan  of  survey,  which  was  early  established  for  the  public  lands,  ren- 
ders the  description  and  identification  of  tracts  of  land  easy  and  certain.  This 
plan,  which  is  said  to  have  been  devised  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  was  adopted 
in  1786,  consists  in  establishing,  first,  at  convenient  distances,  meridian  lines, 
which  are  called  "principal  meridians,"  and  which  are  started  from  some  well- 
known  point  and  are  run  due  north  and  south.  Next,  a  parallel  of  latitude  is 
run  at  right  angles  with  the  meridian,  and  is  called  the  base  line.  From  these 
main  lines  others  are  run,  called  township  lines,  just  six  miles  each  way,  which 
divide  the  land  into  townships  of  six  miles  square,  which  are  subdivided  into 
thirty-six  sections,  of  640  acres  each,  which  can  again  be  subdivided,  by  imag- 
inary lines,  into  quarters,  half-quarters,  etc.  The  lines  running  north  and 
south  divide  the  townships  into  ranges ;  and  those  running  east  and  west,  into 
townships.  The  meridian  line  from  whch  we  count  starts  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio  River,  and  is  the  Third  Principal  Meridian.  Our  ranges  are  east  of 
this  meridian,  and  the  townships  are  north  of  the  base  line.  The  base  line 
from  which  we  count  is  somewhat  below  Centralia,  so  that  the  southern  line  of 
townships  in  our  county  is  32  north,  and  the  western  range  is  9  east.  It  is 
from  this  Third  Principal  Meridian  that  most  of  the  State  of  Illinois  is  sur- 
veyed. By  this  simple  mode  of  survey,  any  piece  of  land  is  definitely  and 
easily  described,  even  down  to  ten  acres.  In  all  townships  the  sections  are 
numbered,  beginning  at  the  northeast  corner  and  numbering  through  first 
course  west,  then  returning  on  the  second,  and  so  on  through  the  township. 
Of  course,  along  large  rivers  and  on  lakes,  fractional  sections  occur.  Plats  of 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  225 

the  surveys  are  recorded  in  the  general  and  local  land  offices,  and  sect- 
on  corners  are  marked  on  the  prairie  by  stakes,  and  in  timber  by  "  blazed  " 
trees. 

The  county  is  largely  prairie,  although  it  exhibits  a  great  variety  of  soil 
and  surface.  There  are  several  townships  in  which  there  is  not  a  stick  of  tim- 
ber (except  as  introduced  by  cultivation),  yet  considerable  bodies  of  timber  are 
found  along  the  streams,  and  in  isolated  groves  which  were  early  called 
"islands."  In  the  early  settlement  of  the  county,  and  of  the  Northwest  gen- 
erally, the  settlers  were  very  careful  to  select  locations  adjacent  to  some  grove, 
and  to  secure  a  timber  lot  was  deemed  indispensable  to  settlement.  It  was 
then  supposed  that  the  prairie  land  two  or  three  miles  from  timber  would  be 
always  open  to  the  range  of  cattle.  The  prairie  is  generally  of  the  kind  called 
high  or  rolling,  and  many  of  the  low  portions  were  called  "sloughs,"  as  they 
contained  water  except  in  the  dry  season.  There  is,  however,  very  little  of 
actual  swamp  land  (although  considerable  was  returned  as  such)  in  the  county, 
and  at  present  scarcely  an  acre  that  is  not  inclosed.  The  system  of  drainage 
by  tiles  is  coming  largely  into  use,  which  is  making  the  "sloughs"  the  most 
valuable  portions  of  the  land. 

The  county  is  well  watered,  except  in  the  eastern  townships,  which  are  the 
highest  part  of  the  county.  A  considerable  stream  is  the  Des  Planes,*  or  as  it 
is  often  called,  the  Aux  Planes,  which  rises  far  to  the  north  (in  Wisconsin)  and 
passing  through  Lake  and  Cook  Counties,  enters  this  county  on  Section  24, 
Township  37  North,  Range  10  East,  or  the  town  of  Dupage,  and  passes  on 
through  the  towns  of  Lockport  (Township  36  North,  Range  10  East),  and 
Joliet  (Township  35  North,  Range  10  East),  a  corner  of  Troy,  and  through 
Channahon  (Township  34  North,  Range  9  East),  into  the  edge  of  Grundy 
County,  where  it  is  united  to  the  Kankakee,  and  with  it  forms  the  Illinois. 
Just  before  leaving  the  county,  it  is  united  with  the  Du  Page,  a  beautiful  stream 
of  about  the  same  size  and  naturally  the  fullest  in  dry  seasons,  which  rises  in 
the  northern  part  of  Du  Page  County,  where  it  is  fed  by  copious  springs,  and 
enters  this  county  in  the  town  of  Dupage  by  two  branches — East  and  West  Du 
Page — is  united  on  Section  7  of  the  township,  passes  through  the  towns  of 
Wheatland,  Plainfield  and  Troy,  and  unites  with  the  Des  Planes  in  the  town  of 
Channahon.  This  union  of  the  two  rivers  (by  the  way)  is  what  gives  rise  to 
the  name  Channahon,  that  word  being  the  Pottawatomie  word  for  '*  meeting  of 
the  waters."  The  name  was  given  to  it  by  Judge  Peck,  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers in  that  locality,  of  whom  mention  is  made  elsewhere.  The  Kankakee, 
which  is  the  largest,  perhaps  larger  than  the  Du  Page  and  Des  Planes  united, 
enters  the  county  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Township  32,  Range  10,  and 
dividing  it  unequally,  passes  into  Township  32,  Range  9,  then  into  Township 
33,  Range  9,  which  forms  the  town  of  Wilmington,  near  the  southeast  corner, 

*We  give  what  we  believe  the  correct  spelling  of  the  name,  although  it  ia  often  spelled  O'Plain.  We  suppose  the 
word  to  be  of  French  origin,  and  that  the  meaning  is  the  river  of  planes,  or  button-woods,  which  resemble  the 
European  plane  tree. 


226  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

and,  passing  through  the  town  diagonally,  goes  into  Grundy  County  near  the 
northeast  corner  of  the  town.  A  smaller  stream,  known  as  Hickory  Creek, 
and  which  on  some  old  maps  was  put  down  as  Joliet  River,  which  rises  in  Cook 
County,  enters  the  town  of  Frankfort  (Township  35,  Range  12  East),  passes 
through  it  and  New  Lenox  (Township  35,  Range  11),  and  empties  into  the 
Des  Planes  in  the  town  of  Joliet,  just  below  the  city.  Of  these  streams,  the 
Du  Page,  the  Des  Planes  and  the  Kankakee  afford  good  water-powers,  which 
have  been  more  or  less  improved  as  will  be  elsewhere  noted.  Hickory  Creek 
has  also  a  good  water-power  at  times.  Besides  these  there  are  minor  streams 
of  much  value  as  water-courses.  The  most  considerable  are  Forked  Creek', 
which  enters  the  Kankakee  in  the  town  of  Wilmington ;  Prairie  Creek,  which 
enters  the  Kankakee  from  the  northeast  in  the  township  of  Wilmington  ;  Jack- 
son Creek,  whichf  enters  the  Des  Planes  from  the  east  in  the  town  of  Channa- 
hon ;  Spring  Creek,  which  enters  Hickory  in  the  town  of  Joliet ;  the  *Lilly- 
cache,  which  enters  the  Du  Page  in  the  town  of  Plainfield;  Horse  Creek, 
which  enters  the  Kankakee  in  the  town  of  Reed,  and  Rock  Run,  which  enters 
the  Des  Planes  in  the  town  of  Troy.  These  last  mentioned  streams  and  sev- 
eral others  for  which  we  have  no  names,  are  considerable  streams  in  times  of 
high  water,  sometimes  becoming  impassable  where  not  bridged,  but  in  dry  sea- 
sons become  mere  brooks  or  dry  up  altogether.  The  Lilly-cache,  however, 
being  fed  by  springs  which  are  permanent,  is  always  a  beautiful  little  stream. 
In  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  the  county  in  the  town  of  Washington  (Town- 
ship 33,  Range  15),  there  is  a  small  lake  or  pond  called  Eagle  Lake,  covering 
perhaps,  a  half  quarter  of  land,  and  surrounded  by  a  considerable  tract  of 
marsh.  The  Des  Planes  River  below  Joliet  Mound,  expands  to  a  considerable 
width,  and  is  called  Joliet  Lake.  The  county  also,  especially  along  the  water- 
courses, abounds  in  springs  of  good  water. 

All  the  larger  streams  abound  in  fish  of  the  kinds  known  in  common 
language  as  pike,  buffalo,  red  horse,  bass,  sunfish,  etc.,  etc.  In  the  times  of 
Indian  occupation  they  were  favorite  resorts  of  the  natives  for  fishing  and  trap- 
ping, and  abounded  in  inuskrats,  mink,  otter,  beaver,  etc.,  some  of  which  still 
remain  for  the  delectation  of  amateur  trappers.  The  muskrat  still  tells  the 
weather  prophet  whether  we  are  to  have  a  mild  or  hard  Winter,  and  is  almost 
as  reliable  as  the  moon.  This  region  furnished  large  supplies  in  the  early  days 
for  the  fur  .traders.  The  various  kinds  of  water-fowl  are  still  abundant  and 
furnish  "  sport "  for  those  whose  hearts  and  consciences  will  allow  them  ruth- 
lessly to  take  the  life  of  God's  beautiful  creatures.  The  prairies  also  abound  in 
the  native  hens  and  quails,  the  destruction  of  which  has  been  restrained  by  game 
laws.  In  the  early  settlement  of  the  county,  deer  were  very  abundant  and  aij 
occasional  one  is  seen  still,  but  they  have  mostly  gone  with  the  Indian.  Prairie 
wolves  were  also  very  abundant  in  the  early  day,  and  a  source  of  much  vexation 

*This  name  is  often  spelled  Lillycash,  which  we  suppose  to  be  incorrect  as  there  is  no  unusual  amount  of  cash  on 
its  banks  so  far  as  we  know.  The  word  cache  is  French  and  means  a  hole  or  hiding  place,  the  name  given  by  traders 
and  Indians  to  the  places  where  they  often  hid  corn  and  other  things. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  227 

and  damage,  and  are  not  yet  extinct.  Buffaloes,  no  doubt,  once  roamed  in  vast 
herds  over  Will  County,  but  had  disappeared  before  settlement.  The  timber 
which  filled  the  native  groves  and  bordered  the  streams  consisted  of  the  various 
varieties  of  oak,  black  walnut,  hickory,  elm,  hard  and  soft  maple,  button-wood 
and  iron-wood.  Of  these  and  others  there  was  a  large  and  vigorous  growth  of 
fine  trees  on  the  first  settlement  of  tho  county,  most  of  which  in  a  few  years  fell 
before  the  ax  of  the  settler  for  the  purpose  of  building  log  houses,  rail  fences, 
fire-wood,  etc.,  and,  as  soon  as  saw-mills  were  built,  for  lumber.  There  were 
also  numerous  groves  of  the  wild  crab-apple,  the  fruit  of  which  was  tolerable  for 
sauce,  when  we  could  get  nothing  better,  and  when  in  blossom  the  trees  were 
a  sight  which  cannot  be  excelled  in  beauty.  Wild  plums  were  also  abundant 
and  good,  and  wild  grapes  festooned  the  trees  and  furnished  a  fruit  which  was 
fair  in  quality  and  made  good  wine.  The  present  growth  of  timber  has  mostly 
grown  up  within  the  memory  of  the  older  settlers.  The  scarcity  of  timber  has 
now  been  amply  compensated  by  the  discovery  of  coal  and  the  substitution  of 
other  material  for  fences,  as  well  as  the  bringing  in  at  low  rates  of  the  products 
of  the  great  pineries  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin.  For  building  purposes,  a  sub. 
stitute  has  also  been  found  in  our  abundant  quarries,  and  also  in  the  manufact- 
ure of  brick,  the  material  for  which  are  found  in  abundance  within  our  own 
borders.  The  bluffs  and  bottoms  of  the  streams — notably  of  the  Des  Planes — 
furnish  a  limitless  supply  of  the  most  beautiful  limestone.  The  quarries  of 
this  county  and  Cook,  on  the  line  of  this  river,  have  become  known  the  United 
States  over.  The  southwest  corner  of  the  county — embracing  portions  of  the 
towns  of  Wilmington  and  Reed,  which  is  a  rich,  level  prairie — is  included  in 
the  coal-fields  of  Illinois,  which  furnishes,  at  cheap  rates,  the  coal  needed  for 
our  manufactures  and  our  firesides.  The  extent  of  the  Wilmington  coal-field  is 
not  large,  b.ut  it  furnishes  a  large  supply  of  valuable  coal.  The  area  is  esti- 
mated at  twenty  square  miles,  and  the  thickness  of  the  vein  averages,  it  is 
thought,  three  and  a  quarter  feet.  This,  according  to  the  usual  mode  of  reckon- 
ing, would  give  sixty-six  million  tons.  This  corner  of  the  county  is  honey- 
combed with  shafts,  the  depth  of  which  varies  from  twenty  to  seventy  feet. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons  are  annually  sent  to  market.  This  industry  has 
built  up  a  considerable  city  in  the  township  of  Reed,  of  the  name  of  Braid- 
wood,  the  name  of  which  has  figured  somewhat  in  our  recent  history.  To  show 
the  different  overlying  and  underlying  strata  in  this  locality  we  give  a  section 
of  the  Eagle  shaft  as  we  find  it  in  the  geological  survey  of  the  State : 


Soil  and  drift 22  feet,  6  inches. 

Sandstone  (water-bearing)   24  feet. 

Clay  shale  (soap-stone) 27  feet,  6  inches. 

Coal 2  ft.,  10  in.  to  3  ft.  10  in. 

Coarse,  porous,  water-bearing  sandstone  12  feet. 

Fire-clay 3  feet. 

Coarse  sandstone  6  feet. 

Greenish  fire-clay 15  feet. 


228  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

This  boring  below  the  coal  was  made  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  second  bed  of 
coal,  which,  as  yet,  has  not  been  found. 

Through  the  valleys  of  the  three  principal  streams,  alluvial  deposits  con- 
stantly occur.  In  the  Kankakee  Valley,  these  are  mostly  in  the  form  of  sandy 
ridges,  similar  to  those  found  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan.  In  the  valley 
of  the  Des  Planes,  are  found  extensive  beds  of  limestone  gravel  and  sand. 
The  most  noted  of  these  is  the  Joliet  Mound,  one  fourth  of  a  mile  long  and 
two  or  three  hundred  feet  wide,  and  sixty  feet  high.  This  is  composed  of  gravel 
and  bowlders  lying  upon  a  bed  of  blue  clay  six  feet  in  thickness.  The  early  ex- 
plorers imagined  this  to  be  the  work  of  the  mound-builders,  but  its  composition 
and  that  of  neighboring  ridges  and  bluffs  show  very  clearly  its  alluvial  origin. 
The  symmetry  of  the  mound  which  was  once  so  striking,  and  which  led  to  the 
belief  that  it  was  of  artificial  orgin,  has  been  in  part  destroyed,  first,  by  the 
canal,  and  subsequently  by  the  "Joliet  Mound  Tile  Company,"  which  has  ex- 
ported it's  gravel,  and  made  use  of  its  clay  in  the  manufacture  of  tile  and  brick. 
All  along  the  valley  on  either  side  and  above  and  below  it  are  ridges  of  gravel, 
and  a  still  larger  mound,  known  as  Mound  Flat  Head,  presents  the  same  ap- 
pearance on  its  western  side,  a  bold,  gravelly  bluff  some  sixty  feet  high. 

Quarries  of  limestone  of  different  varieties,  and  of  more  or  less  value,  are 
found  in  the  valley  of  the  Des  Plaines  from  the  northern  line  of  the  county  to 
the  Joliet  Mound.  These  furnish  a  supply  of  stone  for  building  and  flagging 
that  is  practically  inexhaustible.  The  particulars  respecting  the  various  work- 
ings will  be  given  in  the  township  histories.  There  is  also  a  good  limestone 
quarry  at  Twelve-Mile  Grove,  in  the  town  of  Wilton,  but  its  distance  from  rail- 
roads, has  prevented  its  being  worked,  except  for  the  wants  of  the  immediate 
neighborhood.  Good  stone  is  also  found  on  Jackson  Creek  and  on  the  Du  Page. 
Some  of  these  varieties  of  limestone  furnish  the  right  material  for  lime,  which 
is  largely  manufactured,  especially  in  Joliet.  Peat  has  been  found  in  small 
patches  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  but  there  are  no  extensive  beds. 

Specimens  of  copper  have  been  found,  and  iron  nodules  are  found  in  the 
shales  overlying  the  coal ;  and  it  is  found  in  the  form  of  pyrites  in  the  lime- 
stone;  but  there  are  no  important  deposits  of  either  metal.  Indications  of  pe- 
troleum have  been  found  in  a  boring  upon  the  island  at  Wilmington,  and  in  the 
Des  Planes  River,  near  its  mouth.  Considerable  oil  fever  was  generated  at  the 
time,  and  some  money  thrown  away  in  boring  for  oil. 

A  sandstone  quarry  has  been  opened  between  the  Kankakee  and  the  feeder  on 
Section  6,  in  the  town  of  Wilmington,  and  also  one  on  Section  20,  just  across  the 
Du  Page,  near  its  mouth.  There  are  also  fine  beds  of  molding  sand  in  the  town  of 
Channahon.  This  sandstone  quarry,  a  few  years  since,  promised  to  become  a  valu- 
able property.  It  was  opened  by  a  company,  of  whom  our  citizen,  M.  Haley, 
was  one,  and  large  quantities  were  sent  to  Chicago  to  aid  in  the  rebuilding  of 
the  city.  The  Sherman  House,  and  other  extensive  blocks  are  built  of  it. 
Quite  a  town  grew  up  about  the  locality,  but,  for  some  reason  or  other,  it  is 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  229 

not  now  worked,  and  the  town  of  Shermanville  is  deserted.  The  opening  of 
the  quarry  showed,  after  the  removal  of  the  surface  soil,  two  feet  of  molding 
sand,  two  feet  of  fire  sand,  eight  feet  of  sandstone  and  clay,  and  then  twenty- 
five  feet  or  more  of  bluish  sandstone.  This  was  considered  to  be  what  Chicago 
especially  needed — something  that  would  not  burn.  But  its  beauty,  we  have 
heard  was  impaired  by  containing  traces  of  iron,  which  soon  gave  it  a  rusty 
appearance  ;  and  Chicago  doesn't  like  to  be  thought  rusty,  and  abandoned  its  use. 
Artesian  wells  have  been  sunk  in  Joliet  and  Lockport,  and  the  number  in 
Joliet  is  not  less  than  twelve.  From  most  of  these,  a  steady  and  copious  flow 
of  water  is  obtained,  and  very  clear  and  pure,  except  that  some  of  them  con- 
tain a  little  sulphur.  It  is  believed  that  in  almost  any  part  of  the  county  a 
flow  of  water  could  be  obtained  at  less  than  six  hundred  feet.  Water  was 
obtained  in  Joliet  at  less  than  five  hundred  feet.  The  drilling  of  one  of  these 
wells  showed  220  feet  of  limestone,  80  feet  of  soap  and  slate  stone,  110  feet  of 
sandstone,  bearing  the  water.  When  the  first  one  was  successfully  accomplished 
in  Joliet,  a  great  number  of  our  citizens  assembled  to  witness  the  flow.  So 
deeply  interested,  it  is  said,  did  some  become,  that  they  actually  drank  more  or 
less  of  the  crystal  fluid,  a  thing  which  some  had  not  done  before  for  many 
years,  thus  renewing  the  experiences  of  their  youth. 

*R 

SURVEY,  ETC. 

The  reader  has  perhaps  observed  on  the  maps  of  this  State  two  lines  run- 
ning parallel  to  each  other  and  diagonally  across  the  townships,  and  called  the 
Indian  Boundary.  The  land  included  between  these  lines — a  strip  twenty  miles 
wide — was  surveyed  in  1821—22  (the  Indian  title  having  been  extinguished  to 
this  in  1818)  for  canal  purposes,  as  hereafter  explained.  The  land  lying  out- 
side of  this  was  surveyed  in  1837-38.  Consequently  the  portion  lying  between 
these  lines  was  brought  into  market  earlier  than  the  other.  At  the  time  of  the 
first  survey,  the  parties  who  did  the  work  were  obliged  to  go  to  Fort  Clark,  as 
Peoria  was  then  called,  for  their  supplies. 

To  each  of  the  townships  the  same  act  which  provided  for  the  survey  gave 
the  sixteenth  section  for  school  purposes.  Another  section,  the  thirty-sixth, 
is  also  set  apart  for  the  same  purpose  by  a  later  act,  but  this  was  too  recent  to 
benefit  our  State. 

At  the  time  of  the  first  settlement  of  our  county  the  title  to  the  land  (the 
Indian  title  having  been  purchased  by  treaty)  was  in  the  United  States.  Acts 
of  Congress  had,  however,  been  passed  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  settle- 
ment, by  which  actual  settlers  were  allowed  to  gain  a  pre-emption  right,  as  it 
was  called,  or  a  right  to  purchase,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  160  acres  of 
land,  or  a  quarter-section,  at  $1.25  per  acre,  whenever  the  same  should  be 
brought  into  market.  Land  offices  were  established  where  settlers  could  prove 
up  their  rights  and  receive  certificates  in  the  form  of  receipts  for  the  purchase 
money,  for  which  patents  were  afterward  given  by  the  United  States.  In 


230  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

cases  where  the  whole  amount  could  not  be  secured  in  one  place,  or  when 
prairie  or  timber  could  not  be  secured  contiguous,  a  right  to  locate  one  eighty 
on  unclaimed  lands  was  given,  which  was  called  a  "  float."  After  the  lands 
had  been  opened  to  pre-emption  for  a  time,  public  sales  were  held,  and  outside 
parties,  not  actual  settlers,  were  allowed  to  purchase.  Early  settlers  will  recall 
'how  conflicting  claims  often  occurred  between  "squatters"  and  other  claimants, 
and  how  neighborhoods  often  established  a  kind  of  mock  court  for  their  settle- 
ment. These  were  without  any  authority  of  law,  but  their  decisions  were 
generally  received  without  appeal.  Certain  acts  were  required  by  the  law  to 
entitle  a  person  to  pre-emption — such  as  a  certain  amount  of  fencing,  a  cabin 
and  actual  residence  for  a  certain  period.  When  public  sales  occurred,  how- 
ever, "squatters'  rights"  were  enforced  by  the  combined  settlers  against  spec- 
ulators, whether  the  claimant  had  done  what  the  law  required  or  not.  Many 
actual  settlers  also  had  not  secured  their  pre-emption  by  reason  of  their  not 
having  the  money  to  pay  for  the  land.  Speculators  and  squatters  often  com- 
promised by  the  speculator  paying  for  the  whole  claim  and  giving  the  squatter 
one-half.  These  various  terms,  pre-emption,  float,  claim,  squatter,  etc.,  have 
now  become  obsolete  in  this  region,  but  they  were,  forty  or  fifty  years  ago, 
words  of  great  significance. 

Another  act  had  been  passed  by  Congress,  in  1826,  giving  t#  the  State 
every  alternate  section  of  land  in  a  strip  ten  miles  wide,  lying  along  and  each 
side  of  the  contemplated  route  of  a  proppsed  canal.  This  act  appropriated 
300,000  acres  of  land  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  the  canal,  and  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  a  brief  history  of  which  is 
given  further  on.  It  was,  no  doubt,  this  act,  as  well  as  the  natural  beauty  and 
fertility  of  the  region,  which  gave  rise  to  the  tide  of  immigration  which  set  in 
hither  forty  to  fifty  years  ago. 

EARLIEST   HISTORY. 

In  tracing  up  the  history  of  any  locality  or  people,  it  is  always  pleasing  to 
go  back  to  the  beginning  of  things,  and  to  learn  who  first  trod  its  soil  and  voy- 
aged upon  its  streams.  Such  an  investigation  in  reference  to  Will  County  car- 
ries us  back  to  1673,  when  Louis  Joliet,  a  French  trader,  and  James  Marquette, 
a  Jesuit  missionary,  started  out  from  Green  Bay  on  their  successful  voyage  for 
the  discovery  of  the  great  river  which,  the  Indians  informed  them,  flowed  to  the 
Great  West.  Going  up  the  Fox  and  across  the  "  divide  "  into  the  Wisconsin, 
they  came,  in  due  time,  to  the  great  river,  on  whose  ample  bosom  they  floated 
as  far  as  the  Arkansas.  This  was  far  enough  to  satisfy  them  that  it  emptied 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  they  retraced  their  steps.  Coming  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Illinois,  they  returned  by  that  stream  to  Chicago,  having  learned  from 
the  Indians  that  it  was  a  shorter  route,  passing,  of  course,  up  the  Des  Planes. 
Tradition  says  that  they  encamped  upon  the  mound  below  Joliet.  However 
this  may  be,  it  has  borne  the  name  of  Joliet  Mound  from  earliest  times.  This 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  .  231 

was  probably  the  first  time  that  the  region  now  known  as  Will  County  was  trodden 
by  a  white  man.  A  few  years  after,  two  other  early  French  explorers — La 
Salle,  a  trader  and  explorer,  and  Father  Hennepin,  another  Jesuit  missionary- 
passed  from  the  St.  Joseph  River  into  the  Kankakee,  and  down  it  into  the  Illi- 
nois. These  facts  and  the  following  incident  from  Indian  history,  ought  to 
make  the  Des  Planes  and  the  Kankakee  classic  rivers.  In  a  very  interesting 
work  published  a  few  years  since  by  N.  Matson,  of  Bureau  County  (and  who, 
by  the  way,  seems  to  be  one  of  our  indefatigable  searchers  after  the  Indian  his- 
tory of  this  region),  we  find  the  following  tradition  respecting  the  mound : 

"  One  of  the  most  celebrated  Indians  of  history  was  Pontiac,  the  chief  of 
the  Ottawas,  of  Michigan.  After  the  surrender  of  the  Northwest  by  the 
French  to  England,  in  1763,  Pontiac  for  a  while  contested  the  claims  of  the 
English,  and  was  known  as  their  most  able  and  bitter  enemy.  When  he  could 
no  longer  maintain  the  contest,  he  left  the  vicinity  of  Detroit,  where  he  was 
born  and  had  always  lived,  and  with  the  remnants  of  his  once  powerful  tribe 
(about  two  hundred  warriors  and  their  families),  found  a  refuge  on  the  banks  of 
the  Kankakee,  in  this  county,  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  Wilmington.  He 
merged  the  remnants  of  his  tribe  into  that  of  the  Pottawatomies.  This  region 
was  claimed  by  the  Illinois,  and  a  conflict  arose  between  the  tribes,  especially 
in  reference  to  the  right  to  hunt  the  buffalo  to  the  west  of  the  Illinois  River. 
After  fighting  over  the  matter  awhile,  a  council  was  agreed  upon  to  settle  the 
question.  This  council  met  at  Mound  Joliet,  in  1769.  During  a  speech  which 
Pontiac  was  making  in  support  of  his  side  of  the  question,  he  was  treacher- 
ously assassinated  by  "  Kineboo,"  the  head  chief  of  the  Illinois.  This  act  of  ^ 
treachery  led  to  the  bloody  war  which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  the  great 
Indian  city  "La  Van  tarn,"  which  stood  on  the  site  where  the  paper  city  of 
Utica  was  afterward  built,  and  to  the  tragedy  of  Starved  Rock,  and  to  the  ulti- 
mate extinction  of  the  great  nation  of  the  Illinois. 

After  the  visits  of  Joliet,  Marquette,  La  Salle  and  Hennepin,  there  is  no  record 
of  these  regious  having  felt  the  tread  of  the  white  man  for  nearly  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years.  But  it  was  no  doubt  a  favorite  hunting  and  fishing  ground  for  the 
Indians  ;  and  many  a  tale  of  peace,  of  the  chase  and  of  war  could  be  woven  from 
the  imagination,  without  doing  violence  to  the  facts.  The  portage  from  the 
South  Branch  of  the  Chicago  River  to  the  Des  Planes  was  easy  and  short,  and 
the  canoes  of  the  Indian  and  of  the  Indian  trader  made  frequent  passages  up 
and  down  the  Des  Planes.  The  next  white  man  who  explored  this  route,  of 
whom  we  have  any  certain  knowledge,  was  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard.  now  the  oldest 
white  settler  of  Chicago,  and  who  was  an  Indian  trader  there,  as  early  as  1824, 
and  who  entered  the  employ  of  the  great  American  Fur  Company  much  earlier. 
He,  no  doubt,  and  other  white  men  in  their  employ,  used  to  convey  goods 
along  this  route  and  gather  up  furs  in  exchange.  We  have  a  record  of  one 
such  trip  (the  first),  made  in  1818.  Mr.  Hubbard  is  still  living,  and  we  think 
the  world  might  be  challenged  for  another  such  experience  as  his.  To  have 


232  •  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

seen  Chicago,  the  mere  outpost  it  was,  in  1818,  and  for  some  years  after,  and 
then  to  have  lived  to  see  its  morasses  transformed  into  a  well-built  city  of  half 
million  inhabitants  !     Old  Methuselah,   in  his  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nm 
years,  saw  nothing  like  it. 

In  high  water  then,  as  even  now  occasionally,  the  Des  Planes  emptied  through 
Mud  Lake  a  portion  of  its  surplus  waters  in  the  Chicago  River. 
practice  of  the  Indians  and  of  the  earliest  traders  seems  to  have  been  propheti 
of  that  great  traffic  which  it  was  decreed  that  future  years  should  open  up 
through  this  beautiful  valley,  and  which,  immense  as  it  is,  has  not  yet  probab  y 
reached  its  acme.     No  doubt  many  now  living,  if  not  those  who  are  called 
settlers,  will  yet  see  the  steamers  plying  busily  up  and  down  an  enlarges 


•O.RQ  vivfir 

The  peace  of  Paris,  in  1763,  terminated  the  rule  of  France  over  the  North- 
west, and  it  passed  into  English  possession,  a  fact  which  was  destined  to  secure 
to  this  region  another  type  of  civilization  and  of  Christianity.     Of  course,  many 
of  the  early  explorers,  traders  and  missionaries  remained,  and  of  these  a 
their  descendants  it  was  estimated  that  two  thousand  remained  within  the  limits 
of  our  State  when  (1818)  it  was  admitted  into  the  Union.     Now,  however 
there  are  only  the  names  of  a  few  localities  to  remind  us  that  the  mercurial 
Frenchman  once  exercised  the  right  of  |piinent  domain  here.     By  the  Revol 
tion  of  1776  and  the  treaty  with  England,  the  country  passed  into  the  domai: 
of  the  United  States,  and,  by  the  treaty  of  1833,  at  Chicago,  with  the  Pott* 
watomies,  the  red  man  surrendered  his  domain,  also.     In  1835,  the  Indians 
the  number  of  five  thousand,  were  assembled  at  Chicago,  received  their  annu 
danced  their  last  war  dance  in  Illinois,  and  took  up  their  march  for  new  1 
ing  grounds  on  the  far  Missouri. 

FIRST    PERMANENT    SETTLEMENTS. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  detail  such  facts  in  respect  to  the  first  settlement  of 
Will  County  as  have  escaped  oblivion,  and  have  been  collected  from  the  men 
ories  of  early  settlers  and  from  public  records.     In  so  doing,  we  shall  of  . 
repeat  much  of  what  was  embodied  in  "  Forty  Years  Ago." 

At  the  time  of  the  admission  of  the  State,  all  that  portion  lying  no: 
Alton  and  Edwardsville,  with  slight  exceptions,  was  a  wilderness.     Occasi 
explorers,  soldiers  on  their  marches  to  the  distant  outposts,  as  well  as  Indi: 
traders  and  trappers,  had,  however,  discovered  the  beauties  of  the  region  and 
given  glowing  descriptions  of  its  attractions.     The  project  of  a  canal,  whi 
was  entertained  during  the  war  of  1812,  as  we  have  said,  had  also  called  att 
tion  particularly  to  this  region  and  led  to  its  purchase  of  the  Indians  in  1 
and  a*  early  as  1820  and  on,  an  occasional  pioneer  had  pushed  out  into 
great  Northwest.     The  Methodist  Church,  also,  which,  if  not  as  early,  has  1 
as  zealous  and  self-denying,  as  the  Jesuit  Society  in  its  efforts  to  Christianize 
the  "  poor  Indian,"  and  to  hold  the  restraints  of  religion  over  the  pic 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  233 

early  sent  out  its  missionaries,  furnished  only  with  horse  and  saddle-ba^s  a 
table  and  hymn-book,  to  establish  missions  over  the  region  so  soon  to  bec°ome 
3  homes  of  settlers  from  the  East  and  from  the  West  and  South,  where  Yan- 
kees and  Hoosiers,  Virginians,  Kentuckians  and  "Buckeyes"  were  soon  to 
mingle  in  neighborhood  fellowship,  in  due  time  to  be  followed  by  Irishmen 
(remans,  Englishmen,  Swiss,  Norwegians,  Swedes  and  «  contrabands  " 


It  was  one  of  these  Methodist  missionaries  who  became  the  first  settler 
within  the  present  bounds  of  Will  County.     This  was  the  Rev.  Jesse  Walker 
a  native  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  born  in  1766,  twenty-five  years  before  the 
death  of  Wesley.     He  joined  the  church  at  the  age  of  .20,  and  entered  the 
ministry  of  the  M.  E.  Church  on  probation,  in  1804.     He  married  the  daugh- 
f  a  wealthy  planter  who  was  heir  to  much  property  in  slaves.     These  she 
manumitted,  choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  and  as  the 
wife  of  a  Methodist  minister,  than  to  enjoy  the  ease  and  comfort  which  could  be 
secured  by  the  sweat  of  unpaid  toil.     Like  Moses,  she  no  doubt  had  respect 
nto  the  recompense  of  the  reward,  and,  no  doubt,  like  him,  she  had  entered 
upon  that  reward  and  does  not  regret  her  choice.     In  1806,  Walker  accom 
panied  by  Wm.  McKendree  (afterward  Bishop),  came  to  Illinois-then  included 
m  the  Territory  of  Indiana.     They  were  highly  pleased  with  what  they  saw 
t  the  next  meeting  of  the  Conference  were  appointed  to  the  circuit  in 
>is.     It  is  characteristic  of  the  times,  and  shows  how  loosely  the  Methodist 
clergy  of  that  day  were  held  by  worldly  interests,  that  Walker  returned  home 
the  Conference  about  noon,  commenced  preparations  at  once  for  the  journey 
and  by  10  o'clock  of  the  next  day,  he  and  his  family  were  on  the  way  to  their  new 
d  of  labor  and  self-denial.     The  state  of  the  country  at  that  time  rendered 
>nly  one  mode  of  travel  possible-,',  e.,  on  horseback-and  four  horses  were  re- 
for  himself,  family  and  possessions— one  for  himself,  one  for  his  wife  and 
young  daughter,  one  for  his  eldest  daughter,  a  girl  of  sixteen,  while  the  fourth 
Tied,  not  his  library,  for  an  itinerant  had  only  a  hymn  book  and  bible  but 
a  small  stock  of  Methodist  books,  the  sale  of  which  must  eke  out  his  slender 
Jary.     Such  a  mode  of  travel  would  not  admit  of  carrying  even  a  sinele 
aratoga  trunk,  had  such  arks  been  at  that  time  invented.     Happily  they  were 
not  needed,  as  the  wardrobe  of  each  member  of  the  family  consisted  of  only  one 
besides  the  one  worn,  and  these  were  spun  and  woven  by  the  mother  and 
tughter  and  were  of  linsey-woolsey  or  jeans !      Think  of  this,  ye  Flora  Me 
-tflimseys  ! 

Jesse   Walker   became   an   able   and    efficient    preacher   of    Christianity 

Imois,  although  he  bad  received  but  a  very  limited  education.     He  was  a 

strong,  native  intellect,  ready  wit  and  good  sense-just  the  man  for  the 

*  and  the  time.      There  are  still  some  living  who  remember  him  well       In 

find  him  reporting  his  labors  to  the  Conference  as  a  missionary  among 


234  HISTORY  OF  WILL   COUNTY. 

the  Indians ;  and  in  this  capacity  he  came  to  the  vicinity  of  Plainfield  in  1826, 
where,  and  for  several  subsequent  years,  there  was  an  Indian  village.  In  1827, 
he  was  Superintendent  of  the  Fox  River  Mission,  embracing  a  large  extent  of 
territory.  He  is  said  to  have  held  the  first  camp-meeting  in  the  State,  and 
also  to  have  preached  the  first  Protestant  sermon  in  St.  Louis.  In  1829,  he 
had  charge  of  the  Des  Planes  Mission,  and  formed  the  first  class  at  Walker's 
Grove,  where  the  settlement  was  made,  just  south  of  the  present  village  of 
Plainfield.  Father  Walker's  labors  as  Superintendent  of  the  Mission  were  not 
of  course,  confined  to  Will  County.  In  the  history  of  Livingston  County,  we 
find  mention  of  his  labors  among  the  Kickapoos.  The  writer  speaks  of  his  suc- 
cess among  this  tribe  as  being  considerable,  resulting  in  many  conversions.  It 
is  related  of  the  converts  that  they  were  very  scrupulous  in  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath,  always  returning  from  their  hunting  excursions  on  Saturday 
night.  In  this  they  were  a  good  example  to  the  whites,  many  of  whom  we 
have  noticed  start  out  to  hunt  on  Sabbath  morning.  This  writer  also  describes 
the  kind  of  prayer  books  made  use  of,  which  consisted  of  black  walnut  boards 
on  which  they  rudely  carved  the  images  and  figures  which  represented  their 
ideas,  and  these,  it  is  said,  they  never  failed  to  consult  before  going  to  rest  at 
night.  They  did  not  forget  their  prayers,  however  sleepy  and  tired,  as  white 
Christians  often  do.  To  return  to  Walker's  Grove. 

The  Pottawatomie  Indians  had  one  custom  which  is  worth  recording.  They 
set  apart  a  certain  number  of  their  women  as  council  women,  whose  duty  it  was, 
whenever  the  head  men  held  a  council,  to  sit  in  an  inner  circle  and  silently  to 
listen  to  all  that  was  said,  and  record,  in  their  memories,  the  decisions  arrived  at 
by  their  lords.  They  were  not  allowed  to  speak  in  the  council,  or  to  gossip  about 
it  among  themselves  or  with  others,  and  only  to  speak  when  called  upon  officially 
in  relation  to  any  matter  thus  recorded.  It  is  said  that  these  women  were  highly 
esteemed  by  the  tribe,  and  were  selected  with  great  care,  a  fact  which  we  can 
readily  believe,  for  they  must  have  been  possessed  of  rare  and  admirable  qualities. 
Many  of  these  facts  we  have  gathered  from  Mrs.  D.  C.  Scarles,  who  is  a  grand 
daughter  of  Father  Walker  and  the  daughter  of  James  Walker,  presently  to  be 
mentioned.  We  are  also  indebted  to  the  book  of  Father  Beggs — another  pioneer 
preacher  of  whom  we  shall  presently  make  mention — for  some  of  the  facts  re- 
specting Father  Walker.  Father  Walker  died  at  Plainfield,  in  1835,  at  the  ripe 
age  of  69.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Rock  River  Conference,  at  Plainfield,  in  1850, 
his  remains  were  removed  from  the  old  cemetery  to  the  new  one,  and  a  monu- 
ment placed  over  them  with  this  inscription  :  "  At  the  Rock  River  Conference, 
in  1850,  his  remains  were  removed  to  this  place  by  his  sons  in  the  Gospel,  who 
erect  this  stone  to  transmit  his  revered  name  to  coming  generations." 

It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  manuscripts  left  by  Father  Walker, 
respecting  his  life  and  labors,  which  must  have  been  of  great  historic  value  and 
interest,  were  burned,  a  portion  of  them  in  the  fire  which  afterward  consumed 
the  house  of  James  Walker ;  and  such  as  were  saved  from  that  fire  were  con- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  235 

• 

sumed  in  the  burning  of  D.  C.  Searles'  house  a  few  years  since.  While  on 
the  subject  of  Indians,  we  will  relate  an  incident  which  occurred  a  little  later. 
During  the  Black  Hawk  war,  one  of  the  council  women  of  whom  we  have 
spoken,  came  to  Mrs.  James  Walker,  the  daughter  of  Father  Walker,  who  had 
been  a  teacher  at  the  mission,  and  who  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  Indians, 
and  left  with  her  her  infant  boy,  to  whom  she  had  given  the  name  of  Shon-on- 
ise,  charging  her  that  if  she  did  not  return  she  must  be  a  mother  to  him,  which 
Mrs.  Walker,  without  much  reflection  at  that  time,  promised.  The  council 
woman  was  then  on  her  way  to  Milwaukee  to  attend  a  council.  It  so  happened 
that  she  was  attacked  with  cholera  and  died,  leaving  to  Mrs.  Walker  the  charge 
she  had  accepted.  This  duty  she  faithfully  fulfilled,  and  the  Indian  boy  was 
brought  up  in  the  family  with  Mr.  Walker's  children,  and  received  the  same 
advantages  of  education  as  his  own,  and  when  he  became  of  age  was  given  a 
generous  outfit.  But  Shon-on-ise  at  once  showed  the  truth  of  the  adage,  "  once 
an  Indian,  always  an  Indian,"  for  he  immediately  turned  his  pony's  head 
toward  the  setting  sun  and  sought  out  his  tribe  in  the  Far  West.  Having  the 
advantages  of  education,  he  became  an  influential  chief  among  the  Indian  tribes, 
and  made  frequent  visits  to  Washington  in  furtherance  of  their  interests.  On 
such  occasions  he  always  called  to  see  Captain  James  and  his  foster-mother. 

In  this  village,  as  elsewhere,  the  Pottawatomies  were  generally  well  dis- 
posed toward  the  settlers,  giving  them  but  little  annoyance  except  when  under 
the  influence  of  good-na-tosh.  This  article,  which,  under  another  name,  plays 
the  mischief  among  white  people  as  well,  was  a  source  of  great  trouble  and, 
indeed,  of  danger  to  the  mission  and  the  early  settlers,  and  it  became  necessary 
to  keep  strict  watch  and  to  use  arbitrary  measures  to  keep  it  from  them.  On 
one  occasion,  Capt.  James  Walker,  finding  that  by  some  unaccountable  means 
the  Indians  had  access  to  the  contraband  article,  determined  to  find  out  how 
they  got  it.  Being  perfectly  familiar  with  Indian  customs,  and  speaking  their 
language,  he  disguised  himself  in  their  attire  and  walking  into  their  encamp- 
ment or  village,  he  seated  himself  among  them,  as  he  found  them  gathered 
together  evidently  for  some  special  purpose.  Presently  a  man  stole  in  whom 
he  recognized  as  an  Indian  trader  from  Fox  River,  and  began  to  deal  out  the 
fire-water.  He  soon  came  to  Capt.  Walker,  who  jumped  to  his  feet  and  called 
out  the  name  of  the  trader,  who  exclaimed,  "  My  God,  Captain,  is  this  you  !  " 
The  result  was  that  the  traffic  ceased,  for  a  time  at  least.  But  it  is  time  to  tell 
who  Capt.  Walker  was. 

Capt.  James  Walker  had  married  one  of  the  daughters  of  Jesse  Walker. 
Although  of  the  same  name,  they  were  not  related.  James  Walker  was  a 
native  of  Tennessee,  and  came  to  Ottawa  at  an  early  day,  where  he  became 
acquainted  with  Jesse  Walker,  and  married  his  daughter,  and  accompanied  him 
in  his  mission  to  Walker's  Grove.  He  brought  with  him  a  horse-power  mill 
which  he  set  up  for  temporary  use,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  construct  a  saw- 
mill and  a  grist-mill  also  on  the  Du  Page.  These  rendered  valuable  service  to 


236  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

the  early  settlers  in  this  region.  It  is  said,  and  no  doubt  truly,  that  the  lumber 
for  the  first  frame  building  erected  in  Chicago  was  sawed  at  this  mill.  This 
was  erected  by  a  Mr.  Peck,  on  the  southeast  corner  of  La  Salle  and  South 
Water  streets,  upon  a  lot  which  had  cost  the  enormous  sum  of  $80.  We  pre- 
sume that  the  lot  is  now  occupied  by  a  better  building,  and  that  it  has  advanced 
somewhat  in  price.  The  lumber  was  hauled  to  Chicago  by  Reuben  Flagg,  Esq., 
mentioned  below.  On  the  organization  of  Will  County,  Jas.  Walker  was 
chosen  one  of  the  three  County  Commissioners  without  opposition,  and  soon 
after  was  chosen  to  represent  the  county  in  the  Legislature.  He  also  served 
the  county  as  Commissioner  during  the  years  1845-8.  Mr.  Jas.  Walker  died 
in  1850,  at  the  age  of  57.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  good  sense,  integrity  of 
character,  and  enterprise  and  energy,  and  a  consistent  member  of  the  Methodist 
Church. 

Another  Methodist  pioneer  preacher  is  identified  with  the  early  history  of 
Plainfield  and  Will  County,  Rev.  Stephen  R.  Beggs,  who  is  well  known 
throughout  the  county  as  one  of  the  earliest  itinerants  through  this  region. 
He  settled  his  family  on  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  16  of  the  township, 
and  built  a  log  house,  etc.  He  subsequently  obtained  the  title  to  the  same  at 
the  sale  of  the  section  under  the  school  law.  His  house  became  historic,  as  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  mention  by  and  by.  Father  Beggs  still  survives  in  a 
ripe  old  age,  and  is  still  able  to  put  in  his  strong  appeals  in  behalf  of  religion, 
temperance  and  justice.  In  1825,  a  Frenchman  of  the  name  of  Vetel  Ver- 
mette,  strayed  into  the  same  vicinity.  He  did  not  remain  long  and  little  is 
known  of  him. 

In  the  Summer  of  1830,  Mr.  Reuben  Flagg  left  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont with  his  family,  and  after  a  journey  of  two  months  arrived  in  the 
vicinity  of  Walker's  Grove,  on  the  9th  day  of  July.  He  settled  on  the  north- 
east quarter  of  Section  10  in  the  township.  On  his  way,  he  passed  through  a 
village  consisting  of  about  a  dozen  log  cabins,  a  block-house  and  stockade. 
Such  an  obscure  point,  surrounded  by  low,  wet  prairie,  barren  sand  and  impass- 
able sloughs,  presented  no  attraction  to  the  emigrant.  No  prophetic  vision  of 
the  great  city  which  afterward  arose  from  the  mud,  and  more  recently  from  its 
ashes,  had  then  troubled  the  brain  of  even  the  most  enthusiastic  squatter.  Mr. 
Flagg  found  in  the  vicinity,  besides  the  families  of  the  Walkers  and  Verinette, 
two  other  settlers  and  their  families.  These  were  Timothy  B.  Clark  and 
Thomas  Covel,  who  had  emigrated  the  same  Spring  from  New  England.  Mr. 
Flagg  was  accompanied  from  Detroit  by  Jedediah  Wooley,  Sr.,  who  bought  out 
the  claim  of  the  Frenchman  Vermette.  It  is  an  interesting  incident  that  in 
1832,  Father  Beggs,  who  was  then  Presiding  Elder,  held  his  first  quarterly 
meeting  in  Chicago.  The  incipient  city  had  by  this  time  grown  a  little,  but  it 
had  not  yet  become  the  greatest  hog  and  corn  market  of  the  world,  and  it  was 
thought  necessary  that  some  extra  provision  should  be  made  for  the  Methodists 
and  others  that  would  congregate  there  upon  the  occasion.  Accordingly,  Mr. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  237 

Clark,  above  mentioned,  hauled  a  load  of  provisions  by  ox-team  express  to 
Chicago  to  meet  the  emergency.  A  daughter  of  Mr.  Flagg's  (now  deceased), 
was  perhaps  the  first  white  child  born  within  the  precincts  of  Will  County, 
although  several  others  claim  the  honor.  To  this  settlement  additions  were 
soon  made.  We  give  the  names,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  gather  them, 
up  to  1837,  with  the  dates  of  their  arrival,  without  vouching  for  their  correct- 
ness in  all  cases.  In  1832—3,  Wm.  Bradford,  John  Shutliff,  David  Smith, 
Chester  Smith,  Ralph  Smith  and  Paul  Kingston.  Although  there  are  several 
Smith  families,  we  believe  that  these  three  were  brothers. 

In  1833-4,  Alva  Culver,  Sereno  Culver,  Miles  Royce,  Chester  Ingersoll, 
Jas.  Gilson,  Oliver  Goss,  Deacon  Ezra  Goodhue,  Hardy  Metcalf,  Benj.  Shut- 
liff, Jason  Flanders,  John  Bill,  W.  W.  Wattles,  Robert  W.  Chapman,  John 
Kellogg,  Rev.  Alfred  Greenwood,  Wm.  Sanborn,^  Benj .  Highland,  Thomas  J. 
Lang,  James  Mather  and  Andrew  Carrier  ;  in  1835,  '36  and  '37,  Jonathan 
Hagar,  Levi  C.  Aldrich,  Fenner  Aldrich,  Samuel  Sergeant,  Wm.  E.  Morgan. 
J.  E.  Ambrose,  Elder  R.  B.  Ashley  and  sons,  Bela  Luce,  Myron  Piersons,  S. 
S.  Pratt,  Dr.  A.  J.  Corbin,  Alonzo  Ray,  Rev.  Isaac  Foster,  Winthrop  Wright, 
Cyrus  Ashley,  David  Rossiter,  A.  J.  Hatch,  R.  D.  Hatch,  Hugh  Alexander, 
George  Burrell,  Dudley  Beckwith,  Lorin  Burdick  and  S.  B.  Tyler.  Flanders, 
"Lang,  Sanborn  and  Goodhue  came  together  from  New  Hampshire. 

Mr.  Greenwood  was  the  first  Pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church,  which 
had  been  organized  by  the  pioneer  home  missionary,  Rev.  N.  C.  Clark,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1834.  It  was  composed  of  the  following  members  at  organization  : 
James  Mathews  and  Sarah,  his  wife ;  Ezra  Goodhue  and  Martha,  his  wife ;  An- 
drew Carrier  and  his  wife,  and  Oliver  Goss  and  Mary,  his  wife ;  Ezra  Good- 
hue,  Deacon.  The  first  resolution  passed  by  this  Church  was  a  strong  temper- 
ance one,  and  the  first  case  of  discipline  was  that  of  a  brother  reported  to  have 
sold  whisky  to  the  Indians.  Mr.  Greenwood  was  succeeded  in  1836  by  Isaac 
Foster^  who  was  an  able  preacher  and  one  of  the  blackest  of  "  black  Abolition- 
ists "  (of  which  we  had  a  good  many  in  Will  County  in  the  early  days).  He 
subsequently  removed  to  California  and  took  up  the  profession  of  law,  and  no 
doubt  made  a  sharp  and  able  lawyer.  A  characteristic  anecdote  is  told  of  his 
California  life  :  California,  as  well  as  other  free  States,  had  a  fugitive-slave 
law  passed  in  obedience  to  the  slave  power,  which  in  those  days  was  w^ell-nigh 
supreme.  In  this  case,  however,  the  statute  expired  at  a  certain  date  by  its  own 
limitation.  A  "  fugitive "  was  pursued  to  California  and  arrested.  Foster, 
being  well  known  there  as  well  as  here  for  his  anti-slavery  principles,  was 
appealed  to  for  the  management  of  the  defense.  In  his  investigations,  he  dis- 
covered that  the  act  under  which  the  claimant  had  proceeded  would  expire  in  a 
few  days.  He  therefore  obtained  an  adjournment  of  the  case  to  the  day  subse- 
quent to  the  expiration  of  the  act.  The  other  party  little  dreamed  that  there 
was  any  limit  to  their  rights,  and  came  prepared  to  insist  upon  their  bond,  like 
Shylock  of  old.  Foster  was  ready,  and  soon  surprised  the  Court  and  the  other 


238  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

party  by  the  information  that  the  bond,  under  which  they  claimed  not  only  a 
"pound  of  flesh"  but  the  whole  man,  body  and  soul,  was  worthless,  and 
demanded  the  discharge  of  the  prisoner.  To  this  demand  the  Judge  was 
obliged  to  yield.  Well  knowing  that  other  proceedings  would  be  instituted,  the 
friends  of  the  slave  had  made  arrangements  by  Svhich  he  was  safely  conducted 
elsewhere  by  the  underground  railroad,  and  beyond  the  reach  of  the  man- 
hunter,  who,  in  his  rage  at  being  balked  of  his  prey,  challenged  Foster  to 
mortal  combat.  Foster  declined  on  the  score  that  it  was  none  of  his  quarrel, 
but  offering  to  get  the  negro  to  fight  him  if  he  wished. 

James  Mather  built  the  mill  at  the  upper  end  of  the  village,  afterward 
known  as  McAllister's.  He  left  Plainfield  in  1844,  and  has  died  within  a  few 
years  in  California.  Wm.  E.  Morgan  and  Samuel  S.  Pratt,  named  above, 
started  the  first  cabinet  shop  in  Plainfield,  and  we  think  in  Will  County  ;  and 
Pratt,  with  Benj.  Richardson,  afterward  started  a  cabinet  and  chair  factory  in 
Joliet.  Oliver  Goss  and  one  of  the  Smiths  were  merchants.  Jonathan  Hagar 
was  for  a  long  time  a  merchant  in  Plainfield.  He  now  enjoys  the  comfortable 
fortune  which  he  has  acquired  by  upright  and  diligent  attention  to  business ;  a 
prominent  man  in  the  Congregational  Church  and  in  the  prosperous  town  of 
Plainfield.  He  is  one  of  the  stockholders  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  this 
city.  Jason  Flanders  was  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  came  to  the  grove  in 
1834,  was  an  industrious,  honest  man,  and  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  He  died  in  1875,  at  the  age  of  6b'.  Winthrop  Wright  has  been 
a  prominent  man  in  the  dounty,  and  was  Supervisor  of  the  town  in  1855  and 
1856.  A.  Culver  was  Supervisor  of  the  town  in  1852  and  again  in  1857. 

Elder  Ambrose  organized  the  Baptist  Church  at  Plainfield,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Elder  Ashley,  who  organized  the  original  Baptist  Church  at  Joliet, 
of  which  we  shall  speak  by  and  by.  We  are  informed  by  Elder  Ashley,  who 
still  lives  in  Plainfield,  carrying  the. weight  of  79  years,  that  himself  and  Elder 
Powell  held  the  first  protracted  meeting  in  Chicago.  Elder  Ashley  counts  up 
more  that  eighty  meetings  of  that  kind  which  he  has  conducted. 

Chester  Ingersoll  kept  a  hotel,  we  presume  in  "  Mark  Beaubien  "  style,  in  the 
early  days,  and  laid  out  the  first  village  plat  of  Plainfield  in  August,  1834. 
He  was  an  active  speculator,  and  subsequently  resided  at  Lockport,  where  he 
held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He  was  the  Justice  of  the  Peace  who 
accomplished  an  official  feat  which  has  probably  never  been  equaled.  Justices 
of  the  Peace  were  legally  competent  to  take  the  acknowledgments  of  deeds,  etc.; 
and  the  law,  as  is  well  known,  required  that  the  officer  should  examine  the  wife 
separate  and  apart  from  her  husband,  in  order  to  relinquish  dower.  Having 
sold  a  piece  of  land,  Ingersoll,  with  an  eye  to  thrift  or  convenience,  took  his 
own  acknowledgment,  and  also  that  of  his  wife  "separate  and  apart  from  her 
said  husband"  and  certified  to  the  fact  under  his  own  hand  and  seal,  and  the 
writer  hereof  put  the  deed  and  acknowledgment  upon  the  county  records.  Just 
how  he  accomplished  the  feat,  history  is  silent ;  but  that  he  did  it  has  long  been 


JOLiET 


flfc  l»«l 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  241 

a  matter  of  record.  There  has  been  considerable  litigation  in  the  way  of 
widow's  claim  for  dower  on  score  of  defective  acknowledgment,  but  we  think 
this  one  would  defy  the  sharpest  lawyer.  Ingersoll  emigrated  to  California 
just  before  the  discovery  of  gold,  and  died  there.  Several  letters  from  him  are 
in  the  files  of  the  Signal. 

Of  these  early  settlers  in  Plainfield  and  vicinity,  three  have  been  repre- 
sented in  the  bar  of  Joliet  by  one  son  each,  viz.:  Hager,  Flanders  and  Good- 
hue.  Thomas  Lang  furnished  us  with  two  brave  boys  for  Company  D,  One 
Hundredth  Regiment — Sergt.  George  A.  Lang,  and  John  C.  Lang,  who  was 
wounded  July  22d,  before  Atlanta.  The  latter  is  now  on  the  editorial  staff  of 
the  Republican.  James  Mather  built  the  mill  at  the  north  end  of  Plainfield, 
subsequently  remodeled  by  the  McAllisters.  Later  names  and  facts  respecting 
the  history  of  Plainfield  are  referred  to  in  the  town  history.  We  are  only 
attempting  to  record  the  beginnings  of  its  history.  One  fact,  however,  of  later 
date  we  will  record.  Such  was  the  reluctance  of  the  early  settlers  to 
launch  out  into  the  open  prairie,  that  at  the  land  sale  in  1835,  Judge  Caton 
found  two  sections  of  land  in  the  town  of  Plainfield  still  unclaimed,  which  he 
entered.  These  sections,  30  and  31,  with  a  half-section  in  Kendall,  make  (next 
to  that  of  C.  C.  Smith,  in  Channahon)  the  largest  farm  in  our  county.  The 
Judge  opened  the  farm  in  1838,  and  resided  upon  it  until  1842  or  1843,  and  was 
a  most  vigorous  granger  during  those  years,  and  could  often  be  seen  driving  his 
long  ox-team  and  breaking-plow,  barefooted,  over  his  ample  and  fertile  acres. 
In  those  years,  he  used  to  vary  the  routine  of  daily  life  with  occasional  petti- 
fogging before  Justice  Hagar.  We  do  not  suppose  that  Mr.  Hagar  would  claim 
that  it  was  this  experience  which  qualified  him  for  Chief  Justice  of  Illinois. 
The  Judge  still  retains  the  farm,  although  Will  County  cannot  claim  him  as  a 
citizen.  The  property  was  many  years  in  charge  of  his  brother,  Win.  P.  Caton, 
who  was  eight  years  the  Supervisor  of  the  town  and  Chairman  of  the  Board. 
Let  us  also  note  the  fact  that  Plainfield  was  the  first  town  that  got  a  company 
(the  old  battery)  into  the  late  war  from  our  county,  and  she  also  furnished  the 
greatest  number  of  volunteers,  in  proportion  to  her  population,  of  any  town, 
and  she  is  also  the  only  town  in  the  county  that  has  erected  a  monument  to  the 
memory  of  those  who  perished  in  defense  of  the  Union.  This  monument  cost 
$800. 

WHEATLAND. 

Immediately  north  of  Plainfield,  lies  the  town  of  Wheatland — Township  37, 
Range  9 — the  northwestern  corner  of  the  county.  With  slight  exceptions,  this 
township  remained  unsettled  until  after  1840.  Two  things  contributed  to  delay 
its  settlement.  Lying  mostly  outside  of  the  Indian  boundary  line,  it  was  not 
surveyed  until  1837  or  1838,  and  not  brought  into  market  until  1841 ;  and 
being  entirely  prairie  (with  a  trifling  exception  in  the  northeast  corner),  it  did 
not  so  early  attract  settlers  as  other  portions.  But  this  was  also  an  advantage,  as 
it  was  from  these  circumstances,  kept  out  of  the  hands  of  speculators,  and  reserved 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 


for  the  hardy  immigrant.     But  so  fine  a  section  of  land  could  not  long  remain 
vacant  after  the  discovery  had  been  made  that  timber  was  not  so  mdispei 
:«  the  earlier  settlers  supposed. 

iLac  Foster,  of  whom  we  spoke  in  the  history  of  Plainfield,  settled  ,n  the 
south  part  in  1837  ;  Josiah  B.  Wightman,  in  1838  ;  L  G  Colgrove  and  Ches- 
ter Ingersoll,  in  1839;  Simeon  B.  Tyler,  in  1841,  and  Anthony  Freeland  ,, 
1842  These  were  all  on  the  east  side  of  the  Du  Page.  D.  W.  Cropsy,  the 
first  Supervisor  of  the  town,  settled  on  the  west  side,  in  1846  hut  soon  moved 
to  the  east  side;  and  S.  Simmons,  who  was  also  Supervisor  of  the  town  five 
years,  and  our  County  Judge  four  years,  located  there  in  1 

In    1843    there  was  a  considerable  addition  to  the  township.     William 
McMicken,  and  John  McMicken-the  present  Supervisor  of  the  town-who 
were  directly  from  Scotland,  settled  in  the  extreme  northwestern  corner  of  th 
township.     In  this  year,  came,  also,  Wm.  Cotton,  A.  B.  Cotton,  James  Robms 
JotoRobins  and  Frames  Kobins,  Englishmen,  from  the  Isle  of  Wight  and 
G"W.  Brown,  from  Pennsylvania,  and  Joseph  B.  Wait,  B.  T.  Durant  War- 
ren W.  Boughton,  P.  Haviland  and  Asa  Canfield,  from  New  York;  and  Wm. 
Kinley  from  the  Isle  of  Man  ;  and  Julius  Piedlau  and  John  Martm,  from  Canada 
In  1844  Stephen  Findlay  and  sons  founded  the  Scotch  settlement,  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  the  town,  at  and  about  Tamarack  Post  Oflta,     .  In  the 
same  year  came  Robert  Clow  and  his  five  sons,  Robert,  Jr    Adam,  Will  am 
and  Thomas,  and  a  little  later  another  son,  John  H.     The  Clows  were  Scotch, 
Tut  had  tarried  a  few  years  in  the  State  of  New  York  before  finaly  pitching 
their  tent  in  Wheatland,  where,  the  land  being  still  not  taken  up,  they  en  tared 
1  080  acres  of  its  beautiful  prairie,  embracing  Section  15  and  parts  of  14  an< 
We  find  in  the  files  of  the  True  Democrat  an  enthusiastic  notice  of  the  « 
visit  to  Wheatland  in  1850.    The  editor,  H.  N.  Marsh  Esq.,  was  then  taking  t 
census  of  the  county.    He  makes  special  mention  of  the  Clow  plantation,  of  t 
white  school  houses,  and  of  D.  W.  Cropsy's  fat  beeves  and  toothsome  chees< 
The  same  year  (1844),  came  Mungo  Patterson,  Daniel  Catchpole,  Jacol 
Spaulding,  George  Wheeler  and  Elias  Myers.     The  Scotch  Church  was  organ- 
Tzed  in  1847,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Oburn,  and  the  house  of  worship,  which  „  .such  a 
conspicuous  landmark  to  the  travelers  over  the  prairie,  one  mile  north  of 
rack  Post  OBice,  was  built  a  few  years  after. 

In  1843  the  following  persons  settled  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  town- 
ship and  gave  the  neighborhood  the  name  of  the  Vermont  Settlement:    Dav.d 
LTHri.   G.  Washington  Davis  and  their  aged  father,  Jonathan  Dav,s,  and 
Levi  Blanchard.     In  1844,  Laton  Rice,  also  from  Vermont,  with  h»  five  sons, 
Alohonso  John  I.,  Asahel,  Philander  and  Isaac,  in  company  with   Rudolph 
Ho'ughton  and  General  Davis  and  their  families,  making  the  journey  from  Ver 
mont  with  their  own  teams,  camping  out  nights,  after  a  journey  of  forty-f  u 
days,  reached  the  same  settlement  and  became  a  part  thereof  »  October  of 
year  named.     Let  us  say,  in  passing,  that  Alphonso  Rice  was  one  of  Wh, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  243 

land's  contributions  to  the  war  for  the  Union,  and  that  he  laid  down  his  life  at 
Champion  Hills  in  1863,  being  a  member  of  Company  H,  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-fourth  Illinois  Infantry;  and  that  John  I.  is  now  a  resident  of 
Peotone,  and,  in  the  year  1877,  was  Supervisor  of  the  town  of  Will.  To 
this  Vermont  settlement  there  was  added  in  1845:  Jacob  Yaggy  (a  German) 
Edwin  Lillie  (a  Vermonter),  and  in  1846  Laban  Clark  and  family,  and 
in  1847,  Willard  Hayward,  and  in  1850  Zidon  Edson  and  Dr.  Allen  and 
families.  All  these,  together  with  the  Mr.  Kinley  we  named  above,  settled  in 
the  same  district.  To  these  were  added,  also,  Leland  Hough  ton,  Hiram  Johnson 
and  Sampson  Pratt,  in  1844  or  1845. 

In  1844  or  1845,  the  following  persons  settled  east  of  the  Du  Page  :  F. 
Boardman  and  A.  S.  Thomas,  and  Sumner  Heminway,  on  west  side.  Mr. 
Boardman  was  Supervisor  of  the  town  three  years. 

In  1846,  and  the  three  or  four  following  years,  the  population  of  the  town 
increased  rapidly,  and  among  the  later  settlers  were  many  Pennsylvania  Dutch 
and  Germans,  and  these  now  form  nearly  half  of  the  population  of  the  town- 
ship. They  are  the  same  staid  and  substantial  citizens  they  are  elsewhere,  and 
have  built  two  neat  and  substantial  churches. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  absence  of  timber  in  Wheatland,  and  this  fact 
reminds  us  of  a  little  story.  In  1846,  the  first  election  was  held  in  the  town- 
ship, which,  by  the  way,  was  then  known  as  "  Oregon  Precinct,"  for  two 
Justices  of  the  Peace.  Robert  Clow,  Sr.,  did  not  attend  the  election,  but  his 
sons  did.  When  they  came  back,  the  old  gentleman  asked  Robert,  Jr.,  who 
they  had  put  into  office.  Robert,  Jr.,  replied :  "  Mr.  Lillie."  "  Varra  gude  ! 
Varra  gude  !  "  says  he.  "  And  wha'  else  ?  "  «  Me,"  was  the  modest  and  hesi- 
tating reply.  «  You  ! "  says  the  old  man,  «  you  !  A-weel,  a-weel,  timber  is 
varra  scarce  in  this  country,  sure  enoo.  !"  But  fathers  do  not  always  put  the 
most  correct  estimate  upon  their  own  boys.  The  people  of  Wheatland  seem  to ' 
have  thought  the  timber  pretty  good,  as  they  have  chosen  Robert,  Jr.,  for  their 
Supervisor  seventeen  years,  while  the  county  has  chosen  him  as  its  Repre- 
sentative for  two  terms,  and  finally  made  him  Circuit  Clerk  and  Recorder 
Mr.  Robert  Clow,  Sr.,  died  October  5,  1870,  at  the  age  of  83  years  and  6 
months.  His  death  was  hastened  by  an  accidental  fall. 

In  the  digging  of  a  well  in  Wheatland,  on  Section  6,  in  1870,  a  bone  was 
found  forty-four  inches  long  and  of  the  diameter  of  one  foot,  supposed  to  be  the 
bone  of  the  lower  leg  of  a  mastodon,  which  must,  it  is  estimated,  have  been  at 
least  seventeen  feet  high. 

Several  of  the  names  we  have  given  in  this  list  were  residents  of  other  parts 
of  the  county  at  an  earlier  date. 

THE    DUPAGE    SETTLEMENT. 

In  the  town  of  Dupage  (Town  37,  Range  10),  which  lies  east  of  Wheatland, 
settlements  were  early  made.  This  town  is  beautifully  watered  by  the  two 


244  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

branches  of  the  Du  Page  which  unite  just  before  entering  Wheatland      The 
first  settler  in  this  township  was  Stephen  J.  Scott,  a  native   of  Maryland,  who 
came  into  this  State  in  1826,  and  made  a  claim  at  Grose  Point,  now  known  a 
Evanston      He  had  the  year  before  located  on  the  eastern  shore,  but  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  place,  and  crossed  over  with  his  family.     There  were  then  but 
few  white  people  north  of  Peoria,  besides  the  garrison.     Only  two  or  three  famili 
of  Indian  agents  and  traders  at  Chicago.      While  out  hunting  with  his 
Willard,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty  or  more  (now  a  resident  of  Naperville, 
and  a  banker),  he  came  upon  the  Du  Page  River  near  Plainfield.     Struck  with 
the  beauty  of  the  stream  and  the  adjacent  prairies  and  groves,  he  followed  1 
stream  until  he  came  to  the  forks,  or  the  union  of  the  east  and  west  branches, 
on  Section  7      The  beauty  and  evident  fertility  of  the  spot  led  him  at  once  t 
the  determination  to  leave  the  vicinity  of  the  lake  and  locate  on  that  spot,  and 
make  it  his  future  home.     He,  accordingly,  in  the  Autumn  of  1830,  made 
claim,  built  a  comfortable  log  house  and  moved  his  family  to  the  spot, 
the  farm  now  occupied  by  Mrs.  Sheldon. 

Willard  Scott,  who  accompanied  his  father,  had  acquired  a  good  knowlc 
of  the  Indian  language  and  character,  and  had  great  influence  with  the  Potta- 
watomie  Indians,  and  at  a  council  held  at  Big  Woods  in  1832,  was  largely 
instrumental  in  preventing  the  tribe  from  joining  the  Sacs  in  their  murderous 
war  upon  the  early  settlers.     He  had  been  adopted  into  the  tribe  and  received 
an  Indian  name-Kish-wash,  an  Eagle.     The  sterling  honesty  and  undaunte 
bravery  of  the  young  man  commanded  their  respect  and  confidence, 
of  his  early  hunting  expeditions  he  wandered  as  far  as  Holdeman's  Grove,  anc 
there  found  a  wife  in  the  family  of  Hawley.     This  family  removed  to  the  a 
locality  in  1830.     These  Scotts  subsequently  removed  to  Naperville  and 
identified  with  the  history  of  Du  Page  County. 

In  the  years  1830-32,  this  vicinity  was  selected  as    their    future 
by    Israel    Blodgett,    Pierce  Hawley    (above   named),    Robert    Strong,  John 
Dudley,   Ralph    Stowell,   Harry    Boardman,    Seth  Wescott     Isaac 
Lester  Peet   Simon  Terrill,  John  Barber  and  Samuel  Goodrich.     In  1 
the   settlement   was   increased   by    the  coming  of  Andrew    Godfrey    . 
Lord     Philip     Lord,     Hiram     Warren,    Hannibal    Ward,    Daniel     Stewart, 
Peter    Stewart,  Samuel   Whallen,  Shubal  Swift,    Joseph    Berry,    S.  Cliffc 
George  Spicer,  William   Smith  and  Jonathan  Royce  and  sons. 

Isaac  Scarrett,  above  named,  was  another  Methodist  pioneer  itinerant,  am 
laborer  with  Beggs  and  Walker,  and  he  succeeded  Walker,  in  1828,  as  Supei 
intendent  of  Fox  River  Mission  previous  to  his  settlement  in  Du  Page. 

'  P   P   Scarrett,  was   Sheriff  of  our  county  in  1854-55.     Elder  Scarre 
died  at  the  residence  of  his  son  in  Joliet,  in  May,  1861,  at  the  age  of  78 
Whallen  was  a  County  Commissioner  in  the  years  1841, 1842  and  1843,  and  died 
about  five  years  since  at  the  ripe  age  of  94.     Wm.  Smith,  commonly  known  , 
Col  Smith,  removed,  in  a  few  years,  to  this  city,  having  been  elected 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  245 

Circuit  Court,  which  office  he  held  for  seven  years.  He  was  a  prominent  citizen 
until  his  death,  in  November,  1870  ;  was  82  years  old.  His  son,  R.  W.  Smith, 
was  Supervisor  of  Dupage  in  1855-57,  and  has  also  deceased. 

Harry  Boardman  was  one  of  our  most  popular  and  genial  citizens  and 
Supervisor  of  the  town  in  1855 ;  a  son  of  Jonathan  Royce,  of  same  name, 
was  Supervisor  of  the  town  in  1870-73.  John  Barber  was  the  father  of  our 
well-known  citizen,  R.  E.  Barber,  Esq.,  and  settled  on  the  south  side  of  the 
east  branch,  and  gave  name  to  Barber's  Corners.  Robert  Strong  still  lives, 
one  of  our  most  worthy  citizens  and  an  Elder  in  the  Dupage  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  was  Supervisor  of  the  town  in  1862.  Judge  Blodgett,  of  Chicago, 
is  a  son  of  Israel  Blodgett. 

Mrs.  Kinzie,  wife  of  John  H.  Kinzie,  one  of  the  earliest  Indian  Agents  of 
the  Northwest,  and  for  a  long  tune  a  resident  of  Chicago,  in  a  book  which 
she  wrote  about  her  early  experience  on  the  frontier,  speaks  of  stopping  at 
Hawley's  over  night,  after  a  long  exposure  in  traveling  from  Fort  Winnebago 
to  Chicago  in  the  Winter  of  1831.  A  brother  of  Hawley's  was  killed  by  the 
Indians  near  his  place  in  1832,  after  cruel  torture.  So  far  as  known,  this 
and  the  Dunkard  preacher,  hereafter  noticed,  were  the  only  persons  killed  in 
the  Sac  war  within  the  bounds  of  Will  County,  although,  as  we  shall  presently 
relate,  there  were  many  who  were  badly  scared. 

Lester  Peet  taught  the  first  school  in  the  Naperville  settlement,  Du  Page 
County,  by  a  contract  with  the  early  settlers  of  that  locality,  for  twelve  dollars 
a  month.  Capt.  Jo.  Naper  heads  the  list  of  twelve  subscribers,  who  promised  to 
pay  in  proportion  to  the  number  sent.  The  writer  remembers  this  ancient 
pedagogue  well  in  later  years  as  one  who  always  came  to  Joliet  to  attend  Anti- 
slavery,  Temperance  and  Bible  meetings.  The  first  school  in  Dupage  town  is 
said  to  have  been  taught  by  Josiah  Giddings,  and  the  first  church  organized, 
in  1S33,  by  Rev.  N.  C.  Clark — we  suppose  the  same  church  which  now  exists 
and  to  which  the  veteran  J.  A.  Porter  now  preaches,  and  who  was  also  its  Pastor 
many  years  ago. 

The  Des  Planes  River  passes  through  the  southeast  corner  of  this  town- 
ship in  which  is  a  widening  of  the  river,  which  has  received  the  name  of  Goose 
Lake.  Any  man  who  supposes  it  to  be  much  of  a  lake  would  certainly  be  a 
goose.  Another  "Lilly-Cache,"  which  rises  near  the  place  where  the  other 
stream  of  the  same  naffie  rises,  runs  east  and  empties  into  the  Des  Planes.  This, 
however,  is  not  a  navigable  stream.  Both  have  their  source  in  springs.  Besides 
the  timber  along  the  streams,  there  is,  in  the  south  end  of  the  town,  a  beautiful 
island  of  timber,  which,  together  with  a  noted  spring  between  it  and  the  river 
were  all  known  in  early  times  by  the  name  of  Lilly-Cache.  The  old  roads 
from  Plainfield  to  Chicago  and  from  Joliet  to  Chicago,  passed  on  opposite  sides 
>f  this  island  grove  and  came  together  upon  the  highland  near  Godfrey's  (on 
Section  12),  a  famous  tavern  stand  in  the  early  times,  where  we  got  our  first 
'efreshments  on  the  way  to  Chicago,  and  the  stage-driver  "changed  horses." 


246  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Godfrey  and  Spicer,  and,  perhaps,  others  named  above,  settled  in  this  part  of 
the  town.  The  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  and  C.,  A.  £  St.  Louis  R.  R., 
which  follow  the  course  of  the  river  Des  Planes,  run  through  the 
same  corner-  of  the  town.  Martin's  Landing,  on  the  canal  (a  small  city),  lies 
on  the  line  of  the  township,  and  partly  in  Dupage  and  partly  in  Lockport. 
There  is  also  a  Romeo  depot  on  the  railroad.  In  this  vicinity  one  of  the  paper 
cities  of  the  county  was  early  laid  off  and  called  Rorneo,  to  match  Juliet.  It 
was  intended,  perhaps,  as  a  rival  ;  but  the  starting  of  Lockport  by  the  canal 
ended  it.  Of  course,  along  the  east  side  of  the  river  are  found  quarries  of  lime- 
stone. These  will  be  more  particularly  described  in  the  township  history. 

SETTLEMENTS   ON    HTCKORY    CREEK. 

We  pass  now  to  the  settlements  along  Hickory  Creek.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  we  are  giving  the  history  of  early  settlements,  without  strict  refer- 
ence to  present  town  lines.  The  Hickory  Creek  settlement  would  now  be  in- 
cluded in  the  towns  of  Joliet,  New  Lenox,  Frankfort,  Homer,  etc.  W.  R.  Rice, 
in  a  letter  which  we  find  quoted  in  the  combination  map  of  the  county,  says 
that  in  June,  1829,  he,  together  with  William  Rice,  his  father,  and  Miller 
Ainsley,  left  Fountain  County,  Indiana,  to  take  a  look  at  the  Far  West.  He 
says,  "  We  struck  the  Iroquois,  which  we  followed  to  the  Kankakee,  which,  in 
turn,  we  followed  to  the  Des  Planes.  We  then  went  up  the  latter  until  we 
came  to  Hickory  Creek.  Going  up  this  a  mile  or  two,  we  found  a  Mr.  Brown 
and  old  Col.  Say  re,  living  in  an  old  Indian  bark  shanty  near  where  Dr.  Allen's 
house  stands  (the  old  Davidson  place) ;  and  about  eighty  rods  northwest  across 
the  creek  was  an  old  man  of  the  name  of  Friend,  who  had  a  log  cabin  partly 
built."  This  account  is  no  doubt  correct.  The  Brown  he  speaks  of  died  soon 
after  and  was  buried  on  the  Davidson  place,  perhaps  the  first  white  burial  in 
Will  County.  As  is  well  known  to  all  old  settlers,  Col.  Sayre  built  a  saw-mill 
on  the  creek,  near  where  the  Red  Mill  now  stands,  but  on  the  north  side  of  the 
creek,  a  little  higher  up.  Mansfield  Wheeler,  who  came  to  the  vicinity  in  1833i 
went  into  partnership  with  him.  This  old  mill  has  long  since  gone  to  the  limbo 
of  things  that  were,  but  the  writer  hereof  has  often  seen  the  saw  crashing  ruth- 
lessly through  huge  oaks  and  black  walnuts  to  supply  the  needs  of  new  settlers. 
It  was  at  this  mill  that  the  lumber  was  sawed  for  the  first  frame  houses  of  Joliet, 
built  in  1834. 

To  this  settlement  there  also  came,  in  1830,  Lewis  Kerchival  and  son,  John 
Gougar,  Michael  Runyon,  Jared  Runyon  and  Jas.  Eminett;  in  1831 — John  Nor- 
man, Jos.  Norman,  Aaron  Ware,  Thos.  and  Abraham  Francis,  Isaac  Pence  and 
Samuel  Pence.  There  is  a  tradition  that  Jo  Smith,  the  Mormon,  once  preached 
at  the  Point,  and  that  Jas.  Emmett  and  others  were  converts  and  left  the  vicinity. 
In  1832,  were  added  Cornelius  C.  Van  Home,  John  Stitts,  Peter  Watkins  and 
sons,  Wm.  Gougar  and  son  Nicholas,  and  Joseph,  Alfred  and  James  Johnson.  The 
Johnsons  located  on  Spring  Creek,  in  the  edge  of  what  was  known  as  Yankee 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  247 

Settlement,  most  of  which  is  now  embraced  in  the  town  of  Homer.  To  these 
were  added,  in  1833,  Isaac  Reynolds  and  his  three  sons,  Smith,  Newton  and  Milton 
Reynolds,  Judge  Davidson  and  Matthew  Van  Home ;  and  in  1834,  G.  S.  Green- 
wood, John  Broadie  and  John  Cooper  and  sons.  Later,  in  1835  to  1837,  came 
John  Carl,  Abel  Bliss,  L.  A.  Cleveland  and  many  others.  It  will  be  understood 
that  the  above  list  includes  settlers  on  both  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the 
creek  ;  some  on  what  is  now  known  as  Maple  street.  Ohio,  Indiana  and  New 
York  furnished  most  of  these  settlers.  Most  of  these  have  passed  away. 
Some  have  left  sons  that  perpetuate  their  family  names  and  are  counted  among 
our  best  citizens. 

A  daughter  of  the  elder  Pence  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  Joliet 
bride,  for  a  description  of  whose  wedding  the  reader  is  referred  to  "  Forty 
Years  Ago."  Perhaps  the  most  prominent  of  the  persons  named  above,  in  our 
history,  was  C.  C.  Van  Home.  He  taught  the  first  school  in  the  vicinity  in 
the  Winter  of  1832.  His  place  in  the  point  of  timber  that  makes  out  into  the 
prairie,  in  which  are  the  Camp  Grounds  of  the  Methodist  brethren,  was  known 
in  the  early  days  as  Van  Home's  Point.  He  was  a  marked  character,  well  and 
extensively  known  throughout  Cook  County,  of  which  we  then  formed  a  part. 
He  was  a  man  of  liberal  education,  great  shrewdness,  abundant  self-esteem  and 
tenacity  of  purpose.  He  got  the  appointment  of  Postmaster  and  Justice  of  the 
Peace  soon  after  coming  here.  The  only  mail  route  at  that  time  in  the  county 
was  a  weekly  horseback  one  from  Danville  to  Chicago.  This  passed  by  the 
cabin  of  Uncle  Billy  Gougar.  As  Van  Home  resided  some  distance  to  the 
east,  the  office  was  kept  by  one  of  the  Gougar  boys.  In  1834-5,  before  a  post 
office  was  established  at  the  city  of  Joliet,  the  writer  hereof  made  weekly  pil- 
grimages to  Uncle  Billy's,  after  the  longed-for  letters  from  home.  Well  can  he 
recall  the  old  log  house  (long  since  replaced  by  a  comfortable  frame  farm  cot- 
tage), with  it?  two  rooms,  in  one  of  which  the  post  office  was  kept.  In  what  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  place  where  he  now  gets  his  mail,  was  that  old  dry- 
goods  box,  roughly  pigeon-holed,  with  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  rudely  inked 
on  the  edges  of  each  partition.  With  what  greed  he  seized  a  letter  when  he 
happened  to  get  one,  although  it  cost  a  quarter,  and  had  been  several  weeks  on 
its  dreary  way.  He  remembers  how,  on  one  occasion,  he  had  to  pay  about  a 
dollar  for  a  pamphlet,  the  margins  of  which  were  covered  with  writing,  contrary 
to  law.  But  it  waspheap,  even  at  that  price  !  And  the  writers  of  those  letters 
— where  are  they  1  Gone  !  all  gone  ! 

But  we  are  sadly  digressing.  Van  Home  was  one  of  our  most  useful  cit- 
izens in  those  days,  transacting  the  business  of  the  early  settlers,  aiding  them 
in  obtaining  their  claims  and  land  titles.  It  was  the  good  fortune  of  the  writer 
to  make  his  acquaintance  before  that  of  any  other  settler,  having  met  him  some- 
where this  side  of  Niles,  when  coming  into  the  country,  and  riding  back  with 
him  to  "Van  Home's  Point."  It  was,  perhaps,  owing  as  much, to  his  influ- 
ence as  to  the  good  sense  of  the  settlers  generally,  that  two  years  after  he  was 


248  HISTORY  OF' WILL  COUNTY. 

elected  as  the  first  Recorder  of  the  county.  But  we  soon  forfeited  his  friend- 
ship by  our  bad  behavior  in  apostatizing  to  abolition.  But  we  are  anticipating. 
It  Avill  be  well  remembered  that  Van  Horne,  some  years  ago,  removed  to  Joliet, 
and  was  elected  the  first  Mayor  under  our  city  charter,  and  how  he  "magnified 
his  office."  It  may  not  be  improper  to  add  that  one  of  his  sons  is  now  Super- 
intendent of  an  important  Western  railroad.  C.  C.  Van  Horne  died  of  cholera 
in  1854. 

Several  members  of  the  Reynolds  family  still  live  in  our  county.  J.  S.  Rey- 
nolds, who  was  brevetted  General  near  the  close  of  the  late  war,  and  who  com- 
manded the  Sixty-fourth  Regiment  in  the  important  battle  at  Bentonville,  on 
Sherman's  march  from  Savannah  to  Washington,  is  a  son  of  one  of  them.  Hig- 
ginbotham  moved  to  town  many  years  ago,  and  built  a  fine  house,  where  his 
widow  (now  Mrs.  Sutphen)  still  lives,  while  his  sons  perpetuate  his  name.  He 
died  in  March,  1865. 

Many  yet  living  will  remember  Uncle  Billy  Gougar,  so  noted  for  his  strong 
good  sense  and  sterling  integrity.  He  held  the  important  trust  of  County  Com- 
missioner in  1840  and  1841.  He  died  in  1861  at  the  age  78.  Father  Beggs 
officiated  at  his  funeral,  which  was  largely  attended.  Lewis  Kerchival  was  one 
of  the  best  citizens  and  farmers  in  the  county,  and  died  some  years  since.  His 
son  James  C.,  was  Supervisor  of  the  town  of  New  Lenox  in  1854  and  1855, 
and  again  in  1858.  He  died  in  1873  at  the  age  of  55,  a  worthy  son  of  a  worthy 
sire.  Jarod  Runyon  was,  for  some  years,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  of  the  village 
of  Lockport,  and  now  resides  in  California.  We  had  a  visit  from  him  a  few 
years  since. 

FIRST   BALL. 

Mrs.  Kinzie,  in  her  "Waubun,"  gives  an  account  of  a  ball  on  Hickory 
Creek,  in  1831.  She  does  not  tell  us  at  whose  house  it  was  held,  but  we  have 
ascertained  that  it  was  at  Mr.  Friend's.*  Three  out  of  the  five  single  gentlemen, 
then  resident  at  Chicago,  came  down  to  this  ball  on  horseback,  of  course. 
One  or  two  of  them  were  officers  from  the  Fort.  Parties  of  this  kind 
were  not  very  frequent,  the  guests  had  to  be  collected  from  great  distances,  and' 
consequently  they  were  somewhat  prolonged.  This  one  opened  with  a  sumptu- 
ous repast  at  noon,  at  which  every  luxury  which  the  country  then  afforded  was 
dispensed  in  profusion.  As  the  art  of  printing  had  not  then  been  introduced 
into  this  region,  we  have  no  menu  of  the  feast,  but  we  kno\$  what  the  possibili- 
ties of  the  time  were.  The  piece  de  resistance  was  undoubtedly  a  haunch  of 
venison  roasted,  which  might  have  been  supported  with  fried  bacon  and  prairie 
chickens.  The  entremets  might  have  been  pumpkin  pie,  crab-apple  sauce,  or 
stewed  wild  plums,  and  the  fruit  was  probably  melons  and  wild  grapes.  There  was, 
also,  no  doubt,  an  abundant  supply  of  corn  dodgers,  saleratus  biscuit  and  wild 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  249 

honey.  The  ball  opened  at  2  o'clock,  and  was  kept  up,  with  a  short  recess  for 
supper,  until  the  next  morning.  But  the  gay  scene  was  terminated  by  a  tragedy. 
The  Chicago  gentlemen,  it  is  presumed,  were  more  stylishly  dressed  and  put  on  city 
airs,  and  were  so  agreeable  and  forward  in  their  attentions  to  the  country  belles 
that  the  native  beaux  Avere  eclipsed  and  compelled  to  take  back  seats.  The 
Chicago  bloods  were  highly  elated  with  the  manner  in  Avhich  they  carried  off 
the  favors  of  the  girls.  Their  satisfaction  was,  however,  greatly  dampened  on 
discovering,  when  they  got  out  their  fine  horses,  in  the  early  dawn,  preparatory 
to  their  return,  that  by  some  strange  visitation  they  (the  horses)  had  lost 

their  manes  and  tails. 

JUDGE    DAVIDSON. 

Judge  Davidson  came  to  this  section  in  1830,  from  the  State  of  Indiana. 
He  was  originally  from  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  where,  when  a  poor  young 
man,  earning  his  living  at  surveying,  he  found  a  lot  of  pine  land  which  had  not 
been  taken  up.  He  managed  to  secure  it,  and  immediately  took  his  ax  and 
"lifted  it  up  against  the  big  trees."  This  not  only  made  him  "  famous,"  but  put 
some  money  in  his  purse,  with  which  he  came  to  Indiana  and  there  invested  it  in 
lands  at  Government  price.  This  soon  made  him  rich.  When  he  came  to  Hickory 
Creek,  he  entered  not  only  the  well-known  Davidson  farm,  but  several  others ; 
and  he  was,  while  he  lived,  one  of  our  most  prominent  and  substantial  men, 
although  of  retiring  disposition,  and  never  seeking  office.  When  he  came  here, 
he  was  still  a  bachelor,  and  in  the  prime  of  life.  He  met  his  fate  in  the 
daughter  of  one  of  his  tenants  (Mr.  More),  to  whom  he  was  married,  and  by 
whom  he  had  two  daughters,  well  known  in  Joliet  society.  His  widow  has  since 
married  Dr.  B.  F.  Allen.  It  is  said  that  the  Judge  always  kept  the  ax  with 
which  he  hewed  his  way  to  fortune.  He  acquired  his  title  of  Judge  in  Indiana, 
where  he  held  the  office  of  Probate  Judge.  He  died  in  March,  1844,  at  the 
age  of  57. 

JOLIET    TOWNSHIP. 

About  the  same  time,  another  settlement  was  made,  mostly  on  the  south 
side  of  Hickory,  in  Joliet  Township.  Robert  Stevens  and  David  Maggard 
made  claims  in  1830,  and  brought  their  families  in  1831.  Stevens  located  on 
the  well-known  Stevens'  place  (on  Section  2),  a  well-chosen  selection,  which 
made  him,  in  time,  the  possessor  of  a  valuable  property.  The  first  "  fair 
grounds  "  were  located  on  this  property  in  a  beautiful  grove  of  oak  openings,  a 
beautiful  and  abundant  spring  supplying  water.  These  grounds,  with  the  fair 
buildings,  were  afterward  occupied  as  a  soldiers'  camp  and  barracks,  when  it 
became  necessary  to  subdue  the  "  onpleasantness  "  of  our  Southern  brethren. 
David  Maggard  settled  on  the  bluff  on  the  west  side  of  the  Des  Planes  about 
opposite  the  Rolling  Mills.  His  cabin  was  the  first  one  erected  in  the  present 
limits  of  our  city.  It  stood  on  the  edge  of  a  ravine  up  which  passed  the  Sac 
trail.  This  trail,  it  is  perhaps  necessary  to  many  readers  to  explain,  was  the 
trail  made  by  the  feet  of  the  Indians  and  their  ponies  on  their  yearly  journeys 


250  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

from  the  Great  West  to  Fort  Maiden,  in  Canada,  to  receive  the  annuities  which 
it  was  the  cunning  policy  of  the  English  Government  to  keep  up  long  after  the 
country  had  passed  from  their  possession.  The  fruit  of  this  policy  Was  appar- 
ent in  the  fact  that  in  the  war  of  1812,  the  Indians  were  generally,  secretly,  if 
not  openly,  on  the  side  of  England,  and  in  the  massacre  at  Chicago,  and  other 
barbarities.  This  trail,  which  was  for  many  years  very  plain  and  distinct,  and 
which  was  a  well-known  guide  for  the  early  voyager  over  the  prairie  from  Niles 
hither,  and  which  is  now  probably  entirely  obliterated,  divided  somewhere  near 
the  present  cemetery,  one  branch  going  south  to  Ottawa,  crossed  the  old  ford 
below  Joliet,  and  the  other  crossed  the  ford  opposite  Maggard's  cabin  and  went 
on  by  Walker's  Grove  to  the  Great  River. 

In  1831,  Philip  Scott,  William  Bilsland,  Major  Robert  Cook  and  his  aged 
father,  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  Daniel  Robb,  Jesse  Cook  and  Reason  Zarley, 
were  added  to  the  settlement.  Seth  Scott  and  Aaron  Moore,  also  John  Nor- 
man, came  in  1832  ;  William  Hadsell  and  John  Goodenow,  in  1833 ;  Joseph 
and  Jacob  Zumalt,  in  1834.  We  suppose  Mr.  Goodenow  to  be  the  same  man 
who  settled  in  Yankee  Settlement  before  the  war.  He  was  the  father  of  Mrs. 
Michael  Rodgers,  and  died  some  years  since  at  Reed's  Grove. 

Reason  Zarley  came  here  from  Ohio,  was  one  of  our  first  Justices  of  the  Peace 
while  we  were  yet  a  part  of  Cook  County.  He  died  Aug.  30,  1859,  aged  68  years 
and  six  months.  He  was  born  in  1791 ;  served  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was  one  of 
the  few  survivors  that  returned  from  the  bloody  engagement  at  Brownstown,  where 
one  hundred  and  thirty  Americans  were  assailed  by  eight  hundred  Indian  and 
four  hundred  British  soldiers.  He  was  in  the  army  at  the  time  of  Hull's  sur- 
render. He  came  into  the  State  in  1829,  and  to  this  township  in  1831,  and 
settled  upon  the  well-known  Zarley  farm,  which  he  had  purchased  when  the 
canal  land  was  in  market,  under  the  act  of  1829.  There  were  few  here  then 
except  Indians.  When  the  Black  Hawk  war  broke  out,  he  went,  with  his 
family,  to  Danville,  returning,  after  it  was  over,  to  the  same  place,  where  he 
resided  until  his  death.  He  was  a  man  of  sterling  character,  high  moral  senti- 
ments, sound  mind  and  strong,  good  sense  and  judgment.  A  large  concourse 
of  citizens  attended  his  remains  to  their  resting-place.  A  Chillicothe,  Ohio, 
paper,  noticing  his  death,  speaks  of  him  as  one  of  the  pioneers  of  that 
country.  He  was  a  man  of  large  influence  in  shaping  the  early  politics  of 
Will  County.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  he  has  supplied  us  in  his  sons 
with  two  editors  and  printers,  one  of  whom  has  lately  deceased,  while  the 
other,  familiarly  known  as  "  Cal,"  still  gives  shape  to  our  politics  and  school 
affairs  ;  while  a  third  son,  sometimes  called  "  Bill,"  after  long  and  useful  service 
as  City  Clerk,  has  got  a  comfortable  seat  as  County  Clerk  in  the  old  Court 
House.  Another  son,  Linton,  died  in  1850,  at  the  age  of  24,  having  just 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  law. 

When  our  county  was  erected,  Robert  Stevens  was  elected  Sheriff"  with 
great  unanimity.  He  was  most  deservedly  popular.  But  he  did  not  covet 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  251 

office,  and  he  declined  to  qualify,  and  all  that  Summer  we  were  without  a 
Sheriff.  We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  state  that  this  is  the  only  time  we  know  of 
Bob  Stevens  (as  he  was  familiarly  called)  shrinking  from  his  duty,  and  we 
knew  him  pretty  well.  And  for  the  honor  of  Will  County,  we  are  also  glad  to 
be  able  to  state,  and  we  do  it  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  from  that  day 
to  this  there  has  been  no  difficulty  in  getting  men  to  fill  the  office  of  Sheriff,  or 
any  other  county  office.  Indeed,  sometimes  there  has  seemed  to  be  a  super- 
abundance of  men  who  were  willing  to  serve  the  public.  We  shall,  by  and  by, 
give  a  list  of  those  who  have  shown  their  devotion  to  our  county  by  actual  serv- 
ice. We  should  be  glad  to  give  a  list  of  those  who  have  been  willing  to  do  so 
had  the  county  needed  them,  but  this  would  require  more  room  than  our  pub- 
lisher could  spare.  Robert  Stevens  was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  and  raised  in 
Ohio  and  Indiana.  He  died  in  January,  1864. 

William  Hadsell,  named  above,  still  lingers  in  our  midst,  and  may  often  be 
seen  upon  our  streets  carrying  the  weight  of  88  years  of  an  industrious  and 
honest  life.  He  begins  to  fail,  but  says  he  should  have  lived  to  a  handred  easy 
enough  if  he  had  not  got  caught  in  a  storm  on  the  prairie  a  few  years  since  and 
had  to  fight  lightning,  which  was  a  harder  fight  than  he  ever  had  Avith  the 
British,  although  a  soldier  in  the  war  1812. 

John  Norman  erected  the  first  flouring-mill  in  Joliet — we  wish  we  had  a 
picture  of  it  and  the  surroundings,  as  we  well  remember  them.  About  opposite 
the  Penitentiary  there  was  an  island  in  the  Des  Planes,  heavily  wooded — a 
romantic  spot  then,  where  the  writer  often  went  in  search  of  plants  and  flowers. 
At  the  head  of  this  island,  across  one  channel,  Norman  built  a  brush  and  gravel 
dam,  which  threw  the  current  strong  upon  the  other  side ;  near  this  he  built  a 
log  mill.  His  wheel  was  placed  in  the  current,  and  the  shaft  running  into  the 
mill,  turned  the  machinery  which  ground  the  corn.  A  very  simple  affair,  hav- 
ing the  capacity  of  twelve  or  fifteen  bushels  of  corn  in  twenty-four  hours,  but  very 
useful  in  those  early  days  when  corn-dodgers  formed  an  important  part  of  the 
daily  rations.  This  old  mill  was  not  as  big  a  thing  as  the  rolling-mills  opposite, 
but  it  was  built  without  municipal  aid. 

In  this  township,  yet  farther  down  on  the  river,  a  family  settled  in  1836  or 
1837,  which  we  must  not  forget  to  mention — that  of  Robert  Shoemaker,  the 
father  of  Mrs.  Dr.  A.  W.  Bowen  and  Mrs.  Josiah  McRoberts  (and  that's  how 
we  got  the  Judge).  M.  Shoemaker,  a  partner  of  J.  A.  Matteson  in  the  early 
days  of  the  old  wooden  block  on  upper  Chicago  street,  and  who  has  been  and 
we  believe  now  is  a  State  Senator  in  Michigan,  was  his  son. 

SETTLEMENTS   IN    JACKSON,    REED    AND    OTHER    GROVES. 

In  the  edges  of  the  timber  lying  along  the  Des  Planes  and  Jackson  Creek, 
and  in  the  groves  known  as  Jackson's  Reed's,  Starr's,  Troutman's,  etc.,  which 
now  form  parts  of  Joliet,  Jackson  and  Channahon  Townships,  settlements  were 
early  made.  In  1831,  Charles  Reed,  Joseph  Shoemaker  and  Wesley  Jenkins 


252  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

settled  in  Reed's  Grove,  near  the  present  station  of  Elwood.  John  and  Thos. 
Coon,  the  two  Kirkpatricks,  Thomas  Underwood,  Eli  Shoemaker,  Charles 
Longmire,  James  Hemphill,  Peter  Eib  and  sons,  Archibald  Crowl,  Henry, 
George  and  Lewis  Linebarger,  Daniel  Haight,  John  and  Samuel  Catron  and 
Theopilus  and  Robert  Watkins  settled  in  some  one  of  these  groves  in  1831-2-3 ; 
and  Benj.  and  Joseph  Shanks,  Smith  Johnson,  John  Brown,  George  Young, 
Peter  Brown  and  son  and  R.  J.  Boylan,  in  1833-4,  and  William  Cotton  in 
1835,  and,  we  had  almost  forgotten  him,  Peter  Doney.  Charles  Reed  is  per- 
haps better  entitled  than  any  one  else  to  be  called  the  founder  of  Joliet,  as  he 
came  up  here  in  1833,  built  a  log  cabin  (the  old  McKee  house)  and  commenced 
preparations  to  build  a  mill.  These  preparations  consisted,  as  his  deed  of  sale 
to  McKee  in  the  Spring  of  1834  says,  "  of  a  dam  partly  made  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river,  a  house,  some  fence,  a  mill-race  and  some  machinery  for  a  mill, 
both  of  wood  and  iron,  on  the  west  side  of  the  river."  Of  this  matter,  how- 
ever, we  will  speak  more  particularly  by  and  by.  Joseph  Shoemaker,  a  most 
excellent  man,  a  warm  friend  and  an  ardent  Methodist,  opened  a  splendid  farm 
on  the  south  side  of  Reed's  Grove,  which  after  many  years  he  sold  out,  and 
which  is  now  known  as  the  Rogers'  place.  He  was  Supervisor  of  Florence 
four  years.  We  are  sorry  to  say  he  has  left  the  State.  Jenkins  was  a  fine 
specimen  of  a  great  Hoosier,  of  whom  we  have  told  a  pretty  good  story  in 
"  Forty  Years  Ago,"  which  we  will  not  repeat  here.  But  we  don't  know  why 
he  should  have  been  named  Wesley,  unless  on  the  principle  of  "  lucus  a  non 
lucendo."  Hemphill  and  Eib  still  have  representatives  in  the  county.  Joe 
Shanks  was  another  specimen  of  a  Hoosier,  and  was  Shanks  by  name  and 
Shanks  by  nature.  The  best  thing  that  we  remember  about  Joe  is  that  he  was 
the  writer's  friend  when  he  ran  for  Recorder,  and  gave  him  his  vote,  although 
it  was  urged  against  us  that  we  belonged  to  a  temperance  society — not  a  popu- 
lar thing  with  "  Hoosiers  "  then  or  now.  "  Wall,"  said  Joe,  "  I  drink  right 
smart  of  likker  myself,  but  I  allow  we'd  better  have  a  sober  man  to  do  our 
business."  We  commend  Joe's  philosophy  to  all  voters,  and  the  higher  the 
office,  the  more  important  the  rule.  George  Linebarger  is  still  living  near 
Elwood,  and  has  been  Supervisor  of  Jackson  ten  years.  R.  J.  Boylan  is  still 
one  of  the  well-known  residents  of  Jackson,  and  he  held  the  office  of  County 
Surveyor  for  eight  years  (1840—48),  and  what  he  doesn't  know  about  the  sections 
and  corners  of  Will  County  is  not  worth  knowing.  Boylan  sometimes  tells  the 
story  of  his  first  arrival  at  Joliet,  in  the  Fall  of  1834.  After  a  long  and  tire- 
some horseback  ride  from  Chicago,  he  began  to  look  anxiously  for  the  town  of 
''  Juliet,"  of  which  he  had  heard  all  along  the  road,  and,  fearing  that  he  might 
have  lost  his  way,  he  rode  up  to  a  small  wooden  building,  which  he  found  to  be 
a  store.  On  entering,  a  long,  lank  youth  rose  up  from  the  counter,  on  which 
he  was  stretched  out — that  is,  as  much  ^of  him  as  the  counter  would  hold — of 
whom  he  inquired  the  way  to  Juliet.  The  youth  somewhat  pompously  replied : 
"  Sir,  if  you  seek  the  city  of  Juliet,  look  aroutid  you."  Little  did  Boylan 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  253 

dream  that  he  was  on  the  corner  of  Bluff  and  Oneida  streets,  and  that  he  was 
addressing  the  future  historian  of  himself,  Joliet  and  Will  County — who  would 
some  day  have  his  "  pictur  "  in  a  book  !  It  should  be  mentioned,  to  the  credit 
of  Jackson  Grove  Precinct,  that  they  built  a  school  house  as  early  as  1833 — 
perhaps  the  first  in  Will  County.  Henry  Watkins,  from  the  Hickory  Creek 
settlement,  taught  the  school.  Any  one  who  remembers  his  little  shiny  round 
head  will  not  doubt  that  his  scholars  looked  upon  him  with  the  same  awe  and 
wonder  as  did  those  in  Goldsmith's  ''Deserted  Village"  upon  the  village 

°  °  "  And  still  they  gazed,  and  still  the  wonder  grew, 

That  one  small  head  could  carry  all  he  knew." 

YANKEE  SETTLEMENT  AND  LOCKPORT. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  Johnsons  as  settling  in  Yankee  Settlement.  These 
were  "Hoosiers,"  but,  as  will  be  inferred  from  the  name,  most  of  those  who 
settled  in  that  portion  of  the  county  embraced  in  the  town  of  Homer,  the  north- 
ern part  of  New  Lenox  and  the  eastern  part  of  Lockport,  and  called  "  Yankee 
Settlement,"  were  Yankees.  The  word  meant  in  that  day  those  who  came 
from  any  State  east  of  Ohio,  in  distinction  from  those  who  wese  called  Hoosiers 
— a  term  which,  though  properly  applicable  only  to  Indianians,  was  popularly 
made  to  cover  all  others.  When  more  exactly  speaking,  those  from  Ohio  were 
Buckeyes ;  those  from  Kentucky,  Corncrackers ;  those  from  Michigan,  Wolver- 
ines, etc.,  etc.  This  was  a  famous  settlement  in  the  early  days,  containing  many 
fine  families  of  well-to-do  farmers,  where  we  could  find  more  pretty  girls  forty- 
odd  years  ago  than  in  almost  any  other  locality.  How  this  may  be  now, 
the  writer  cannot  say  ;  circumstances  have  prevented  him  from  keeping  posted 
in  this  regard.  Offshoots  of  Yankee  Settlement  were  known  as  Gooding's 
Grove  and  Hadley. 

Of  those  who  came  in  before  the  Sac  war,  we  recall  the  names  of  James 
Richie  (the  first  settler  and  still  living,  although  for  some  years  blind),  James 
Glover,  Abijah  Watson,  John  Pettijohn,  Wm.  McGaffery,  Peter  Polly,  Joseph 
McCune,  Daniel  Mack,  John  Blackstone,  Dr.  Nathaniel  Weeks  and  sons, 
William  Ashing,  John  Goodenow,  Joseph  Cox,  Dick  Boilvin,  Uriah  Went- 
worth,  Calvin  Rowley,  Holder  Sisson,  Selah  Lanfear,  Orrin  Stevens,  Armstead 
Runyon,  Edward  Poor  and  Benjamin  Butterfield.  Some  of  these  persons  were 
not  "Yankees,"  and  some  did  not  return  after  the  stampede  occasioned  by  the 
Sac  Avar,  and  Goodenow,  Polly  and  McCune,  on  their  return,  settled  in  other 
parts  of  the  county. 

Holder  Sisson  came  in  1831,  from  Chautauqua  County,  N.  Y.  Having  pre- 
viously explored  the  West,  he  came  with  his  family ;  and  at  the  same  time 
came  Selah  Lanfear  and  Orrin  Stevens,  with  their  families,  who  were  from  the 
same  county.  They  came  around  the  lakes,  in  a  schooner ;  and  after  a  long 
and  stormy  passage,  landed  at  an  outpost  called  Chicago,  in  the  latter  part  of 
July.  Harry  Boardmari,  wh<5  settled  in  East  Dupage,  came  on  the  same  ves- 


254  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

sel.  Mr.  Sisson  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  early  history  of  the  county.  He 
was  elected  one  of  the  first  three  County  Commissioners,  and  served  in  that 
capacity  five  years,  faithfully  and  well.  He  soon  moved  to  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  in  the  town  of  Lockport,  on  the  old  Chicago  road.  He  has  very  re- 
cently deceased,  at  an  advanced  age. 

Edward  Poor,  Armstead  Runyon  and  Benjamin  Butterfield  were  on  the 
ground  previously,  and  some  others.  Edward  Poor  is  the  first  name  as  grantee 
upon  our  county  records.  Armstead  Runyon  was  a  prominent  man  in  the 
early  history  of  Lockport,  having  been  proprietor  of  a  part  of  the  city  plat. 
We  believe  he  is  now  living  in  California  (if  not  dead).  Mrs.  C.  E.  Boyer, 
of  Lockport,  is  his  daughter. 

Mrs.  Munson,  until  lately,  a  resident  of  Joliet,  was  a  daughter  of  Selah 
Lanfear.  We  remember  her  as  one  of  the  pretty  girls  of  Yankee  Settlement. 
If  you  should  call  upon  ex-Collector  Weeks,  you  would  find  one  of  her  daugh- 
ters, who,  in  her  turn,  has  pretty  daughters  too.  How  the  years  do  creep  on, 
and  what  changes  they  bring  ! 

Calvin  Rowley  came  from  the  State  of  New  York — the  first  one  of  the  fam- 
ily— traveling  all  the  way  with  a  peddler's  cart.  He  set  up  a  store  near  Lock- 
port,  and  traded  with  the  Indians. 

After  the  Sac  war  another  tidal  wave  of  emigration  set  toward  the  West, 
and  brought  many  to  Yankee  Settlement  in  the  years  1833-4-5.  Among  these 
were  Reuben  Beach  and  sons,  Thomas  Smith,  Chas.  M.  Grey,  George  Grey, 
Levi  Hartwell,  Jireh  Rowley  and  four  sons,  Wm.  H.  Frazier*,  Alanson  Gran- 
ger, Addison  Collins,  Frederick  Collins,  Norman  and  Horace  Messenger,  John 
Lane,  Lucius  M.  Case,  H.  S.  Mason,  Dr.  Moses  Porter,  Abram  Snapp,  Will- 
iam Williams  and  three  sons,  Benjamin  Weaver,  Dea.  Levi  Savage,  S.  C. 
Chamberlin  and  sons,  William  Bandle,  Samuel  Anderson,  John  Griswold,  Corn- 
stock  Hanford,  Nathan  Hopkins,  Aaron  Hopkins,  John  Fitzsimmons,  Benja- 
min Dancer,  Cyrus  Cross,  Andrew  Frank,  Sylvester  Munson,  Lyman  Cross, 
David  Parish,  Leander  Bump,  Jacob  Bump,  Rev.  Mr.  Ambrose,  John  Ross, 
Hiram  Olney  (now  of  Manhattan),  Rev.  Mr.  Kirbey,  who  became  Pastor  of 
the  Hadley  Church, — and  Isaac  Preston,  now  of  Lockport,  in  1836. 

The  following  persons  settled  in  Gooding's  Grove,  and  gave  that  locality  its 
name :  Dea.  James  Gooding  and  his  three  sons — James  Gooding,  Jr.,  William 
Gooding  and  Jasper  A.  Gooding — and  his  nephew,  Charles  Gooding,  in  1832. 
Dea.  James  Gooding  had  been  a  pioneer  in  Western  New  York,  and  was  a  na- 
tive of  Massachusetts.  He  resided  at  Bristol,  Ontario  Co.,  until  he  came  West. 
We  remember  him  well — a  tall,  noble-looking  man.  He  died  in  1849,  at  the 
age  of  82.  Orange  Chauncey  settled  in  the  same  locality  before  the  war. 

Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter,  the  well-known  pioneer  missionary  of  the  American 
Home  Mission  Society,  early  organized  a  Presbyterian  Church  at  Hadley.  We 
believe  that  this  was  the  first  regularly  organized  Church  in  Will  County,  outside 

*  Died  in  1873. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  255 

of  the  "classes"  organized  by  the  Methodist  itinerants.  Dr.  Porter,  William 
Bandle,  Reuben  Beach  and  John  C.  Williams  were  Elders  or  Deacons  in  this 
Church.  Soon  after  the  organization  of  this  Church,  a  Mr.  Freeman  organ- 
ized a  Baptist  Church  of  sixteen  members.  Abram  Snapp  was  one  of  the 
Deacons  of  this  Church.  He  was  the  father  of  Hon.  Henry  Snapp,  and  died  in 
October,  1865.  He  came  to  the  settlement  in  1833.  Father  Beggs  had  a  sta- 
tion here  in  1833,  and  others  at  Reed's  Grove,  Hickory  Creek,  East  Dupage 
and  WTalker's  Grove. 

Dr.  Weeks  was  for  many  years  a  practitioner  in  Lockport  and  Yankee  Set- 
tlement. His  sons  are  the  well-known  Judge  Weeks  and  ex-Collector  Weeks 
and  Mr.  J.  H.  Weeks,  now  of  Lockport.  He  was  from  Western  New  York. 
Dr.  Porter  was  also  a  well-known  physician  in  the  early  history  of  the  county ; 
one  of  the  reliable  men,  whether  in  Church  or  State ;  a  strong  upholder  of 
every  good  enterprise  and  reform.  He  moved  farther  west  many  years  ago,  and 
is  now  deceased. 

Lyman  Cross  died  at  Lockport  in  October,  1876,  at  the  age  of  82.  His 
death  was  occasioned  by  a  fall,  while  at  work  on  a  barn. 

Mr.  Bandle,  who  was  familiarly  known  as  Deacon,  was  a  stone-mason,  and 
had  the  job  of  putting  up  the  stone-work  of  the  first  stone  building  in  Joliet — 
the  old  block  now  known  as  the  Darcey  Block,  from  its  present  owner,  but  for- 
merly and  long  known  as  the  old  Demmond  Block,  from  its  first  proprietor. 
He  has  been  dead  some  years. 

John  Lane  was  a  famous  blacksmith,  especially  known  as  the  maker  of  prai- 
rie or  breaking  plows.  The  settlers  all  around  used  to  make  pilgrimages  to  his 
smithy.  Nobody  in  all  the  land  could  shape  and  temper  a  plow  like  him.  He 
might  have  sat  to  Longfellow  for  his  picture  of  the  village  blacksmith : 

"  The  smith,  a  mighty  man  is  he, 

With  large  and  sinewy  hands ; 
And  the  muscles  of  his  brawny  arms 
Are  strong  as  iron  bands." 

On  many,  many  an  acre  of  the  virgin  prairie  of  Will  County  did  Lane's 
plows  upturn  the  sod,  drawn  by  from  four  to  eight  yoke  of  oxen  and  steers,  and 
propelled  by  a  ten-foot  ox-gad  mounted  with  a  lash  perhaps  as  long,  the  snap  of 
which  wielded  by  the  hands  of  the  Hoosier  driver  resounded  like  the  crack  of 
a  rifle.  On,  on,  over  the  prairie  swells,  with  steady  but  ruthless  tread,  moved 
the  long  "breaking  team,"  and  on,  on,  came  the  giant  plow,. cutting  the  turf 
with  its  sharp  colter,  and*  turning  over  with  its  mold-board  the  rich  earth  in  long, 
black  ribbons  ;  before  it  blooming  grass  and  fragrant  herb  and  beautiful  flowers ; 
behind  it  a  dreary  waste  of  black,  fat  humus,  inviting  the  steps  and  stimulating  the 
hopes  of  the  sturdy  planter.  Ah !  breaking  teams,  plows,  Hoosier  drivers,  prai- 
ries, and  old  Lane  himself,  are  now  things  of  the  past !  Mr.  Lane  died  in  1857. 

Addison  Collins  was  one  of  our  leading  county  men  ;  held  the  office  of 
County  Surveyor  during  the  first  four  years  of  our  organization,  and  served  one 


256  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

term,  1842-3,  as  our  Representative  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State.  He 
died  in  March,  1864.  His  brother,  Frederick  Collins,  still  lives  in  the  old 
locality,  one  of  the  staid  and  substantial  citizens  of  Homer,  fast  ripening  for  a 
better  country.  The  brothers  were  from  Tioga  County,  N.  Y.,  and  came  to  the 
settlement  in  1833. 

John  Blackstone,  generally  called  Judge  Blackstone,  was  a  man  of 
property  and  influence.  The  grove  near  which  is  the  Hadley  post  office 
was  known  first  as  Blackstone  Grove.  James  McKee,  of  whom  we  shall  speak 
by  and  by,  borrowed  the  money  of  him  wherewith  he  purchased  the  Reed  claim, 
of  which  we  shall  presently  speak.  He  was  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
Yankee  Settlement,  when  a  part  of  Cook  County.  Judge  Caton  has  told  the 
writer  about  his  coming  down  from  Chicago  in  1833,  to  try  a  suit  before  him — 
perhaps  the  first  lawsuit  in  Will  County.  He  died  in  1848. 

Jireh  Rowley,  commonly  know  as  Capt.  Rowley,  was  also  a  prominent  man 
in  our  early  history.  He  settled  first  on  Section  19,  but  afterward 
bought  the  Butterfield  place  on  Section  34,  a  beautiful  spot  embracing 
a  little  grove,  where  his  youngest  son,  A.  G.,  now  lives.  He  was  an 
old  contractor  on  the  Erie  Canal,  and  built  the  great  embankment  near 
Rochester.  This  was  a  very  heavy  and  difficult  work.  The  Canal  there 
crosses  a  considerable  valley  and  a  stream,  and  passes  along  the  top  of 
the  embankment  which  Rowley  made.  While  the  work  was  in  progress, 
Gov.  Clinton,  having  great  anxiety  in  respect  to  its  success-,  made  frequent  visits 
to  note  its  condition.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  the  Governor  and  his  party 
got  in  the  way  of  the  laborers  and  their  teams,  when  Rowley  pretty  sharply 
ordered  them  to  get  out  of  the  way.  Instead  of  being  offended  at  the  brusque 
mariner  of  the  Captain,  the  Governor  had  the  good  sense  to  remark  to  his  friends 
that  he  should  go  home  with  his  mind  at  rest  concerning  the  job,  as  Capt.  Row- 
ley evidently  meant  business.  Three  sons  still  live  in  the  township.  The 
younger,  A.  G.,  has  been  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  since  1850,  and  three  years 
the  Supervisor  of  the  town.  Capt.  Rowley,  when  he  came  West,  had  married 
a  Mrs.  Grey,  and  the  George  and  Charles  Grey  above  named  were  her  sons ; 
both  of  these  have  since  been  prominent  as  railroad  officials  in  Chicago,  and 
George  is  now  agent  of  the  Pullman  Car  Company.  Charles  has  been  Mayor 
of  the  city.  Three  of  her  daughters  were  also  included  among  the  "  nice  girls  " 
of  the  settlement,  as  some  of  the  "boys"  still  living  remember  well.  One  of 
these  is  now  Mrs.  Chamberlin,  of  Lockport.  Her  husband  is  one  of  the  sons 
of  Mr.  L.  C.  Chamberlin,  and  is  our  well-known  undertaker  and  furniture  dealer 
of  Joliet  and  Lockport.  We  remember  seeing,  not  long  ago,  the  fence  which 
surrounds  Oakwood  placarded  with  the  words,  "  Chamberlin's  Relief  cures  all 
pain."  We  do  not  suppose  the  sacrilegious  painter  had  any  reference  to  our  un- 
dertaker or  his  business,  but  unconsciously  told  a  truth,  which  these  placards 
seldom  do.  Wm.  Gooding  was  the  chief  engineer  of  our  canal,  and  we  shall 
have  something  more  to  say  of  him  in  the  history  of  that  work.  The 


fOECEASEDj 
JOULT  TP. 


- 


-  ••  • 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  259 

school  teacher  Hanford,  so  cruelly  murdered  at  Chicago  a  few  years  ago,  was  a 
son  of  Comstock  Hanford,  born  in  1834.  Deacon  Beach  (this  settlement  seems 
to  have  had  a  good  share  of  Deacons,  and  we  have  noticed  that  as  a  rule,  it  is 
'the  best  men  who  get  this  title,  and  Deacon  Beach  was  not  an  exception)  has 
gone  to  his  reward  some  time  since.  He  died  in  1851.  Two  of  the  Demmond 
boys — "  Dar  "  and  William — are  indebted  to  him  for  good  wives  ;  and  his  son, 
Eben  W.,  was  Supervisor  of  Crete  in  1862,  and  deceased  in  October,  1878. 
Levi  Savage,  another  Deacon,  still  lives,  and  has  given  to  the  town  of  Homer  a 
Supervisor  for  six  years  (1867-72),  and  to  our  county  a  Representative  in  1872, 
and  to  the  State  and  nation  a  brave  soldier  in  his  son,  Capt.  Amos  Savage,  of 
the  Thirty-ninth  Regiment,  or  Yates  Phalanx.  Of  William  Williams  we  re- 
member little ;  he  died  many  years  ago ;  but  we  know  the  family  was  a  good 
one — from  Massachusetts,  we  believe,  as  were  others  of  the  Hadley  people  ;  hence 
the  name  of  the  locality  which  was  first  known  as  Blackstone's  Grove.  One 
member  of  the  family  was  Elder  J.  C.  Williams,  for  some  time  a  resident  of 
Hadley,  but  afterward  of  Chicago,  one  of  the  old,  substantial  merchants  of  that 
city  and  an  Elder  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  ;  while  another,  Charles 
A.,  was  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  once  settled  in  Rockford;  and  another  is  the 
present  Judge  Erastus  S.  Williams,  of  Chicago.  Still  another  Deacon  was 
Orange  Chauncey,  lately  deceased  (died  in  1877),  who  for  a  long  time,  with  his 
family,  resided  in  Joliet,  but  left  again  for  the  vicinity  where  he  originally  set- 
tled. This  Deacon  was  a  "  Universalist "  one,  but  his  wife,  who  still  survives, 
was  a  Deacon  for  a  long  time  in  the  Baptist  Church  here — or  at  least  she  ought 
to  have  been.  Alanson  Granger  is  a  nam,e  well  known  in  Will  County,  for  a 
long  time  a  most  successful  granger  on  Section  32  of  that  town.  He  is  said  to 
-have  run  the  first  reaper  in  Will  County — an  old  original  McCormick  made  in 
Brockport,  N.  Y.  He  was  from  Cortland  County,  N.  Y.,  and  died  in  October,  1874, 
nearly  72  years  of  age.  To  the  list  of  Deacons  in  Yankee  Settlement,  we  ought 
to  add  the  name  of  Comstock  Hanford,  inasmuch  as  he  was  one  of  the  original 
organizers  of  the  Episcopal  Church  here.  Some  of  these  persons  we  have 
named  would  probably  be  included  in  the  township  of  Lockport.  It  is  said 
that  Butterfield  built  the  first  house  in  the  present  township  (of  Lockport),  and 
that  a  Mr.  Everden  built  the  first  house  on  the  town  plat  in  1831,  little  dream- 
ing that  he  was  beginning  to  found  a  city.  It  is  also  said  that  Armstead  Run- 
yon  bought  his  claim,  on  which  he  laid  out,  in  1836,  the  town  plat  now  known 
as  North  Lockport,  once  known  as  Runyon's  Town.  To  the  list  of  old  settlers 
in  Lockport  ought  to  be  added  those  of  D.  C.  Baldwin,  1834  ;  A.  J.  Matthew- 
son  and  John  Fiddyment  in  1837;  and  Dr.  J.  F.  Daggett,  1838. 

Dr.  J.  F.  Daggett  represented  the  county  in  the  State  Senate  after  the  res- 
ignation of  Hon.  Henry  Snapp.  A.  J.  Matthewson  is  our  present  County 
Surveyor,  and  is  one  of  the  blessings  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  canal, 
he  having  been  one  of  the  corps  of  engineers.  West  Lockport,  where  the  old 
mill  still  stands,  was  laid  out  by  a  company  consisting  of  Wm.  Rogers,  Lyman 


260  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Hawley,  Wm.  Gooding  and  E.  S.  Prescott.  John  M.  Wilson — Judge  Wil- 
son, of  Chicago — was  also  interested  in  the  mill,  which  was  built  by  these 
parties,  but  whether  as  one  of  the  original  parties  to  the  enterprise  or  as 
a  purchaser  afterward,  we  cannot  say.  West  Lockport  was  once  the  most 
flourishing  part  of  the  town.  But  it  seems  that  in  relation  to  towns, 
Bishop  Berkley's  saying,  '-Westward  the  star  of  empires  takes  its  way,"  does 
not  hold  good.  Mr.  Horace  Morse  built  a  tavern  on  one  of  Runyon's  lots  in 
1836. 

The  site  on  which  the  most  flourishing  part  of  the  city  is  now  located,  was 
laid  out  in  1837  by  the  Canal  Commissioners,  and  for  many  years  had  the 
prestige  of  being  the  canal  headquarters.  It  is  beautifully  located,  and  was  well 
laid  out  under  the  skillful  and  careful  supervision  of  the  Chief  Engineer. 
Canal  Commissioners  Thornton  and  Fry  took  up  their  residence  there,  and  built 
fine  dwellings — fine  for  that  day.  We  believe  it  is  one  of  these  which  has  been 
remodeled  into  a  beautiful  home  by  Mrs.  Boyer. 

LOCKPORT   TOWN   WEST   OF   THE   RIVER. 

Across  the  river  on  the  beautiful  bluff  which  overlooks  the  town  and  the 
valley  of  the  Des  Plaines,  as  we  have  said,  Holder  Sisson  moved,  after  selling 
out  to  Hanford.  On  this  bluff  also  located  Wm.  Rogers,  Lyman  Hawley  and 
sons,  Justin  Taylor,  Thomas  and  Harvey  Reed,  and  that  "fine  ould  Irish  gin- 
tleman,"  Patrick  Fitzpatrick,  and  0.  and  L.  M.  Clayes,  and  Cyrus  Bronson, 
in  1832-5.  These  farms,  which  we  suppose  have  mostly  passed  into  other  hands, 
are  among  the  most  finely  located  in  the  county.  Lyman  Hawley  was  a  sub- 
stantial man  from  Western  New  York,  the  father  of  our  well-known  citizens, 
0.  L,  Hawley  (now  deceased),  our  County  Clerk  from  1849  to  1856  (eight 
years),  and  who  also  held  the  office  of  County  Judge  four  years  (1856  to  1860), 
and  of  Walter  B.  Hawley,  who  has  also  been  County  Clerk.  The  writer 
well  remembers  a  notable  "raising"  we  had  in  1835  or  1836,  when  Lyman 
Hawley  built  his  famous  barn — a  big  thing  for  that  day  when  barns  were  not 
very  plenty,  and  which  we  believe  is  still  extant,  although  it  doesn't  look  as  large 
now  as  when  it  was  the  best  in  all  the  country.  What  a  lift  we  had  at  the  big 
timbers  of  green  oak,  and  how  glad  the  boys  were  when  the  last  rafter  was  up. 
and  we  all  went  to  the  feast  set  on  the  lawn,  the  old  but  comfortable  log  house 
being  altogether  too  small  to  hold  the  guests.  What  a  feast  that  was,  and  not 
the  least  among  the  attractions  to  some  was  the  fact  that  we  were  waited  upon 
by  three  or  four  blooming  daughters  of  the  host,  for  Yankee  Settlement  did  not, 
in  those  days,  have  a  monopoly  of  the  pretty  girls.  We  could  name  one 
old  gray  head  that  was  there,  and  who  was  "sweet"  on  one  of  the  girls. 
But  we  won't  for  he  is  married  now  to  somebody  else,  and  it  might  make  a 
fuss. 

There  were  also  a  Mr.  Webb  and  Thomas  Williams  still  further  up  the  river, 
and  also  a  Mr.  Turner  at  the  Lilly-cache  Grove. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  261 

UPPER   HICKORY. 

In  the  Upper  Hickory  Creek  timber,  east  of  Van  Home's  Point,  there 
were  early  settlers.  In  1831,  a  Mr.  Osborn,  Wm.  Moore,  Robert  Williams, 
Aaron  Ware,  John  McGoveny  and  sons,  John  McDeed,  and  a  Mr.  Ghost,  and 
a  Mr.  Berry,  who  soon  turned  Mormon,  settled  there.  Daniel  Lambert,  John 
Duncan,  James  Troutman  and  Hiram  Wood,  in  1882 ;  Allen  and  Lysander 
Denny,  Ambrose  Doty,  Chester  Marshall  and  sons,  Francis  Owen  and  sons, 
Eliphalet  Atkins  and  sons,  Samuel  Haven,  Myron  Holmes  and  sons,  Phineas 
H.  Holden  and  sons,  a  Mr.  Dewey,  and  Peter  Clayes,  father  of  L.  M.,  Orlando 
Clayes  and  Charles  Clayes,  in  1834-5. 

A  child  of  John  McGoveny,  John  W.,  is  another  first  child  born  in  the 
county.  There  were  quite  a  number  born  first !  However  this  may  be,  'Squire 
McGoveny,  of  Mokena,  and  Thos.  G.  McGoveny,  of  Joliet,  are  his  sons.  He 
was  from  Ohio,  originally,  and  came  to  the  region  where  he  settled  in  1831, 
and  died  in  March,  1869,  aged  61.  An  addition  to  Mokena  is  part  of  his  farm. 
Allen  Denny,  on  the  north  side  of  Hickory,  and  Samuel  Haven,  on  the  south 
side,  both  kept  stations  on  the  underground  railroad  in  Antislavery  times.  The 
writer  hereof  knows  of  some  who  paid  midnight  visits  to  both  stations.  A  mid- 
night ride  with  one  or  two  fugitives  was  an  exciting  thing  in  those  days,  not 
without  danger  of  being  prosecuted,  at  least. 

ILLINOIS    BLACK   LAWS    AND   ABOLITIONISTS. 

For  the  information  of  our  younger  readers,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  well  to 
explain,  and  here  is  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  do  it,  that  in  those  days,  besides 
the  general  fugitive  slave  law  of  the  United  States,  the  State  of  Illinois  had  in 
force  statutes  against  the  colored  man  hardly  less  outrageous  and  cruel  than 
those  of  the  slave  States  themselves.  Many  slaves  had  been  brought  into  this 
State  while  a  Territory,  and  when  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union  the 
ownership  in  these  was  practically  confirmed,  although  the  importation  of  any 
more  was  prohibited.  The  southern  part  of  the  State  was  settled  by  persons 
from  the  slave  States,  and  it  was  only  by  a  small  majority  that  the  State 
became  nominally  a  free  State.  Every  colored  man  was  presumed  to  be  a 
fugitive  from  slavery,  and,  unless  he  could  prove  the  contrary,  was  subject  to 
arrest  and  sale,  although  the  sale  took  the  form  of  a  lease  or  indenture.  Now, 
there  were,  in  those  days,  all  over  the  North,  as  is  well  known,  many  persons 
known  as  Abolitionists,  who  had  more  respect  for  the  God-given  right  of  self- 
ownership  than  they  had  for  the  title  which  human — or  rather  inhuman — laws 
gave  to  one  man  who  happened  to  be  white,  over  another  who  happened  to  be 
black.  These  human  laws,  whether  State  or  national,  they  held  to  be  against 
the  law  of  God,  and  therefore  void  "in  foro  conscientice,"  however  they 
might  be  enforced  by  human  courts.  It  was  an  easy  corollary  to  this  belief 
that  to  help  a  man  who  was  fleeing  from  bondage  was  a  duty — that  to  aid  in 


262  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

his  capture  was  a  crime  against  God  and  man.  To  aid  the  fugitives,  these 
underground  railroads — so  called  because  the  matter  was  generally  conducted 
secretly  and  in  the  night — were  established,  consisting  of  relays  of  well-known 
friends  of  the  slave,  who  at  any  time  stood  ready  to  harness  a  team  and  forward 
the  slave  to  the  next  station.  Of  course  Canada  was  the  destination  of  the 
fugitives.  Nowhere  was  he  safe  under  the  eagle ;  only  when  he  got  into  the 
embrace  of  the  lion  could  he  breathe  free.  As  we  have  said,  Denny  and  Haven 
both  kept  stations  of  this  kind.  It  happened  in  the  course  of  things  that 
Denny,  good  old  Deacon  Gushing  and  Col.  Stewart,  of  whom  we  shall  soon 
speak,  were  once  indicted  under  the  black  laws  of  our  State  for  aiding  such 
fugitives.  As  all  know,  our  brave  soldier  boys  and  Father  Abraham's  proc- 
lamation destroyed  the  business  of  the  underground  railroad.  The  march  of 
enlightened  public  opinion  has  long  since  brought  about  the  repeal  of  the  black 
laws  of  our  State. 

Allen  Denny  settled  in  Sheridan,  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1811,  when  20 
years  of  age.  While  there,  he  engaged  in  storekeeping,  and  among  other 
goods,  wares  and  merchandise,  sold  whisky  and  its  congeners.  iJut  he  went  to 
hear  a  lecture  of  the  agent  of  the  State  Temperance  Society,  and  was  converted 
to  teetotalism.  He  at  once  stopped  the  sale  of  liquor,  and,  with  five  others,  one 
of  whom  was  Samuel  Haven,  he  formed  a  temperance  society.  In  1835,  he 
came  with  the  Holmes  families  to  Hickory  Creek,  where  he  lived  until  his 
death,  well  known  and  highly  respected.  In  the  war  of  1812,  he  was  a  soldier, 
and  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Black  Rock  and  the  burning  of  Buffalo,  and 
could  give  graphic  accounts  of  the  stampede  of  our  militia.  The  Rock  Island 
Railroad  run  through  Mr.  Denny's  farm,  and  he  laid  off  a  part  of  it  into  the 
village  of  Mokena.  We  have  not  the  date  of  Mr.  Allen  Denny's  death.  His 
brother  Lysander  died  in  March,  1872,  at  the  age  of  75. 

0.  and  L.  M.  Clayes  we  have  given  as  early  settlers  in  West  Lockport 
Township  ;  but  they  soon  abandoned  their  claim  there,  which  was  on  canal  land 
and  located  on  Hickory,  where  their  father,  Peter  Clayes,  and  another  son, 
Charles,  also  settled.  Previous  to  the  opening  of  the  railroads,  there  was  a 
little  village  (i.  e.,  a  store  and  post  office)  in  the  Clayes  neighborhood,  named 
Chelsea — L.  M.  Clayes,  Postmaster;  but  the  Cut-Off  Railroad  cut  off  its  pros- 
pects as  a  city.  Peter  Clayes  died  in  1849,  at  the  age  of  74. 

Chester  Marshall,  who,  by  the  way,  was  also  a  Deacon  of  a  Baptist  Church, 
we  believe,  was  also  one  of  these  Abolitionists,  and  a  strong  temperance  man, 
always  on  hand  at  Temperance  and  Antislavery  conventions.  He  was  a  tall, 
large,  noble-looking  man.  Our  State  Senator,  A.  0.  Marshall,  and  R.  W. 
Marshall,  lawyers,  in  Joliet,  are  his  grandsons.  He  died  in  August,  1859,  at 
the  age  of  80  years.  He  came  to  Will  County  with  Benjamin  Weaver,  of 
Yankee  Settlement,  in  1833,  from  Onondaga  County,  N.  Y.  Phineas  H. 
Holden  was  also  a  prominent  man  in  early  times.  He  was  the  father  of  C.  C. 
P.  Holden,  of  Chicago  ;  of  Major  L.  P.  Holden,  of  the  Eighty-eighth  Illinois 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  263 

Regiment,  and  of  Dr.  Holden,  of  Frankfort.    Ho  died  in  1872,  at  the  age  of  80 
years.     Of  Samuel  Haven  and  the  other  Havens  we  will  speak  by  and  by. 

THORN  CREEK  AND  BEEBE'S  GROVE. 

Still  further  east  and  south,  in  what  is  now  known  as  the  town  of  Crete,  but 
then  having  two  settlements,  known  as  Beebe's  Grove  and  Thorn  Creek,  there 
were  early  settlements.  In  1833—4,  Major  Price,  Wm.  Osborn  and  Asa  Dade; 
in  1835-6,  Minoris  Beebe,  Shipman  Frank,  Quartus  Marsh  and  four  sons  (Jon- 
athan, Edwin,  Horatio  and  Henry),  Jas.  L.  Dean,  Wm.  Bryant,  J.  Stalcop,  Wm. 
R.  Starr,  Willard  Wood,  Dea.  Samuel  Cushing  (of  whom  we  have  spoken),  Nor- 
man Northrop,  John  H.  Bennett,  Moses  H.  Cook,  Henry  Milliken,  Charles 
Wood,  Hazen  Adams,  John  Kyle  and  son,  Enoch  Dodge,  Henry  Ayers,  David 
Haner,  John  E.  Hewes,  J.  W.  Safford  and  three  sons. 

One  of  Mr.  Safford's  sons  was  afterward  well-known  in  Joliet,  as  the  con- 
fidential clerk  of  Gov.  Matteson,  while  he  carried  on  business  in  Joliet.  He 
afterward  removed  to  Cairo,  and  became  a  prominent  business  man  and  banker. 
Another  son  was  the  Hon.  C.  P.  K.  Safford,  Governor  of  Arizona.  Both  have 
recently  deceased.  A  daughter  of  Mr.  Safford  became  justly  and  honorably 
noted  for  her  efforts  in  behalf  of  our  soldiers  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  on 
the  battle  fields  of  Belrnont  and  Pittsburg  Landing  and  in  the  hospital  at  Cairo. 
Many  a  soldier  yet  remembers  the  "  Angel  of  Cairo."  She  subsequently  became 
a  physician,  studied  in  the  hospitals  of  Europe,  where  she  attracted  considerable 
notice  for  her  modesty  of  demeanor  and  her  professional  and  surgical  skill.  She 
is  now,  we  believe,  married,  and  resides  somewhere  in  New  England. 

Quartus  Marsh  was  from  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.  He  died  in  1850.  He 
was  the  first  settler  in  his  immediate  neighborhood.  Jonathan  Marsh,  who  died 
at  Matteson,  lately,  and  Edwin,  who  still  resides  there,  Henry  Marsh,  for  some 
time  a  cabinet  maker  in  Joliet,  and  who  got  one  of  Deacon  Beach's  girls  for  his 
wife,  as  well  as  H.  N.  Marsh,  so  long  known  and  respected  in  Joliet  and  Will 
County,  are  his  sons. 

Deacon  Cushing,  we  mentioned  a  little  back  as  one  of  the  indicted. 
We  have  a  little  more  to  say  about  this  indictment.  It  was  obtained  when  the 
brilliant  Pat.  Ballingall  was  State's  Attorney  for  the  District,  and  C.  C.  Van 
Home  was  the  Foreman  of  the  grand  jury  and  complainant.  There  were  also 
on  the  jury  some  who  were  outspoken  friends  of  the  slave;  but  they  felt,  justly, 
that  their  oaths  compelled  them  to  find  a  bill  against  an  infringement  of  an  un- 
just law.  When  the  officer  called  early  Monday  morning  to  arrest  the  good 
Deacon,  he  was  at  his  breakfast.  The  officer  allowed  him  to  finish,  and  also  to 
attend  to  a  duty  which  was  as  regularly  observed  as  his  morning  meal — family 
devotions.  It  so  happened  that  in  the  morning's  regular  lesson  in  course 
occurred  these  words:  ''"Whether  it  be  right  to  obey  God,  rather  than  man, 
judge  ye."  When  brought  into  court,  he  was  allowed  to  give  bail  for  his  appear- 
ance at  the  next  term  of  court.  James  McKee  promptly  volunteered  to  be  his 


264  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

bail,  and  James  H.  Collins,  of  Chicago,  who  was  then  on  his  return  from  Prince- 
ton, where  he  had  been  to  defend  Owen  Lovejoy,  on  a  like  charge,  volunteered 
to  defend  him,  and  John  M.  Wilson  also  volunteered  to  assist.  But  before  the 
next  term  of  court,  the  parties  complaining  had  got  thoroughly  ashamed  of  their 
course,  and  Ballingall  entered  a  nol.  pros.  The  fiery  eloquence  of  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  and  the  voice  of  the  complainant  have  both  been  long  since 
hushed  in  the  grave,  while  the  good  old  Deacon  still  lives,  fast  ripening  for  that 
world  where  we  may  believe  feeding  the  hungry  and  pouring  in  oil  and  wine 
into  the  wounds  inflicted  by  the  driver's  lash,  are  not  indictable  offenses. 
Blessed  be  the  man  against  whom  no  more  serious  charge  can  be  brought.  It 
is  some  compensation  to  the  Deacon  to  have  lived  to  see  the  time  when  such  an 
indictment  is  impossible  in  all  our  land. 

CHANNAHON. 

In  that  beautiful  portion  of  our  county  which  lies  between  the  Des  Plaines 
and  Du  Page  Rivers,  and  .near  the  meeting  of  the  waters,  now  included  in  the' 
town  of  Channahon,  some  settlers  came  as  early  as  1832,  while  the  Indian  still 
cultivated  corn  on  the  bottom  and  fished  along  the  streams.  This  was  a  favor- 
ite spot  with  them,  and  they  long  lingered  here.  Their  canoes  passed  up  and 
down  the  rivers,  and  in  the  mounds  which  are  still  distinguishable  they  buried 
their  dead.  Somewhere  near  Treat's  Island  an  Indian  Avas  buried  as  late  as 
1835.  He  was  placed  in  a  sitting  posture  partly  out  of  the  ground,  and  a  pen 
of  saplings  placed  around  him.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  chief,  as  the 
Indians  passing  up  and  down  always  visited  his  grave,  and  left  various  articles 
upon  it  as  tokens  of  respect.  A  little  flag  was  also  kept  flying  over  it,  which 
was  cared  for  by  the  Treats.  North  of  Joliet,  the  writer  remembers  to  have 
seen  the  grave  of  an  infant  in  the  top  of  a  tree.  It  consisted  of  two  hollow 
slabs  in  which  the  body  was  placed,  being  fastened  together  and  to  the  tree  by 
strips  of  bark.  Perhaps  it  is  a  misnomer  to  call  this  a  grave,  and  why  they 
thus  disposed  of  an  infant's  body  we  know  not,  unless  it  was  a  dim  reflection 
of  the  Savior's  words,  "Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Believing  that 
the  child's  spirit  had  gone  straight  to  the  "happy  hunting  fields,"  they  placed 
the  body  as  near  as  possible  to  the  sky.  Among  the  earliest  settlers  in  Chan- 
nahon were  Isaac  Jessup,  Wm.  E.  Peck,  E.  C.  Fellows,  H.  D.  Risley,  Peter 
McCowan,  Capt.  Willard,  Michael  Morehouse,  Jedediah,  Walter,  and  E.  G. 
Eames,  Joseph  N.  Fryer,  Russell  Tryon,  George  Tryon,  "Uncle  Bont" 
Schermerhorn  and  his  four  sons — Peter,  Jacob  B.,  Cornelius  and  Isaac — and 
John  Ward.  These  came  in  1832-3-4.  In  1835,  Dr.  Peter  Schermerhorn, 
Joseph  Lewis,  Sam'l  Lewis  and  Dr.  Wm.  Lewis,  Isaac  and  Burke  Van  Alstine, 
Wm.  Althouse  and  a  colored  gentleman  for  whom  we  have  never  heard  any  name 
but  "Dick."  Several  of  these  settlers  were  representatives  of  the  old  Dutch 
families  on  the  Hudson,  coming  from  Schodack  and  vicinity,  and,  like  their 
ancestors,  knew  good  land  when  they  saw  it,  and  then  settled  down  to  stay. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  265 

Joseph  Davis  and  his  sons  came  in  1836.  Isaac  Jessup,  long  a  prominent  citi- 
zen, died  in  1853,  at  the  age  of  66.  He,  too,  bore  the  honorable  title  of  Dea- 
con, and  was  County  Treasurer  in  1843-6.  His  sons  still  perpetuate  his 
name.  A  daughter  of  his,  Mrs.  E.  Jessup  Eames,  had  considerable  reputation 
as  a  poetess  some  years  ago;  and  another,  Sarah,  who  died  in  1863,  was  not 
altogether  unknown  to  local  fame.  H.  D.  Risley  was  from  Salina,  N.  Y., 
and  being  elected  Sheriff  of  the  county  in  1840,  he  removed  to  the  old 
county  jail,  where  he  remained  four  years.  He  was  also  a  canal  contractor  in 
canal  times.  The  Van  Als tines  are  still  extant  and  residents  of  the  vicinity, 
and  so  is  their  "Nigger  Dick,"  the  same  old  sinner  he  was  forty-odd  years  ago. 
There  seems  to  be  little  change  in  him  since  the  time  he  came  up  to  attend  a 
ball  in  1836,  when  his  ox-team  got  wedged  so  inexplicably  between  the  old 
Demmond  Block  and  the  precipice  in  its  rear,  save  that  he  has  grown  a  little 
grayer.  Dick  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first,  and  for  a,  long  time  the  only, 
representative  of  his  race  in  Will  County.  J.  B.  Schermerhorn  was  County 
Commissioner  in  the  years  1848—9,  and  Supervisor  of  Channahon  1854-6. 
Dr.  Peter  Schermerhorn  was  for  some  years  a  practicing  physician  in  Channa- 
hon and  vicinity,  and  afterward  removed  to  Ottawa,  where  he  died.  Wm.  B. 
Peck,  generally  known  as  Judge  Peck,  having  been  a  County  Judge  where  he 
came  from  in  the  county  of  Columbia,  'State  of  New  York,  was  a  prominent 
man,  something  of  a  politician,  and  County  Commissioner  four  years — 1839- 
42.  He  died  in  the  year  1849,  in  the  71st  year  of  his  age.  E.  C.  Fellows, 
the  well-known  lawyer,  and  the  earliest  lawyer  in  the  county,  came  to  Channa- 
hon at  the  same  time  and  married  a  daughter  of  Judge  Peck.  He  came  to 
Joliet  in  1835.  It  is  but  recently  that  he  has  deceased.  Of  his  ability  as  a 
lawyer,  especially  as  a  criminal  lawyer,  everybody  in  Will  County  is  well 
aware.  George  Tryon  was  Supervisor  of  Channahon  for  the  years  1850—52. 
E.  H.  Jessup,  one  of  Isaac  Jessup's  sons,  was  Supervisor  in  1862,  and  John 
S.  Jessup,  another  son,  represented  in  part  our  county  in  the  Legislature  in  the 
year  1872.  He  was  the  first  victim  of  minority  representation.  J.  N.  Fryer 
has  been  Supervisor  from  1866  down  to  date,  and  perhaps  will  be  as  long  as  he 
lives.  Michael  Morehouse  was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  born  in  1791,  a  good, 
honorable  and  intelligent  man,  who  died  in  1876. 

Dr.  Knapp  and  George  Tryon  came  together  from  Vermont,  and  were  the 
first  settlers  in  the  'part  of  the  town  where  they  located,  now  on  the  beautiful 
"wide  water"  made  by  the  canal,  and  the  favorite  resort  of  Fourth  of  July  picnics. 
The  Indians  were  dwelling  on  the  bottom  of  the  Des  Planes,  and  at  a  spot 
across  the  river,  a  little  lower  down,  known  then  as  the  "  sugar  bush,"  in  con- 
siderable numbers.  They  were  under  the  supervision  of  one  of  old  Bourbon- 
nie's  sons,  a  half-breed.  Seymor  Treat  and  son  had  settled  at  the  island  still 
known  by  his  name,  in  1833.  The  Treats  were  great  friends  of  the  Indians, 
never  refusing  them  food  or  shelter,  though  their  supplies  were  not  very  abun- 
dant. The  Indians  held  the  family  in  high  regard,  and  when  they  received 


266  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

their  last  annuity,  they  gave  him  $1,000  as  a  remembrancer,  which  furnished 
him  the  means  to  go  on  with  the  mill  which  he  was  building.  He  had  a  son 
and  daughter.  The  son/ was  known  as  Dr.  Treat.  The  mill  was  built  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  island.  The  Indians  were  friendly  to  the  early  settlers,  and 
never  troublesome  unless  they  had  drunk  too  much  fire-water.  They  called 
this  liquid  good-na-tosh — clearly  a  misnomer.  As  the  settlers  were  not  familiar 
with  the  Indian  language,  they  had  to  resort  largely  to  the  natural  language  of 
signs,  at  which  the  Indians  are  as  expert  as  the  deaf-mutes.  Dr.  Knapp  tells 
an  amusing  story  as  to  how  an  Indian  tried  to  make  him  understand  what  he 
meant  when  he  wanted  to  sell  him  some  "ho-mo-sis-paw-quet" — that  is,  bee- 
sugar  or  honey.  This  is  a  story  that  can't  be  told  except  in  pantomime,  and 
nobody  can  do  it  justice  but  the  doctor.  If  you  ever  see  him,  get  him  to  tell 
it.  It  is  the  best  specimen  of  pantomime  we  ever  saw. 

We  must  note  the  fact  that  in  Channahon,  on  the  southeast  side  of  the  Des 
Plaines,  is  the  large  plantation  of  Charles  C.  Smith,  one  of  the  sons  of  our  old 
resident  and  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Barton  Smith.  We  gave  a  little  history  of 
Charley  in  "  Forty  Years  Ago."  He  has  been  Supervisor  of  Channahon  for 
several  years,  and  we  wish  we  had  his  note  for  a  thousand  or  two  dollars.  The 
village  of  Channahon  was  laid  out  by  the  Canal  Commissioners,  and  was  first 
named  Swifton,  after  one  of  their  number ;  but  Judge  Peck  got  it  changed  by 
an  act  of  the  Legislature  to  its  present  name,  the  significance  of  which  we  have 

already  given. 

TROUTMAN'S  GROVE. 

On  the  southeast  side  of  the  river,  within  the  present  town,  but  known  then 
as  Troutman's  Grove,  there  settled,  in  1831  or  1832,  Joseph  McCune  and  John 
Troutman ;  and  in  1833,  Robert  Thornburg  and  sons,  one  of  whom,  John 

Thornburg,  still  resides  there. 

TROY. 

Up  the  Du  Page,  in  the  present  town  of  Troy,  there  were  also  some  settlers 
quite  early.  The  first,  perhaps,  was  Jedediah  Woolley,  Jr.,  who  came  in  1831 
and  commenced  building  a  mill.  The  enterprise  was  interrupted  by  the  Sac 
war,  and  completed  in  1834.  A  man  of  the  name  of  Chipman  was  engaged 
with  him  in  the  enterprise.  Two  men  of  the  name  of  Rexford  also  settled 
there  and  rented  Woolley's  mill.  John  Van  Riper  and  sons  also  settled  there 
early,  and  a  Mr.  Fleming.  Our  well-known  citizen,  Carey  Thornton,  also 
settled  on  the  Channahon  road,  and  opened  one  of  the  finest  farms  in  the 
county.  It  used  to  be  a  good  place  to  stop  at  and  eat  pumpkin  pie. 

Josiah  R.  Holden,  a  brother  of  Phineas  Holden,  of  Frankfort  Settlement, 
was  an  early  settler  in  this  township,  having  located  on  Section  32,  just  across 
the  Du  Page,  where  the  old  Au  Sable  road  crosses.  He  came  in  1834,  and 
was  for  some  years  one  of  our  best  and  most  reliable  citizens.  He  now  lives  in 
Michigan  with  a  son,  who  is  Secretary  of  State.  Mr.  Holden  and  his  wife  Avere 
members  of  the  old  Plainfield  Congregational  Church,  and  they  celebrated  their 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  267 

golden  wedding  about  four  years  since.  They  were  from  New  Hampshire. 
Mr.  H.  is  now  81. 

The  famous  Haff  farm,  at  the  mouth  of  Rock  Run,  is  also  in  the  town  of 
Troy.  This  was  opened  by  the  well-known  Horace  Haff,  commonly  called 
'Squire  Haff,  in  1836.  It  was  one  of  the  best  farms  and  he  was  one  of  the 
best  citizens  of  Will  County.  He  resided  there  many  years,  but  a  few  years 
before  his  death,  sold  it  and  came  to  Joliet,  where  he  died  in  November,  1865. 

Coming  still  farther  north,  Andrew  and  Marshall  King  and  another 
brother  settled  just  west  of  the  mound,  in  1833  or  1834.  The  sons  and 
daughters  of  these  Kings  are  still  among  us.  J.  Q.  A.  King,  the  well-known 
coal  dealer  and  a  member  of  Barnett's  Battery  all  through  the  war,  is  o*ne  of 
them.  Norman  Bradley  was  also  an  early  settler  in  the  same  neighborhood. 
Directly  west  of  Joliet,  on  the  Rock  Run,  was  another  early  settler,  of  the 
name  of  Colvin,  from  whom  the  grove  was  named. 

WILMINGTON  AND  FORKED  CREEK. 

On  the  Kankakee  River  and  Forked  (Sreek,  in  localities  which  are  now  in- 
cluded in  Florence,  Wesley  and  Wilmington,  there  were  early  settlers.  The 
earliest  of  these  were  John  Frazier,  Hamilton  Keeney,  John  Williams,  Robert 
Kilpatrick,  James  Kelly,  James  Jordan,  John  Howell  and  George  Beckwith, 
who  came  as  early  as  1834,  and  perhaps  some  of  them  before.  Most  of  these 
were  Virginians.  Joseph  Hadsall  and  Mr.  Goodwin  came  in  1835.  These 
were  mostly  in  Wesley  and  Florence.  On  the  river,  Peter  Polly  settled  in 
1834,  at  the  head  of  the  Island.  Thomas  Cox  went  from  Joliet,  where  he  was 
one  of  the  earliest  settlers,  to  the  Kankakee,  and  laid  out  the  town  of  Winches- 
ter, which  was  afterward  changed  to  Wilmington,  in  1836.  He  had  previously 
mad^  an  extensive  claim,  in  ]  834,  on  Sections  25  and  26,  including  the  island. 
He  built  a  saw-mill,  and  some  other  mills,  we  believe. 

In  1835,  Peter  Stewart,  from  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.,  visited  the  West,  selected 
Wilmington  as  his  location,  and  moved  West  with  his  family  in  1836.  The 
writer  well  remembers  making  the  acquaintance  of  the  family  while  they  stopped 
overnight  at  the  old  American  Hotel.  This  hotel,  by  the  way,  stood  on  the 
ground  now  occupied  by  Bush's  Block,  where  he  is  now  writing.  From  that 
day  forth  our  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Stewart  continued  until  his  death  in  1868, 
at  the  age  of  85.  From  his  first  coming  to  the  country,  Peter  Stewart  was  an 
influential  and  noted  man.  He  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  having  been  born  in 
1783,  at  Coilantagle  Ford,  in  the  parish  of  Callender,  the  spot  where  Scott 
locates  the  encounter  between  Fitz  James  and  Roderick  Dhu,  when 

"111  fared  it  then  with  Roderick  Dhu, 
That  on  the  ground  his  targe  he  threw." 

In  Scotland,  he  was  the  steward  of  one  of  the  great  lords  of  the  country. 
On  coming  to  America  he  became  a  lord  himself.  He  acquired  a  handsome 
property  by  contracts  upon  the  Erie  Canal,  near  Albany.  He  also  built  the 


268  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Auburn  Theological  Seminary  and  the  Navy  Yard  buildings  at  New  York. 
On  coming  to  Wilmington,  he  built  a  large,  fine  house,  far  the  finest  in  the 
county  at  that  period,  and  even  now  a  good  one.  He  laid  out  an  addition  to 
Wilmington,  and  built  a  saw-mill  on  Forked  Creek.  He  was  Superintendent 
of  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  after  its  completion.  The  old  Stewart  mansion 
was  a  most  hospitable  one  in  the  early  days.  Uncle  Peter  was  a  man  of  exten- 
sive information,  acquired  by  reading  and  intercourse  with  public  men.  He 
had  a  fine  library,  and  his  home  was  a  delightful  one,  overlooking  the  beautiful 
Kankakee  and  Forked  Creeks  at  their  junction.  Mrs.  Stewart  was  one  of  the 
most  lovely  of  women,  and  might  have  sat  for  King  Lemuel's  picture  of  the 
excellent  woman.  None  who  knew  her  have  forgotten  her,  although  she  has 
been  thirty-two  years  in  heaven.  That  was  a  sad  day  to  many  hearts  when  she 
died.  The  writer  has  one  souvenir  of  a  visit  to  the  Stewart  mansion  in  1842, 
a  few  years  before  her  death.  This  is  a  root  of  that  most  beautiful  herbaceous 
plant,  the  rose-colored  spirea,  which  he  found  growing  in  native  beauty  and  lux- 
uriance by  the  spring  which  wells  up  beneath  the  bluff  on  which  the  mansion 
stands.  Mr.  and  Mrsi  Stewart  were  mainstays  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 
Wilmington,  while  they  lived,  and  liberal  supporters  of  all  charitable  and  phil- 
anthropic movements.  The  Stewart  house  extended  its  hospitalities  to  the 
poor  fugitives  from  Southern  bondage,  and  was  one  of  the  stations  on  the 
underground  railroad  of  which  we  have  spoken.  Mr.  Stewart  himself  enjoyed 
the  distinction  of  being  called  the  President  of  the  road.  This  reminds  us  of  a 
story  which  is  told  of  Uncle  Peter.  Once  when  in  Washington,  during  the 
Presidency  of  James  Buchanan,  he  happened  to  be  riding  from  Washington  to 
Baltimore  in  the  same  car  with  the  President,  and  to  be  seated  near  him.  A 
lady  in  the  car  requested  Col.  Stewart  to  exchange  seats  with  her,  saying  that 
she  wished  to  sit  near  the  President.  Mr.  Stewart,  with  the  bluff  and  hefcrty 
manner  for  which  he  was  noted,  says :  "  Madam,  I  am  the  President. 
"Indeed!"  says  the  lady,  "  Of  what  are  you  president?"  "  Of  the  under- 
ground railroad,  Madam,"  he  replied,  as,  with  great  politeness  and  good  humor, 
he  complied  with  her  request.  Well,  he  lived  to  see  "his  occupation  gone  !  " 
And  men  who  then  were  compelled  to  skulk  by  night  through  free  States,  or 
live  under  the  driver's  lash,  may  now  vote  and  hold  office,  may  go  to  Congress, 
sit  in  Jeff  Davis's  seat  in  the  Senate  and  own  his  plantation ;  and  a  fugitive 
slave  is  Marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  where  once  there  were  slave  pens 
and  auction  blocks.  Verily  the  world  does  move  !  Mr.  Stewart  died  Sept.  28, 
1868.  The  veteran  preacher,  J.  G.  Porter,  who  was  sometime  his  Pastor, 
preached  his  funeral  sermon  from  the  appropriate  text,  2d  Sam.,  iii,  38,  "  Know 
ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen  this  day  in  Israel  ?  " 

The  settling  of  Peter  Stewart  at  Wilmington  was  accompanied  by,  and 
perhaps  the  occasion  of,  the  coming  of  others  of  his  countrymen,  until  it 
became  noted  for  its  Scotch  element.  Among  these  we  recall  the  names  of 
Fred  Stewart,  his  son  ;  Daniel  Stewart,  his  brother  (who  died  in  1874 — age 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  269 

74),  Arch.  J.  Mclntyre,  Peter  Mclntosh,  John  Mclntosh,  David  Mclntosh, 
David  Bell,  Daniel  Mclntosh,  the  good  old  Deacon  ;  Andrew  Whitton,  a  native 
of  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  his  sons,  John  and  James  Whitton ;  John  and  David 
Thompson,  and  Duncan  Mclntyre,  in  1836-37 ;  Peter  McFarlin,  in  1840. 

Dr.  Bowen  removed  to  Wilmington  from  Joliet,  and  also  Edmund  Allen, 
where  they  still  live. 

Wilmington  is  now  well  known  on  account  of  its  water-power,  manufactur- 
ing enterprises,  adjacent  coal  mines  and  Kankakee  River  improvements — all  of 
which  will  be  noticed  elsewhere  in  the  town  history.  There  were  early  settle- 
ments farther  up  the  Kankakee. 

UP   THE    KANKAKEE. 

Thomas  Hatton,  afterward  a  resident  of  Joliet,  and  Richard  Yates  settled 
across  the  Kankakee,  higher  up,  in  the  present  town  of  Ouster,  as  early  as 
1834  or  1835.  Still  farther  up  the^Kankakee,  there  were  early  settlements,  em- 
bracing some  of  the  old  Indian  reservations  and  the  French  and  Indian  settle- 
ment known  as  Bourbonnais  Grove.  One  of  our  first  County  Commissioners, 
Thomas  Durham,  was  from  Bourbonnais.  Dr.  Todd,  a  once  well-known  and 
influential  resident  of  the  county,  purchased  five  sections  of  land  on  Rock 
Creek,  which  empties  into  the  Kankakee,  near  the  county  line,  and  perhaps 
some  might  have  been  within  the  present  bounds  of  the  county.  The  deed  was 
the  third  one  on  the  records  of  Will  County,  as  transcribed  from  Cook  County, 
and  is  from  Shaw-waw-nas-see  to  Hiram  Todd,  dated  March  22,  1833,  convey- 
ing, for  the  consideration  of  $4,000,  five  sections  of  land,  a  reservation,  to  said 
red  gentleman,  by  Article  2  of  a  treaty  made  October  5,  1832,  between  Jona- 
than Jennings,  John  W.  Davis  and  Marks  Cume,  United  States  Commission- 
ers, and  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Pottawatomies,  the  said  land  lying  at 
the  mouth  of  Rock  Creek,  and  including  the  little  Rock  village.  This  deed 
was  witnessed  by  Luther  Rice  and  C.  C.  Van  Home.  Mrs.  Shaw-waw-nas-see 
did  not  sign  this  deed,  but  another  was  executed  a  little  later  which  she  signed 
(or  made  her  totem),  in  token  of  her  relinquishment  of  the  right  of  dower. 
She  rejoiced  in  the  euphonious  name  of  Ke-kit-o-quah.  She  probably  is  not 
living  to  set  up  a  claim  for  dower  on  the  score  of  defective  acknowledgment. 
Cornelius  C.  Van  Home,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  (then)  of  Cook  County,  took 
the  acknowledgment.  Other  deeds  of  Indian  reservations  executed  by  Mr. 
"  Lo  "  are  on  the  county  records ;  but  as  this  region  has  passed  out  of  our  do- 
main we  omit  all  further  notice  of  its  history. 

^"IVE-MILE    GROVE. 

Some  persons  settled  in  what  was  known  as  "Five-Mile  Grove,"  now  in  the 
town  of  Manhattan,  quite  early.  The  first  settlers  were  a  Mr.  Stevens  and 
Ephvaim  and  Edward  Perkins,  who  settled  there  in  1832  or  1833  ;  Mr.  Jones,  in 
1835,  and  the  Rudds,  in  1838.  But  the  town  being,  with  the  slight  exception 
of  the  grove,  prairie  and  out  of  sight  of  land,  did  not  entice  many  settlers  until 


270  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

a  later  day.  The  Bakers,  the  Lawrances  and  the  Youngs,  who  made  the  grove 
such  a  famous  place  for  excursions,  twenty  years  ago,  did  not  come  until  1849 
or  1850 ;  and  about  this  time  the  township  filled  up  rapidly  with  good  settlers, 
many  of  whom  are  now  of  German  nationality.  We  leave  further  notice  of 
it  to  the  township  historian. 

TWELVE-MILE   GROVE. 

Twelve-Mile  Grove,  now  a  part  of  Wilton,  having  two  sections  of  land,  mostly 
timber,  attracted  some  squatters  at  an  early  day.  As  early  as  1832,  Samuel 
Holcomb  settled  at  the  northeast  end  of  the  grove,  and  Abram  Huyck,  in  1835. 
From  1837  to  1840,  Frank  Chamberlin,  James  Adams,  Horace  Fish,  Weir 
Leavitt,  Jabez  and  Hiram  Harvey  settled  there,  and  many  others  soon  after. 
The  Kennistons,  Nelsons  and  others  were  somewhat  later.  Considerable  his- 
torical interest  attaches  to  this  grove,  on  account  of  the  fact  that  it  was  orig- 
inally an  Indian  Reservation  consisting  of  two  sections  of  land,  reserved  by  the 
same  treaty  of  which  we  have  elsewhere  spoken,  and  is  generally  known  as  the 
"  Se-natch-wine  Reservation."  One  section  was  reserved  to  Joseph  Laughton, 
an  Indian  who  seems  to  have  borrowed  a  whiteman's  name,  and  the  other  to 
Se-natch-e-wine,  which  is  commonly  corrupted  to  Snatchwine.  The  man  who 
bore  this  name  seems  to  have  been  a  chief.  We  find  that  his  name  occurs  often 
in  the  Indian  history  of  this  region.  We  find  it  also  in  the  treaties  of  1815-16 
with  the  Pottawatomies,  spelled  Sou-nou-che-wome.  The  name,  in  its  corrupted 
form,  is  perpetuated  in  a  stream  in  Bureau  County — Snatchwine  Creek — and  a 
township  in  Putnam  County  has  the  same  name.  We  have  not  been  able  to 
find  the  meaning  of  the  name.  It  is  not  given  in  the  treaties  referred  to.  It 
is  a  great  pity  that  more  of  these  names  have  not  been  preserved,  as  some  of 
them  would  be  appropriate  now.  For  instance : 

Pierce-mack-ie — the  man  who  walks  crooked. 

Mark-sua-ma-nee — the  man  who  is  sick  when  he  walks. 

Oh-ho-shin-ga — the  man  who  cooks  little  in  a  small  kettle. 

Shou-ga-tong — the  horse  jockey. 

Now-ja-ming-he — the  man  who  has  no  heart. 

These  names  we  can  readily  see  would  be  very  convenient  to  have  even  now. 

In  this  grove  was  once  an  Indian  village,  of  which  Se-natch-e-wine  was 
chief.  This  reservation  of  two  sections  was  deeded  by  the  chief  in  question,  and 
Joseph  Laughton,  to  James  Kibbin,  in  1840,  and  one  section  was  conveyed  by 
him  to  the  Nelsons.  Of  course,  while  the  title  was  unsettled,  there  were  more 
or  less  squatter  and  conflicting  claims,  the  history  of  which  we  cannot  go  into. 
The  title  was  considered  defective  until  confirmed  by  act  of  Congress.  An  old 
chief's  grave  was  still  conspicuous  when  the  white  settlers  came.  He  was 
buried  in  the  usual  way — in  a  pen  of  saplings,  in  a  sitting  posture,  with  his 
gun,  pipe,  kettles,  etc.,  all  ready  for  use  in  the  happy  hunting  grounds.  Mr. 
Nelson  once  obtained  a  perfect  skeleton,  teeth  all  preserved,  from  the  ground 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  271 

now  under  cultivation.  The  plow  still  turns  up  Indian  relics.  Laughton  and 
Snatchwine,  with  other  Indians,  visited  the  grove  after  it  had  become  settled 
and  inclosed.  Coming  to  the  fences  which  had  been  built,  they  cut  a  passage 
through  them  until  they  reached  the  site  of  their  old  village,  where  they  camped 
for  some  days. 

"  Old  Put  "  was  a  noted  character  in  the  settlement.  His  notoriety,  how- 
ever, was  of  a  kind  not  likely  to  attract  new-comers,  and  some  of  the  settlers 
determined  to  rid  the  grove  of  his  presence.  They  did  this  most  effectually. 
The  means  resorted  to  was  a  coat  of  tar  and  feathers  and  shaving  his  head, 
when  he  was  let  go.  He  stood  not  upon  the  order  of  his  going,  but  went,  and 
the  grove  knew  him  no  more.  The  Indian  name  of  this  grove  was  Na-be-ne- 
ka-nong.  As  Capt.  Cuttle  says :  Please  make  a  note  of  it.  The  translation 
of  the  word  is  "Twelve  miles  from  any  other  place,"  hence  the  name  by  which 
it  used  to  be  known.  The  stream  known  as  Forked  Creek  runs  through  the 
grove. 

WASHINGTON    AND    WILL. 

Some  other  of  the  eastern  towns  of  the  county  are  of  comparatively  recent 
settlement.  Being  outside  the  Indian  boundary  line,  and  being  almost  entirely 
prairie  and  at  a  considerable  distance  from  timber,  they  were  settled  slowly  at 
first.  The  opening  of  the  Illinois  Central  Road  and  the  Chicago  &  Danville 
Road,  has,  however,  rendered  them  accessible,  and  they  have  rapidly  filled  up, 
mostly  with  Germans. 

The  township  of  Washington,  lying  directly  south  of  Crete,  began  to  be 
settled  about  1850.  The  earliest  settlers  were  Jesse  Dutcher,  Jacob  Barney 
and  Charles  Fuller,  who  were  soon  followed  by  John  Rose,  Win.  Strain,  Peter 
Abercrombie,  Mr.  Selvey ,  and  the  ubiquitous  John  Smith,  and  a  little  later  Joseph 
Maxwell,  Clinton  Fuller  and  John  Bows  were  added.  The  Germans  then  took 
possession,  and  have  become  a  power  in  the  county. 

The  township  of  Will,  lying  east  of  Washington,  was  settled  about  the  same 
time.  John  McKenzie,  we  believe,  was  the  first  settler,  in  1849,  and  in  1853 
J.  M.  Gridley,  Joseph  Baldwin,  Mr.  Lyons  and  H.  N.  Ingersoll  ;  in  1854-5, 
John  B.  Sollitt,  F.  P.  Lilly,  P.  McMahon,  Robert  Patterson,  William  Consta- 
ble and  William  Pickard.  Rev.  S.  C.  Gilbert,  a  veteran  home  missionary,  preached 
the  first  sermon,  in  1854.  This  is  also  entirely  a  prairie  township.  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Maine,  Vermont,  Ohio  and  Virginia,  of  the  States,  and  England, 
Scotland,  Germany,  Ireland,  Sweden  and  Prince  Edward  Island  have  furnished 

the  tillers  of  its  fertile  acres. 

PEOTONE. 

Still  another  prairie  township  is  Peotone,  which  was  also  settled  from  1849 
down.  David  B.  Booth  and  James  Allen  were  the  earliest  on  the  ground,  and 
were  soon  followed  by  Samuel  Goodspeed,  P.  Armstrong,  Ralph  Crawford,  J. 
C.  Cowing  and  others.  The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  passes  through  the  south- 
east corner,  and  a  flourishing  station  of  the  same  name  as  the  town  has  grown 


272  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

up  on  Section  24.     Its  population  has  also  been  gathered  from  various  States 
and  countries. 

GREENGARDEN. 

North  of  Peotone  lies  another  prairie  township,  known  as  Greengarden,  and 
before  township  organization,  as  Vermont  Precinct,  and  was  settled  about  the 
same  time,  being  commenced  in  1847  by  M.  F.  Sanders  and  George  M.  Green. 
Levi  Blanchard  and  James  Hudson  came  in  1848,  the  latter-named  being  a 
preacher.  From  1850  on,  the  township  filled  up  rapidly,  and  is  now  largely 
German.  The  streams  emptying  into  the  Kankakee,  known  as  Forked  Creek 
and  Prairie  Creek,  have  their  rise  in  this  township. 

MONEE. 

In  the  township  of  Monee,  lying  between  Greengarden  and  Crete,  there  were  a 
few  settled  quite  early.  In  1834,  John  S.  Dilley ;  In  1835,  John  M.  Chase,  N.  C. 
Tibbitts,  S.  W.  Cooper,  Nicholas  Young  and  Ruel  Carney  ;  and  in  1836,  S.  W. 
Gaines,  Aaron  Bond,  Otis  Philips,  Hollis  Newton,  and  a  Mr.  Hall.  This  town- 
ship has  about  three  sections  of  timber  in  the  northeast  corner,  which  will 
account  for  its  earlier  settlement.  There  is  also  a  little  grove  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  town.  The  first  school  was  opened  in  1836,  by  Otis  B.  Philips. 
It  has  filled  up  in  later  years  largely  with  Germans.  It  has  a  flourishing  sta- 
tion on  the  Central  Railroad,  of  the  same  name. 

We  believe  we  have  now  noticed  the  first  settlements  (except  Joliet)  in  the 
county,  and  given  the  names  of  most  of  the  settlers  down  to  1837,  and,  in  some 
instances  later.  Our  aim  has  only  been  to  relate  the  beginning  of  things,  leav- 
ing later  history  and  other  names,  and  statistics  generally,  to  the  township  his- 
tories. Of  course  the  rush  of  immigrants  in  the  subsequent  years  was  so  great 
as  to  forbid  our  giving  names.  It  now  remains  to  notice  the  first -settlements 
within  the  present  limits  of  the  city  of  Joliet. 

JOLIET   CITY. 

In  1833,  Charles  Reed,  whose  name  we  have  given  as  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers at  Reed's  Grove,  and  which  frequently  occurs  on  our  earliest  records,  both 
as  grantor  and  grantee,  made  a  claim  on  the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  9,  T. 
35,  R.  10  E.,  and  built  a  log  house  on  the  same,  and  commenced  to  make  a 
dam  and  other  preparations  for  a  mill.  Mr.  Reed  had  purchased  several  tracts 
of  canal  land  from  the  State,  in  1833,  as  did  others  of  the  first  settlers,  the 
canal  land  being  then  in  market.  He,  however,  never  had  any  title  to  this 
quarter,  except  a  squatter's  right,  which  he  sold,  together  with  his  improve- 
ments, to  James  McKee,  as  we  have  elsewhere  noted.  James  McKee  was  a  Ken- 
tuckian  by  birth,  but  came  here  from  Jacksonville,  in  this  State.  He  was  pro- 
vided with  a  float,  or  a  right  to  enter  any  vacant  land  belonging  to  the  State, 
which  right  had  been  granted  to  Sylvia  Hall,  on  account  of  her  suffering  as  an 
Indian  captive,  of  which  we  shall  speak  by  and  by.  This  float,  as  the  assignee 
of  said  Sylvia  and  her  husband,  Mr.  McKee  laid  upon  the  fractional  quar- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  273 

ter  on  which  Mr.  Reed  had  commenced  his  preparations  for  a  mill.  McKee 
proceeded  at  once  to  the  erection  of  a  mill  on  a  somewhat  larger  scale  than  had 
been  planned  by  Reed.  Reed's  millstone,  we  remember,  was  made  from  a  large 
hard-head,  or  nigger-head,  as  they  are  sometimes  called,  and  for  a  long  time 
lay  upon  the  old  mill-yard.  The  dam  was  considerably  above  the  present  stone  one 
built  by  the  Canal  Trustees,  about  where  the  lock-house  now  stands.  The  re- 
mains of  it  may  be  seen  when  the  basin  is  drawn  off.  A  flouring-mill  was 
raised  in  the  Fall  of  1834.  The  raising  of  this  mill  was  a  notable  event,  in 
which  the  writer  participated.  The  frame  was  built,  of  course,  of  heavy,  green 
oak  timber,  and  it  required  a  previous  canvass  of  the  surrounding  country  to 
get  together  enough  men  to  raise  it.  The  old  frame  is  still  standing,  being  the 
building  just  above  the  Jefferson  Street  Bridge.  Of  course,  the  building  of  the 
present  dam  below  it,  rendered  it  useless  as  a  mill,  and  it  has  since  been  occu- 
pied frr  various  purposes.  For  a  long  time,  Cook  &  Stillman  had  it  for  a  livery ; 
then  Charles  Ward,  for  storage ;  and  it  now  seems  to  be  chiefly  used  as  a  boat 
house  for  our  amateur  boat  clubs.  A  saw-mill  was  also  built  below  and  adjoin- 
ing the  grist-mill,  which  used  to  do  a  famous  business  manufacturing  oak  and 
black  walnut  lumber.  Charles  Reed,  who,  as  we  have  already  said,  is  entitled 
to  be  called  the  founder  of  Joliet,  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1874.  He  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and- a  witness  of  Hull's  cowardly  surrender.  He 
came  to  the  grove  which  bears  his  name  in  1830 ;  Joseph  and  Eli  Shoemaker 
accompanied  him ;  we  suppose  they  came  immediately  from  Indiana.  When 
the  Black  Hawk  war  occurred,  he,  with  the  other  settlers  escaped  to  Indiana. 
Mr.  Reed  moved  to  Joliet  in  1833,  as  we  have  said ;  he  afterward  removed  to 
Winnebago  County,  where  he  died  in  1863.  He  was  appointed  by  the  Gov- 
ernor one  of  the  appraisers  of  Canal  damages.  He  was  one  of  the  kind  of  men 
made  for  pioneers,  restless,  honest,  enterprising,  fearless  and  hospitable.  He 
was  also  sagacious  and  a  good  judge  of  land  and  locations.  It  is  said  that  the 
principal  thing  which  made  him  select  this  locality,  aside  from  its  water-power, 
was  the  fact  that  it  was  on  the  old  Sac  trail,  which  showed  it  to  be  on  the  short- 
est and  best  route  from  Detroit  to  the  Mississippi.  It  is  an  unfortunate  thing 
for  Chicago  that  it]  is  so  far  one  side  of  this  great  thoroughfare.  This  is  prob- 
ably what  has  retarded  its  growth.  We  are  sorry  for  it,  but  we  can't  help  it. 
Mr.  Reed,  after  his  sale  to  Mr.  McKee,  made  a  claim  on  the  west  half  of  the 
section,  and  built  a  log  house  just  under  the  hill  on  which  W.  A.  Strong's  house 
stands.  But  as  there  was  to  be  no  recognition  of  claims  on  canal  lands,  under 
the  new  canal  law,  he  did  nor  long  remain.  The  house  was  afterward  occupied 
by  Judge  Piersons  and  family,  and  was  the  scene  of  a  mournful  tragedy.  Mrs. 
P.,  in  an  insane  fit  hung  herself.  This  gave  the  old  log  house  the  reputation  of 
being  haunted.  But  J.  C.  Van  Auken  and  family  afterward  occupied  it,  and, 
we  believe,  were  never  disturbed.  This  is  the  same  place  which  Mr.  Joseph 
Campbell,  who  came  here  in  1839,  from  the  land  of  oaten  cakes,  bought  at  the 
sale  of  canal  lands,  and  is  now  the  beautiful  property  of  W.  A.  Strong,  Esq. 


27  4  HlriTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

James  B.  Campbell,  who  was  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Canal  Commis- 
sioners, appointed  under  the  act  of  1829,  held  a  float  from  the  State  also,  by 
virtue  of  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  granting  pre-emption  rights,  etc., 
giving  the  right  to  locate  any  quarter  of  unsold  canal  lands.  This  was  the 
float  originally  given  to  the  other  Hall  girl.  He  located  his  float  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river,  on  the  fractional  quarter  of  Section  9,  Township  35 
north,  Range  10,  containing  (56.90  acres,  receiving  for  the  deficit  thirteen  acres 
on  what  is  now  Eastern  avenue.  His  choice  has  certainly  been  justified  by 
time.  He  laid  off  the  original  town  of  Joliet,  and  held  a  public  sale  of  lots  in 
June,  1834.  Mr.  Campbell,  however,  never  took  up  his  residence  here,  but, 
we  think,  resided  at  Ottawa  for  some  time.  He  was,  however,  well  known  all 
over  the  canal  route  in  an  early  day.  Some  of  our  present  property  owners 
have  heard,  in  recent  years,  of  his  widow — perhaps  have  interviewed  her  or 
her  lawyers — as  she  re-appeared  very  suddenly,  a  few  years  since,  claiming 
dower  in  the  lots  which  Campbell,  by  attorney,  had  conveyed  to  various  parties. 
Some  settled  with  her  by  paying  different  amounts.  They  might  have  saved 
their  money,  as  she  soon  went  where  all  earthly  rights  and  claims  are  not  of 
much  account.  At  this  sale,  the  lots  brought  from  $19  to  $108.  The  sale 
was  held  in  a  building  then  just  put  up  by  the  Bailey  Brothers,  on  the  lot  now 
owned  and  occupied  by  Mrs.  Kinney,  which  they  had  bought  before  the  public 
sale.  This  was  the  first  frame  house  put  up  in  the  city,  and  the  lumber  was 
sawed  at  Saver's  mill.  This  sale  was  a  great  event.  From  "  Walker's  Grove" 
to  the  "Head  of  Hickory,"  from  "  Treat's  Mill"  to  "the  Sag,"  and  from 
"  Bourbonnais  "  to  "Blue  Island,"  and  even  from  the  promising  village  of 
Chicago,  the  people  gathered  to  the  number  of  perhaps  two  hundred.  A 
bountiful  collation  was  prepared  by  the  ladies  of  the  neighboring  settlements, 
who  were  present  to  dispense  it.  \ 

Campbell's  town  was  recorded  as  "  Juliet,"  whether  after  Shakespeare's 
heroine,  or  his  own  daughter,  or  by  mistake  for  Joliet,  the  writer  cannot  deter- 
mine. There  are  various  theories ;  take  your  choice.  The  name  was  changed 
afterward,  at  the  suggestion  of  S.  W.  Bowen  and  others,  by  an  act  of  the  Leg- 
islature introduced  by  D.  L.  Gregg,  Esq.  And  here  we  wish  to  notify  all  peo- 
ple, both  in  America  and  Europe,  that  the  proper  way  to  spell  it  is — Joliet. 
Please  do  not  waste  so  many  1's  and  t's  and  e's  when  you  write  it,  and  although 
we  are  a  jolly  people,  please  do  not  pronounce  it  Jolly-ett,  but  Zho-liet;  accent 
on  first  syllable.  If  you  wish  to  go  to  the  root  of  the  subject,  the  primary 
meaning  of  the  word  is  pretty,  which  makes  it  all  the  more  appropriate  for  our 
city. 

Early  in  March,  1834,  Albert  W.  Bowen,  a  physician  in  pursuit  of  a  loca- 
tion, came  to  this  vicinity  and  boarded  a  while  with  Lewis  Kerchival.  He  had 
the  sagacity  to  foresee  that  a  town  would  grow  up  in  this  locality,  and  made  a 
claim  on  Section  2,  in  this  township.  He  also  built  a  small  frame  house  on  Section 
10,  near  where  the  Union  School  House  now  stands,  in  which  he  lived  after 


,. 

rat 

I  &c 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  277 

the  arrival  of  his  wife.  Dr.  Bowen,  who  had  been  a  practitioner  for  nine  years 
in  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and 
also  engaged  largely  in  speculations.  He  acted  as  agent  for  Jas.  B.  Campbell 
in  the  sale  of  lots,  and  soon  added  East  Joliet  and  Bowen's  Addition  to  the 
town.  Dr.  Bowen  procured  the  establishment  of  a  post  office  at  Joliet,  and  was 
the  first  Postmaster,  holding  the  office  several  years,  until  Taylor's  election. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  men  in  our  early  history.  Major  Bowen, 
of  the  One  Hundredth,  who  gave  his  life  for  the  Union  at  the  battle  of  Frank- 
lin, Tenn.,  was  his  son.  Dr.  Bowen  has  for  some  years  resided  at  Wilmington, 
and  bears  well  his  77  years  of  busy  and  useful  life. 

In  the  Fall  of  1833.  Charles  Clement,  having  some  dimes  which  he  thought 
would  grow  faster  somewhere  else,  left  New  Hampshire,  and,  anticipating  the 
advice  of  Horace  Greeley,  came  West.  Passing  through  the  swamps  of  Michi- 
gan Territory,  he  struck  out  on  horseback  from  Niles,  followed  the  old  Sac  trail 
through  Northern  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  crossed  the  Des  Planes  at  a  ford 
north  of  the  city.  Seeing  no  marks  of  the  coming  city  except  the  old  log  cabin 
of  Maggard,  he  rode  on  west  to  Walker's  Grove,  and  from  there  down  to 
Peoria.  He  returned  in  the  Spring  of  1834  to  Walker's  Grove,  where  he 
heard  of  Juliet  as  a  point  of  promise,  and  he  bent  his  pilgrim  steps  hither. 
This  time  he  struck  lower  down  and  found  James  McKee  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  McKee's  Town,  or  West  Juliet.  Convinced  that  this  was  the  spot  for 
his  dimes,  he  planted  1,250  of  them  at  once  by  purchasing  an  acre  of  land  of 
James  McKee,  west  of  his  mill-yard,  which  acre  embraced  land  which  became  the 
blocks  on  the  northeast  and  northwest  corners  of  Bluff  and  exchange  streets, 
and  extending  west  to  Broadway.  Events  have  fully  justified  his  choice.  From 
that  time  to  the  present,  Mr.  Clement  has  mostly  resided  at  Joliet,  and  been 
one  of  our  prominent  citizens  and  property  owners,  and  his  dimes  have  fast 
multiplied.  He  was  the  first  Treasurer  of  the  county.  He  has  held  other 
positions  of  trust,  and  been  found  faithful.  He  now  enjoys  the  distinction  of 
being  the  "  oldest  male  inhabitant "  of  the  city,  and  though  the  writer  stands 
next  in  the  succession,  he  hopes  Mr.  C.  will  long  enjoy  the  honor.  His  first 
enterprise  in  building  consisted  in  putting  up  a  frame  house  on  the  ground  now 
covered  by  Bush's  Block,  which  became  afterward  the  American  House,  and 
which  was  soon  occupied  by  the  family  of  his  brother,  Daniel  Clement,  who, 
nth  a  millwright  named  Clark,  came  on  in  May  of  the  same  year.  It  was 
lere  that  the  hands,  among  them  "  Uncle  Dick  Hobbs,"  were  boarding  when 
the  writer  came  in  September. 

In  June  of  the  same  year,  M.  H.  Demmond  from  Herkimer  County,  N. 
Y.,  and  George  R.  Makepeace  explored  the  West,  and  finally  made  a  plant  in 
the  same  locality,  each  purchasing  another  acre  for  the  same  sum  of  $125,  of 
James  McKee,  Mr.  Demmond's  acre  joining  Clement's  on  the  north,  and  Mr. 
Makepeace's  still  further  north,  on  the  north  side  of  Oneida  Street.  They 
returned  to  New  York,  settled  up  their  affairs  and  in  September  came  on  with 


278  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

their  families,  following  the  Sac  trail  from  Niles  hither.  A  sister  of  Mrs. 
Demmond's,  now  Mrs.  Foltz  of  Centre  street,  a  hired  man  of  the  name  of 
Jenny,  and  a  verdant  youth  subsequently  known  and  described  as  "Long 
George,"  and  sometimes  as  "Deacon,"  and  at  rare  and  happy  intervals  by  those 
whose  sense  of  justice  is  keen,  "Judge,"  accompanied  Mr.  Demmond..  We 
wish  we  could  illustrate  this  history  with  a  bird's-eye  view  of  Juliet  at  this 
time,  September,  1834.  The  pen  cannot  be  expected  to  do  it  justice.  Com- 
ing in  through  the  Hickory  Creek  timber,  crossing  the  tall  grass  and  weeds  of 
Spring  Creek  bottom,  the  first  building  which  greeted  the  eager  eyes  of  the 
traveler,  was  the  palatial  mansion  of  Dr.  Bowen,  of  which  we  have  spoken — 
sixteen  or  eighteen  feet  square.  Crossing  the  slough  somewhere  near  the  pres- 
ent Cass  street,  then  covered  with  grass  and  weeds  in  which  we  could  almost 
be  lost,  two  other  dwellings  loomed  upon  the  vision.  These  were  occupied  by 
Thomas  Cox  and  Benj.  F.  Barker.  One  of  these  was  afterward  moved,  and 
altered  by  J.  0.  Norton,  and  is  still  extant  on  North  Chicago  street.  Farther 
south  there  were  perhaps  three  other  buildings  just  erected.  One  of  these 
became  historic  as  the  "Juliet  Hotel,"  and  stood  on  the  corner  north  of  the  Cen- 
tral Presbyterian  Church.  This  was  moved  a  little  east  a  few  years  since,  and  has 
been  cremated.  Another  was  the  Bailey  house.  On  the  west  side  of  the  river, 
which  was  then  crossed  by  a  ford  below  the  island,  was  the  old  log  house  built 
by  Reed,  with  an  addition  by  McKee ;  the  Clement  house  of  which  we  have 
spoken ;  another  which  had  been  built  for  Mr.  Demmond,  per  contract  made  by 
him  on  his  first  visit;  and  further  north,  a  log  house  just  above  Cross  street, 
in  which  lived  a  Mr.  Campbell,  and  which  soon  after  and  for  a  long  time  was 
the  home  of  Barton  Smith,  Esq.,  and  family.  The  Maggard  house  was  so  far 
to  the  north  as  not  to  be  included  in  the  city  limits  during  its  existence.  Men 
were  busy  building  McKee's  dam,  laying  the  foundation  for  the  mill,  digging 
the  race,  and  hewing  the  timbers.  Such  were  at  this  time  all  the  indications 
of  the  future  city.  To  watch  the  daily  progress  of  the  mill,  eat  Mrs.  McKee's 
hot  biscuit,  and  drink  her  coffee,  and  explore  the  suburbs,  were  the  only  re- 
sources for  driving  off  the  blues  for  the  first  few  weeks  ;  and  a  hard  time  the 
writer  had  of  it,  no  mistake.  At  this  time,  Deacon  Brandon — it  is  wonderful 
how  many  Deacons  we  are  able  to  get  into  this  history — was  lying  upon  his  back, 
sick  with  bilious  fever,  in  the  McKee  addition,  and  swallowing  unlimited  quan- 
tities of  calomel,  not  a  cheerful  sight  for  the  eyes  of  a  new-comer.  He  was 
Mr.  McKee's  mason.  We  must  not  forget  a  block-house  and  palisades,  built 
upon  the  highest  part  of  the  bluff,  where  H.  N.  Marsh's  house  now  stands, 
during  the  Sac  war.  To  this  spot  the  writer  often  retired  to  dream  of  the 
future  city — and  of  the  girl  he  left  behind  him.  In  the  course  of  the  Fall  and 
Winter  the  mill  was  erected  and  also  a  saw-mill,  which  was  rented  and  run  by 
Dan.  Clement  and  Clark.  Mr.  Demmond  moved  into  the  house  he  had  built, 
and  opened  a  store  in  one  of  the  rooms,  after  the  arrival  of  his  goods,  via  the 
lakes,  which  were  "hauled"  from  Chicago  with  "prairie  schooners."  The 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  279 

Kings,  who  lived  near  the  mound,  hauled  several  loads.  The  goods  were  stored 
in  Chicago  at  the  old  warehouse  of  Newbury  &  Dole,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river.  Probably  few  living  remember  the  first  warehouse  of  Chicago.  Mr. 
Demtnond  had  a  prosperous  trade,  owing  largely,  no  doubt,  to  his  young  and 
popular  clerk ;  but  the  accommodations  were  limited,  and  he  soon  planned 
greater  things.  He  purchased  during  the  Winter  the  land  of  McKee,  except 
three  acres  sold,  and  another  acre  reserved  for  McKee,  and  the  water-power,  mill- 
yard,  etc.,  and  in  the  Spring  commenced  the  erection  of  the  old  Demmond 
block,  now  owned  by  John  D'Arcy.  He  laid  off  "  West  Juliet,"  and  was  soon 
busy  selling  lots,  his  clerk,  who  had  spent  a  year  in  diligently  looking  at  the 
bindings  of  a  large  law  library,  being  conveyancer. 

FIRST   WINTER. 

The  following  is  probably  nearly  a  correct  list  of  the  persons  who  spent  the 
Winter  of  1834-5  within  the  present  city  limits :  A.  W.  Bowen  and  wife,  Wm. 
H.  Blackburn  and  wife,  Thomas  Cox  and  wife,  0.  D.  Putnam,  Henry  Bone 
and  wife,  the  two  Baileys,  George  West  and  wife,  N.  H.  Cutter,  Benj.  F.  Bar- 
ker and  wife,  Eri  Dodge  and  wife,  Jay  Lyons,  Edward  Perkins  and  James  C. 
Troutman,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river ;  and  M.  H.  Demmond  and  wife,  Miss 
Murray,  G.  H.  Woodruff,  James  McKee  and  wife,  Richard  Hobbs,  Charles  W. 
Brandon,  Daniel  Clement  and  wife,  Charles  Clement,  N.  H.  Clarke,  D.  Mag- 
gard,  Asaph  Webster,  wife  and  son,  Mr.  Campbell  and  wife,  a  family  named 
Lumereaux,  and  probably  one  or  two  others,  on  the  west  side.  Mr.  Makepeace 

and  wife  went  to  Fox  River. 

V» 

FIRST   CHURCHES   AND    SCHOOLS. 

During  the  Winter  of  1834-5,  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Prentiss,  of  Onondaga 
County,  N.  Y.,  came  on  here,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Home  Mis- 
sion Society,  and  believing  that  there  were  already  some  here  who  needed 
preaching  to,  and  that  there  would  probably  soon  be  many  more,  determined  to 
locate  here,  and  during  the  Summer  of  1835,  came  on  with  his  family  and  es- 
tablished a  mission.  He  first  preached  in  a  little  stone  house  that  stood  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Broadway  and  Western  avenue,  until  a  house  was  built  by 
Demmond,  E.  Haven,  McKee  and  J.  Beaumont  and  others,  for  school  and 
church  purposes,  on  Hickory  street,  on  the  edge  of  Comstock's  Pond.  The 
house  is  still  extant  with  considerable  revamping,  and  is  occupied  as  a  residence 
by  Mr.  Tyrrell.  It  was  long  used  as  a  school  house  and  meeting  house.  Here 
the  famous  pedagogue  of  the  early  days,  John  Watkins,  once  taught.  He  has 
been  called  the  first  teacher  at  Chicago  and  at  Joliet.  Mr.  Watkins  was  a 
worthy  man  and  teacher,  and  we  are  sorry  to  take  from  him  the  honor  of  being 
first  on  the  ground.  But  Mrs.  Kinzie,  in  "  Waubun,"  tells  of  an  earlier  one 
in  Chicago,  and  a  daughter  of  B.  F.  Barker  says  that  a  Miss  Persis  Cleveland 
taught  the  first  Juliet  school  in  the  old  block-house.  If  this  was  so,  the  writer 
protests  that  he  never  saw  her  on  his  frequent  visits  to  that  locality.  John  Wat- 


280  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

kins  now  lives  in  Joliet,  almost  blind,  and  is  occasionally  seen  upon  our  streets. 
If  not  the  first  pedagogue  in  Chicago,  he  must  have  been  next,  as  he  taught 
school  in  the  same  log  house  where  Father  Walker  preached  and  lived  in  the 
days  of  his  early  labors  in  that  city.  S.  W.  Stone,  a  later  acquisition  to  our 
city,  taught  in  the  same  building,  on  Hickory  street,  as  early  as  1845;  and 
some  of  our  young  men,  who  are  not  so  very  young,  first  learned  "  how  to 
shoot" — paper  wads  under  his  administration. 

Mr.  Prentiss  built  a  shanty  on  Oneida  street,  just  under  the  bluff,  where  he 
lived  until  he  got  his  house  finished — a  house  which  still  remains,  and  is  the 
one  lately  occupied  by  Mr.  Denker,  on  South  Broadway.  He  was  the  first  set- 
tled minister  in  the  city,  and  organized  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  August, 
1835. 

The  Episcopal  (Christ)  Church  dates  its  organization  a  little  ahead.  This 
was  organized  in  May  of  that  year,  by  Bishop  Chase,  of  "  Robin's  Nest," 
Peoria.  Comstock  Hanford,  John  Griswold,  Miles  Rice,  Orlin  Westover,  A. 
W.  Bowen,  Julia  Ann  Hanford  and  Amorette  B.  Griswold  were  the  original 
members.  Some  of  these  were  from  Yankee  Settlement.  All,  except  Dr. 
Bowen,  were  outside  of  Joliet. 

The  original  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  were :  Simon  Z.  Haven, 
Stephen  Hubbard,  Josiah  Beaumont  and  his  wife  Eliza,  Daniel  Reed  and  his 
wife  Cinda,  Elias  Haven  and  his  wife  Emily  N.,  Eliza  Prentiss,  Delia  Butler 
(Mrs.  Prentiss'  sister),  and  others  were  soon  added.  Forty-three  names  are  on 
the  original  record,  from  August  12,  1835,  to  March  31,  1838,  when  Mr.  Pren- 
tiss left  for  another  field,  and  the  Church  soon  ceased  to  have  records,  Septem- 
ber 2,  1838,  being  the  last  entry.  Among  these  names — the  writer  will  be 
pardoned  for  mentioning — were  an  honored  father  and  mother,  Theor  and  Chloe 
Woodruff,  and  a  beloved  wife,  Hannah  B.  Woodruff.  Rodney  House,  the  good, 
gray  old  Deacon  of  the  present  Central  Church,  who  had  settled  on  the  Au 
Sable  in  1833,  and  moved  to  Joliet  in  1835,  was  also  a  member. 

Of  course,  itinerants  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were  early  on  the 
ground,  and  organized  classes  at  Juliet,  as  elsewhere  in  the  county.  As  early 
as  1836,  the  Joliet  Circuit  was  established,  of  which  Stephen  R.  Beggs  was 
first  Elder,  who  at  once  commenced  the  work  of  building  the  first  Methodist 
Church  building,  and  organized  the  Church  in  1837.  That  old  Methodist 
Church  was,  for  several  years  afterward,  the  blacksmith  shop  of  the  Rock 
Island  Railroad.  But  long,  long  it  had  the  honor  of  being  the  first  and  only 
church  edifice  in  Joliet.  Long,  long,  its  walls  resounded  to  the  eloquence  of 
the  early  preachers  of  the  Church,  and  the  shouts,  amens  and  happy  songs  of 
the  brethren,  sisters  and  children.  Long,  long,  quarterly  meetings  and  love 
feasts  there  gladdened  the  hearts  of  thejmembership.  Many,  many,  precious 
souls  were  there  "born  into  the  kingdom,"  some  of  whom  still  fight  the  good 
fight  of  faith ;  while  many,  many,  have  received  the  palm  of  victory,  and  now 
shout  "  amen  "  to  the  new  song. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  281 

1835. 

The  season  of  1835  made  many  additions  to  our  embryo  city,  among  whom 
were  John  L.  and  Richard  L.  Wilson,  George  Higley  and  family,  Levi  Jenks  and 
family,  Archibald  Growl,  Wm.  Walters,  0.  F.  Rogers,  Rev.  J.  H.  Prentiss  and 
family,  Abel  Gilbert,  Geo.  Squire  and  wife,  Rodney  House  and  family,  William  A. 
Chatfield  and  family,  S.  W.  Bowen,  Abijah  Cagwin  and  family,  a  Mr.  Boland 
and  his  two  sons,  Abner  and  Andrew,  H.  N.  Marsh  and  wife,  Elias  Haven 
and  sons,  David  Rattray,  James  Brodie,  Francis  Nicholson  and  wife,  W.  R. 
Atwell  (OUF  first  blacksmith)  and  wife,  Allen  Pratt,  Dr.  Curtis  Haven,  Barton 
Smith  and  two  sons  and  family,  Joel  George  and  wife,  Sullivan  Demmond, 
Jonathan  Barnett,  Charles  Sayer,  J.  Beaumont  and  family,  E.  M.  Daggett,  E. 
C.  Fellows,  Fenner  Aldrich,  George  Howliston,  Alonzo  Castle,  Asa  Rowe, 
Elias  Hyde,  Dr.  Daniel  Reed,  David  Crozier,  Wm.  Sheriff,  S.  B.  Hopkins, 
Walter  Seeley,  Edson  White,  0.  W.  Stillman,  John  M.  Wilson,  and  a  lawyer 
of  the  name  of  Pepper — not  a  misnomer. 

1836. 

In  1836,  the  great  speculation  year,  they  came  in  rapidly.  It  will  be 
imposible  to  recall  all.  Among  the  additions  were  J.  A.  Matteson,  Orange 
Chauncey  and  wife,  Albert  Shepard,  Uri  Osgood,  James  Stout,  Thomas, 
Edward  and  Bennett  Allen,  Dr.  R.  E.  W.  Adams  and  family,  Mr.  De  Berard 
and  family,  John  Currey  and  family,  J.  J.  Garland  and  wife,  Dr.  Comstock 
and  family,  Otis  Hardy  and  family,  Edmund  Wilcox,  Thomas  R.  Hunter,  W. 
J.  Heath,  David  Richards  and  family,  Hugh  Henderson,  Capt.  Amos  Fellows, 
J.  C.  Newkirk,  Hervey  Lowe,  Richard  Doolittle,  Wm.  Blair,  Rufus  Colton, 
Elnathan  Bassett,  Wm.  S.  Burgess,  Thomas  G.  Burgess,  S.  S.  Davis,  Wm.  A. 
Boardman,  Stephen  Hubbard,  Giles  Jackson  (late  of  Ottawa,  deceased),  Dr. 
Scholfield,  Wm.  G.  Hubbard,  Dr.  Wallace  A.  Little,  Henry  Fish,  M.  Worth- 
ingham,  Thomas  Culbertson,  John  Green,  Lewis  Reed  and  sons,  David  L. 
Roberts  and  family,  Isaac  H.  Palmer,  E.  E.  Bush  and  family,  Dr.  Simon  Z. 
Havens,  Henry  G.  Brown,  David  Richards,  Theor  Woodruff  and  George 
Woodruff,  and  our  first  installment  from  Germany,  George  Erhard,  John  Beltz 
and  Mr.  Gritzner. 

TWO    SIDES   TO    JULIET. 

Of  course,  from  the  Spring  of  1835,  building  progressed  rapidly  on  both 
sides  of  the  river.  A  brisk  rivalry,  which  sometimes  got  to  be  right  sharp, 
sprang,  up  between  East  and  West  Juliet ;  for  rivers,  like 

"mountains  interpos'd 
Make  enemies  of  nations,  who  had  else, 
Like  kindred  drops,  been  mingled  into  one." 

No  sooner  did  a  stranger  make  his  appearance,  than  he  was  seized  upon  by 
parties  interested  in  selling  lots,  and  the  special  merits  and  advantages  of  the 
East  or  West  Side  (as  the  case  might  be)  were  urged  with  all  the  earnestness 


282  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

and  eloquence  of  a  man  running  for  office.  Either  side  called  the  other 
"  Canada/'  and  to  get  the  start  in  any  enterprise  or  public  improvement  was 
an  object  which  enlisted  the  energies  of  all.  Communication  between  the  two 
sides  was  difficult  and  occasionally  impossible.  For  some  years,  we  had  to  rely 
on  the  ford  or  precarious  foot-bridges,  and  on  skiffs,  u  dug-outs  "  and  rafts. 
After  we  organized  under  our  town  charter,  we  had  a  ferry,  the  boat  for  which 
was  built  by  Otis  Hardy  ;  and  the  first  permanent  bridges  were  built  in  1837 
(which  lost  their  permanency  the  next  Spring)  by  the  ingenious  device  of  scrip, 
a  kind  of  "  fiat  money." 

UNCLE    BIGE   AND    THE    DUG-OUT. 

We  gave  in  that  authentic  history,  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  a  few  incidents 
connected  with  this  bridgeless  period,  some  comic  and  some  tragic ;  but  we  did 
not  tell  the  story  of  "Uncle  Bige's"  experience  in  dug-outs.  It  ought  to  be 
placed  on  record.  When  "  Uncle  Bige"  first  came  to  this  county,  in  1835,  he 
pursued  for  a  while  during  that  Summer  the  business  of  a  traveling  merchant. 
One  time,  during  a  period  of  high  water,  he  came  back  to  Joliet  on  the  West 
Side.  He  left  his  wagon  at  some  safe  place  and  got  some  one  to  take  him  over 
in  a  boat.  The  landlord  of  the  tavern  where  he  stayed  wanted  some  tea. 
Uncle  Bige  had  a  supply  in  his  wagon,  and  he  thought  he  saw  a  good  way  to 
pay  his  board  bill,  and  so  undertook  to  go  over  and  get  some.  When  he  came 
to  the  river,  he  found  no  means  of  crossing  except  a  dug-out.  He  had  never 
tried  to  navigate  a  dug-out,  but  he  had  often  seen  others — even  little  Indians 
and  squaws — row  them  about  at  will,  and  it  seemed  an  easy  thing  to  do.  Most 
people  have  the  same  idea,  until  they  try  it.  So  he  got  into  one  end  of  it 
without  much  trouble — this  was  forty-odd  years  ago,  before  he  became  one  of  our 
solid  men — pointed  the  other  end  toward  the  place  where  he  wanted  to  land  on 
the  West  Side,  and  pushed  boldly  out.  The  river  was  booming  from  recent 
rains,  but  the  dug-out  went  all  right  for  a  few  feet  until  the  prow  struck 
the  strong  current  near  the  center  of  the  river,  when  its  direction  was 
suddenly  changed  from  west  to  south.  Uncle  Bige  did  not  like  the  change. 
McKeestown  was  his  destination,  and  not  New  Orleans.  He  at  once  tried  to 
bring  about  a  return  to  the  original  direction.  He  tried  to  "larboard"  and 
then  he  tried  to  "starboard,"  but  on  went  the  dug-out  toward  the  maelstrom 
made  by  McKee's  dam.  The  prospect  was  not  cheering  to  a  man  who  had  not 
made  his  will.  He  began  to  get  a  little  excited  and  to  doubt  his  ability  to 
manage  a  dug-out.  To  cheer  him,  the  people  who  had  begun  to  collect  on 
either  shore,  gave  him  some  very  good  advice.  One  cried  out,  "  Put  your  paddle 
on  t'other  side ;  "  and  another,  "  Put  your  paddle  on  this  side  ;  "  and  another, 
"  Head  her  up  stream,"  etc.,  etc.  It  is  one  of  our  good  deeds  which  affords  us 
great  satisfaction  in  the  retrospect,  that  we  offered  Uncle  Bige  some  very  good 
advice  on  this  occasion.  It  may  have  been  the  means  of  saving  a  future  Judge 
to  Will  County.  Who  can  tell  what  great  results  hang  upon  the  most  trifling 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  283 

actions  !  Uncle  Bige  tried  to  follow  all  this  good  advice,  and  was,  no  doubt, 
very  much  encouraged  by  the  interest  manifested  in  his  welfare.  But  the 
plaguy  dug-out  obstinately  refused  to  mind  the  helm ;  whichever  side  he  put 
the  paddle  seemed  to  make  no  difference — on,  on  she  went  toward  New  Orleans. 
His  mind  underwent  a  change  in  respect  to  dug-outs.  He  wished  he  was  on 
shore  where  he  could  read  up  in  the  art  of  navigation.  He  thought  about  his 
wife  and  children  way  back  in  York  State,  and,  perhaps,  of  some  other  things. 
McKee's  old  dam  and  the  maelstrom  seemed  to  be  moving  up  toward  him  at  a 
fearful  rate.  He  was  fully  convinced  now  that  he  did  not  know  how  to  manage 
a  dug-out,  and,  seeing  not  far  off,  just  above  the  dam,  a  couple  of  "  staddles" 
that  had  been  left  standing,  he  thought  he  would  rather  trust  them  than  it,  and 
concluded  to  go  overboard.  This  was  not  a  difficult  thing  to  do.  The  dug-out 
spilled  him  easily — as  easily  as  falling  off  a  log,  and  very  much  like  it.  He  very 
soon  found  the  bottom  of  the  Des  Planes,  and  partly  by  his  own  efforts,  a  la 
crab,  and  partly  by  the  force  of  the  current,  he  succeeded  in  seizing  one  of  the 
staddles  and  showing  his  head  above  the  surface,  snorting  like  a  porpoise.  The 
dug-out  went  on,  bottom  side  up.  He  did  not  care  for  the  ship,  but  he  did 
want  to  save  the  cargo.  The  staddle  was  now  his  only  hope ;  clinging  to  that 
with  a  deathlike  grasp,  he  rested  and  calmly  surveyed  the  situation.  After  a 
while  relief  came  to  him  in  the  shape  of  a  rope  thrown  from  the  East  Side.  By 
the  help  of  this  he  at  last  made  port.  It  was  not  the  one  for  which  he  had 
first  "  bent  his  venturous  prow,  "  but  it  gave  him  real  estate  security,  and  that 
was  what  he  most  wanted.  He  did  not  get  the  tea,  but  he  had  taken  a  valuable 
lesson  in  the  navigation  of  dug-outs,  with  which  he  has  remained  content.  He 
has  never  thought  he  could  manage  one  since.  It  would  take  two  at  least  to 
hold  him  now ! 

JULIET    POST    OFFICE. 

As  we  have  elsewhere  said,  when  the  settlement  was  first  made  here,  our 
nearest  postoffice  was  at  Uncle  Billy  Gougar's,  and  this  was  called  the  Juliet 
postoffice.  The  mail  route — per  Indian  pony  express — was  from  Danville  to 
Chicago,  and  passed  by  Gougar's,  through  Yankee  Settlement.  Dr.  Bowen, 
who  was  well  known  at  the  Postoffice  Department  at  Washington,  not  only 
officially  (having  held  the  office  of  Postmaster  in  the  place  from  which  he  came), 
but  personally,  succeeded  in  getting  the  route  changed  to  go  from  Gougar's  to 
Plainfield  via  Juliet,  and  soon  after  a  stage  mail  route  was  established  from 
Chicago  to  Ottawa  by  way  of  Plainfield  and  Joliet,  which  in  a  little  while  was 
run  directly  from  Ottawa  to  Chicago  via  Joliet,  leaving  Plainfield  out  in  the 
cold.  He  was  appointed  Postmaster  in  1835,  as  we  have  elsewhere  stated. 

SPECIAL    MENTION. 

Now  there  are  a  great  many  of  the  persons  named  in  the  above  lists,  of  whom 
we  should  like  to  make  special  mention,  and  respecting  whom  we  should  like  to 
record  some  incidents.  But  the  amount  of  paper  we  are  consuming  admon- 


284  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

ishes  us  that  we  must  restrain  our  inclinations  in  this  regard.  Some  of  these 
persons  are  well  known ;  they  have  lived  long  and  still  live  among  us,  and  how- 
ever pleased  we  might  be  to  write  their  obituaries,  we  cannot  do  so  while  they 
persist  in  keeping  hale  and  hearty.  It  would  not  suit  our  ideas  of  good  taste. 
George  West  was  a  Methodist  preacher,  but  out  of  health  for  some  time,  and 
soon  left. 

M.  H.  Demmond,  the  proprietor  of  "West  Juliet,"  was  originally  from 
Massachusetts.  For  several  years  he  was  a  merchant  in  Oneida  and  Herkimer 
Counties,  N.  Y.,  where  he  accumulated  a  considerable  property  by  diligent 
attention  and  fair  dealing.  In  1834,  he  thought  he  would  come  West,  where 
he  could  invest  his  gains  to  better  advantage.  Circumstances  have  justified  his 
course.  He  died  of  cholera  in  1854,  leaving  a  handsome  property  to  his  wife 
and  his  wife's  niece,  afterward  Mrs.  Bartleson.  Mr.  Demmond  was  never  a 
member  of  a  church,  but  he  was  always  the  most  liberal  supporter  of  such 
religious  and  educational  efforts  as  secured  his  confidence  and  respect.  He 
was  the  first  to  welcome  Mr.  Prentiss,  and  was  his  most  liberal  supporter  and 
friend.  And  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  in  this  respect  his  widow,  who  still  lives 
among  us,  follows  the  same  course.  He  was  also  noted  for  his  honorable  and 
upright  dealing,  and  had  the  confidence  of  all. 

Abijah  Cagwin,  "  Uncle  Bige" — we  beg  his  pardon — Judge  Cagwin,  be- 
came our  County  Judge  from  1839  to  1842 — four  years.  "Uncle  Bige"  still 
flourishes,  like  one  of  the  sturdy  oaks  of  fifty  years  ago,  which  the  woodman  has 
spared.  "Uncle  Bige,"  we  mean  Judge  Cagwin,  once  built  a  saw-mill  on  Hick- 
ory Creek,  below  the  Red  mill.  He  built  several  dams  successively  which  the 
high  water  carried  away  each  Spring,  until  at  last  he  gave  the  creek  a  final  dam- 
ming (with  an  n  in  it)  and  left  it  to  the  Joliet  Woolen  Factory  Company. 

James  McKee  was  a  Kentuckian,  a  marked  character,  well  informed,  a 
great  reader,  a  strong  temperance  man  and  Abolitionist,  honest  but.  stubborn,  a 
great  man  to  discuss  moral  and  political  questions,  and  hospitable.  He  was 
elected  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  greatly  magnified  his  office.  He  took  the 
view  that  his  official  oath  required  him  to  take  notice  of  every  infringement  of 
the  statute,  and  he  did  not  wait  for  a  complaint  to  be  made,  but  at  once  ordered 
the  arrest  of  any  person  whom  he  saw  disorderly.  This  gave  rise  to  some 
amusing  scenes.  The  lessees  of  his  saw-mill  used  to  run  it  on  Sunday,  and 
McKee  would  have  them  arrested  on  Monday  and  fine  them. 

The  name  Haven  has  occurred  frequently  in  the  preceding  lists,  and  something 
more  ought  to  be  said  respecting  this  family,  once  so  prominent  among  us.  Elias, 
Simon  Z.,  Curtis  and  Samuel  Haven  were  brothers,  who  came  here  about  the 
same  time  from  the  State  of  New  York.  Philo  A.,  Orlando  H.  and  James 
were  sons  of  Elias  Haven,  of  Joliet,  and  Dr.  Rush  Haven  (now  of  Chicago), 
Carlos  Haven  (late  of  Chicago,  deceased)  and  Dwight  Haven,  of  New  Lenox 
(School  Commissioner  of  our  county  from  1865  of  1868,  inclusive),  are  sons  of 
Samuel  Haven,  of  the  Hickory  Creek  settlement.  0.  H.  Haven,  a  young  man 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  285 

who  was  once  a  well-known  and  prominent  citizen  of  Joliet,  and  represented 
this  district  in  the  General  Assembly  of  1849,  died  of  cholera  in  1854.  In 
1839,  he,  with  Philo  A.,  built  the  saw  and  grist  mill  which  once  stood  below  town, 
and  the  dam  across  the  river,  which  still  remains.  The  California  excitement 
took  James  and  Philo  A.  from  us,  and  they  have  never  returned  to  stay.  Dr. 
Rush  and  Carlos  also  went  there,  but  came  back  again,  with  more  or  less  of  the 
root  of  all  evil.  Simon  Z.  Haven,  a  physician,  returned  to  New  York,  and 
Curtis  Haven  was  many  years  a  physician  in  Joliet  and  died  here.  Elias 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  in  1835.  Dwight 
Haven  is  now,  we  believe,  the  only  male  representative  of  this  once  large  fam- 
ily in  Will  County.  His  brother  Carlos  died  in  Chicago  in  1862,  having  taken 
high  rank  as  a  lawyer.  Mrs.  James  Goodspeed  is  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
Haven.  He  died  in  March,  1866,  at  the  age  of  67. 

Hugh  Henderson  came  from  Norway,  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1835,  and  was 
one  of  our  best  known  and  ablest  lawyers.  He  was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Hender- 
son &  Boardman,  and  afterward  of  Wilson  &  Henderson.  He  was  elected  Judge  of 
Probate  in  1837,  and  Circuit  Judge  in  1839.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  State 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1847.  He  had  an  eminently  judicial  mind,  and 
his  legal  opinion  always  carried  great  weight.  Although  he  was  an  ardent  poli- 
tician, he  numbered  many  of  his  political  opponents  among  his  warmest  friends. 
Frank  and  courteous  in  manner,  and  pure  and  spotless  in  character  and  repu- 
tation, his  early  death  was  deeply  regretted.  He  was  taken  sick  while  on  a 
visit  to  his  native  place,  and  died  there  in  October,  1854. 

We  told  one  story  of  Dr.  Comstock  in  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  and  must  put 
another  on  record,  for  the  Doctor  was  one  of  our  characters,  one  of  the  best  of 
the  early  day.  He  was  an  able  preacher  as  well  as  a  good  doctor.  He  was  at 
home  wherever  he  went.  It  was  a  common  thing  for  a  woman  on  going  into 
her  parlor  to  find  the  Doctor  stretched  out  upon  the  lounge,  reading,  or  perhaps 
fast  asleep.  It  was  the  "old  Doctor,"  and  nobody  thought  of  taking  offense. 
On  one  occasion,  he  had  visited  a  patient  late  in  the  evening,  and,  wishing  to 
leave  an  appointment  with  another  doctor  (who,  for  convenience  sake,  we  will 
call  Dr.  B.)  for  a  council  next  day,  he  walked,  according  to  his  custom,  into 
the  house  (those  were  the  primitive  days  when  we  did  not  lock  every  door),  and 
and  knowing  that  the  Doctor  was  not  in,  opened  the  door  of  what  he  supposed 
to  be  the  bedroom  occupied  by  Dr.  <B.'s  wife,  and  proceeded  to  make  known  his 
errand,  as  he  supposed,  to  her.  It  happened  that  the  room  was  occupied  by  a 
(then)  unmarried  sister  of  Dr.  B.'s  wife.  She  was  not  a  little  frightened,  at 
first,  to  see  in  the  dim  light  a  strange  man  of  somewhat  singular  appearance 
unceremoniously  enter  her  bedroom  (the  Doctor  wore  a  shawl  wrapped  around 
his  neck  and  shoulders  long  before  men's  shawls  came  into  fashion).  But  she 
soon  discovered  that  the  intruder  had  no  evil  intent,  and  listened  quietly  to  his 
statement,  after  making  which  the  Doctor  withdrew.  Dr.  Comstock  found  out, 
•the  next  day,  the  blunder  he  had  made,  and  felt  that  an  apology  was  due 


286  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

the  young  lady.  He  accordingly  called  and  made  his  apology  by  walking 
through  the  room  where  Dr.  B.'s  wife  and  her  sister  were  both  sitting,  and  say- 
ing: "In  the  morning  behold  it  was  Leah!"  On  another  occasion,  when 
he  visited  a  lady  patient  whose  disease  seemed  to  baffle  his  remedies,  he  entered 
her  room  with  the  abrupt  remark,  "  Desperate  diseases  require  desperate 
remedies,"  and  forthwith  administered  a  kiss  to  his  astonished  patient. 

C.  W.  Brandon,  commonly  known  as  Deacon  Brandon,  was  our  first  stone 
mason  and  stone  cutter,  and  built  the  Wilson  store  (soon  to  be  mentioned),  and 
Barker's  stone  cottage,  long  the  most  costly  dwelling  in  Joliet,  now  meta- 
morphosed. He  was  also  the  proprietor  of  the  city  of  Palmyra.  We  do  not 
refer  to  the  Palmyra  built  by  Solomon,  and  known  as  Tadmor  in  the  desert, 
but  the  Palmyra  of  Will  County,  built  in  183o*.  If  the  reader  does  not  know 
its  history  or  location,  let  him  look  upon  the  county  records,  where  he  will  find 
all  its  noble  avenues,  its  splendid  palaces  and  its  grand  temples  recorded  by  the 
same  skillful  hand  that  is  now  writing  this  history — and  you  will  find  them 
nowhere  else.  If  you  have  the  curiosity  to  look  upon  the  ground  where  it 
stood,  and  to  dig  among  its  ruins,  ask  Prof.  Palmer  to  point  out  the  spot  to 
you.  He  married  one  of  the  Deacon's  comely  daughters,  and  lives  in  the 
vicinity ;  and  if  the  city  has  left  any  bumps  he  will  know  where  they  are,  for  he 
is  great  on  bumps.  And  while  searching  for  ruins,  you  might  also  look  up 
those  of  Romeo,  Lunenburg,  West  Lockport,  Williamsburg,  Middletown, 
Vienna,  Carlysle,  Chelsea,  New  Rochester,  and  New  Buffalo,  all  once  flourish- 
ing cities  of  Will  County  ;  but  now  the  gopher  burrows  unscared"  amid  their 
ruins.  We  suggest  to  the  next  Fourth  of  July  orator  that,  instead  of  asking, 
"  Where  are  Thebes  and  Babylon  ?  "  etc.,  he  should  vary  the  question  and  ask, 
"  Where  are  Lunenburg  ?  "  etc.  Mr.  Brandon  died  in  1871. 

E.  E.  Bush  was  some  time  mine  host  of  the  old  "  American,"  and  had  the 
honor  at  one  time  of  feeding  J.  C.  Newkirk,  John  M.  Wilson,  Charles 
Clement,  and  this  deponent,  and  others  not  equally  celebrated.  Bush  was  a 
son-in-law  of  Lyman  Hawley,  and  consequently  the  Hawley  girls  used  to  be  at 
the  American  a  good  deal,  which  did  not  hurt  it  any  ;  did  it,  Charley  ?  Bush 
moved  to  Lockport,  and  was  long  Postmaster  there,  where  he  died  many 
years  ago. 

John  L.  and  Richard  L.,  and  a  younger  brother  who  came  a  little  later, 
Charles  L.  Wilson,  were  the  sons  of  Judge  Quartus  Wilson,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.  They 
were  some  time  residents  here,  engaged  in  merchandising,  canal  contracting,  etc. 
They  afterward  removed  to  Chicago.  Richard  L.  was  Postmaster  there,  under 
Taylor.  The  Wilsons  founded  the  Chicago  Journal  We  don't  know  whether 
Chicago  feels  it  or  not,  but  she  is  greatly  indebted  to  Will  County  for  men  as 
well  as  for  stone  and  gravel  and  coal.  The  list  of  men  we  have  allowed  to  go 
there  would  be  a  long  one,  embracing  some  of  her  best  lawyers,  physicians, 
judges,  merchants,  capitalists,  and  public  men,  editors,  etc.,  and  thus  we  have 
helped  to  raise  her  out  of  the  mud  in  more  senses  than  one. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  287 

Everybody  knows  David  Richards,  and  how  his  farm  is  now  one  of  the 
finest  portions  of  the  city,  and  Richards  street,  a  fashionable  avenue.  We  do 
not  suppose  that  when  David  set  his  stakes  there  he  anticipated  becoming  part 
of  the  city. 

Lewis  Reed  had  a  blacksmith's  shop  under  the  bluff,  just  north  of  Exchange 
street,  where  a  bold  and  frowning  bluff,  with  a  lime-kiln  below,  stood  where 
now  we  make  the  easy  ascent.  Could  those  who  want  the  hill  cut  down  have 
seen  it  then,  they  would  be  forced  to  own  that  it  had  already  been  cut  some. 
One  of  Mr.  Reed's  sons  is  the  Rev.  Francis  Reed,  a  Methodist  preacher,  now 
at  Mendota. 

W.  J.  Heath,  above  named,  is  the  man  who  has  been  so  long  known  in  Joliet 
as  Justice  Heath,  and  sometimes,  by  way  of  eminence,  as  Chief  Justice  Heath. 
He  has  worn  the  justicial  ermine  many'years  ;  but  he  is  still  extant,  and  we  shall 
not,  therefore,  write  his  obituary,  but  must  leave  that  pleasing  task  to  some 
future  historian.     But  we  have  a  little  story  to  tell  of  him.     Mr.  Heath  did  not 
arrive  at  the  dignity  of  being  Chief  Justice  of  Joliet  at  one  jump,  but  went 
through  the  preliminary  steps  of  Constable,  Deputy  Sheriff,  etc,     It  so  hap- 
pened at  an  early  day,  when  the  Kankakee  River  formed  the  boundary  line 
between  Will  and  Iroquois  Counties,  that  he  had  given  him  some  papers  to  serve 
on  a  couple  of  men  who  resided  on  the  Kankakee.     So  he  set  out  to  hunt  them 
up.    After  a  long  and  lonesome  ride,  he  arrived  at  the  banks  of  that  stream,  and 
found,  living  near  the  ford,  one  of  the  men  of  whom  he  was  in  search,  on  whom 
he  served  his  process  in  due  form.     But  here  he  learned  to  his  chagrin,  that  the 
other  man  lived  just  across  the  river.    Although  he  was  not  yet  a  justice  learned 
in  the  law,  he  even  then  knew  that  a  process  from  a  Will  County  Court  would  not 
have  any  force  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.    Here  was  a  quandary.    He  did  not 
like  to  lose  his  fees  and  mileage  on  this  paper — it  was  half  of  his  day's  wages 
— and  the  whole  was  little  enough  reward  for  his  long  ride.     A  brilliant  idea 
struck  him.     He  had  often  heard  it  said  that  everything  was  fair  in  war  and  in 
love,  and  he  was  already  enough  of  a  politician  to  have  learned  that  everything 
was  fair  in  politics.     Then  why  not  in  law.     He  at  once  resolved  on  a  strategic 
movement.     He  crossed  over,  and,  riding  up  to  the  man's  house,  found  him 
with  his  horse  just  ready  to  go  away.     Mr.  Heath  told  the  man  that  he  was 
happy  to  find  him  and  with  his  horse  all  ready,  as  he  wished  very  much  for  a 
man  to  go  over  to  the  other  side  to  witness  the  execution  of  a  paper.     Would 
he  be  kind  enough  to  take  that  trouble  ?     The  man  readily  complied.     When 
they  had  got  safely  on  the  Will  County  side,  Mr.  Heath  asked  the  man  his  name. 
The  man  told  him  it  was  Beebee.     "  Beebee,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Heath.    "  Ah,  I 
believe  I  have  got  a  process  to  serve  on  you,"  and  accordingly  he  proceeded  to 
read  to  the  astonished  squatter  the  document  with  which  he  was  armed.     The 
man  was  so  astonished  at  the  cheeky  procedure  that  for  a  moment  he  was  speech- 
less ;  but  he  soon  recovered  his  voice  and  proceeded  to  tell  Heath  what  he 
thought  of  him,  in  language  more  forcible  than  elegant.     But  Heath  had  saved 


288  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

his  fees  and  mileage,  and  cared  little  for  the  man's  private  opinion.  Whether 
in  this  case  the  end  was  large  enough  to  justify  the  means  is  a  problem  in 
casuistry  which  we  submit  to  the  Joliet  Philosophical  Debating  Club. 

BLACK    HAWK    WAR. 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  preceding  pages,  there  had  begun  to  be  a  consider- 
able immigration  into  this  and  other  parts  of  the  Northwest  as  early  as  1830 
and  1831.  This  immigration  was  interrupted  in  the  Spring  of  1832,  by  the 
Black  Hawk  war — so  called  from  the  noted  chief  who  was  its  prominent  insti- 
gator. Although  the  seat  of  the  war  was  principally  to  the  west  and  north,  on 
Rock  River,  and,  although  the  Pottawatomie  Indians  of  this  region  were  sup- 
posed to  be  friendly,  yet  great  alarm  was  felt  by  the  settlers  in  this  vicinity. 
It  was  at  once  feared  that  the  tide  of  war  would  sweep  this  way,  and  that  a 
general  war  of  extermination  had  been  resolved  upon  by  the  Indians,  and  that 
the  efforts  which  it  was  known  Black  Hawk  was  making  to  draw  in  all  the  In- 
dians of  the  Northwest,  would  be  successful.  There  was  abundant  reason  to 
justify  their  fears.  On  the  21st  of  May,  a  frightful  massacre  had  been  perpe- 
trated on  Indian  Creek,  about  fifteen  miles  above  Ottawa,  within  thirty 
miles  of  Joliet,  in  which  fifteen  settlers,  men — women  and  children — had  been 
suddenly  surrounded  and  massacred,  with  the  usual  barbarities  of  Indian  war- 
fare. One  boy  alone  had  escaped  from  the  settlement  and  carried  the  news  to 
Ottawa.  Two  girls  named  Sylvia  and  Rachel  Hall,  of  the  ages  of  15  and 
17  respectively,  had  been  carried  off  as  prisoners,  and  held  for  ransom.  As 
we  have  elsewhere  noted,  this  event  is  closely  connected  with  the  history  of 
Joliet.  The  news  of  this  and  other  atrocities  might  well  arrest  further  immi- 
gration and  drive  out  many  already  here.  The  settlers  at  Walker's  Grove,  with 
some  who  had  fled  from  Fox  River,  to  the  number  of  125  in  all,  collected  at 
the  house  of  Father  Beggs,  on  Section  16,  which  seemed  most  favorably  located 
for  defense.  This  they  hastily  fortified,  by  pulling  down  all  the  surrounding 
outbuildings  and  fences,  and  forming  outer  barricades  of  the  material.  The 
question  arose  whether  they  would  escape  to  Ottawa  or  remain  at  the  fort.  Mrs. 
Flagg,  the  wife  of  Azariah  Flagg,  a  woman  of  great  decision  and  judgment, 
threw  the  weight  of  her  influence  in  favor  of  staying,  and  presented  so  many 
and  so  strong  arguments  for  this  course  that  the  settlers  finally  determined  to 
stay.  It  was  afterward  ascertained  that  this  course  saved  their  lives,  and  that 
the  party  who  had  committed  the  outrage  at  Indian  Creek  were  laying  in  wait, 
expecting  them.  Indeed,  one  person,  the  old  Dunkard  preacher,  of  the  name 
of  Payne,  refused  to  stay,  and,  trusting  to  his  sacred  character,  put  out  for 
Ottawa  and  met  his  fate  a  little  way  from  the  fort.  They  chose  James  Walker 
for  their  commander,  and  resolved  upon  a  vigorous  defense.  They  collected  all 
the  guns,  hoes,  scythes,  axes,  pitchforks,  etc.,  of  the  neighborhood,  and  melted 
up  their  pewter  spoons  for  bullets.  Here  they  waited  a  few  days,  and  no  In- 
dians making  their  appearance,  and,  as  they  had  but  four  guns,  they  thought 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  289 

the  safer  course  was  to  go  to  the  fort  at  Chicago.  Thither,  accordingly,  they 
made  their  way,  under  the  protection  of  the  company  elsewhere  mentioned, 
where  they  found  the  fort  full  of  settlers  that  had  fled  thither  for  protection. 
The  crowded  state  of  the  fort  rendered  their  stay  there  exceedingly  uncomfort- 
able, and  they  suffered  nearly  as  much  as  from  their  fears  of  the  Indians.  The 
settlers  in  Yankee  Settlement  also  fled  to  Chicago.  The  alarm  had  been  car- 
ried to  the  Settlement  by  Hiram  Pearson,  of  Chicago,  and  Daniel  Mack,  of 
Hadley,  who  had  started  for  Danville,  and  who  encountered  fugitives  from  the 
West  somewhere  near  the  Des  Planes  River.  They  returned  at  once  and  gave 
the  alarm,  and  the  families  were  quickly  gathered  together  and  went  to  Chicago. 
While  there  the  refugees  organized  a  company  of  twenty-five,  chose  Holder 
Sisson,  of  Yankee  Settlement,  their  Captain,  and  started  out  on  a  scout  to 
ascertain,  if  possible,  the  whereabouts  of  the  Indians.  They  stayed  the  first 
night  at  an  old  settler's  of  the  name  of  Lawton,  on  the  Des  Planes,  went  thence 
on  to  Naperville,  then  down  to  Walker's  Grove,  stopping  the  second  night  at 
Fort  Beggs.  They  then  proceeded  on  toward  Ottawa,  and  at  Holderman's  Grove 
they  met  a  party  from  Ottawa,  and  both  parties  went  to  Indian  Creek,  where 
they  found  the  mutilated  and  decaying  bodies  of  fifteen  persons,  including  six 
children.  Having  buried  these,  they  went  on  to  Ottawa,  where  they  found  the 
remnants  of  a  regiment  which  had  skedaddled  from  the  encounter  at  Stillman's 
Run.  They  then  returned,  over  the  same  route,  to  Chicago.  On  their  return 
they  found  the  body  of  the  Dunkard  preacher;  neither  his  long,  reverend 
beard,  nor  his  peaceful  character  had  availed  to  save  him  from  the  treacherous 
savage.  After  a  few  weeks'  stay  at  Chicago,  the  discomforts  of  the  fort  were 
so  great  that  the  settlers  from  Yankee  Settlement  returned,  and  built  a  fort  on 
the  Sisson-Hanford  place ;  and  those  from  Walker's  Grove  returned  to  that 
locality. 

Scott  had  arrived  at  Chicago,  bringing  with  him  a  foe  more  dreadful 
than  the  Indians  even.  This  caused  a  more  sudden  stampede  from  than  there 
had  been  to  Chicago  from  the  country.  Lanfear,  and  his  ox-team,  of  the  Yankee 
Settlement,  were  pressed  into  the  service  by  Scott  to  take  his  supplies  to  Galena. 
At  this  time  there  was  a  Pottawatomie  village  or  encampment  between  Fraction 
Run  and  Big  Run,  Lockport,  and  remained  there  a  year  or  two  after.  A  story 
is  told  of  this  fort  to  this  effect :  Runyon,  wishing  to  put  the  courage  and 
watchfulness  of  its  inmates  to  the  proof,  disguised  himself  as  an  Indian,  and 
with  rifle  and  tomakawk  approached  with  stealthy  step.  He  came  near  paying 
dearly  for  his  experiment,  as  the  defenders  were  about  to  fire  upon  him,  when 
his  wife,  with  the  sure  instinct  of  a  woman,  discovered  the  disguise  and  pre- 
vented the  catastrophe.  The  settlers  on  Hickory  Creek,  Jackson's  Grove  and 
Joliet  Township,  and  all  down  the  river,  being,  many  of  them,  from  Indiana, 
sought  safety  in  that  direction  by  a  hasty  flight.  A  number  having  collected 
near  Gougar's,  they  sent  Robert  Stevens,  David  Maggard  and  one  of  the  Nor- 
mans to  reconnoiter.  They  saw  some  Indians  on  the  prairie  near  the  Lilly- 


290  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Cache,  who  seemed  to  be  driving  off  cattle.  They  returned  and  reported, 
giving  it  as  their  opinion  that  they  were  Pottawatomies.  It  was  afterward 
ascertained  that  this  was  so,  and  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  assure  the 
settlers  that  there  was  no  cause  for  alarm.  But  the  settlers  had  by  this  time 
become  so  excited  that  they  commenced  at  once  to  flee,  and  te  notify  all  the 
region  of  their  danger.  Every  horse,  pony  and  ox-team  was  at  once  brought 
into  requisition.  The  chattels  of  the  settlers  were  hastily  loaded,  and  women 
and  children  placed  in  the  wagons,  while  the  men  with  their  guns  rode  the 
horses  as  guards.  When  the  settlers  gathered  together  on  the  prairie,  there 
were  some  seventy  or  eighty,  with  twenty  teams,  mostly  drawn  by  oxen.  The 
stampede,  as  we  have  heard  it  described  by  some  of  the  survivors,  was  at  the 
same  time  terrible  and  ludicrous.  They  tell  of  one  who,  hatless  and  coatless, 
with  his  supplies  of  flour,  sugar  and  bacon  hastily  loaded  on  his  horse  before 
and  behind  him,  was  too  badly  scared  to  wait  the  tardy  movements  of  the  main 
column,  and  put  out  at  the  utmost  speed  of  which  his  horse  was  capable,  throw- 
ing overboard  one  article  after  another  of  his  impedimenta  in  order  to  increase 
his  speed,  never  pausing  until  he  reached  the  Kankakee.  Some  accounts  have 
it  that  he  got  on  to  his  horse  "  hindside  afore,"  and  that  he  did  not  stop  until 
he  reached  the  Wabash.  But  the  narrator,  we  fear,  was  given  a  little  to  exagger- 
ation, as  even  historians  sometimes  are — a  thing  very  much  to  be  deprecated. 
But  if  true,  he  no  doubt  presented  the  boldest  front  he  had  to  the  enemy.  The 
fugitives  met  a  company  of  armed  men  from  Indiana,  who  had  come  out  to  aid 
and  protect  the  settlers.  Some  of  the  fugitives,  having  cooled  off  a  little, 
returned  with  them.  It  was  this  company  which  built  the  fort,  of  which  we 
have  spoken,  on  the  bluff,  and  which  was  named  "Fort  Nonsense"  by  the 
early  settlers.  Mr.  Jesse  Cook,  named  in  the  list  of  early  settlers  of  the  town- 
ship, was  one  of  those  who  returned  and  who  helped  build  the  fort.  Mr.  Cook 
also  relates  that,  on  returning  to  their  homes,  they  found  that  the  friendly  Pot- 
tawatomies had  shown  their  friendship  by  taking  care  of  the  pigs,  chickens  and 
provisions  they  had  left  in  their  flight — such  good  care  that  the  settlers  never 
had  to  take  care  of  them  any  more.* 

Robert  Stevens  and  David  Maggard  also  returned  and  concealed  themselves 
for  a  few  days  in  a  cave  under  the  bluff  on  the  west  side. of  the  Des  Planes. 
Most  of  the  families  returned  the  next  Spring.  There  was  also  a  block-house 
bmilt,  which  was  standing  many  years  after  the  writer  came,  in  Reed's  Grove, 
but  whether  built  before  or  after  the  stampede  we  do  not  know. 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  record  that  Will  County  figured  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war.  True,  no  bloody  battles  occurred  on  its  soil,  but  there  were  many  races. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  291 

No  heroes  spilled  their  blood  in  defense  of  their  hearths  and  homes,  but  they 
took  good  care  that  the  savages  should  not  spill  it  for  them.  At  least  four,  and 
perhaps  more,  forts  were  built,  and  their  pewter  plates  and  spoons  were  freely 
sacrificed  for  the  common  defense,  and  Joliet  (CampbellstownandMcKeestown), 
are  monuments  of  the  bloody  slaughter  of  Indian  Creek. 

COUNTY    ORGANIZATION. 

After  the  Black  Hawk  war,  which  was  soon  brought  to  a  close  by  the  vigor- 
ous movements  of  Gen.  Atkinson,  while  Gen.  Scott  was  fighting  the  cholera, 
the  tide  of  immigration  set  in  strong  to  the  West.  No  region  presented  a  more 
inviting  prospect  to  the  farmer  than  that  embraced  in  Will  County.  Here,  too, 
were  mill-sites  up  and  down  our  streams  inviting  the  manufacturer,  and  any 
quantity  of  sites  for  towns  and  cities  to  catch  the  eye  of  the  speculator. 

The  earlier  settlements  as  they  were  initiated,  both  before  and  after  the  war, 
we  have  pretty  fully  detailed.  By  1835,  our  population  had  so  greatly  in- 
creased that  a  new  county  was  called  for.  Chicago  was  so  remote  that  it  was 
very  inconvenient  to  be  obliged  to  go  there  as  often  as  the  exigencies  of  business 
required.  Juliet  began  to  be  talked  of  as  a  county  seat. 

During  the  Winter  of  1835— 36,  through  the  efforts  of  our  citizens,  especially 
James  Walker  and  Dr.  A.  W.  Bowen,  who  went  to  Vandalia  as  members  of  the 
Third  House,  and  who  were  both  shrewd  and  influential  men,  an  act  was  passed 
creating  the  county  of  Will.  It  received  its  name  from  Conrad  Will,  a  member 
of  the  Legislature  who  had  died  just  before.  Gov.  Ford,  in  his  history,  says, 
that  he  was  chiefly  remarkably  for  his  good  nature.  We  accept  the  name  as  a 
just  compliment  to  our  people.  Dr.  Bowen  got  inserted  in  the  act  a  provision 
locating  the  .county  seat  not  only  in  Juliet,  but  on  the  public  square  which  Camp- 
bell had  had  the  sagacity  to  appropriate  for  that  purpose.  Thus  the  East  Side 
made  a  second  point  on  us  of  the  West  Side  (it  had  already  got  the  postoffice). 
An  election  was  ordered  in  March  for  a  Sheriff,  three  County  Commissioners, 
Recorder  and  Coroner.  A  convention  was  called  to  nominate  the  county  offi- 
cers. This  was  held  in  the  upper  room  of  the  old  Demmond  Block,  which 
had  just  been  erected.  And  here  the  West  Side  made  a  point.  This  conven- 
tion was  called  without  regard  to  party,  and  was  largely  attended  by  the  sub- 
stantial settlers  throughout  the  county.  Of  course  they  would 'make  out  a 
good  ticket.  They  nominated  Holder  Sisson,  Thomas  Durham  and  James 
Walker,  for  Commissioners;  Robert  Stevens  for  Sheriff;  George  H.  Woodruff 
for  Recorder  (here  is  the  point),  and  E.  M.  Daggett  for  Coroner.  The  ticket 
met  with  some  opposition  as  to  Recorder,  and  Sheriff  especially,  but  it  was  tri- 
umphantly elected.  In  those  days  we  could  make  a  good  run,  if  nothing  else. 
The  principal  tactics  we  used  was  to  keep  out  of  sight,  which  we  think  was  sagacious. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  here  that  at  this  election  those  living  on  the  East  Side  were 
obliged  to  go  to  Philip  Scott's  on  Section  23,  and  those  living  on  the  West  Side 
to  Plainfield,  in  order  to  vote.  Robert  Stevens  declined  to  qualify  as  Sheriff,  and 


292  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

in  the  Fall,  at  the  first  regular  election,  "  Uncle  Fenner  Aldrich,"  who  had  lived 
at  Plainfield,  was  chosen  in  time  for  the  first  Circuit  Court. 

We  need  hardly  say  that  the  Board  of  County  Commissioners  answered  to 
our  Board  of  Supervisors,  transacting  the  business  of  the  entire  county.  Their 
first  meeting  was  held  at  the  "Juliet  Hotel,"  then  kept  hy  Thomas  H.  Black- 
burn, on  March  14,  183t>.  They  appointed  Levi  Jenks,  a  west  sider,  County 
Clerk  and  School  Commissioner,  and  Charles  Clement,  Treasurer  of  the  county. 
They  divided  the  county  into  ten  election  precincts,  as  follows  : 

1.  Du  Page  Precinct — Consisting  of  Town  37,  in  Ranges  9  and  10  (now  the  towns  of  Du 
Page  and  Wheatland).     Elections  to  be  held  at  the  house  of  David  K.   Clark.     Harry  Board- 
man,  Seth  Wescott  and  Isaac  Scarrett  to  be  Judges  of  Election. 

2.  Plainfield  Precinct — Towns  35  and  36,  in  Range  9  (Troy  and  Plainfield).     Elections  at 
house  of  Chester  Ingersoll.     Oliver  Goes,  W.  W.  Wattles  and  R.  W.  Chapman,  Judges. 

3.  Canal  Precinct — Town  36,  in  Ranges  10  and  11   (Lockport  and   Homer).     Election   at 
house  of  Luther  C.  Chamberlin.     Charles  Gray,  Selah  Lanfear  and  Comstock  Hanford,  Judges. 

4.  Joliet  Precinct — Town  35,  Range  10   (Joliet).     Elections  at  the  house  of  Thomas   H. 
Blackburn.     Isaac  Merrill,  Thos.  H.  Blackburn  and  Alonzo  Castle,  Judges. 

5.  Hickory  Creek — Town  35,  in  Ranges  11  and  12  (New  Lenox  and  Frankfort).     Election 
at  house  of  Chester  Marshall.    Mansfield  Wheeler,  Lewis  Kerchival  and  John  I.  Davidson,  Judges. 

6.  Jackson — Town  34,  Ranges  9  and  10  (Channahon  and  Jackson).     Elections  at  house  of 
Jasper  Willson.     Henry  Watkins,  Seymor  Treat  and  Joseph  Shoemaker,  Judges. 

7.  Forked  Creek — Towns  32  and  33,  in  Ranges  9  and  10  (Reed,  Wilmington,  Florence, 
Westley  and  Custer).     Elections  at  house  of  Robert  Watkins.     John  Kilpatrick,  Hamilton  Kee- 
ney  and  Thomas  Cox,  Judges. 

8.  Rock  Village — Towns  32,  33  and  34,  in  Ranges  11  and   12  (Manhattan,  Greengarden, 
Wilson  and  Peotone,  and  two  townships  now  in  Kankakee  County).     Elections  at  house  of  Sam- 
uel Davis.     Archer  Caruthers,  Samuel  Davis  and  Hugh  Carmichael,  Judges. 

9.  Thorn  Creek — Town  34,  in  Ranges  13  and  14  (Monee  and  Crete).     Election  at  house  of 
Minoris  Beebe.     Minoris  Beebe, ,  Judges. 

10.  Kankakee — Towns  32  and  33,  in   Ranges   13  and  14  (Will  and  Washington,  and  two 
townships  now  in  Kankakee  County).     Elections  at  house  of  Enoch  Sergeant. 

All  Election  Precincts  also  to  be  Magistrate  Districts,  and  elections  were 
ordered  for  Justices  and  Constables. 

Some  of  these  precincts  were  soon  divided.  Canal  Precinct  was  divided  the 
next  year  into  Lockport  and  Spring  Creek  (now  Homer),  and  Channahon  was 
set  off  into  Van  Buren  Precinct,  and  other  changes  soon  followed.  At  this  first 
session  also,  the  county  was  divided  into  seventeen  Road  Districts,  and  Super- 
visors appointed,  and  all  able-bodied  men  between  the  ages  of  21  and  50  re- 
quired to  work  five  days  on  the  roads.  Trustees  of  School  Sections  were  also  ap- 
pointed. Viewers  were  also  appointed  to  lay  out  the  first  county  road  from 
Juliet  to  Plainfield  and  on  to  county  line.  (The  first  road  projected,  and  not  a 
good  road  yet !) 

They  also  ordered  a  writ  of  adquod  damnum  (as  the  records  have  it),  but 
whom  it  hit  or  what  it  did,  we  can't  say ;  perhaps  it  is  lying  around  loose  yet. 
It  was  something  about  a  cut-off  from  the  Kankakee  to  the  Des  Planes.  Jenks 
made  the  two  first  words  into  one,  but  we  presume  it  hurt  just  as  badly. 
They  also  fixed  the  price  of  tavern  charges  at  25  cents  a  meal,  12J  cents  for 


^ 


JOLIET 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  295 

lodging,  and  6J  cents  for  drinks.  We  regret  to  say  that  this  is  not  now  in 
force. 

All  cities  have  their  golden  age,  when  everything  is  bright  and  lovely,  when 
the  best  men  are  exalted,  and  the  people  rejoice.  If  this  period  of  which  we 
write  was  not  the  golden  age  of  Will  County,  pray  tell  us  what  period  was. 
Think  of  it !  The  best  men  in  office,  a  good  square  meal  for  25  cents, 
lodging  for  12J  cents,  whisky  for  6£  cents,  no  tramps,  no  burglars,  no 
gas  bills  or  ice  bills,  no  book  or  map  agents,  no  lightning-rod  peddlers, 
no  oily-tongued  interviewers  to  persuade  you  that  being  a  representative  man 
and  an  old  settler  you  ought  to  have  your  history  and  portrait  in  a  book  !  But, 
alas,  those  times  are  over  and  gone. 

After  finishing  the  county  business,  which  .took  them  four  days,  the  County 
Commissioners  voted  themselves  $6  each,  and  adjourned.  A  dollar  and  a  half 
a  day  was  not  a  very  big  salary  steal. 

Let  us  note  that  at  the  end  of  the  year  Mr.  Clement  was  allowed  $16.60, 
being  2  per  cent  on  the  money  he  handled.  Having  made  his  pile,  he 
retired  and  gave  place  to  Bennett  Allen. 

MORE   JOLIET   HISTORY. 

The  first  stone  building  put  up  in  Joliet  was  the  block  of  two  stores  built 
by  Demmond,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken.  Mr.  Demmond  moved  his 
store  into  one  part  as  soon  as  finished,  and  soon  rented  the  other.  It  was 
necessary  that  a  building  of  so  much  importance  should  be  dedicated.  This 
could  be  done  properly  only  by  a  ball,  and  it  was  determined  by  the  proper 
authorities  that  there  should  be  one  as  soon  as  the  floors  were  laid  and  before 
the  partitions  were  put  up.  The  boys  at  once  canvassed  the  county  for  girls. 
Most  of  us  knew  where  to  find  them.  The  result  was  an  extensive  and  suc- 
cessful affair.  The  fame  of  it  reached  Chicago,  and  some  couples  came  down 
to  it.  Among  these  were  a  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Garland,  a  newly-married  couple  lately 
from  Michigan.  Of  course  the  hotel  accommodations  were  limited  in  those 
days.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  put  up  at  the  Higley  House,  the  chambers  of  which 
could  not  properly  be  spoken  of  in  the  plural  number,  as  there  were  no  parti- 
tions. Mrs.  G.  made  herself  somewhat  unpopular  on  account  of  the  fastidious- 
ness she  exhibited  in  objecting  to  inviting  "tired  nature's  sweet  restorer"  in  so 
promiscuous  a  style,  although  nature  was  very  tired  indeed,  having  danced  till 
4  o'clock.  She  actually  refused  to  go  to  bed  until  a  partition  had  been 
extemporized  by  means  of  a  sheet  suspended  from  the  rafters !  But  when 
she  afterward  came  to  live  among  us,  and  we  learned  to  know  her  many  good 
qualities,  we  forgot  her  unpardonable  prudery,  and  loved  her  long  and  well. 

OLD   WILSON   STORE. 

The  next  stone  building  was  on  the  east  side,  and  was  put  up  in  1836,  by 
the  Wilson  brothers,  who  had  come  on  here  from  Albany,  and  opened  a  store 
on  Chicago  street  in  one  of  Dr.  Bowen's  buildings.  This  is  the  old  stone 

E 


296  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

building  next  south  of  the  City  Hall.  Deacon  Brandon,  as  we  have  said,  built 
this  store.  It  is  one  of  the  buildings  that  are  historic.  The  Wilsons  opened  a 
store  there,  where  they  traded  some  years,  and  were  succeeded  by  J.  A.  Matte- 
son,  where  he  kept  a  store  and  depot  for  the  cloths  which  he  manufactured,  part 
of  the  time  with  George  Bradner  for  a  partner.  There,  at  one  time,  Alex- 
ander Mclntosh,  now  pretty  well  known  in  Will  County,  was  his  clerk.  Major 
Safford  was  also  for  a  long  time  his  clerk.  He  has  lately  died  in  Cairo,  where 
he  was  a  banker.  The  upper  story  Avas  rented  for  a  court-room  and  Clerk's 
office  by  the  County  Commissioners,  until  the  old  Court  House  was  built — we  mean 
the  predecessor  of  the  present  old  Court  House,  long  since  taken  down,  as  the 
present  one  ought  to  be.  Afterward,  it  was  occupied  by  the  Episcopal  Church 
for  religious  worship.  Our  worthy  citizen,  S.  0.  Simonds,  taught  a  private 
school  there.  S.  W.  Stone,  and,  we  think,  K.  J.  Hammond,  taught  there  also. 
We  can  trace  its  history  no  further ;  time  would  fail  to  tell  it  all ;  for  a  long 
time,  now,  it  has  been  occupied  for  a  dwelling. 

Among  other  experiences  of  the  old  store  we  ought,  however,  to  note  the 
fact  that  in  1851,  while  occupied  as  a  store  house  for  wool  by  Matteson,  it  was 
struck  by  lightning,  and  perhaps  that  is  why  the  northwest  corner  is  now 
tumbling  out.  We  suppose  when  a  stranger  visits  Joliet  and  one  of  our  citizens 
wishes  to  show  him  the  points  of  interest,  he  is  shown  the  Opera  House  Block, 
the  new  churches,  the  dwellings  of  Mr.  Fox,  George  Woodruff,  J.  E.  Henry, 
the  Centennial  and  Aiken  Blocks,  etc.;  but  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  and  per- 
haps that  of  some  others,  these  old  buildings,  however  rusty  or  decayed,  awaken 
far  greater  interest.  They  are  full  of  memories ;  they  are  historic.  And  we 
have  often  thought,  what  if  their  old  walls  could  speak — what  if  they  were  all 
phonographs — what  if  they  had  anticipated  Edison  and  had  recorded  every 
word,  and  every  sight  and  act  as  well,  of  the  various  persons  that  from  time  to 
time  had  acted  or  spoken  within  them.  And  what  if,  at  one's  bidding,  the  walls 
should  give  out  again  the  sights  and  sounds  which  they  had  absorbed — all  the 
scenes  of  joy  and  sorrow,  all  the  acts  of  piety  and  of  sin,  all  the  oaths  and 
prayers,  all  the  words  that  soothe  and  comfort,  and  all  the  words  that  irritate 
and  wound,  all  the  whispers  and  vows  of  love,  and  the  pledges  of  friendship, 
both  those  that  have  been  kept  and  those  that  have  been  broken — what,  we  say, 
if  some  Edison  should  yet  discover  the  secret  of  unraveling  it  all  to  the  listener, 
what  revelations  there  would  be,  even  in  the  commonest  houses,  the  rooms  where 
any  one  has  dwelt  even  but  a  few  years !  How  many  haunted  houses  there 
would  be !  Perhaps,  reader,  there  are  rooms  into  which  we  should  not  want  to 
go.  But  this  is  not  history. 

The  old  wooden  block  on  North  Chicago  street  which  made  such  a  famous 
bonfire  a  year  or  two  ago,  was  built  about  the  same  time  with  the  Wilson  store, 
and  was  long  the  center  of  business  on  the  East  Side.  The  next  stone  block  was 
the  old  one  on  Bluff  street,  consisting  of  six  stores,  and  was  built  in  1837.  We 
gave  something  of  its  history  in  "Forty  Years  Ago,"  and  will  not  repeat  it 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  297 

here.  There  is  more  unwritten  history  absorbed  by  its  walls,  than  perhaps  any 
other  building  in  Joliet.  What  visions  come  and  go  through  the  halls  of 
memory  Avhen  we  chance  to  walk  by  it ! 

The  National  was  built,  at  least  commenced,  in  1838,  by  J.  J.  Garland  and 
John  Curry,  two  old  citizens,  both  of  whom  are  now  deceased.  Mr.  Garland 
died  first.  He  was  an  active  and  valuable  man  here,  a  member  of  the  old 
Union  Church  organized  by  the  Foots,  and  one  of  the  fruits  of  that  revival,  and  Jiis 
wife  also.  Col.  Curry  more  recently  deceased,  is  better  known  to  the  present 
generation,  having  been  long  in  business  here.  He  was  a  brother-in-law  of  M. 
H.  Demmond,  and  one  time  a  partner.  He  came  in  1836,  from  Oneida  Co., 
N.  Y.,  and  died  in  March,  1872,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 

OTHER    OLD    BUILDINGS. 

The  next  hotel  built  upon  the  East  Side,  after  the  Juliet  Hotel,  was  the 
Exchange,  built  in  1837,  by  Abel  Gilbert.  The  upper  story  was  hurried  up 
and  finished  first,  into  a  ball-room,  in  order  to  get  ready  for  a  Fourth  of  July 
ball,  with  which  the  boys  on  the  East  Side  resolved  to  dedicate  it.  They  were 
spurred  on  by  the  happy  memories  of  the  one  in  Demmond's  Block,  and  deter- 
mined that  this  one  should  excel  it  both  in  numbers  and  eclat.  The  West  Siders 
were,  however,  permitted  "  to  jine."  Some  did.  An  efficient  committee  was 
appointed  to  gather  in  the  girls.  Every  precinct,  even  away  up  to  "  Yellow 
Heads,"  was  explored,  and  teams  sent  to  bring  them.  The  girls  did  not  need 
much  urging,  but  came  right  along,  as  they  still  do,  we  suppose.  0.  W.  Still- 
man,  Siil.  Demmond,  Ed.  Wilcox  and  Allen  Pratt,  the  old  "bach"  from  Bos- 
ton, and  others,  were  among  the  efficient  managers.  Of  course  it  was  a  grand 
success.  The  ball  opened  at  4  P.  M.,  and  closed  at  4  A.  M.  Allen  Pratt  was 
especially  happy  and  successful  as  a  general-in-chief.  He  knew  what  Boston 
style  was.  It  was  on  account  of  his  eminent  services  on  this  occasion  that  at  a 
sort  of  adjourned  meeting  at  Higley  Hall  the  next  night,  some  of  the  West  Side 
boys,  feeling  that  he  had  done  them  great  credit,  and  that  his  services  should 
have  some  public  recognition,  crowned  and  embalmed  him.  If  you  want  to 
know  how  that  was  done,  you  must  ask  Judge  John  M.  Wilson  of  Chicago,  or 
Judge  J.  C.  Newkirk,  of  Hudson,  N.  Y.  We  don't  suppose  that  any  one  else 
could  tell  the  story,  although  there  are  several  boys  still  left  who  witnessed  both 
the  ball  and  the  after  part ;  but  not  having  judicial  minds,  it  is  not  safe  to  rely 
on  their  statements.  There  are  many  traditions  against  which  we  warn  the 
public.  Another  hotel  soon  after  claimed  a  share  of  public  patronage,  and 
ministered  to  the  pride  of  the  East  Siders.  This  was  the  "  Waving  Banner," 
built,  we  believe,  by  Matteson,  and  opened  under  the  happy  auspices  of  mine 
host  Jacob  Patrick.  This  was  afterward  called  the  Washington,  and  still  stands 
somewhat  "  depalliated  "  at  the  upper  end  of  Chicago  street,  a  monument  of 
the  enterprise  of  1837.  We  suppose  a  good  many  things  happened  in  this 
ancient  hostelry  which  would  be  very  interesting  if  we  could  get  some  Edison 


298  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

to  unwind  them.  It  was  a  great  center,  though  situated  on  the  circumference, 
for  political  meetings,  military  displays  and  Fourth  of  July  demonstrations.  But 
perhaps  we  are  spending  too  much  time  on  these  old  Joliet  buildings.  We  con- 
fess to  a  tender  regard  for  them,  and  feel  that  like  old  men,  they  are  too  apt  to 
be  forgotten  for  what  is  fresh  and  new,  and  it  is  not  without  a  pang  of  grief  that  we 
see  one  of  them  take  fire  and  burn  up,  although  we  know  that  it  will  be  replaced 
by  something  better,  and  gives  friend  Page  an  opportunity  to  show  the  efficiency 
of  the  Fire  Department.  And  yet  we  must  mention  one  more,  King  Gambrinus 
would  never  forgive  us  if  we  failed  to  note  the  first  brewery  established  in  the  city 
of  Joliet,  and  we  presume  in  Will  County.  Have  you  noticed  that  old  rookery 
of  wooden  buildings  which  stands  upon  the  tow-path,  a  little  way  above  the 
middle  bridge  ?  That  was  the  first  brewery,  established  in  1838,  by  Beltz  & 
Erhard,  two  of  our  earliest  German  citizens,  the  advance  guard  of  the  great 
host  that  has  since  invaded  Will  County,  and  who  now  form  so  large  and  valu- 
able a  class  of  our  citizens.  It  was  built  near,  or  over,  one  of  the  finest  of 
natural  springs  we  ever  saw.  Its  waters  were  cool  and  pure  and  sparkling  and 
perennial.  Whether  they  were  improved  after  passing  through  the  various  proc- 
esses which  converted  them  into  lager,  we  shall  let  each  reader  decide  for  him- 
self. But  we  are  reminded  of  a  little  story.  It  is  said  that  when  lager  was 
first  introduced  into  the  West,  which  must  have  been  about  this  time,  an  old 
toper  who  had  always  taken  his  whisky  straight,  was  induced  to  try  a  little  by 
way  of  experiment.  He  carefully  carried  the  foaming  amber  to  his  lips,  and 
tasted  a  little,  made  a  wry  and  disgusted  kind  of  face,  tasted  again  and  deeper, 
and  then  threw  the  glass  at  the  head  of  the  astonished  Teuton,  exclaiming 

"by wormwood  and  Epsom  salts  !  " 

There  is  still  another  old  building  that  we  have  not  noticed ;  we  mean  the 
stone  one  just  above  Hyde's  mill,  a  conspicuous  object  as  you  go  up  to  the 
Iron  Mills.  This  was  an  old  agricultural  and  plow  factory,  built  by  Jones 
&  Cagwin,  in  1854,  and  for  several  years  in  successful  operation,  and  one  of 
our  most  important  enterprises.  It  was  subsequently  occupied  by  one  of  the 
Sangers  for  similar  purposes.  But  it  seems  of  late  years  to  have  been  left  to 
the  moles  and  the  bats,  and  to  have  shared  the  fate  of  all  buildings  not  occu- 
pied, in  losing  its  windows  and  everything  about  it  except  the  walls,  a  sad 
proof  that  the  millennium  has  not  yet  come. 

ILLINOIS   AND    MICHIGAN    CANAL. 

A  condensed  history  of  the  canal  must  not  be  omitted  from  this  record.  It 
is  intimately  connected  with  the  history  and  prosperity  of  the  county.  It  was 
one  and  a  very  important  cause  by  which  attention  was  directed  hither. 

The  project  of  a  ship-canal,  to  connect  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  with 
the  navigable  waters  of  the  Illinois  River,  was  first  suggested  during  the  war  of 
1812,  by  some  writer  in  Niles'  Register.  The  war  had  shown  of  what  immense 
advantage  such  a  canal  would  be,  both  in  peace  and  war.  It  was  one  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  299 

compensations  of  that  war  in  the  West,  and  also  of  the  Sac  war,  that  they  were 
the  means  of  directing  attention  to  this  part  of  the  Great  West.     In  1816,  the 
title  to  a  strip  twenty  miles  wide  was  obtained  of  the  Indians,  with  a  view  to  such 
a  work.     As  \ve  have  already  stated,  this  fact  explains  what  is  often  seen  on  the 
maps — two  lines  running  diagonally  across  the  townships,  and  marked  "Indian 
Boundary  Line."     In  1821,  an  appropriation  of  $10,000  was  made  by  Congress 
for  a  preliminary  survey  of  the  canal  and  for  the  survey  of  the  twenty-mile 
strip.     Shadrack  Bond,  the  first  Governor  of  our  State,  in  his  first  message, 
had  called  attention  to  the  feasibility  and  importance  of  the  work.      A  survey 
was  made  under  the  appropriation  of  Congress,  and  the  work  pronounced  prac- 
ticable.     In  1826,  Congress  donated  to  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  its  con- 
struction, every  alternate  section  in  a  strip  ten  miles  Avide  along  the  route  from 
Chicago  to  La  Salle — a  magnificent  appropriation  of  300,000  acres.     In  1829, 
the  General  Assembly  of  our  State  passed  an  act  creating  a  Board  of  Canal 
Commissioners,  and  authorized  them  (not  to  enter  upon  the  work,  but)  to  sell 
the  lands,  and  giving  settlers  a  pre-emption  right  on  the  same.     Under  this  act 
many  of  the  earliest  settlers  got  their  titles  to  lands  in  this  vicinity.      Fortu- 
nately, however,  the  folly  of  this  course  was  soon  seen,  and  the  act  was  repealed. 
In  the  session  of  1834—5,  another  act  was  passed  creating  a  new  Canal  Board, 
and  authorizing  the  Governor  to  negotiate  bonds  for  its  construction,  and  pledg- 
ing the  Canal  lands  for  their  redemption.     But  even  then  the  immense  value  of 
these  lands  was  not  appreciated  by  those  who  had  the  money  to  loan.      It  was 
not  until  at  a  special  session  in  1835,  when,  through  the  indefatigable  exertion 
of  Col.  Strode,  of  Galena,  who  at  that  time  represented  all  the  region  north  of 
Peoria,  in  the  State  Senate,  the  act  was  so  amended  as  to  pledge  the  faith  of 
the  State  for  their  redemption,  that  the  bonds  could  be  negotiated.      This  was 
done  by  Gov.  Duncan  in  1836,  and  in  the  same  year  preparations  were  com- 
menced for  active  work.     William  B.  Archer.  Gurdon  S.  Hubbardand  William 
F.  Thornton,  all  Colonels,  as  public  men  generally  were  in  those  days,  were 
the  first  Commissioners,  who  very  wisely  chose  Wm.  Gooding  as  Chief  Engineer. 
Some  changes  were  subsequently  made  in  the  Board,  and  James  B.  Fry,  another 
Colonel,  became  a  member.      The  first  ground  was  broken  at  Bridgeport  July 
4,  1836.      The  event  was  celebrated  in  grand  style.      Dr.  William  B.  Egan 
delivered  an  able  address  on  the  occasion.      The  work  was  commenced  on  the 
plan  of  the   "deep  cut,"  that  is,    feeding  it  directly  from    Lake   Michigan 
through  the  South  Branch  of  the  Chicago  River,  as  is  now  done.     At  the  time 
of  letting  the  first  contracts,  the  mania  for  speculation  was  at  its  height,  and 
labor  and  provisions  were  extremely  high  for  those  times.      Labor  was  $20  to 
$30  per  month,  with  board.      Pork,  $20  to  $30  per  barrel ;    flour,  $9  to  $12, 
and  other  things  in  proportion.     The  first  contracts  were  predicated  upon  these 
high  prices.     To  facilitate  the  construction  of  the  Canal,  a  road  was  opened 
from  Chicago  to  Lockport,  known  as  "Archer's  Road,"  from  one  of  the  Com- 
missioners, on  which  $40,000  were  expended.      The  propriety  of  this  expend- 


300  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

iture  was  much  questioned  at  the  time,  and  unfortunately  for  the  reputation  of 
Archer  for  disinterestedness,  he  was  the  proprietor  of  an  addition  to  Lockport. 
But  it  is  certain  that  supplies  for  the  laborers  had  mainly  to  be  brought  from 
abroad,  as  at  this  time  no  great  surplus  was  raised  along  the  line.  The  work 
was  prosecuted  by  means  of  the  money  obtained  from  the  sale  of  bonds  and  of 
Canal  lands  and  lots  in  Chicago,  Lockport,  Ottawa  and  La  Salle,  until  1842,  at 
an  outlay  of  over  five  millions  of  dollars,  when  the  work  was  suspended. 

Although  the  enterprise  was  commenced  when  everything  had  to  be  done 
in  the  most  expensive  way,  and  when  the  country  was  on  the  eve  of  a  great 
financial  crash,  yet  the  State  could  easily  have  gone  through  with  it  and  main- 
tained her  credit  if  other  projects  had  not  been  connected  with  it.  The  central 
and  southern  portions  of  the  State,  with  very  narrow  views,  looked  upon  the 
Canal  as  entirely  for  the  benefit  of  the  north,  and  insisted  upon  compensating 
railroads  as  the  price  of  their  votes  for  further  appropriations  to  the  Canal ;  and, 
in  1837,  the  act  was  passed,  which  ultimately  swamped  the  credit  of  the  State 
and  brought  on  our  financial  ruin.  By  this  act,  a  loan  of  eight  millions  was 
authorized,  on  the  faith  of  the  State,  for  the  purpose  of  gridironing  our  State 
with  railroads,  and  a  four-million  loan  for  the  further  prosecution  of  the  Canal. 
The  sum  of  $200,000  from  the  eight-million  loan  was  to  be  given  to  those 
counties  through  which  no  railroad  passed  for  the  construction  of  roads  and 
bridges.  And,  absurd  as  was  this  scheme  at  that  time,  loans  were  made  to  the 
amount  of  nearly  six  millions.  As  the  practical  result  of  all  this,  a  short  rail- 
road was  built  from  Springfield  to  Meredosia,  and  various  others  were  com- 
menced at  either  end,  as  the  act  required,  and  great  quantities  of  railroad  iron 
were  imported,  free  of  duty,  by  special  act  of  Congress.  But  before  any  other 
road  was  completed  the  whole  scheme  came  to  a  disgraceful  end.  It  may  not 
be  improper  to  remark,  in  passing,  that  it  was  by  the  purchase  afterward  (pay- 
ing in  depreciated  scrip  at  par)  of  this  railroad  iron  of  the  State  and  selling  to 
Eastern  roads  that  (jrov.  Matteson  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune.  The  great 
commercial  prostration  which  struck  the  East  in  1837  was,  by  means  of  the 
disbursement  of  these  Canal  and  railroad  loans,  warded  off  from  us  for  a  year 
or  two,  and  the  work  of  the  Canal  was  kept  along,  although  feebly,  until  1842 
by  the  help  of  Canal  scrip  and  of  the  "  contractors'  loan,"  as  it  was  called,  from 
the  fact  that  the  contractors  had  sent  Gen.  Thornton  to  Europe  to  sell  bonds, 
they  agreeing  to  stand  the  discount,  even  to  25  per  cent,  if  necessary.  This 
they  could  afford  to  do,  now  that  the  prices  of  labor  and  provisions  had  greatly 
fallen. 

By  the  Fall  of  1840  a  debt  had  been  contracted  by  the  State,  of  $14,237,- 
348,  which  must  be  paid  by  a  population  of  478,929 — nearly  thirty  dollars  for 
every  man,  woman  and  child.  And  this  amount  does  not  include  what  the 
State  had  misapplied  from  the  school  fund  and  from  the  surplus  deposits  of  the 
United  States.  By  great  exertion,  the  interest  on  the  Canal  debt  was  paid  up 
to  and  including  1841 ;  but  for  1842  no  provision  could  be  made,  and  the  work 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  301 

stopped  entirely.  An  expenditure,  as  we  have  already  said,  of  over  five  mill- 
ions had  been  made  upon  it,  and  the  contractors  abandoned  their  jobs,  claiming 
heavy  damages  of  the  State.  An  act  was  passed  for  a  settlement  with  them, 
limiting  the  amount  to  $230,000. 

To  the  credit  of  our  State,  let  it  be  said  that  the  idea  of  repudiation  was 
never  seriously  entertained  by  our  people  to  any  extent,  and  subsequent  pros- 
'perity  and  wise  legislation  have  long  since  obliterated  the  debt. 

But  the  Canal  could  not,  of  course,  be  allowed  to  remain  long  in  this  condition. 
The  bondholders  were  equally  interested  with  us  in  devising  some  means  for  its 
speedy  completion.  It  was  a  work  of  too  great  and  too  general  importance  to 
be  abandoned  altogether.  In  the  session  of  1842-43  an  act  was  passed  which 
ultimately  succeeded  in  accomplishing  this  purpose.  By  this  act,  the  Canal 
itself  and  all  its  unsold  lots  and  lands  were  transferred  to  a  Board  of  three 
Trustees — two  to  be  chosen  by  the  bondholders  and  one  by  the  Governor  of  the 
State.  The  bondholders  were  to  advance  the  further  sum  of  $1,600,000  to 
complete  the  Canal  on  another  level.  The  Trustees  were  to  prosecute  the  work 
and  retain  possession  of  the  Canal  and  its  revenues  until  the  debt  and  further 
cost  of  its  construction  and  interest  on  the  same  should  be  fully  paid  by  the 
tolls  and  moneys  derived  from  the  sale  of  lands  and  lots.  The  Board  was 
organized  and  the  work  was  resumed  in  1845,  and  prosecuted  until  fully  com- 
pleted in  1848. 

The  debt  of  the  Canal  and  all  costs  of  its  construction  and  the  interest 
thereon  were  paid  from  these  resources  in  the  year  1871,  and  the  Canal  sur- 
rendered to  the  State,  with  a  balance  on  hand  of  $95,742. 

In  1865  an,  arrangement  was  entered  into  by  the  Trustees  with  the  Board 
of  Public  Works  of  Chicago,  by  which  the  Canal  has  been  completed  upon  the 
original  plan  of  a  deep  cut,  feeding  directly  from  the  Chicago  River,  thus  making 
it  the  grand  sewer  of  Chicago  nastiness,  and  justifying,  at  times,  to  our  olfactories 
the  theory  that  the  name  "  Chicago"  was  originally  derived  from  that  animal 
familiarly  known  as  skunk.  The  Indian  who  christened  it  must  have  had  a 
prophetic  smell  of  1873  !  Let  us  console  ourselves  with  the  fact  that  we  have 
now  an  abundant  water-power,  and  that  our  basins  are  always  full,  if  not 
fragrant ! 

In  closing  this  brief  history  of  the  Canal,  we  wish  to  pay  a  tribute  to  its 
Chief  Engineer,  William  Gooding,  who  was  its  firm  friend  from  first  to  last,  its 
efficient  Director,  and  against  whom  no  suspicions  of  jobbery  were  ever  enter- 
tained. Fully  a  master  of  his  profession,  prepared  for  all  emergencies,  urbane 
in  his  intercourse  with  all,  he  is  entitled  to  the  grateful  remembrance  of  every 
citizen  of  this  State,  to  the  prosperity  of  which  he  has  been  so  largely  instru- 
mental. 

When  the  above  paragraph,  copied  from  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  was  written, 
Mr.  Gooding  was  still  living.  He  has  since  died,  and  we  feel  that  both  his 
private  character  and  public  usefulness  demand  some  further  notice  in  a  history 


302  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

of  Will  County.  William  Gooding  was  a  native  of  Ontario  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
commenced  his  service  as  a  civil  engineer  on  the  Welland  Canal.  Subsequently, 
he  engaged  in  mercantile  business  at  Lockport,  N.  Y.  He,  however,  soon  re- 
turned to  his  chosen  profession  on  public  works  in  Ohio,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Scioto.  In  the  Spring  of  1832,  he  was  married  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  returned 
to  Ohio  with  the  intention  of  coming  West  to  this  region.  The  breaking-out  of 
the  Sac  war  prevented  this,  and  he  remained  for  a  time  in  Roscoe,  Ohio.  The 
war  being  over,  he  fulfilled  his  intention  of  coming  West,  and,  on  May  1,  1833, 
landed  at  Chicago,  a  village  then  of  very  small  pretensions.  He  squatted,  accord- 
ing to  the  usage  of  the  day,  upon  land  at  what  became  known  as  Gooding's  Grove, 
which  he  afterward  purchased,  and  where  his  father  and  brothers  had  previously 
located.  Next  year,  he  engaged  with  the  Commissioners  of  Public  Works  of 
Indiana,  and  was  there  employed  when  selected  as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Illinois 
&  Michigan  Canal,  which  position  he  held  until  its  completion  in  1848.  He 
was  then  appointed  Secretary  and  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
and  so  continued  until  the  debt  being  fully  paid,  the  Canal  was  surrendered  to 
the  State.  During  this  period  he  was  employed  in  some  special  service  as 
United  States  Engineer,  and  also  one  of  the  Board  of'Public  Works  of  the  city 
of  Chicago,  while  the  Canal  was  deepened  and  made  the  grand  sewer  of  Chicago. 
He  also  received  the  appointment  of  Surveyor  of  Oregon,  but  declined  to  accept 
the  post.  Mr.  Gooding  had  been  in  failing  health  for  several  years,  and  com- 
pelled to  spend  his  Winters  in  Cuba,  Florida,  California,  Alabama,  etc.,  until  the 
last  Autumn  found  him  too  unwell  to  leave  home  again,  and  he  declined  gradually 
in  strength  until  the  4th  day  of  March,  last,  when  he  closed  his  earthly  career  in  the 
75th  year  of  his  age.  A  large  concourse  of  neighbors  and  friends,  not 'only  from 
Will  County,  but  from  Chicago  and  the  entire  length  of  the  Canal  met  at  his  late 
home  to  pay  their  sincere  tribute  of  respect  to  one  who  had  filled  so  important  a  po- 
sition in  thepublic  service,  and  filled  it  long  and  well.  Rev.  J.  Porter,  a  patriarch  in 
the  ministry,  who  had  long  knoAvn  and  loved  him,  conducted  the  funeral  services. 
Besides  his  valuable  public  service,  his  purity  of  life,  and  his  urbanity,  Mr. 
Gooding  was  also  noticeable  for  his  general  culture  and  his  refined  taste,  and  the 
clear  and  lucid  style  of  all  of  his  reports  and  public  communications.  Mr. 
Gooding  was  also  naturally  gifted  with  a  fine  imagination  and  poetic  taste, 
although  his  chosen  profession  was  severe  and  dry,  and 

"The  muse  but  poorly- shines 
In  cones  and  cubes  and  geometric  lines." 

His  beautiful  home  in  Lockport  was  richly  adorned  with  fruits  and  flowers, 
to  the  cultivation  of  which  he  devoted  his  leisure  moments.  This  home  was  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  one  he  first  occupied  at  Gooding's  Grove,  which  was  a 
log  cabin  of  one  room,  built  by  contract  for  $25,  he  furnishing  the  timber  and  a 
team  to  haul  it  with.  This  was  covered  with  "shakes,"  a  kind  of  roof  which 
would  shed  the  rain  and  snow,  if  the  wind  did  not  blow,  and  had  its  chimney 
outside,  according  to  the  style  of  the  times,  because  if  placed  inside  there  would 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  303 

have  been  no  room  for  anything  else.  This  was  built  with  sticks  plastered  with 
clay.  The  furniture  was  mostly  the  handiwork  of  Mr.  Gooding,  including  the 
bedstead,  made  of  poles.  Mr.  Gooding  used  to  tell  an  interesting  incident 
which  occurred  at  this  original  mansion.  One  bitter  cold  morning,  Col.  Wm.  B. 
Archer,  Canal  Commissioner,  Chief  Justice  Wilson,  of  the  Supreme  Court-,  and 
Robert  Dale  Owen,  came  there  before  breakfast,  having  stayed  at  the  Sag  over 
night,  at  a  hotel  which  did  not  promise  much  in  the  way  of  refreshment.  To 
be  so  suddenly  called  upon  to  entertain  these  notables  was  somewhat  embarrass" 
ing  to  the  young  wife.  The  country  did  not  afford  very  much  variety  where- 
with to  improvise  a  breakfast.  To  add  to  the  difficulty,  the  guests,  except  Col. 
Archer,  were  strangers,  and  as  the  one  room  was  kitchen,  bedroom,  dining- 
room,  and  parlor,  and  it  was  too  cold  to  adjourn  to  the  only  other  place — out- 
doors— the  breakfast  must  be  prepared  in  their  presence.  In  one  all-important 
respect,  however,  the  hostess  was  happy.  Some  little  time  before,  Col.  Archer, 
whose  tastes  were  somewhat  of  the  "  Hoosier  "  order,  had  seen  a  piece  of  calico 
in  Chicago  which  he  greatly  admired.  It  was  of  a  green  ground  with  large  blue 
and  yellow  flowers  and  leaves,  very  pronounced  in  style.  Wishing  to  make 
Mrs.  Gooding  some  expression  of  his  regard,  he  had  bought  five  yards  of  the 
goods  which  struck  his  fancy,  which  he  had  given  to  her,  with  the  remark  that 
as  she  was  small  it  would  be  ample  ;  and  she  had  on  the  dress  on  this  memo- 
rable occasion.  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  say  that  she  was  not  bothered  with 
a  train,  and  that  crinoline  had  not  then  been  introduced. 

CANAL    OPENING. 

The  opening  of  the  Canal,  in  1*448,  was  a  day  long  to  be  remembered. 
Boats  started  simultaneously  from  either  end  of  the  Canal,  to  pass  over  the  route. 
The  one  from  Chicago  arrived  here  about  noon,  with  all  the  Canal  officials  and 
Chicago  celebrities,  bands  of  music,  and  supplies,  both  solid  and  liquid,  in  un- 
limited quantities.  Of  course  we  had  some  notables  here,  who  were  present  to 
welcome  the  arrival ;  and  all  the  population — men,  women  and  children — 
turned  out  to  see  the  first  boat  from  Chicago,  a  sight  for  which  our  eyes  had 
longed  so  many  years.  Cannon  were  fired  and  the  welkin  rang  with  cheers. 
Speeches  were  made  by  the  Chicago  notables,  and  speeches  were  made  by  the 
Joliet  notables.  Only  one  of  these,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  been  preserved. 
After  various  persons  had  been  called  out  and  made  their  spread-eagle  efforts, 
our  popular  citizen,  J.  A.  Mattcson,  was  called  upon  for  a  speech,  to  which 
he  responded  in  the  following  glowing  words :  "  Mr.  President,  ladies  and 
gentlemen — I  concur." 

ANOTHER    CELEBRATION. 

When  the  Canal  was  completed  on  the  original  plan  of  the  deep  cut,  in 
1871,  there  was,  of  course,  another  celebration,  which  may  as  well  be  noticed 
here.  Great  preparations  were  made  for  this  at  Chicago,  by  the  Board  of  Pub- 
lic Works  and  other  notables.  There  was  poetry  in  the  occasion.  It  was  the 


304  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

"meeting  of  the  waters" — the  union  of  the  blue  waters  of  Lake  Michigan 
with  those  of  the  sparkling  tributary  of  the  Mississippi,  the  classic  Des  Planes 
— the  marriage  of  Michigan  and  Mississippi — and  our  valley,  our  beautiful 
bluff-bound  valley,  was  the  vale  in  whose  bosom  the  bright  waters  were  to  meet. 
True,  the  poetry  and  the  brightness  and  the  fragrance,  were  somewhat  abated 
by  the  odors  and  the  mud  of  the  South  Branch,  after  passing  th  rough  which 
those  of  the  lake  were  hardly  fit  for  the  bridal.  Tuesday,  the  25th  of  July, 
was  fixed  upon  for  the  day,  and  four  large  canal-boats  were  chartered  and  put 
into  holiday  trim.  On  these,  a  crowd  of  ten  or  twelve  hundred  persons,  the 
solid  men  of  Chicago,  officials  and  notables,  including  Gov.  Palmer  and  Gen. 
Sheridan,  and  Members  of  Congress,  Legislature,  etc.,  and,  no  doubt,  a  due 
admixture  of  bummers  and  Bohemians.  Of  course  they  did  not  set  sail  with- 
out a  well-stocked  commissariat.  At  9  A.  M.  they  started,  bound  for  the  port 
of  Lockport.  But  the  first  part  of  the  voyage,  except  for  its  associations,  had 
little  to  interest.  It  was  through  the  heavy  clay  and  rock  of  the  excavation  of 
the  summit,  which  lay  in  huge  piles  upon  the  banks,  shutting  out  entirely  all 
view  of  the  surrounding  scenery.  The  excursionists  were  forced,  as  it  were,  to 
turn  their  attention  to  the  resources  on  board.  These  were  ample,  and  were 
liberally  dispensed  by  the  persons  in  charge.  But,  from  causes  which  we  have 
never  heard  explained,  the  progress  of  the  fleet  was  slow,  although  a  full  head 
of  steam  was  kept  on,  and  every  sheet  spread  to  the  wind.  They  did  not 
arrive  at  Lemont  until  5  o'clock.  It  is  said  that  there  had  been,  owing  to 
head  winds,  a  great  amount  of  seasickness  aboard.  At  any  rate,  the  greater 
share  of  the  excursionists  went  ashore  at  Lemont,  determined  to  take  the 
evening  train  for  Chicago.  A  few,  however,  went  on  in  the  Governor's 
steamer. 

Meanwhile,  great  preparations  had  been  made  at  Lockport  for  their  recep- 
tion. Those  who  went  up  from  Joliet  to  participate,  found  the  city  gay  with 
bunting,  and  the.  streets  filled  with  the  beauty  and  fashion  of  the  place.  The 
Canal  office  was  filled  with  the  celebrities  of  Lockport,  and  on  the  west  side  of 
it  were  long  tables,  spread  with  spotless  linen  and  loaded  with  eatables,  and 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  fleet.  Great  was  the  disappointment  when,  at  6 
o'clock,  news  was  received  of  the  shipwreck  at  Lemont.  But  soon  the  little 
steamer  arrived,  having  on  board  Gov.  Palmer  and  Gen.  Sheridan,  Mayor 
Mason,  Senator  Judd,  and  others  ;  and,  although  the  crowd  was  not  as  large  as 
expected,  it  was  select,  and  with  this,  and  the  Joliet  notables,  Lockport  had  to 
be  content.  Gov.  Palmer  was  led  to  the  stand  in  front  of  the  Canal  office,  and 
introduced  to  the  people.  He  was  full  of  the  inspiration  of  the  occasion,  and 
said  many  bright  and  humorous  and  clever  things,  in  as  happy  a  manner  as 
could  be  expected  from  one  who  had  just  come  off  a  sea  voyage  and  had  not 
yet  found  his  land  legs.  Gen.  Sheridan  and  Hayes  and  Judd  followed  in  a 
similar  strain,  and  all  were  happy.  The  collation  was  then  devoured  by  the 
crowd,  and  darkness  closed  the  scene.  It  was  said  that,  judging  from  Gen. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  305 

Sheridan's  own  statement  and  his  appearance,  his  ride  to  Winchester  was  noth- 
ing to  the  one  to  Lockport. 

One  of  our  local  poets,  H.  R.,  broke  out  into  poetry  on  this  occasion, 
which  we  would  like  to  give,  but  can  find  room  for  a  single  stanza  only : 

"The  waters  now  have  met  again — 
Lake  Michigan  meets  the  Des  Planes ; 
The  Illinois  joins  its  refrain, 

With  onward  flow  ; 
Old  Mississippi  takes  the  bride, 
Escorts  her  to  the  ocean  tide, 
Joining  the  groom  in  wedding  ride, 

To  sea  they  go." 

During  the  war  and  at  other  times,  the  question  of  enlarging  the  Canal  to 
the  dimensions  of  a  ship-canal  has  been  agitated,  both  in  our  State  Legislature 
and  in  Congress.  But  all  efforts  have  so  far  failed.  This  was  the  original 
idea,  and  may  yet  be  accomplished.  Mr.  Gooding  was  enthusiastic  in  the 
belief  that  it  would  be  done,  and  that  from  the  first  lock  to  the  head  of  Joliet 
Lake  there  would  be  a  continuous  manufacturing  city.  In  this  distance  is 
nearly  half  the  fall  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois. 

As  the  Canal  neared  completion,  the  citizens  of  Lockport  and  Joliet  com- 
menced to  build  boats  wherewith  to  navigate  its  waters.  Lockport  had  the  first 
boat  launched,  which  was  named  the  Gen.  Fry,  and  the  citizens  of  that  place 
made  Joliet  a  visit  as  soon  as  the  water  was  let  into  the  level.  On  this  occa- 
sion, Judge  Parks,  then  the  Lockport  orator,  made  Joliet  a  speech  in  his  usual 
happy  style ;  and  Joliet  replied  by  the  eloquent  lips  of  William  A.  Little,  and 
all  were  happy.  Warehouses,  also,  went  up  in  both  towns.  Henry  Fish — who 
is  none  of  your  small  fry — Abijah  Cagwin  and  George  Woodruff  built  the  three 
warehouses  which  stand  upon  the  east  side  of  the  Canal  basin,  and  M.  H.  Dem- 
mond  built  the  large  stone  one  whose  walls  yet  stand,  below  the  bridge,  the 
most  substantial  of  them  all,  and  yet  the  first  one  to  become  useless — a 
prey  to  the  fire-fiend.  Otis  Hardy  built  the  first  Joliet  boat  and  established 
the  first  lumber-yard,  and  for  many  years  kept  it  in  full  blast,  with  happy  re- 
suits  to  himself  and  the  community  as  well ;  for  the  piles  of  lumber  which  he 
sold  increased,  by  steady  gains,  his  pile  of  bank  deposits,  and  this  he  now  dis- 
penses, with  liberal  hand,  to  all  enterprises  and  charities  that  command  his 
confidence  and  sympathies. 

HIRAM    NORTON. 

Among  other  benefits  which  accrued  to  Will  County  from  the  construction 
of  the  Canal,  we  must  not  forget  to  reckon  the  bringing- in  of  so  many  men  of 
means  and  enterprise  and  character.  Conspicuous  among  them  was  Hiram 
Norton,  of  Lockport. 

He  was  born  in  Skaneateles,  N.  Y.,  February  26,  1799.  An  orphan  at  the 
age  of  14,  he  went  to  Canada  in  search  of  employment,  which  he  found  with 
the  Canada  Stage  Company.  At  18,  having  saved  a  little  money,  he  went  to 


306  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Lowville,  N.  Y.,  and  invested  it  in  acquiring  an  education  at  the  famous  acad- 
emy of  that  place,  where  he  remained  two  years.  He  then  returned  to  Pres- 
cott,  Canada,  and  entered  the  service  of  the  Stage  Company  again.  He  soon 
became  pecuniarily  interested  in  the  Company,  and  ultimately  its  proprietor. 
He  was  elected  to  the  Canadian  Parliament,  and  twice  re-elected,  making  his 
term  of  service  fourteen  years.  He  also  served  on  Government  Commission 
for  the  improvement  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  Canal.  In  1838,  he  came 
to  Illinois  with  the  Consulting  Engineer  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  and 
was  so  well  pleased  with  the  beauty  of  the  country,  and  its  prospective  growth 
and  importance,  that  he  resolved  to  make  it  his  future  home.  Lock  port  was 
peculiarly  fortunate  in  being  chosen  as  the  spot  where  he  pitched  his  tent. 
Being  already  possessed  of  large  means,  he  at  once  built  a  fine  residence  on 
one  of  its  beautiful  streets,  which  he  soon  adorned  with  exquisite  taste.  He 
aided  in  the  completion  of  ihe  Canal,  and  when  it  was  finished,  rented  the  val- 
uable water  power  created  by  it,  and  established  the  mills,  which  have  become 
famous  for  their  products  all  over  the  region.  He  established,  with  his  sons, 
the  house  of  Norton  &  Company,  whose  name  and  reputation  are  well  known 
and  command  unlimited  confidence.  Mr.  Norton  was  sent  by  this  county  to 
the  Legislature,  in  1858.  He  was  elected  almost  without  opposition.  One  of 
the  most  public-spirited  and  enterprising  of  our  citizens,  he  was  also  one  of  the 
best  and  purest,  and  died,  sustained  by  a  Christian  hope,  April  1,  1875. 

Mr.  Norton  paid  the  highest  income  tax  in  1867  t)f  any  one  in  Will 
County — on  $35,000.  The  benefits  of  his  enterprise  still  continue  to  be  felt 
by  Lock  port  and  Will  County,  in  the  continuance  of  the  manufacturing  and 
mercantile  enterprises  he  initiated,  by  his  sons. 

JOEL    MANNING. 

Another  valuable  addition  to  our  population,  for  which  we  were  indebted  to 
the  Canal,  was  Joel  Manning,  who  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Canal  Board 
at  its  organization  in  1836.  He  was  at  the  time  a  practicing  lawyer  at  Browns- 
ville, 111.,  having  come  into  the  State  some  years  before.  He  was  born  in 
October,  1793,  and  was  a  graduate  of  Union  College,  of  the  class  of  1818.  On 
the  opening  of  the  Canal  office  at  Lockport,  he  removed  to  that  place,  where 
he  continued  to  reside  until  the  few  last  years  of  his  life,  when  he  came  to  Joliet 
to  reside  with  his  son-in-law,  Henry  Fish,  Esq.  Mr.  Manning  was  a  prominent 
and  active  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  warm-hearted  and 
consistent  Christian,  whose  sympathies  were  not  confined  to  his  own  denomina- 
tion. He  passed  through  all  the  trials  of  the  hard  times  which  followed  the 
suspension  of  the  Canal,  and  when  Canal  scrip  was  at  a  low  ebb,  and  would 
hardly  support  his  family  with  the  most  rigid  economy,  he  invested  some  of  it 
in  Canal  lots  in  Chicago,  which  in  time  became  very  valuable.  He  was 
called  to  pass  through  "great  tribulation  "  in  the  loss  of  children,  and. finally 
in  that  of  his  wife.  He  died  January  8,  1869,  universally  respected,  and 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  307 

leaving   behind  him  the  odor  of    a   consistent,  active  Christian  life   and  ex- 

CHARLES    E.    BOYER. 

We  suppose  it  was  also  the  Canal  which  first  brought  another  citizen  to 
Lockport,  a  young  man  of  great  enterprise  and  energy,  who  engaged  as  a  con- 
tractor in  its  construction,  and  in  this  and  in  other  like  enterprises  accumulated 
a  comfortable  fortune.  We  refer  to  Charles  E.  Boyer.  He  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature  in  1862,  and  was  a  candidate  for  the  State  Senate  at  the  time  of 

O 

his  death,  which  occurred  September  21,  1868,  of  typhoid  fever.     Mr.  Boyer 
married  a  daughter  of  Armstead  Runyon,  who  still  survives  him. 

JOHN    B.    PRESTON. 

Still  another  valuable  citizen  of  Lockport  and  Will  County  was  brought 
here  by  the  Canal,  John  B.  Preston,  a  son  of  the  venerable  Isaac  Preston,  who 
settled  in  Hadley  in  1836,  and  now  resides  in  Lockport.  He  was  born  in 
Washington  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1817,  and  was  educated  for  the  profession  of 
civil  engineer.  He  came  to  Will  County,  in  1837,  and  took  the  position  of 
Assistant  Engineer  on  the  Canal,  and  served  in  that  capacity  until  the  work 
stopped.  On  its  resumption,  he  took  the  position  of  Resident  Engineer,  in  charge 
of  the  south  half  of  the  work,  and  continued  until  its  completion.  In  1850,  at  the 
age  of  33,  he  was  appointed  Surveyor  General  of  Oregon,  where  he  resided 
four  years  in  prosecuting  the  work  of  that  State's  survey.  In  1854,  he  took 
the  position  of  Superintendent  of  the  Canal,  and  took  up  his  residence  again  at 
Lockport,  remaining  in  this  position  ten  years.  He  was  afterward  Secretary 
of  the  Chicago  &  Joliet  Railroad  (now  a  part  of  the  Chicago,  Alton  &  St. 
Louis),  and  secured  for  the  road  the  right  of  way  between  Joliet  and  Chicago. 
In  1864,  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Matteson  &  Preston,  in  the  whole- 
sale commission  business  at  St.  Louis,  and  it  was  while  on  a  visit  from  there  to 
his  parents  at  Lockport  that  he  met  with  his  accidental  death,  in  the  prime  of 
life,  at  the  age  of  48.  Mr.  Preston  was  a  man  of  rare  qualities  and  powers,  of 
strict  integrity,  and  foremost  in  every  good  enterprise.  He  was  an  enthusiastic 
supporter  of  the  Government  during  the  war,  and  of  every  measure  for  the 
enlisting  of  men  and  the  relief  of  the  disabled.  The  beautiful  public  school 
house  of  Lockport  might  almost  be  called  his  monument,  as  he  was  one  of  the 
most  active  in  its  erection.  The  writer  well  remembers  the  15th  of  April, 
when  the  first  intelligence  which  reached  Joliet  in  the  morning  was  that  of  his 
sudden  death,  intelligence  which  would  have  sobered  and  saddened  the  com- 
munity for  more  than  a  day,  had  it  not  been  almost  immediately  overshadowed 
by  news  which  sobered  and  saddened  the  nation. 

LORENZO    P.    SANGER. 

Another  valuable  citizen  (now  deceased)  must  be  credited  to  the  Canal, 
Lorenzo  P.  Sanger,  who  was  one  of  the  old  1836  contractors,  and  also  subse- 
quently one  of  the  firm  of  Sanger  &  Casey,  who  built  the  Penitentiary,  and 


308  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

of  the  firm  of  Sanger  &  Steele,  who  so  largely  developed  our  stone  in- 
dustry. He  was  one  of  the  most  driving,  energetic,  enterprising  men  we  have 
ever  had.  During  the  war,  he  threw  all  the  weight  of  his  political  influeuce, 
which  was  not  small,  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  and  would  himself  have  par- 
ticipated actively  in  it  had  not  the  weight  of  years  been  too  much  to  allow  it. 
He  died  in  Oakland,  Cal.,  whither  he  had  gone  for  his  health,  in  March,  1875. 
His  body  was  brought  home  for  burial,  and  rests  in  Oakwood,  beside  his  wife, 
who  died  some  few  years  before  him. 

CHANGES   WROUGHT    BY    THE    CANAL. 

The  construction  of  the  Canal  of  course  destroyed  McKee's  water-power, 
and  made  his  mill  useless  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended,  and  being 
adjacent  to  the  Canal  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  State.  McKee  recovered 
damages  for  the  loss  of  his  water-power  to  the  amount  of  $17,655  and  costs. 
The  Haven  boys  bought  the  machinery,  and  set  it  up  in  their  mill  below.  The 
construction  and  opening  of  the  Canal  also  wrought  great  changes  in  the  phys- 
ical aspect  of  the  region  along  the  route.  The  west  bank  of  the  Des  Planes, 
which,  before  its  construction,  was  beautifully  bordered  with  trees  and  shrubs, 
all  through  Joliet  and  below,  was  now  denuded,  and  a  stone  wall  and  a  rubble 
bank  given  us  instead.  Our  compensation  was  found  in  the  increased  facilities 
for  business,  and  in  the  increased  population  of  the  towns  and  country.  The 
Canal  also  brought  into  our  county  great  numbers  of  men  whose  boast  it  was 
that  they  were  from  the  Emerald  Isle,  without  whose  assistance  it  seemed  to  be 
conceded  no  canal  or  railroad  could  be  constructed.  Many  of  these  laborers 
became  permanent  citizens,  both  in  town  and  country.  These  have  acquired 
property  as  mechanics,  merchants  and  farmers.  Some  have  even  consented  to 
hold  office  and  positions  of  responsibility.  The  town  of  Troy  is  largely  settled 
by  Irishmen  and  their  descendants,  and  this  nationality  furnished  its  fair  pro- 
portion of  volunteers  in  the  late  war. 

BACK   TO    EARLY   TIMES   AGAIN. 

The  history  of  the  Canal  has  carried  us  a  little  forward  in  our  annals,  and  we 
return  to  note  some  things  of  an  earlier  date.  And  first,  let  us  correct  a  correction 
which  was  made  in  "  Forty  Years  Ago"  in  relation  to  an  important  event — the 
first  Fourth  of  July  celebration.  We  have  ascertained  since,  that  beyond  any 
question  this  was  h'eld  in  1835.  In  order  not  to  get  two  great  events  on  the 
same  day,  and  to  render  our  statement  credible  that  Dr.  Bowen  read  the  Decla- 
ration and  attended  the  first  wedding,  we  shall  leave  that  first  wedding  entirely 
out  of  this  history.  It  probably  will  not  invalidate  the  marriage.  We  are 
satisfied,  also,  that  we  did  not  do  justice  to  the  military  display.  Maj.  Cook 
was  the  Chief  Marshal,  and  was  dressed  in  full  regimentals,  and  Judge  Jonathan 
Barnett  was  Assistant  Marshal,  and  wore  a  red  sash,  and  both  had  real  swords. 
Both  rode  Indian  ponies,  and  experienced  great  difficulty  in  keeping  near  the 
procession  on  account  of  the  music.  This  evil  was  remedied  in  a  measure  by 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  309 

the  fact  that  "  Uncle  Dick"  Hobbs  also  commanded,  on  foot,  using  instead  of  a 
sword  a  crooked  stick,  which  probably  answered  just  as  well.  These  points 
are  settled  beyond  controversy  by  S.  W.  Bowen,  our  ex-Mayor,  who  was  then 
a  boy,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  such  a  graceless  youth,  that  he,  with  Cal  Zarley 
and  others,  lay  on  the  ground  and  laughed  at  the  cavorting  of  the  Marshals, 
or,  rather,  their  horses.  The  writer  is  also  satisfied  that  he  did  not  do  justice 
to  the  oration.  Cal  Zarley  says  that  he  well  remembers  that  when  the  neigh- 
bors gathered  together  at  his  father's  to  talk  over  the  celebration,  they  were 
enthusiastic  in  their  praises  of  the  effort.  All  agreed  that  it  was  a  big  thing. 
The  only  dispute  was  as  to  whether  the  young  orator  was  a  preacher  or  a  lawyer. 
Mrs.  Hadsall,  the  good  old  Methodist  sister,  was  sure  nobody  but  a  Methodist 
preacher  could  talk  so  good  !  Our  own  private  opinion,  however,  is  that 
the  only  merit  the  production  had  was  the  fact  tjiat  it  was  the  first  in  Will 
County.  It  ought  also  to  be  noted  that  we  had  one  Revolutionary  soldier 
present.  This  was  the  father  of  Maj.  Cook,  who  was  re-interred  on  the  last 
Decoration  Day,  over  whose  remains  our  gifted  citizen,  Capt.  Phelps,  uttered 
some  of  his  finest  periods. 

We  have  an  interesting  contribution  to  our  history  from  the  veteran  Hopkins 
Rowell,  which  we  will  bring  in  here.  We  do  so  with  especial  satisfaction,  as 
it  also  indorses  our  Fourth  of  July  effort — a  matter  on  which  we  are  very 
sensitive. 

GEOBGE  H.  WOODRUFF,  ESQ.  : 

Perhaps  I  can  contribute  an  item  to  your  early  reminiscences  of  Will  County.  You  might 
properly  include  among  the  early  pioneers  of  Joliet  the  late  Judge  Barnett,  H.  A.  Cagwin,  Sr., 
and  myself.  In  the  Autumn  of  1834,  we  together  journeyed  from  Clarkson,  N.  Y.,  and  explored 
on  horseback  much  of  the  West  and  Northwest  as  far  as  Dubuque.  We  passed  twice  through 
Joliet,  which  then  had  a  name,  but  not  many  habitations.  A  few  miles  east  of  this- prospective 
city,  at  Van  Home's  Point,  we  found  Cornelius  Van  Home,  subsequently  a  Joliet  magistrate  and 
its  first  Mayor.  He  was  at  this  time  drawing  fence-stuff  with  an  ox-team  and  "  Sucker  wagon." 
as  he  called  it.  This  wagon  was  the  product  of  his  own  hand,  from  the  rough  forest  timber. 
The  wheels  were  sawed  off  from  a  round  oak  log.  They  were  about  three  feet  in  diameter,  being 
smoothly  beveled  from  the  rim  to  the  hub,  where  they  were  about  one  foot  through.  It  did  good 
service  (or  answered  a  good  purpose).  On  the  well-known  "  Linden  Heights,"  just  southeast  of 
the  city,  we  visited  Maj.  R.  G.  Cook  and  his  father,  John  Cook,  an  old  Revolutionary  soldier, 
formerly  from  Clarkson.  The  old  veteran  occasionally  indulged  in  a  little  of  the  "  ardent," 
which  invariably  led  him  to  "  fight  his  battles  over  again"  in  so  grotesque  a  manner  as  greatly 
to  amuse  the  by-standers.  The  remains  of  both  him  and  his  son,  the  Major,  are  interred  in 
Oakvvood  Cemetery. 

All  three  of  our  exploring  party  made  purchases  at  this  time  in  Joliet.  Cagwin  and 
Barnett  remained  in  this  vicinity,  while  I  returned  to  Clarkson,  N.  Y.  The  next  Summer  (1835), 
I  returned  to  Joliet,  attended  the  public  land  sales  at  Chicago,  and  through  Mr.  Van  Home,  who 
"bid  in''  the  lands  of  all  the  settlers,  secured  the  three  eighties,  just  east  of  the  city,  that  I 
still  retain.  The  "  claim"  to  the  gravel-mound  eighty  I  had  previously  purchased  of  the  "veteran" 
John  Cook. 

I  give  a  little  episode  of  the  land  sales.  Many  moneyed  speculators  were  present,  threatening 
to  bid  against  the  claims  of  settlers.  Hundreds  of  the  latter,  with  sleeves  rolled  up  and  faces 
frowning  defiance  dark  as  a  thunder-cloud,  surrounded  the  officers'  stand  on  all  sides,  ready  to 
visit  summary  vengeance  upon  any  presumptuous  speculators.  All  of  these  were  intimidated 


310  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

save  one.  A  powerful,  gigantic  Scotchman,  about  seven  feet  high/.dared  to  bid  against  a  settler, 
when  in  an  instant  lightning  struck  him  in  at  least  twenty  places,  and  he  gladly  escaped  with 
his  life. 

A    CHANGE    OF    EPISODE SOME    RED-SKINS. 

At  that  time  there  were  about  three  thousand  Pottawatomie  Indians  in  two  encampments — one 
upon  the  Des  Planes  River,  and  the  other  upon  the  Kankakee,  a  few  miles  above  their  junction — 
awaiting  removal  by  the  Government  to  Western  reservations.  After  the  land  sales,  I  had  some 
business  requiring  a  horse-back  journey  to  the  Mazon  River.  My  route  lay  through  the  wild 
and  trackless  region  between  these  two  encampments.  Before  this  I  had  seen  many  Indians, 
but  3,000  wilder,  more  uncouth  and  repulsive  human  beings  can  hardly  be  imagined.  Their 
weird,  unkempt  hair,  and  nudity,  save  a  frontal  patch  tied  on,  more  diminutive  than  the  fig-leaf 
aprons  of  Adam  and  Eve,  formed  a  scene  never  to  be  forgotten.  It  is  not  surprising  that  I  got 
lost  en  route  to  the  Mazon,  in  the  midst  of  such  a  wilderness  of  Indians  and  trackless  prairie 
combined.  Neither  is  it  strange  that  I  was  somewhat  nervous  at  occasionally  meeting  detached 
squads- of  these  villainous  fellows  during  my  embarrassed  efforts  to  regain  my  course,  especially 
when  I  knew  they  had  occasionally  gobbled  up  solitary  white  men.  Finally  I  resolved  to  steer 
for  the  forks  of  the  rivers  and  get  a  white  settler  there  to  pilot  me  on  my  way.  Having  a 
pocket  compass,  I  was  enabled  to  take  my  bearings  and  "strike  a  bee-line."  Two  or  three  miles' 
travel  on  this  course,  brought  me  in  contact  with  three  Indians  ;  two  of  them  passed  me  civilly 
enough,  but  the  third  being  fuller  of  bad  whisky,  which  they  had  obtained  at  "the  forks," 
sprang  like  a  tiger  to  seize  my  bridle-reins,  brandishing  a  huge  knife  in  the  air  and  shouting 
like  a  hoarse  demon,  "Money!  money!"  Being  on  the  alert,  I  instantly  spurred  my  spirited 
steed  Blackhawk,  and  "by  the  skin  of  my  teeth  '  cleared  him  at  a  single  bound,  and  then 
(wheeling)  facing  him,  with  my  effective  peace-maker  leveled  at  his  head,  exclaimed,  "Take  this 
money,  you  devil!"  He  slunk  away  like  a  sneaking  prairie  wolf,  but  every  hair  of  my  head 
seemed  stiff  as  a  Russian  bristle.  Permit  me  to  add  that  the  first  season  in  1834,  I  assisted  in 
raising  the  frame  of  the  first  house  in  Joliet,  and  when  a  bent  fell,  one  man  getting  his  scalp 
peeled  and  Dr.  Bowen  dressed  the  wound.  The  first  Joliet  Fourth  of  July  celebration  was 
had  in  1835,  on  the  then  open  prairie  near  the  jail.  You  were  orator  of  the  day,  and  though 
young,  a  very  good  one,  while. Dr.  Bowen  and  myself  had  the  honor  of  presenting  the  follow- 
ing toasts  : 

By  Dr.  Bowen — "Illinois — The  prospective  Empire  State,  as  her  great  and  varied 
resources  will  one  day  demonstrate." 

By  H.  Rowell — "Joliet — In  July,  1834,  not  known  ;  in  July,  1835,  a  city  in  embryo." 

In  1847,  I  introduced  here  the  first  McCormick  reaper,  Messrs.  Stephens,  Wheeler  and 
Higginbottom  being  the  purchasers.  And  although  I  did  not  move  my  family  to  Joliet  until 
1857,  I  was  frequently  back  and  forth,  and  had  sent  two  different  parties  with  teams  and  outfit 
to  make  improvements  on  my  Joliet  property.  As  to  Judge  Barnett,  he  died  ten  or  twelve  years 
ago  at  Kankakee,  while  Cagwin  is  or  was  in  California.  H.  ROWELL. 

JOLIET,  October  8,  1878. 

When  elected  Recorder,  the  writer  was  a  clerk  for  Mr.  Demmond,  and 
opened  the  office  in  the  Demmond  Block.  But,  as  illustrative  of  the  strife  be- 
tween sides,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken,  we  would  say  that  the  boys  over 
the  river  soon  began  to  complain  that  the  Recorder's  office  was  not  kept  at  the 
county  seat,  as  the  law  required.  The  point  was  well  taken.  Demmond  had  laid 
off  his  town  as  "  West  Juliet."  He  scorned  the  idea  of  being  an  addition  to 
"  that  slough  over  yonder."  West  Juliet  was  not  then,  part  of  the  county  seat. 
But  an  escape  from  the  dilemma  was  quickly  found.  The  school  section  ad- 
joined the  town  on  the  south,  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  this  had  been 
recorded  as  an  addition  to  Juliet.  A  little  building  about  16x16  was  pur- 
chased on  the  school  section  at  no  great  distance,  a  little  below  Porter's  brew- 


CHK  FIRE  DEPT 
JOLIET 


CHICAGO 

FOKHICPLl'  Or  HOMER  7W 


TMt  U88AR! 

Or  T2E 

IIS!Efi3SIY8FPl! 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  313 

ery.  (N.  B. — The  brewery  was  not  built  then,  and  therefore  had  no  influence 
in  the  selection.)  Here  the  office  was  opened  and  kept  until  a  better  one  was 
built.  Jenks,  who  had  been  appointed  County  Clerk,  also  made  that  his  office 
until  the  Commissioners  rented  the  upper  story  of  the  Wilson  store. 

The  first  Circuit  Court  was  held  in  this  room  (the  Wilson  store)  in  October, 
1836,  by  Hon.  Thomas  Ford,  afterward  Governor.  The  entrance  to  the  second 
story  was  by  a  staircase  on  the  south  side.  The  door  has  been  since  walled  up. 
The  Court  was  constituted  by  appointing  Levi  Jenks,  Clerk,  and  Uri  Osgood, 
State's  Attorney.  Fenner  Aldrich  had  just  been  elected  Sheriff,  having  hero- 
ically stepped  forward  to  fill  the  gap  caused  by  Bob  Stevens'  refusal,  and 
he  rang  out  the  "  0-yez,  o-yez,  the  honorable  Circuit  Court  of  Will  County 
is  now  in  session,"  for  the  first  time  in  our  history,  and  with  a  rhythm  and  a 
roar  which  I  do  not  believe  have  been  surpassed  during  the  succeeding  ages. 
Impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  importance  and  gravity  of  the  occasion,  his  voice 
trembled  a  little  and  his  chin  quivered.  But  this  only  made  the  scene  more  im- 
pressive. But  this  was  not  all  the  Court.  A  grand  jury  had  been  summoned  and 
were  now  called.  The  following  was  the  original  panel: 

Armstead  Runyon,  Thomas  Reed,  Edward  Poor,  Thomas  H.  Rickey,  Ralph 
Smith,  Reason  Zarley,  Isaiah  Treat,  Joseph  Cox,  Peter  McCarty,  Wm.  Sheriff, 
Justin  Taylor,  Charles  Goodwin,  John  I.  Davidson,  Harry  Boardman,  Ezra 
Goodhue,  Richard  L.  Wilson,  Samuel  Holcomb,  George  Beckwith,  Joseph 
Shoemaker,  Elias  Brown,  Aaron  Moore. 

Five  of  these  did  not  put  in  their  appearance,  and  the  Sheriff,  as  is  usual 
now,  we  believe,  was  ordered  to  fill  up  the  vacancies  from  the  loafers  hanging 
around.  George  H.  Woodruff,  William  Gougar,  Richard  Hobbs,  Jonathan 
Barnett  and  E.  S.  Sill  were  scooped  up.  Reason  Zarley  was  chosen  Foreman. 
We  offer  this  (as  finally  constituted)  as  a  sample  grand  jury.  They  indicted 
one  man  for  keeping  a  gaming-house,  two  others  for  selling  an  estray,  and 
three  for  a  riot.  As  to  the  petit  jury,  that  being,  as  the  name  implies,  a  com- 
paratively small  affair,  we  shall  not  record  their  names,  although  our  present 
worthy  citizens,  Rodney  House  and  H.  N.  Marsh,  formed  a  part.  J.  C.  New- 
kirk,  Esq.,  now  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  substantial  citizens  of  Hudson, 
N.  Y.,  and  a  Judge,  defended  the  rioters  and  got  them  acquitted.  C.  C.  Van 
Home  and  Abram  Van  Home  and  another  were  the  rioters.  It  was  a  claim 
dispute  and  no  riot. 

Among  the  early  and  valuable  acquisitions  to  the  West  Side,  in  1835-36, 
were  John  M.  Wilson  and  Allen  Pratt.  They  came  together  and  were  both 
from  Massachusetts.  They  had  some  money  and  they  invested  in  West  Juliet. 
Both  were  long  and  well  known  here.  Pratt  built  many  buildings.  He  died 
in  1856.  Wilson  has  become  known  as  Judge  Wilson,  long  a  practicing  lawyer 
here,  and  later  a  Chicago  Judge.  Wilson  and  Charles  Clement  initiated  the 
grain  trade  of  Joliet.  Their  warehouse  was  an  old  barn  which  stood  where  the 
brick  block  on  Bluff  street  now  stands.  We  have  not  the  figures  of  the  number 


314  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

of  bushels  they  handled,  but  the  profits  of  one  year's  operations,  when  the  firr 
dissolved,  were  $9.  Probably  the  number  of  bushels  was  something  less  than  ar 
now  handled  by  Carpenter  &  Marsh,  who  in  one  day  this  season  shipped  10 
cars  of  grain.  0.  "W.  Stillman  was,  we  believe,  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  01 
the  East  Side,  and  we  need  not  say  he  was  a  good  one,  although  the  boys  used  t 
say  that  he  had  no  Bible,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  swearing  the  witnesses  on  a  cop; 
of  "  Volney's  Ruins."  The  Universalist  Church  is  largely  indebted  to  his  effort 
for  the  fine  church  edifice  they  have.  He  is  now  a  granger  on  Maple  street. 

William  Blair  was  our  first  tinsmith  and  stove  and  hardware  dealer.  H 
ultimately  moved  to  Chicago,  where  he  has  long  been  known  as  an  extensiv 
wholesale  dealer,  and  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  honorable  of  her  citizens 
Deacon  Rodney  House,  of  the  East  Side,  opened  the  first  wagon-shop,  and  Deacoi 
Beaumont  soon  followed  on  the  West  Side  with  another.  Deacon  Beaumont  buil 
the  house  now  occupied  by  Edward  Aiken,  since  re-habilitated  (we  mean  th 
house),  and  in  this  the  good,  old  Deacon  lived,  using  th'e  front  room  for  a  sho] 
during  the  week,  and,  every  Saturday  night,  cleaning  it  up  and  holding  meet 
ings  there  on  the  Sabbath,  in  which  he  was  joined  by  the  good  Deacon  on  th 
East  Side.  We  remember  to  have  heard  one  of  the  Beechers  (Edward)  preacl 
there.  The  old  Deacon  had  his  peculiarities — some  of  them  perhaps  wer 
faults,  as  who  has  not — but  there  never  lived  a  kinder  neighbor,  and  Joliet  ha 
not  had  many  more  earnest  and  sincere  Christians.  He  always  showed  hi 
colors,  and  was  always  on  the  side  of  justice  and  temperance  and  revivals 
He  could  have  no  better  epitaph  than  what  was  said  of  him  by  a  simple  child 
who,  when  she  wanted  to  designate  him  and  did  not  know  or  had  forgotten  hi 
name,  described  him  as  "the  man  who  lived  in  the  church."  She  had  neve 
been  to  church  or  prayer  meeting  or  Sabbath  school,  that  she  had  not  found  th 
Deacon  there  before  her,  and  she  supposed  that  he  literally  "  dwelt  there  in  th 
house  of  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  his  life."  Our  readers  will  all  remember  hoT 
suddenly  he  went  home  in  June,  1876,  at  the  age  of  73  years  and  9  months 

George  Woodruff,  we  need  not  say,  is  our  present  well-known  banker,  one  o 
the  men  who  have  stuck  to  Joliet  through  thick  and  thin — and  we  have  ha< 
some  pretty  thin  times — and  now  enjoys  the  competence  he  has  acquired.  Ou 
names  still  get  mixed  occasionally  as  they  used  to  do  in  early  days.  The  mos 
ludicrous  mistake  is  when  parties  go  to  George  H.  to  borrow  money.  Onb 
strangers  do  this. 

The  first  public  building  of  the  county,  which  was  a  Jail  and  Court  Hous< 
combined,  was  built  in  1837.  Blackburn  and  Wilson  were  the  contractors  at  th< 
price  of  $2,000.  This  stood  a  little  north  of  the  present  Jail,  and  was  used  not  onlj 
for  holding  courts  but  for  other  public  purposes.  The  first  Baptist  Church  helc 
their  meetings  there  under  the  pastorate  of  Elder  Solomon  Knapp  and  others 
A  very  powerful  revival  was  enjoyed  by  this  Church  during  Elder  Knapp's 
pastorate,  in  which  he  was  assisted  by  Elder  Powell,  an  evangelist  of  mud 
ability.  This  revival  was  the  year  subsequent  to  the  one  spoken  of  in  "  Fortj 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  315 

ears  Ago,"  under  the  labors  of  the  Footes.  This  church  was  organized  by  Elder 
shley,  of  Plainfield,  who  preached  to  it  every  alternate  Sabbath  until  the 
ming  of  Elder  Knapp.  It  consisted  of  seven  original  members  as  follows : 
lijah  Johnson,  Deacon  Green  and  wife,  Mrs.  Higginbotham,  Mrs.  Chauncey, 
"rs.  Cagwin,  and  Elder  R.  B.  Ashley.  The  first  baptized  convert  was  the 
on.  Henry  Snapp.  The  place  used  for  baptisms  was  the  deep  hole  below  the 
[and.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  was  before  the  river  had  been 
inverted  into  a  sewer,  while  it  still  bore  some  little  resemblance  to  the  Jordan, 
ow  many  and  how  varied  the  scenes  which  transpired  within  those  old  Court 
ouse  walls — County  and  Circuit  Courts,  temperance  and  political  meetings, 
e  pleadings  both  of  lawyers  and  preachers,  thrilling  trials  and  solemn  charges 
Judges,  the  weeping  of  the  condemned  and  the  rejoicings  of  the  acquitted, 
e  groans  of  sinners  and  the  shouts  of  the  redeemed,  all  have  been  heard  there — 
it  all  are  silent  now.  The  voices  of  Newkirk  and  .Wilson,  of  Henderson  and 
oardman,  of  Fellows,  of  Osgood  and  Little  are  heard  there  no  more.  Save 
e  first  two,  all  are  silent  in  death.  The  building  has  been  razed  to  its  founda- 

ms.     Thus  ..  II7  ,   ., ,    ...     ,   , 

"  We  build  with  what  we  deem  eternal  rock, 

A  distant  age  asks  where  the  fabric  stood, 
And  in  the  dust  sifted  and  searched  in  vain, 
The  undiscoverable  secret  sleeps.'' 

Perhaps  the  reader  thinks  that  a  pretty  large  quotation  for  so  small  a  build- 
g  as  the  old  Court  House  of  forty  years  ago.  We  think  so,  too,  but  it  came 
indy,  and  we  wanted  something  that  sounded  well  in  this  history.  The 
•esent  Court  House  was  commenced  in  1847,  and  strange  as  it  may  seem,  this 
what  the  Signal  said  of  it  in  1848  :  "  The  new  Court  House  makes  a  magnifi- 
mt  appearance  and  when  completed  will  be  an  honor  to  the  county."  The 
'rue  Democrat  (from  which  the  Republican  developed)  took  down  its  vignette 
'  the  American  bird  and  substituted  a  cut  of  the  Court  House  as  an  ornament. 
;  must  be  remembered  that  there  were  then  none  of  the  present  surroundings, 
ie  Centennial  Block  and  the  Aiken  Block,  with  its  classic  statuary. 

JOLIET    INCORPORATED. 

In  1837,  we  had  reached  such  magnificent  proportions  that  it  became  necessary 
i  obtain  an  act  of  incorporation.  We  could  get  along  pretty  well  in  every  other 
sspect  but  the  matter  of  taxes.  These  continued  to  be  ridiculously  insignificant, 
id  it  was  felt  by  those  who  had  the  prosperity  of  the  place  most  at  heart,  that  a 
ist  self-respect  demanded  that  we  should  have  more  taxes.  Accordingly,  a 
ablic  meeting  was  called  in  March,  at  "Uncle  Fenner's,"  at  which  it  was 
scided  by  a  unanimous  vote  that  we  would  incorporate.  And  so  we  did,  by 
tiling  an  election  under  the  provisions  of  the  general  law,  for  the  election  of 
ve  Trustees,  two  of  whom  were  to  be  on  each  side  (or  in  each  Ward.)  And 
ow  came  the  opportunity  for  one  of  the  fiercest  contests  between  the  two  sides, 
'o  gain  the  odd  Trustee  was  an  object  of  transcendent  importance.  The  act 


316  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

required  that  all  voters  should  own  real  estate  within  the  corporate  limits.  This 
simplified  and  narrowed  the  field.  The  town  was  thoroughly  canvassed,  and  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  West  Side  had  the  most  property-owners.  We  think 
that  from  the  first  and  all  through  our  earlier  history,  the  West  Side  had  the 
most  money,  but  the  East  Side  had  the  most  shrewdness  and  diplomacy.  So  it 
was  on  this  occasion.  An  expedient  was  found  by  which  the  West  Side  majority 
was  overcome.  Even  in  those  early  days  that  great  moral  institution  known  as 
the  circus,  made  us  an  occasional  visit.  One  happened  to  be  here  at  that  time. 
The  men  were  invited  to  become  real  estate  owners  and  voters.  Impressed 
with  a  sense  of  the  high  honor,  they  accepted,  and  thirty -six  voters  were  added 
to  the  East  Side,  by  the  gift  of  a  lot  from  Charley  Sayer.  It  was  a  piece  of 
strategy  which  has  not  been  surpassed  even  in  modern  times.  The  West  Side 
had  no  lots  to  throw  away,  and  no  circus  handy,  and  was  defeated.  The  first 
Board  were  J.  A.  Matteson,  J.  J.  Garland,  Daniel  Reed,  Fenner  Aldrich  and 
R.  C.  Duncan ;  Dr.  William  Scholfield,  Clerk.  But  the  next  year  we  laid  out 
the  East  Side,  and  without  a  circus,  too.  It  was  generally  supposed  that  Dick 
Wilson's  was  the  fertile  brain  where  this  scheme  was  devised.  Dick  Wilson ! 
What  old  settler  does  not  remember  him.  "  Alas,  poor  Yorick  !  where  be  your 
gibes  now  ?  your  gambols,  your  songs  ?  your  flashes  of  merriment,  that  were 
wont  to  set  the  table  in  a  roar  ?  "  This  Board  of  Trustees  built  bridges,  which 
with  the  act  of  incorporation  made  us  one  town.  The  bridges  went  off  the 
next  spring,  and  the  "  fiat "  money  with  which  they  were  built  underwent  a 
slight  change — the  "i"  was  lengthened  into  an  "1,"  that  was  all.  If  we  were 
not  fully  determined  not  to  admit  any  politics  into  this  history,  we  should  here 
drop  a  suggestion  that  such  might  be  the  change  that  would  come  over  all  "  fiat 
money."  After  playing  city  two  or  three  years  longer,  the  people  concluded 
that  taxes  were  no  great  luxury  after  all ;  at  least,  we  ceased  to  hanker  after  them. 
The  corporation  was  dissolved  by  act  of  Legislature.  The  era  of  hard  times 
had  come  on,  and  we  were  willing  to  dispense  with  luxuries. 

The  city  was  organized  under  the  present  charter,  in  June,  1852,  with  C. 
C.  Van  Home,  Mayor.  Aldermen — First  Ward — N.  H.  Cutter,  D.  Cassidy; 
Second  Ward — Joel  George,  Michael  Shields ;  Third  Ward — E.  Wilcox,  T.  J. 
Kinney;  Fourth  Ward— F.  L.  Cagwin,  S.  W.  Bowen;  Fifth  Ward— P.  O'Con- 
nor, Uri  Osgood.  But  this  is  modern  history  and  we  go  back  to  older  times. 

FORGOTTEN    RIVALRIES. 

We  have  spoken,  a  little  back  and  elsewhere,  ofx  the  rivalry  between  the 
sides  of  the  river.  This  was  especially  conspicuous  when  the  Canal  was  being 
surveyed  and  located.  The  great  question  of  the  day  was,  would  it  go  down 
the  river  through  town,  or  would  it  go  around  through  the  slough  ?  Slough 
stock  and  river  stock  rose  and  fell  alternately  from  day  to  day  until  the  matter 
was  finally  decided  in  a  way  which  made  the  west  siders  happy.  Demmond 
used  to  tell  how  Abel  Gilbert  took  the  level  of  the  slough  with  a  tin  dipper  and 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  317 

a  shingle,  in  order  to  convince  the  verdant  inquirer  after  lots,  that  the  Canal  was 
bound  to  take  that  route. 

But  we  had  a  common  enemy — Lockport — and,  like  the  Jews  during  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  we  used,  temporarily,  to  forget  our  domestic  quarrels,  and 
combine  to  fight  the  common  foe.  The  Signal  and  the  True  Democrat  let 
each  other  alone  occasionally,  and  both  pitched  into  the  Lockport  Telegraph. 
The  Canal  authorities  seemed,  at  least  to  our  jaundiced  eyes,  to  throw  all  their 
influence  to  favor  and  build  up  a  rival  city.  We  used  to  dilate  largely  against 
the  Archer  road  and  the  Canal  basin  and  the  Canal  office,  etc.,  etc.  One  thing 
which  specially  galled  us  was  a  map,  wfiich  was  reported  to  be  drawn  and  exhib- 
ited to  speculators  and  persons  seeking  a  location,  displaying  the  Canal  route 
from  Chicago  to  Ottawa,  on  which  all  the  villages  were  noted,  with  one  excep- 
tion. There  were  Romeo  and  Athens,  Kepotaw  and  Scotchtown,  Lockport  and 
Channahon,  etc.,  etc.;  but  the  only  thing  to  indicate  the  whereabouts  of  Juliet 
was  a  spot  marked  McKee's  Dam.  That  was  a  good  joke  ;  and  if  we  did  not 
meet  it  with  something  equally  foolish,  it  was  not  for  want  of  disposition. 

We  were  also  foolish  enough  at  one  time  to  be  jealous  of  Chicago,  especially 
when  she  tried  to  defeat  our  cut-off.  But  we  have  got  so  big  now  that  we  do 
not  cherish  any  vindictive  feelings,  even  against  her ;  and,  indeed,  all  these  old 
rivalries  and  jealousies,  whether  political  or  personal  or  between  sides  of  the 
river  or  rival  towns,  we  have  long  since  outgrown,  and  they  only  call  up  a  smile 
when  remembered.  For  men  are  like  apples.  While  some  are  crabs,  and  no 
culture  can  ever  make  them  anything  else,  and  while,  when  green,  all  are  more 
or  less  acrid,  yet  the  really  good  fruit  grows  mellow  with  age,  the  sour  juices 
of  the  Spring  time  are  converted  into  sugar  in  the  heats  of  Summer  and 
Autumn,  and  the  fruit  becomes  pleasant  to  the  eye  and  grateful  to  the  taste. 
So  it  is  with  men — those  who  are  men.  They,  too,  mellow  as  they  ripen  and 
lose  a  large  share  of  their  acidity  as  they  pass  through  the  discipline  of  life  and 
ripen  for  the  husbandman's  use. 

Do  you  question  this  ?  Just  watch  when  you  see  some  of  these  old  fellows 
that  were  at  loggerheads  forty  years  ago  over  town-lots  or  schemes  of  specula- 
tion or  politics ;  watch,  when  you  see  them  meet,  and  see  how  they  grip  each 
others'  hands  and  laugh  over  the  rivalries  and  contests  and  jealousies  that  once 
made  them  mad,  as  the  best  of  jokes. 

MATTESON'S  FACTORY,  ET  AL. 

There  are  some  other  buildings  in  Joliet  beside  those  noticed  in  the  preced- 
ing pages  that  have  become  historic,  and  may,  without  impropriety,  come  into 
our  general  history.  One  of  these  is  the  old  factory  which  stands  just  below 
the  lower  bridge,  and  which  is  now  occupied  as  a  foundry  and  machine-shop  by 
Mr.  Sandiford.  This  building  was  erected  by  Joel  A.  Matteson,  in  1845,  and 
in  1849  manufactured  2,000  yards  of  cloth  per  week.  It  was  for  several  years 
a  most  prosperous  enterprise,  furnishing  a  market  for  the  wool  raised  by  our 


318  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

farmers,  and  employment  for  many  persons.  The  business  was,  part  of  the  time, 
carried  _  on  under  the  firm  of  Matteson  &  Bradner,  and  the  old  Wilson  store, 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  was  the  depot  for  buying  wool  and  sale  of  cloths. 
This  factory  was  seriously  attacked  by  fire  in  1849  (the  same  Summer  in  which 
the  old  steam  mill  was  burned).  This  fire  occurred  when  we  had  no  fire  depart- 
ment, and  for  some  time  its  destruction  seemed  inevitable.  Great  crowds  col- 
lected on  the  bridge  and  elsewhere  to  see  it  burn.  It  had  taken  fire  in  the  roof, 
and  was  making  a  fine  bonfire.  There  was  plenty  of  water  close  by,  and  the 
idea  seems  to  have  struck  the  minds  of  0.  W.  Stillmah  and  some  others  that  it 
would  be  a  good  idea  to  put  it  out,  although  it  seemed  a  pity  to  spoil  the  fun  of 
the  spectators  who,  at  such  great  inconvenience,  had  left  their  beds  and  gathered 
there  to  see  it.  Stillman,  with  some  assistance,  succeeded  in  getting  men 
enough  of  his  own  way  of  thinking  to  organize  a  line  for  passing  pails  back 
and  forth ;  and,  after  a  hard  fight  to  keep  the  men  in  the  ranks,  and  with  the 
devouring  element,  the  building  was  saved,  except  the  roof  and  attic.  Like 
many  other  seeming  calamities,  this  soon  had  its  compensation,  as  it  led,  first, 
to  organizing  a  fire  company,  and,  secondly,  to  its  being  rebuilt  with  an  additional 
story,  and  cupola  as  well ;  and,  under  the  vigorous  exertions  of  Matteson,  it 
was  soon  in  full  blast,  with  greatly  enlarged  capacity.  But,  in  time,  a  change 
came  over  the  old  factory.  Matteson  was  made  Governor  in  1852,  and  our 
city  lost  his  enterprise,  and  the  old  factory,  after  a  few  more  years,  ceased  to 
manufacture  cloth,  etc.  While,  however,  the  factory  was  still  in  successful 
operation,  Matteson  built  the  brick  store  opposite,  and  occupied  it  for  the  sale  of 
goods,  cloths,  etc.,  and  in  the  second  story  opened  the  first  bank  in  Joliet — the 
old  Merchants'  and  Drovers',  William  Smith,  President,  and  R.  E.  Goodell, 
Cashier,  and  that  is  how  we  got  Goodell,  who  married  the  Governor's  eldest 
daughter. 

J.    A.    MATTESON. 

We  have  probably  never  had  a  citizen  in  Will  County  to  whom  we  have 
been  more  indebted  for  his  energy  and  enterprise,  than  to  Joel  A.  Matteson. 
He  was  born  in  1808,  in  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  received  the  common  school 
education  of  the  times,  and,  after  a  varied  experience  as  teacher,  farmer,  mer- 
chant and  contractor  in  various  places,  came  to  Illinois,  in  1833,  with  a  wife 
arid  one  child.  He  first  settled  on  the  Au  Sable,  in  the  present  Kendall 
County,  when  there  were  but  two  neighbors  within  ten  miles.  He  made  a^laim 
and  opened  a  farm,  but  when  the  speculative  mania  of  1836  struck  the  country, 
he  sold  out  and  came  to  Joliet.  From  that  time  to  his  removal  to  Springfield, 
on  his  election  as  Governor,  he  was  the  most  energetic  and  enterprising  of  our 
citizens.  The  monuments  of  his  enterprise  still  stand  in  our  midst.  Among 
these  are  the  old  factory  and  the  brick  store  near  the  Jefferson  Street  Bridge,  of 
which  Ave  have  spoken.  He  also  built  what  was  then  the  finest  residence  in  the 
city,  on  the  corner  of  Jefferson  and  Chicago  streets,  which  were  surrounded 
with  beautiful  grounds,  extending  over  the  lots  now  covered  by  the  Monroe, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  319 

Simonds  and  Werner  Hall  Blocks ;  and  for  a  long  time  the  light  of  a  happy 
and  hospitable  home  shone  out  from  its  windows.  It  was  some  years  since 
removed  further  north,  and  now  another  kind  of  light  shines  forth  there — they 
call  it  the  Sun.  Mr.  Matteson  was  soon  called  into  public  service,  first  as 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  then  as  State  Senator  for  four  years.  His  well-known 
executive  and  financial  ability  secured  his  nomination  and  election  to  the  office 
of  Governor.  His  nomination  was  received  with  great  satisfaction  in  his 
own  county  and  elsewhere,  by  men  of  the  opposite  political  party.  A  great 
jubilee  was  held  at  Joliet — speeches  and  firing  of  cannon  showed  the  satisfac- 
tion of  our  citizens.  One  of  our  present  police  force  will  always  carry  a  sou- 
venir of  that  demonstration — an  empty  sleeve.  Mr.  Matteson's  administration 
as  Governor  was  eminently  successful.  His  messages  were  characterized  by 
large  views  and  enlightened  liberality  and  foresight.  During  the  four  years  of 
his  administration,  the  State  made  great  advances  in  wealth  and  general  pros- 
perity. The  debt  of  the  State  was  reduced  $7,000,000,  and  at  the  same  time 
time  the  taxes  were  reduced.  The  400  miles  of  constructed  railroad  were  in- 
creased to  3,000  miles.  Gov.  Matteson  retired  from  office  with  a  reputation 
and  with  prospects  that  seemed  enviable,  and  a  fortune  that  made  him  a  million- 
aire, and  the  owner  of  a  house  at  Springfield  that  was  palatial.  How  all  this 
was  reversed  is  a  matter  of  so  recent  a  date  as  to  render  its  recital  unnecessary, 
even  if  it  came  within  the  scope  of  our  history.  Gov.  Matteson  died  in  the 
'  Winter  of  1872-73,  at  Chicago,  and  his  remains  sleep  in  the  family  ground  at 
Oakwood. 

GOLD   FEVER. 

In  1849,  1850  and  1851,  chiefly  in  1850,  occurred  a  great  hegira  from  Will 
County.  The  discovery  of  a  little  gold  by  Capt.  Sutter  in  1848,  changed  the  des- 
tiny of  the  whole  Pacific  Slope,  and  of  thousands  upon  thousands  of  men  and  fam- 
ilies all  over  the  States  as  well.  Those  who  are  old  enough  will  recall  the  wonder- 
ful excitement  which  took  place  all  over  the  land,  pre-eminently  throughout  the 
West.  Gold,  gold,  gold,  was  the  word  upon  every  lip,  the  theme  of  every  news- 
paper, and  of  everybody's  waking  or  sleeping  dreams.  The  county  papers 
were  filled  with  advice  showing  the  folly  of  leaving  a  comfortable  home  and  an 
honest  livelihood  for  the  uncertain  venture.  The  Lockport  Telegraph  thus 
humorously  speaks  of  the  matter  in  1849  :  "  The  world-wide  malady  has  at  last 
extended  to  our  midst ;  symptoms  about  the  same  as  elsewhere — violent  itching 
of  palms,  a  sensation  of  nausea  at  the  mere  thought  of  common  business,  a 
great  relaxation  and  debility  of  the  mechanical  muscles,  frequent  giddiness  of 
the  head,  optical  illusions  in  which  everything  is  seen  in  a  yellow  light,  raging 
appetite  for  maps,  reports,  dispatches,  yarns,  etc.,  terminating  in  a  frantic  effort 
to  sell  out  and  settle  up,  at  which  stage  the  disease  is  considered  incurable." 
The  editor  then  falls  into  a  more  serious  strain,  and  advises  the  people  to  be 
content  with  Will  County  and  steady  g&ins.  Our  other  papers  spoke  in  a  sim- 
ilar strain.  But  advice  had  but  little  effect.  Quite  a  number  from  our  county 


320  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

went  in  the  Spring  of  1849.  Some  of  these  came  back  the  next  Winter  and 
Spring,  having  been  successful.  Carlos  Haven  came  back  with  $5,000,  which 
he  had  dug  with  his  own  hands  in  seven  weeks.  J.  A.  Gooding  and  Calvin 
Rowley  also  returned  successful.  This  added  fury  to  the  flames,  and  in  1850 
and  1851,  the  number  which  went  from  our  county  was  large.  We  have  tried 
to  form  an  estimate  of  the  amount,  but  have  no  reliable  data.  The  True  Dem- 
ocrat, in  1850,  gives  a  list  of  nearly  four  hundred  that  had  left  that  Spring 
from  Will  County.  The  list  embraces  many  of  our  best  and  well-known  citi- 
zens (then  and  since).  The  greatest  emigration  was  in  1850,  although  it  was 
kept  up  in  .1851.  Most  went  the  overland  route.  The  business  of  the  county 
was,  of  course,  greatly  affected.  Merchants  made  a  point  to  furnish  those 
articles  needed  for  an  outfit.  The  papers  of  the  day  were  filled  with  advertise- 
ments of  parties  who  wanted  to  sell  out,  and  of  emigrant  supplies,  and  with 
letters  from  those  who  were  on  the  way  or  had  reached  the  Eldorado.  Prom- 
inent among  the  correspondents  of  the  True  Democrat,  was  our  friend  Alex- 
ander Mclntosh,  now  of  the  Phoenix.  We  need  not  say  that  his  letters  are 

•/ 

interesting  reading  now.  It  was  an  interesting  sight  for  those  who  remained 
to  watch  the  teams  as  they  passed  through,  and  note  their  different  rigs  and 
general  appearance.  From  ten  to  twenty  teams  a  day  passed  along  Jefferson 
street  during  the  Spring.  There  were  some  curious  outfits.  We  recall  an 
instance  in  which  two  men  had  an  old  crow-bait  of  a  horse  between  them  which 
carried  their  slender  supplies,  and  on  which  they  sometimes  rode  by  turns. 
Another  man  was  on  foot,  having  a  knapsack  and  rifle,  intending  when  he  got 
to  the  frontier  to  buy  a  cow  to  carry  his  supplies  and  furnish  him  with  milk, 
with  which,  and  his  rifle,  he  expected  to  subsist.  But  most  went  with  good 
outfits — some  with  cattle  and  some  with  horses.  Of  those  who  went  from  our 
county,  some  few  became  permanent  settlers  there.  The  large  majority,  however, 
returned  in  a  year  or  two,  some  with  pockets  full,  and  some  glad  to  get  back  with 
empty  pockets.  Our  county,  no  doubt,  received  back  much  more  than  she  invested. 
We  remember  one  who  died  en  route — Benard  Ingoldsby — who  was  out  of 
health  when  he  left.  One  company  lost  their  way  and  wandered  off,  and  lost 
all  they  had,  and  lived  upon  their  teams  ;  were  six  days  without  water,  and  four 
of  the  company  died.  Others  had  a  pretty  hard  time,  and  were  often  hungry 
and  sick.  Many  now  among  us  could  many  a  tale  unfold,  some  harrowing  and 
some  ludicrous.  Two  of  our  boys,  one  a  son  of  Deacon  Brandon,  and  the 
other  named  Middlernass,  met  with  a  frightful  accident,  the  result  of  their  own 
carelessness.  They  came  across  a  keg  of  powder  which  had  been  thrown  over- 
board by  some  previous  voyager,  probably  to  lighten  his  ship,  and  they  thought 
they  would  enliven  the  solitude  with  an  explosion.  They  adjusted  a  slow 
match  and  retired  to  a  safe  distance.  With  eager  expectation  they  waited  the 
result.  After  waiting  what  seemed  to  them  a  long  time,  twice  as  long  as  neces- 
sary, they  concluded  that  the  match  had  gone  out.  We  have  always  noticed 
that  persons  on  such  occasions  make  great  mistakes  in  their  estimate  of  time. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  321 

They  both  approached  the  keg  to  lay  another  train.  Just  as  they  got  to  it,  it 
had  got  ready  to  explode,  and  did,  tearing  and  burning  the  poor  boys  fright- 
fully, and  almost  beyond  recognition.  Persons  who  saw  them  say  it  was  the 
worst  sight  they  ever  saw.  None  of  those  who  saw  them  expected  they  could 
recover,  but  cared  for  them  as  well  as  they  could.  But  they  ultimately  did 
recover. 

SOME    ANCIENT   DOCTORS    AND    DRUGGISTS. 

We  have  spoken  of  Dr.  Bowen  and  Dr.  Comstock,  but  those  were  by  no 
means  the  only  doctors  in  the  early  days.  Dr.  R.  E.  W.  Adams  came  to  Joliet 
in  1836,  and  was  for  many  years  one  of  our  leading  physicians.  He  was  an 
active  member  and  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  old  Union  Church,  and  was 
zealous  in  all  moral  reforms.  He  was  soon  followed  by  his  brother,  M.  L. 
Adams,  the  builder  of  the  first  foundry,  who  still  resides  here,  and  by  William 
Adams,  so  long  known  as  mine  host  of  the  National,  now  a  resident  of  Chicago, 
and  also  Peter  Adams,  now  of  Galesburg.  Dr.  Adams  removed  to  Springfield 
some  years  ago,  and  has  since  deceased.  We  once  rode  to  Chicago  with  the 
Doctor  at  an  early  day,  before  the  canal  was  opened,  when  we  went  by  private 
conveyance.  In  those  days  we  used  to  stop  at  Flag  Creek  for  dinner.  The 
Doctor  was  a  zealous  temperance  man.  The  place  where  we  stopped  for  dinner 
was  kept  by  a  temperance  man,  too ;  but  the  story  had  got  about  that  he  kept 
a  little  of  the ''critter"  on  the  sly,  for  the  accommodation  of  such  of  his 
guests  as  could  not  get  along  without  it.  While  the  landlord  was  out  taking 
care  of  our  horse,  the  Doctor  mentioned  the  rumor  and  suggested  the  propriety 
of  making  a  search  to  see  if  any  evidence  could  be  found  of  its  truth.  In  one 
corner  of  the  room  was  a  little  closet  which  was  locked,  but  the  Doctor  had  a 
key  which  turned  the  bolt,  and  on  opening  the  door,  behold  there  was  a  decan- 
ter well  filled  with  a  liquid,  the  smell  of  which  left  no  doubt  on  the  mind  that 
it  was  whisky.  The  Doctor  took  his  medicine  case  from  his  pocket  and  took 
therefrom  a  little  vial  marked  "antim.  et  pot.  tart.,"  and  empted  its  contents 
into  the  decanter,  shook  it  thoroughly  and  replaced  it,  locking  the  door  again, 
and  sat  down  to  dinner  as  coolly  as  if  he  had  done  a  good  thing.  It  relieves 
our  conscience  a  little  to  remember  that  though  accessory  after  the  fact,  we 
uttered  a  mild  protest  at  the  time.  Now  the  subsequent  history  of  that  decan- 
ter we  are  unable  to  give,  and  must  leave  it  to  the  reader's  imagination  ;  it  was 
no  doubt  interesting,  and,  perhaps,  cured  several  persons  of  a  love  for  whisky, 
and  thus,  on  the  principle  that  the  end  justifies  the  means,  vindicated  the  act 
of  the  Doctor.  While  the  Doctor  was  in  practice  here,  he  started  the  first  drug 
store,  in  the  old  wooden  store  of  Demmond's  on  the  corner  of  the  lot  now 
owned  by  Mrs,  Curry.  He  afterward  moved  up  into  the  old  wooden  block 
which  stood  opposite  the  old  stone  block  (now  burned  down),  and  there  he  took 
into  partnership,  both  in  practice  and  selling  drugs,  a  young  doctor  of  the  name 
of  J.  S.  Glover,  who  resided  here  until  his  death  some  years  after.  Drs. 
Adams  and  Glover  were  both  lame  in  the  same  manner  and  from  similar  causes 


322  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

— an  affection  of  the  hip  joint,  and  being  of  the  same  size  were  often  mistaken 
the  one  for  the  other.  The  writer  bought  out  the  drug  store  of  Adams  & 
Glover  in  1842,  they  having  before  bought  out  another  establishment  in  the 
upper  end  of  the  stone  block  (Haven  &  Rood),  and  there,  where  Page  bottles 
pop,  and  some  other  things,  we  commenced  the  brilliant  career  of  an  apothecary. 
Dr.  M.  K.  Brownson  was  another  of  our  early  physicians,  who  settled  on  the 
Chicago  road  in  1835,  and  came  to  Joliet  in  1836  or  1837.  Dr.  Brownson 
was  our  Postmaster  under  Fillmore,  and  also  held  the  office  of  Public  Adminis- 
trator. The  Doctor  now  lives  in  California.  Another  early  physician  was  Dr. 
Scholfield,  who  was  also  City  Clerk  under  the  first  organization.  He  left  for 
the  West  soon  after  the  city  scrip  which  he  executed,  went  the  way  of  all  "  fiat " 
money,  and  has  been  some  years  dead.  Still  another  of  our  early  physicians, 
was  Dr.  Wallace  A.  Little^who  also  left  many  years  ago,  and  went  to  Jo  Daviess 
County,  which  he  has  represented  in  the  Legislature,  and  it  is  also  said  that  he 
has  got  rich  in  mining  operations.  Schofield  &  Little  were  in  partnership,  both 
in  the  practice  of  medicine  and  also  in  running  a  small  drug  store  for  a  while. 
Another  of  these  benevolent  institutions  was  started  in  1846  by  Mr.  Brown, 
the  father  of  our  present  druggists  of  that  name.  This  was  started  on  Chicago 
street,  opposite  the  old  wooden  block. 

Having  spoken  of  the  doctors  and  druggists  of  the  ancient  times,  it  is  proper 
that  something  should  .be  said  of  the 

HEALTH    OF    THE    COUNTY. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  the  county,  it,  in  common  with  the  West  gener- 
ally, suffered  more  or  less  from  malarial  diseases,  and  it  acquired  the  reputation 
of  being  unhealthy.  During  the  digging  of  the  canal,  too,  there  were  two  or 
three  seasons  in  which  there  was  an  unusual  amount  of  sickness,  and  many 
died,  especially  among  the  laborers — a  good  many  of  them,  no  doubt,  as  much 
from  the  treatment  they  received  as  from  the  disease.  But  since  the  county  has 
been  generally  settled  and  cultivated,  and  the  people  and  the  physicians  have 
learned  better  how  to  treat  these  diseases,  they  have  ceased  to  be  formidable. 

In  common  with  most  parts  of  the  country,  this  county  was  visited  with  epi- 
demic cholera  in  the  years  1848  to  1854,  and  we  lost  many  valuable  citizens, 
among  others  C.  C.  Van  Home,  0.  H.  Haven,  M.  H.  Demmond,  Dr.  Comstock 
and  others  ;  but  since  the  last-named  year  there  has  been  no  recurrence  of  the 
epidemic.  In  the  census  of  the  county  taken  in  1850  by  Mr.  Marsh,  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  county  is  given  at  16,709,  and  the  number  of  deaths  for  the  year 
previous  at  232,  being  1.38  per  cent.  This  was  a  cholera  year,  and  no  doubt 
a  large  portion  of  the  deaths  were  due  to  cholera,  although  the  exact  number 
cannot  be  ascertained.  Our  papers  of  the  time  told  very  definitely  how  many 
died  of  cholera  elsewhere,  but  were  sadly  ignorant  of  its  devastations  at  home 
— not  an  unusual  thing,  we  believe.  We  confidently  assert  that  at  present  no 
part  of  the  Union  is  more  uniformly  healthy  than  Will  County.  We  used  to 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COU11TY.  323 

boast  at  an  early  day,  when  the  question  as  to  the  health  of  the  West  came  up, 
and  we  were  charged  with  being  sickly,  that  there  was  one  disease  of  which 
people  never  died  at  the  West,  to  wit,  old  age.  But  we  cannot  make  this  boast 
any  longer.  A  large  number  of  the  oldest  settlers  have  recently  deceased  at 
an  advanced  age,  while  others  still  linger,  who  must  ere  long  swell  the  list. 
Quite  a  number  of  persons  have  deceased  within  a  few  years  at  Joliet,  who 
have  crowded  hard  upon  a  hundred  years,  and  we  have  heard  of  others  who 
exceeded  that  age.  We  have  many  now  who,  by  reason  of  strength,  exceed  the 
allotted  limit  of  fourscore.  But  inasmuch  as  Ponce  de  Leon  did  not,  in  1512, 
find  in  Florida  the  fountain  which  would  restore  to  old  age  the  vigor  of  youth, 
and  as  no  subsequent  explorer  has  found  it  there,  or  elsewhere,  not  even  in  Min- 
nesota, and  as  it  is  "  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die  " — here,  as  everywhere, 

"  Pale  death,  with  equal  step,  knocks  at  the  cottage  »f  the  poor 
And  the  palace  of  the  king." 

We  have  spoken  of  the  diseases  of  the  county  at  the  early  day.  The  most 
common  of  these,  although  not  the  most  formidable,  was  the  one  known  in  com- 
mon parlance  as  the  "  ague,"  or  the  "fever  and  ague."  This  has  become  al- 
most obsolete  (at  least  in  the  original  form),  but  it  used  to  be  a  common  expe- 
rience. True,  we  never  could  boast  of  such  a  prevalence  of  it  as  they  could  in 
Michigan,  where,  it  was  said,  the  church  bells  used  to  be  rung  in  order  that  the 
people  might  know  when  to  take  their  quinine.  But  it  used  to  be  considered 
one  of  the  things  that  was  necessary  to  constitute  a  man  a  settler,  the  other 
being  the  prairie  itch.  The  writer  well  remembers  his  first  hug  at  the  ague. 
He  had  been  in  the  country  some  three  or  four  years,  and  had  often  laughed  at 
the  exhibition  which  others  made  while  undergoing  "  the  shakes,"  and  felt  him- 
self proof  against  it.  He  had  gone  through  various  other  stages  of  Western 
experience ;  he  had  had  the  prairie  itch :  had  come  to  the  age  of  citizenship, 
if  not  of  discretion  ;  had  bought  a  city  lot  and  paid  taxes ;  had  run  for  office, 
and  got  elected  ;  had  gone  back  East  and  got  a  wife  ;  and  yet  had  never  had 
the  "ager!" 

One  beautiful  September  morning,  in  the  year  1838,  he  thought  he  would 
show  the  little  woman  he  had  persuaded  to  come  back  with  him,  some  of  the 
beauties  of  the  country.  This  could  be  done  in  no  better  way  than  by  a  ride 
to  Channahon,  or  the  "mouth  of  the  Du  Page,"  as  we  then  called  that  locality. 
Accordingly,  in  the  early  morning,  with  a  horse  and  buggy,  we  set  out.  We 
could  say  we  now  with  propriety,  and  we  were  not  a  little  proud  of  it,  and  that 
was  one  reason  why  we  were  going,  to  show  our  cousin  Minerva — Mrs.  Risley 
— who  we  were.  The  morning  was  fine  and  bracing.  We  anticipated  much 
pleasure.  For  what  is  more  delightful  than  a  drive  into  the  country  when  the 
roads  are  good,  the  horse  fast  and  sure,  the  air  balmy  and  cool,  and  the  dearest 
little  woman  in  all  the  world  by  your  side !  We  have  said  that  the  morning 
was  cool  and  bracing.  It  soon  began  to  feel  quite  cool,  and  so  the  writer  re- 
marked to  his  wife.  She  said  she  was  warm  enough.  We  rode  a  little  farther? 


324  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

and,  though  the  sun  got  higher,  it  seemed  to  grow  increasingly  cold.  In  short, 
it  grew  colder  and  colder,  as  the  sun  got  higher  and  higher,  a  phenomenon  that 
seemed  inexplicable.  Presently,  he  felt  an  irresistible  desire  to  yawn  and 
stretch  both  his  upper  and  lower  extremities.  There  was  hardly  room  to  do 
this ;  out  went  his  legs  over  the  dashboard,  while  his  arms  went  over  the  seat 
and  around  his  wife,  and  pushed  out  right  and  left,  promiscously.  And  still  it 
cold  and  colder  grew.  He  put  on  the  heavy  blanket  coat,  which,  fortunately, 
he  had  brought  along,  and  his  wife's  shawl,  which  she  said  she  did  not  really 
need.  But  it  all  did  no  good ;  the  stretching  and  gaping  continued,  and  even 
his  teeth  began  to  chatter,  and  to  crown  all,  he  shook — yes,  shook  ;  oh,  how  he 
did  shake !  and,  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  he  shook  all  over  and  to  the  re- 
motest extremities,  and,  like  great  Caesar's,  "his  coward  lips  did  from  their 
color  fly."  And  all  the  while,  the  little  wife  said  she  was  warm  enough.  If 
she  had  not  been  the  dearest  little  woman  in  all  the  world,  he  would  have  been 
provoked  to  see  her  sit  there  as  warm  and  comfortable  as  in  July,  while  he  was 
experiencing  January  and  February  condensed.  But  by  this  time  she  began 
to  wear  a  look  of  anxiety  at  the  strange  contortions  of  her  husband.  One  more 
resource  remained.  Giving  the  reins  to  his  wife,  he  got  out  to  try  what  exer- 
cise would  do,  and  told  her  to  Whip  up,  while  he  traveled  on  behind,  with  his 
hands  hold  of  the  end  of  the  buggy.  He  followed  this  up  until  too  leg-weary 
to  continue  it,  and  it  seemed  to  do  little  good.  He  could  not  get  warm,  and 
still  he  gaped  and  stretched,  and  chattered  and  shook,  and  all  the  time  he  had 
not  the  least  suspicion  what  the  matter  was. 

After  riding  on  a  while  longer,  his  sensations  gradually  underwent  a  change. 
Hot  streaks  seemed  to  alternate  with  the  cold  ones.  The  gaping  and  stretch- 
ing seemed  to  moderate,  and  other  sensations  took  their  place.  A  slight  head- 
ache came  on,  and  he  felt  a  suspicion  of  nausea.  The  pallid  and  puckered  ap- 
pearance of  the  countenance  gave  place  to  flushes.  The  weather  seemed  to 
undergo  a  change.  It  grew  suddenly  warm.  Off  goes  the  shawl  and  blanket 
overcoat.  He  asked  his  wife,  presently,  if  it  was  not  getting  hot,  and  was 
almost  provoked  at  her  cool  reply  that  she  did  not  see  much  change.  But  it 
certainly  was  getting  hot,  he  knew  it  was,  and  off  goes  his  undercoat.  He 
became  thirsty,  and  longed,  oh,  how  he  longed,  for  water.  Strange  ideas  and 
fancies  were  passing  through  his  mind,  and  he  began  to  talk  strangely  and  lo- 
quaciously, almost ,  incoherently.  The  little  wife  looked  more  troubled  and 
anxious  than  ever,  and  wondered  what  had  come  over  her  sedate  and  usually 
silent  husband.  Presently  he  began  to  feel  strangely  tired,  listless  and  uneasy, 
and  to  long  for  a  good  bed  and  rest  and  sleep.  And  now,  fortunately,  the  com- 
fortable log  house  of  Risley  appears  in  sight.  Oh,  how  welcome !  With  no 
little  exertion  he  gets  out,  leaves  his  wife  to  look  after  the  horse,  and  soon  occu- 
pied the  whole  of  Mrs.  Risley's  lounge,  and  one  or  two  chairs  besides.  When 
he  and  his  wife  between  them  had  given  an  intelligent  account  of  what  had 
been  happening  on  the  way,  Mrs.  Risley  says,  "  Why  Hen !  you  have  got  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  325 

ague  !  "  Great  guns  !  here  was  a  revelation  indeed.  After  all  his  boasted  im- 
munity from  the  ague,  his  defiance  of  it,  the  enemy  had  stolen  the  march  upon 
him,  and  here  he  was,  lying  prostrate  and  humbled  before  it.  And  even  yet 
he  was  not  done  with  it ;  another  stage  of  the  disease  comes  on,  the  nastiest  of 
the  three.  The  half-delirious  fever  passes  off,  and  he  begins  to  perspire.  Per- 
spire !  that  is  no  name  for  it ;  let  us  use  the  more  homely  but  expressive  word — 
he  begins  to  sweat.  Ah,  how  he  sweats  !  It  seemed  as  if  all  the  water  in  his 
body — and  physiologists  say  every  man  has  two  or  three  buckets  in  him, 
(although  we  have  seen  some  men  we  don't  believe  have  a  gill  of  water  in 
them) — it  seemed,  we  say,  as  if  all  the  water  in  his  body  was  coming  to  the 
surface,  and  not  much  sweeter  than  the  Chicago  River.  And  so  he  continued 
to  sweat,  sweat,  sweat,  for  a  good  hour,  saturating  towel  after  towel,  until  ex- 
haustion closed  the  scene  and  he  slept.  When  the  afternoon  was  well-nigh 
spent,  he  awoke,  refreshed,  and  was  able  to  do  some  little  justice  to  Mrs.  Ris- 
ley's  fricasseed  chickens  and  doughnuts,  and  to  start  home,  an  humbler  if  not 
a  wiser  man  ;  subdued  in  tone  and  spirit,  a  little  the  worse  for  the  encounter,  and 
with  the  cheering  prospect  of  a  recurrence  of  the  experience  in  one,  or  at  most, 
two  days.  But  he  invested  $1.50  in  a  box  of  Sappington's  Pills,  and  thus 
headed  off  the  fever.  This  is  not  an  advertisement. 

A    MURDER    STORY. 

We  are  sensible  that  our  history  is  getting  dull,  and  it  is  high  time  that  we 
should  enliven  it  with  a  murder  story.  The  readers  of  "Forty  Years  Ago" 
will  remember  that  we  recorded  one  there.  We  were  afraid  that  we  could  not 
find  one  for  this  history,  but,  by  the  aid  of  the  Signal,  we  are  able  to  record 
one  for  the  present  occasion  equally  as  tragic  as  that  one. 

On  Thursday,  April  30,  of  the  year  1858,  some  boys,  ranging  about 
Hickory  Creek  near  where  it  enters  the  Des  Planes,  came  upon  the  body  of  a 
female,  partly  covered  with  dirt  and  stones,  lying  in  a  gully  about  one  mile 
south  of  the  city.  It  was  so  much  decayed  that  the  features  were  unrecogniza- 
ble. The  boys  gave  the  authorities  notice  of  what  they  had  found,  and  the 
proper  officers  and  many  citizens  went  to  the  spot.  The  unanimous  conclusion 
of  all  who  saw  the  body  was  that  she  had  been  murdered.  There  was  a  deep 
wound  in  the  temple  and  another  in  the  breast.  The  hands  and  feet  had  been 
cut  entirely  off,  and  were  found  near  the  body.  An  inquest  was  called,  and  a 
verdict  was  found,  in  which  the  public  belief  was  expressed  that  a  foul  murder 
had  been  committed.  Who  could  it  be?  and  by  whom  had  the  deed  been  done? 
were  the  questions  on  everybody's  lips.  The  public  were  not  long  held  in 
suspense.  On  Saturday,  a  woman  residing  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  having 
heard  of  the  discovery,  came  forward  (after  the  inquest)  and  informed  the  Mar- 
shal, J.  C.  Van  Auken,  that  her  daughter — a  girl  of  sixteen — had  mysteriously 
disappeared  some  three  weeks  previous.  The  body  was  taken  up  again  and 
another  inquest  was  held,  at  which  the  woman  testified  positively  that  the  body 


326  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

was  that  of  her  daughter,  Mary  Cook.  Other  persons  expressed  the  same 
belief.  The  mother  also  stated  that,  at  the  time  of  her  daughter's  disappearance, 
she  was  enceinte,  having  fallen  a  prey  to  the  wiles  of  a  man  named  David  Rich- 
ardson. One  of  the  physicians  who  examined  the  body  gave  a  professional  state- 
ment in  respect  to  it  which  confirmed  that  of  the  mother.  The  mystery  was  made 
plain.  Our  city  had  been  made  the  theater  of  a  most  foul  murder,  perpetrated  to 
conceal  a  crime  hardly  less  diabolical.  The  public  voice  was  unanimous  that  the 
foul  perpetrator  must  be  found  and  brought  to  justice.  Richardson  was  found 
and  arrested  on  Sunday  morning.  He  had  not  been  long  a  resident  of  the  city, 
but,  so  far  as  any  one  here  knew,  he  had  borne  a  good  character,  and  every  one 
was  surprised  to  find  that  he  was  guilty  of  so  foul  a  crime.  But  that  a  crime 
had  been  committed,  there  was  no  room  for  doubt,  and  it  seemed  equally  clear 
that  he  was  the  perpetrator.  The  Signal  said,  in  its  issue  of  the  same  week  : 
"  We  will  not  prejudge  the  case ;  but  a  young  and  unprotected  girl  has  been 
seduced  and  ruined  by  a  demon  in  human  shape,  and  murdered  to  hide  her 
betrayer's  guilt.  If  there  is  any  virtue  in  law,  let  it  be  applied  now."  The 
Signal  spoke  the  voice  of  the  public,  which  was  almost  ready  to  string  Rich- 
ardson up  to  a  lamp-post.  Indeed,  it  seemed  at  one  time  as  though  our  city 
would  be  disgraced  by  an  application  of  lynch  law. 

Two  days  were  consumed  by  the  examination  of  Richardson.  The  Court 
House  was  crowded.  State's  Attorney  Bartleson,  assisted  by  Streeter,  con- 
ducted on  the  part  of  the  people,  with  E.  C.  Fellows  for  the  prisoner.  The 
former  testimony  of  Mrs.  Cook  and  others  was  brought  forward,  and  the  same 
facts  reproduced.  The  old  woman  swore  positively  as  to  the  body  being  that 
of  her  daughter,  and  the  doctor  repeated  his  professional  statement.  Mean- 
while the  sharp  counsel  of  the  prisoner  had  adopted  a  theory  for  the  defense. 
The  body  had  been  again  examined  by  four  other  physicians  who  came  into 
court  and  swore  positively  that  the  body  was  that  of  a  woman,  and  that  it  had 
been  used  to  promote  the  purposes  of  science,  and  was  partially  dissected. 
They  affirmed  that  the  body  was  that  of  a  much  older  and  larger  person  than 
the  missing  Mary  Cook.  This  testimony  produced  a  ripple  in  the  current  of 
public  opinion  which  had  been  flowing  so  strongly  in  one  direction.  Was  this 
so,  or  was  this  a  cunningly  devised  scheme  of  Fellows'  to  get  the  villain  clear  ? 
For  a  little  the  question  hung  in  great  doubt,  each  side  having  earnest  advo- 
cates. When  this  suspense  was  at  its  height  and  had  become  truly  painful, 
relief  came.  In  walked  Constable  John  Roberts  with  a  veiled  lady  upon  his 
arm.  The  whisper  ran  around  the  court-room,  "  Another  witness."  She  drew 
aside  her  veil,  and  it  was  indeed  another  witness,  and  no  less  a  person  than 
the  murdered  girl  herself — the  young  and  interesting  Mary  Cook,  alive  and 
well! 

It  only  remains  to  say  that  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  body  was  that 
of  a  Mrs.  Schemmerhorn,  a  woman  about  twice  the  size  of  Mary  Cook,  who  had 
'died  a  few  weeks  before,  and  who  was  the  wife  of  a  man  who  tended  the  lower 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  327 

lock.  The  body  had  been,  resurrected  by  some  one  for  the  purposes  of  dissec- 
tion, as  had  been  alleged  by  some  of  the  medical  gentlemen  at  the  examination  ; 
some  of  whom  well  knew  that  they  were  speaking  the  truth.  Old  Mrs.  Cook 
had  trumped  up  her  story  to  get  black-mail  out  of  Richardson.  The  affair 
furnished  one  more  warning  against  hasty  judgments  founded  on  circumstances 
alone.  The  doctor  who  gave  the  professional  opinion  has  never  been  called  to 
fill  the  chair  of  anatomy  in  Rush  Medical  College.  The  parties  connected  with 
the  case  have  generally  gone  elsewhere,  although  one  lingers  about  here  still 
who  is  supposed  to  have  had  a  hand  in  it. 

If  any  of  our  readers  hanker  after  a  real  murder  case,  we  might  relate  that  of 
Benjamin  Pickle,  the  old  blacksmith,  who  was  shot  through  his  shop  window 
on  the  night  of  December  6,  1861.  Circumstantial  evidence  fixed  the  crime 
upon  his  brother-in-law,  William  Zeph.  The  paper  wad  found  in  the  ear  of 
Pickle's  body  was  a  piece  of  a  German  newspaper,  the  rest  of  which  was  found 
in  Zeph's  house ;  the  parts  exactly  fitted  each  other.  He  had  a  trial,  was  con- 
victed ;  his  lawyers  got  him  two  new  trials,  and  he  was  convicted  the  third 
time ;  then  they  got  a  supersedeas,  and  while  the  matter  was  still  pending,  he 
escaped  jail  and  was  never  found. 

The  first  execution  in  our  county  was  that  of  George  Chase  for  the  murder 
of  Joseph  Clark,  Deputy  Warden  at  the  Penitentiary,  in  April,  1864.  This 
occurred  during  the  Sheriffalty  of  John  Reid. 

OUR  WAR  RECORD. 

We  have  given  some  account  of  the  figure  our  county  made  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  and,  in  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  we  related  what  was  done  in  the  Canal- 
Irish  war.  As  to  what  Will  County  did  in  the  Mexican  war,  there  is  not 
much  to  be  told.  This  is  not  on  account  of  the  politics  of  our  citizens  at  the 
time,  for  the  county  then,  by  a  considerable  majority,  sustained  the  Adminis- 
tration, and  adopted  the  motto — "  Our  country,  when  she  is  right ;  aye,  and 
when  she  is  wrong,  too  !  "  As  is  well  known,  under  the  earlier  calls  for  volun- 
teers, our  State  furnished  five  regiments.  For  one  of  these  regiments,  a  com- 
pany was  organized  in  Joliet,  under  the  captaincy  of  Robert  Stevens,  which 
reported  at  Springfield  just  one  day  too  late  to  get  in,  so  quickly  had  the  quota 
of  the  State  been  filled.  What  these  men  would  have  done  to  add  luster  to 
the  already  glorious  military  record  of  our  county,  must  be  left  to  conjecture. 
That  their  career  would  have  been  a  brilliant  one  we  may  safely  conclude,  if 
the  men  were  worthy  of  their  Captain.  We  are  able  only  to  name  one  of  them 
with  certainty,  as  no  muster-roll  of  the  company  has  been  preserved.  This 
one  now  wears  a  star,  not  a  general's  but  a  policeman's,  and  is  known  as  Frank 
Fellows.  He  was  a  mere  boy  at  the  time,  and  had  to  steal  his  chance  to  enlist, 
as  the  old  Captain,  his  father,  although  himself  a  hero  of  the  Irish  war,  as  w« 
have  elsewhere  related  (see  "  Forty  Years  Ago  "),  was  the  very  embodiment  of 


328  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Whiggery,  and  did  not  take  much  stock  in  the  Mexican  war.  Many  public 
meetings  were  held,  and  considerable  excitement  existed  from  time  to  time  dur- 

O  I 

ing  the  progress  of  the  war.  Companies  from  other  counties  passed  through 
Joliet,  and  the  martial  spirit  was  more  or  less  waked  up,  and,  it  is  believed 
that  some  joined  these  companies.  One  from  Kane  County  is  particularly 
remembered,  which  marched  up  and  down  Bluff  street  one  Sunday,  with  fife 
and  drum,  not  a  little  disturbing  the  worshipers  in  the  old  stone  block.  The 
ladies  of  Joliet  presented  this  company  with  a  handsome  flag,  and  quite  a  time 
was  had  over  it,  eloquent  speeches  being  made  on  both  sides.  This  flag  was 
returned  in  1849,  twenty  months  after  presentation,  by  P.  R.  Norton,  Captain 
of  the  company,  who  assured  the  ladies  that  it  had  waved  in  triumph  over  the 
battered  walls  of  Puebla,  Tampico  Alta,  Sierra  Madre,  Convent  of  St.  Domingo 
and  the  Halls  of  the  Montezumas.  Uri  Osgood  received  the  flag  in  behalf  of 
the  ladies  arid  made  an  eloquent  reply.  So  we  at  least  had  some  bunting  in  the 
war.  Toward  the  end  of  the  war,  our  State  furnished  another  (the  Sixth)  regi- 
ment, and  we  find  a  statement  in  the  history  of  the  State  that  one  company 
was  from  Will  and  Iroquois  Counties.  Whether  the  regiment  reached  the  seat 
of  war,  and  who  of  our  citizens  belonged  to  it,  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn. 
If  any  one  from  Will  County  fought,  bled  or  died,  we  should  have  been  glad  to 
record  his  name. 

In  the  late  war  of  the  rebellion,  our  county  has  a  proud  record.  First 
and  last,  between  three  and  four  thousand  of  our  citizens  went  to  the  war ;  and 
more  than  five  hundred  sacrified  their  lives  to  preserve  the  Government  and 
the  Union. 

Having  already,  as  we  think,  pretty  fully  and  faithfully  told  the  story  of 
what  our  county  did  in  this  war,  we  do  not  think  it  necessary  even  to  give  a 
summary  here.  If  any  of  our  readers  have  not  a  copy  of  "Fifteen  Years  Ago, 
or  the  Patriotism  of  Will  County,"  he  can  easily  obtain  one  either  of  the  author 
or  publisher,  for  the  trifling  sum  of  $4.  It  ought  to  be  in  every  man's  library, 
and  in  every  school  district  in  the  county.  This  is  not  an  advertisement,  but 
a  piece  of  disinterested  and  sound  advice — as  disinterested  as  a  patent  medicine 
advertisement ! 

THE  PRESS,  ETC. 

We  gave  in  "Forty  Years  Ago"  some  account  of  the  first  newspaper 
started  in  Joliet,  in  1839.  This  was  the  premonitory  symptom  of  the  well- 
known  Signal.  We  understand  that  the  township  historian,  by  whom  we  are 
to  be  followed,  will  "write  up"  the  press,  and  therefore  we  shall  have  little  to 
say  on  the  subject.  We  wish,  however  to  leave  on  record  our  impression  of 
the  immense  value  of  the  files  of  county  papers  as  sources  of  history.  If  we 
were  to  have  the  privilege  of  living  over  the  past,  we  would  keep  files  of  each 
c&unty  paper  ;  not  by  any  means  for  the  sake  of  reading  over  the  old  editorials, 
but  because  their  pages  would  give  a  picture  from  week  to  week  of  both  national 


(DE-CEASED) 
JOLIET 


8r 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  331 

and  local  events,  which  could  be  found  nowhere  else.  Even  the  advertisements 
give  much  of  history.  There  ought  to  be  provision  for  keeping  such  files  in 
our  county  and  city  offices  ;  for  the  files  at  the  printing  offices  are  liable  to  be 
destroyed  by  fire,  as  some  have  been  in  Joliet,  and  as  all  have  been  in  Chicago. 
And  we  here  record  our  thanks  to  the  proprietors  of  our  papers  for  the  free 
access  given  us  to  such  files  as  have  been  preserved.  They  have  afforded  us 
both  amusement  and  instruction,  as  well  as  aided  us  in  our  efforts  to  recall  per- 
sons and  events.  We  have  noticed  that  editors  are  not  very  reliable  as  prophets  ; 
for  previous  to  every  election  we  have  been  told  that  the  fate  of  the  country 
hung  upon  the  result,  and  that  if  the  opposite  party  triumphed,  the  country 
would  go  to  universal  smash ;  and  yet  the  other  party  often  did  succeed,  and 
the  country  went  on  all  the  same  !  Another  thing  is  very  noticeable,  and  that 
is  that  it  was  always  the  other  party  that  did  all  the  mean  and  dishonest  things ; 
and,  also,  that  no  sooner  did  a  man  who  had  all  along  been  respectable  and 
reliable,  change  his  way  of  voting,  than  he  became  at  once  a  vagabond  and 
a  scoundrel.  Perhaps  one  of  the  punishments  that  will  be  awarded  editors 
in  the  future  world,  will  be  to  read  ever  their  old  editorials  !  At  any  rate,  that 
is  the  worst  we  would  inflict  upon  them.  We  will  give  a  resume  of  one  number 
of  the  Signal  of  the  year  1846,  twelve  years  after  our  city  was  born,  omitting 
the  editorials.  It  gives  a  picture  of  the  early  times. 

In  the  way  of  news,  we  have  Gen.  Taylor's  early  dispatches  from  Mexico, 
when  he  was  on  the  Rio  Grande  and  skirmishing  with  Gen.  Ampudia.  We 
have  also  accounts  of  the  negotiations  with  England,  when  we  backed  down 
from  the  "  54°  40'  or  fight "  position,  and  took  up  a  more  tenable  one  on  °49, 
and  the  Strait  of  San  Juan  de  Fuca.  As  an  interesting  item  of  home  news,  we 
are  informed  that  an  opposition  line  of  stages  has  just  been  put  upon  the  route 
from  Chicago  via  Joliet  to  Ottawa.  By  the  way,  we  have  in  Joliet  a  souvenir 
of  those  old  stage  times,  in  the  person  of  our  friend  Kipp,  now  a  citizen  of 
Joliet,  who  in  those  days  held  the  ribbons  for  Frink  &  Walker  with  a  skill  and 
ability  that  was  never  surpassed.  We  have  also,  in  the  way  of  news,  the  proc- 
lamation of  Gov.  Ford  against  the  Mormons,  who  were  threatening  to  cut  up 
at  Nauvoo,  and  the  announcement  that  a  line  of  telegraph  was  soon  to  be 
opened  from  Buffalo  to  Detroit.  The  citizens  of  Joliet  village  were  notified, 
'also,  to  meet  at  the  Court  House  and  organize  a  wolf-hunt.  If  you  want  to 
know  how  this  was  done,  read  "Forty  Years  Ago."  (We  are  referring  to  that 
great  work  pretty  often,  but  we  can't  help  it.)  By  way  of  advertisements,  J. 
A.  Matteson  tells  the  public  that  he  is  ready  to  card  the  wool  and  weave  the 
cloth  of  the  people  of  Will  and  adjoining  counties,  and  to  buy  their  wool  and 
sell  them  cloth  and  other  goods.  Major  Safford  announces  that  he  has  con- 
cluded to  stop  with  Matteson  another  year,  and  will  try  to  please  everybody, 
especially  the  ladies.  Uncle  Billy  Hadsall  advertises  as  the  administrator  of 
the  estate  of  Philip  Scott,  deceased.  (Uncle  Billy's  own  estate  will  have  to  be 
administered  on  soon.)  Francis  J.  Nicholson  tells  the  public  where  he  keeps 


332  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

the  "  Emporium  of  Fashion,"  and  is  ready  to  give  the  gents  the  latest  styles 
just  received  from  Paris,  London  and  Philadelphia.  (The  fashions  have  changed 
with  "Nick"  since  that  day,  and  will  change  still  more  ere  many  years.) 
Alex.  Mclntosh  advertises  a  select  school,  in  which  he  proposes  to  teach  on 
common  sense  principles — not  to  cram  ;  and  "  Cal."  indorses  him,  and  advises 
parents  to  send  their  children  to  him;  (Mack's  wife  now  heats  him — we  mean 
at  keeping  school.)  Charles  Clement  says  he  has  lots  of  goods  that  the  people 
can  have  cheap  by  calling  at  his  store,  opposite  Merchants'  Row.  J.  H.  Brown 
offers  pure  and  reliable  drugs  and  medicines,  which  can  be  found  in  the  store 
opposite  the  old  wooden  block  on  Upper  Chicago  street ;  and  G.  H.  Woodruff 
offers  pills  and  powders  to  the  West  Siders  at  his  store,  in  the  old  National. 
Hervy  Lowe  says  he  has  seventy-five  packages  of  summer  goods  he  wants  to 
get  rid  of  at  a  very  small  advance  above  cost,  on  the  corner  of  Chicago  and 
Cass  streets.  M.  L.  Adams  offers  to  cast  anything  you  want  at  his  steam 
foundry,  on  North  Bluff  street.  Norton  &  Blackstone,  of  Lockport,  advertise 
large  and  splendid  stocks  of  everything ;  and  Lane  &  Weeks,  of  Lockport, 
manufacture  steel  plows.  A.  W.  Bowen,  Postmaster,  tells  who  has  letters  in 
Joliet  Post  Office,  that  have  not  been  called  for ;  among  others,  Sam  Ander- 
son and  Col.  Curry.  (If  they  have  not  been  called  for  before  this  time,  they 
never  will  be.)  H.  N.  Marsh  says  he  is  ready  to  sell  or  manufacture  anything  you 
want  in  the  furniture  line.  (We  have  got  one  of  his  tables,  and  it's  good  and 
strong  yet.)  A  good  cook  is  wanted  at  the  National  Hotel.  (That's  what  the 
boarders  thought,  too.)  Dr.  Brownson  advertises  Sappington  pills.  Daniel 
Curtis  offers  to  deal  out  justice  as  wanted,  and  E.  C.  Fellows  and  Osgood  £ 
Little  to  superintend  its  administration.  Demmond  &  Wood  advertise  dry 
goods  and  groceries  cheap  at  the  City  Cash  Store.  (That  piece  of  Wood  is  our 
old  reliable  insurance  man,  and  we  are  glad  to  get  him  into  this  history,  for  he 
is  a  pretty  well  seasoned  piece  of  timber,  although  he  has  lately  got  more 
young.)  Richard  Doolittle  says  he  keeps  an  auction  and  commission  store. 
(Dick  does  a  little  in  the  way  of  administering  justice  now.)  P.  Filer  adver- 
tises Jew  David's  plaster,  and  tells  the  poople  that  they  can  find  it  both  at 
Brown's  and  at  Woodruff's.  (That's  the  plaster  the  people  used  to  put  on  the 
barn-doors  to  draw  the  cows  home  at  night,  and  it  will  do  it  yet.)  Etc.,  etc., 
etc.,  etc. 

METEOROLOGICAL. 

Early  settlers  in  the  Northwest  used  to  speak  of  a  great  fall  of  snow  which 
occurred  in  the  Winter  of  1830-31,  which  must  have  been  very  remarkable. 
It  is  said  to  have  killed' off  the  native  game  animals  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
have  made  them  very  scarce  for  several  years,  and  to  have  been  a  serious  loss 
to  the  Indians.  It  is  said  to  have  been  four  feet  deep  on  a  level.  We  have 
met  with  some  mention  of  this  remarkable  snow  in  the  history  of  Livingston 
County.  We  remember  to  have  heard  Mr.  Kerchival  speak  of  it  when  we 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  333 

•  first  came.  He  warned  us  who  had  settled  under  the  bluff  on  the  West  Side, 
that  we  would  some  day  get  snowed  in,  saying  that  he  had  seen  the  snow  one 
gentle  slope  from  the  top  of  the  bluff  across  the  river,  completely  concealing 
the  river.  But  we  have  never  had  any  such  visitation  up  to  this  day.  There 
was  a  deep  snow  which  blocked  the  railroads,  as  we  shall  relate  further  on,  a 
few  years  ago.  We  have  neyer  been  visited  in  this  county  by  devastating 
cyclones,  although  we  not  unfrequently  have  had  storms  of  wind  and  rain  and 
hail,  which  have  been  somewhat  destructive  in  limited  sections.  All  our 
streams  are  subject  to  heavy  floods,  especially  upon  the  breaking-up  of  Spring, 
when  snow  and  ice  are  abundant,  and  much  loss  has  been  experienced  at  times 
in  mills  and  bridges,  etc.  In  January,  1849,  there  was  a  big  flood,  especially 
in  the  Kankakee.  Many  families  in  Wilmington  were  compelled  to  leave  their 
houses,  and  the  upper  mill  was  partly  carried  away  by  ice,  and  also  the  woolen- 
factory  and  a  saw-mill,  and  the  bridge  over  Forked  Creek.  The  feeder  was 
also  damaged  seriously.  Another  flood  in  1867,  carried  off  the  railroad  bridge 
landing  it  within  a  mile  of  Morris,  and  during  the  ice-gorge  below,  the  water 
rose  several  feet  in  the  main  street  of  the  city.  The  damage  at  this  time  was 
estimated  as  high  as  $100,000. 

Thunder  and  lightning  are  often  very  severe,  especially  along  the  rivers, 
and  occasionally  both  animals  and  men  have  been  killed.  Such  a  thun- 
der-storm once  struck  the  city  of  Wilmington,  and  produced  effects  which 
were  startling  in  the  extreme,  and  at  the  same  time  had  a  ludicrous  side. 
It  occurred  during  a  political  meeting  held  at  the  hall,  in  which  Judge 
Parks  was  making  a  political  speech,  able,  and  of  course  on  the  right 
side,  for  that  is  where  the  Judge  always  means  to  be,  even  if  he  has  to 
take  the  back  track  or  go  across  lots  to  get  there.  He  had  just  reached  one 
of  his  sublimest  flights  of  fancy  and  patriotism,  holding  out  the  American 
eagle  with  outstretched  wings  over  his  attentive  audience,  who,  spell-bound  by 
his  eloquence,  had  taken  little  note  of  the  approaching  storm,  until  a  thunder- 
bolt struck  the  building  and  passing  into  the  crowd,  struck  about  twenty  of 
them  to  the  floor,  killing  one  of  the  number,  and  knocking  the  Judge's  spread- 
eagle  into  smithereens,  closed  his  speech  with  a  climax  which  astonished  the 
speaker  no  less  than  the  auditors.  The  Judge  was  accustomed  to  seeing  his 
audiences  electrified,  but  never  before  or  since  in  so  startling  and  literal  a  man- 
ner. He  yielded  the  floor,  and  acknowledged  himself  vanquished  with  his 
own  weapons. 

The  most  terrific  storm  of  this  kind  occurred  on  Sunday,  the  31st  day  of 
July,  1864.  During  the  morning  service  at  the  German  Catholic  Church  in 
the  north  part  of  the  city  (the  small  stone  church  which  has  since  been  replaced 
by  the  present  large  and  fine  one)  the  steeple  was  struck  by  a  thunder-bolt,  which 
startled  the  entire  city.  The  fluid  passed  down  to  the  gallery  immediately 
under  the  steeple,  where  it  separated  and  passed  down  to  the  earth  in  two  cur- 
rents. For  a  moment  the  whole  congregation  was  paralyzed.  When  conscious- 


334  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

ness  returned,  the  scene  was  beyond  description,  and  without  a  parallel  in  Will 
County.  The  smoke  or  vapor  of  some  sort  which  followed  the  report,  gave  the 
impression  that  the  church  was  on  fire,  and  an  insane  rush  was  made  for  the 
doors  and  windows,  which  were  broken  out  and  torn  from  their  hinges,  and  but 
for  the  presence  of  mind  of  the  Pastor,  a  still  more  frightful  loss  of  life  must 
have  resulted.  When  the  terror  of  the  crowd  had  been  calmed,  and  the  fact 
ascertained  that  the  church  was  not  on  fire,  the  killed  and  wounded  were  looked 
after.  They  were  carried  out  into  the  open  air,  and  those  who  were  not  fatally 
injured  recovered  consciousness  in  the  falling  rain.  The  following  persons  were 
found  to  be  dead :  Mrs.  Hartman,  a  young  mother,  35  years  old,  leaving  three 
children,  one  a  babe;  Mrs.  Ingles,  age  56;  Nicholas  Young,  a  lad  of  15; 
Matthias  Engle  of  the  age  of  17,  and  Samuel  Weyman  of  18  years.  About 
twenty  more  were  seriously,  but  not  dangerously  injured.  The  entire  congre- 
gation were  more  or  less  affected.  The  scene  was  heart-rending — the  moans  and 
cries  of  the  injured  and  the  frightened  as  well — and  the  lamentations  over  the 
dead,  no  one  who  witnessed  it  will  ever  forget. 

We  have  had  many  floods  in  Joliet,  more  or  less  damaging  to  property, 
especially  to  bridges,  but  the  one  which  was  the  largest,  and  which  will  live 
longest  in  the  memory  of  our  citizens,  occurred  on  Wednesday,  the  9th  of 
August,  1865.  On  that  day,  which  was  a  rainy  one,  there  occurred  during 
the  afternoon,  and  again  in  the  evening,  two  showers,  which  all  who  wit- 
nessed them  will  say  were  the  heaviest  they  ever  knew.  They  seemed  to 
be  like  the  cloud-breaks  we  have  read  of  as  occurring  in  some  of  the  canons 
of  the  mountains  of  the  West.  Every  one,  however,  went  to  bed  serene, 
not  anticipating  that  there  was  to  be  anything  serious,  although  conscious 
that  it  was  a  big  shower  and  the  river  had  commenced  to  rise  considerably. 
About  midnight,  the  city  was  alarmed  by  the  ringing  of  the  bells  and 
the  shouts  and  cries  of  the  people,  and  a  scene  of  terror  was  presented  in 
the  dim  light  of  the  stars,  which  baffles  description.  The  moving  about  of 
people  with  lanterns  and  the  reflection  in  the  waters,  gave  a  strange  and  weird 
aspect  to  the  city,  as  seen  from  the  bluff.  A  river  of  no  mean  volume  was 
pouring  down  the  R.  I.  R.  R.  track  from  Spring  Creek,  which  was  now  a  mighty 
stream,  covering  all  the  bottom  lands  in  its  vicinity.  The  wall  of  the  upper 
basin  had  given  way  and  a  Niagara  was  pouring  out,  carrying  off  King's  plan- 
ing-mill  and  other  buildings,  and  greatly  endangering  Howk  &  Hyde's  mill. 
All  that  part  of  town  known  anciently  as  "the  slough,"  was  a  second  Missis- 
sippi, the  houses  were  surrounded  by  water  from  Scott  street  to  the  eastern 
bluff,  arid  the  people  were  being  rescued  by  boats.  Furniture  and  fences  were 
afloat,  and  men  and  women  imploring  help  from  the  windows  of  the  upper 
stories  of  the  beleaguered  houses.  The  basements  on  the  east  side  of  Scott 
street  were  converted  into  cisterns,  and  the  provisions  and  utensils  necessary  for 
the  morning's  breakfast  were  afloat.  The  old  Des  Planes  which  had  often  been 
on  the  rampage  before,  outdid  all  former  exploits,  and  was  full  to  the  top  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  335 

tow-path,  and  poured  over  the  lock  without  any  regard  to  canal  regulations.  It 
was  easy  to  believe  the  theory  that  all  this  beautiful  valley  from  bluff  to  bluff 
was  once  a  mighty  Mississippi.  Great  feats  of  energy  and  daring  were  per- 
formed in  rescuing  the  inmates  from  the  houses  in  the  sloughs  and  on  the  bottom 
below  the  R.  I.  R.  R.  which  was  also  all  afloat.  The  scenes  of  that  night, 
both  harrowing  and  ludicrous,  will  not  soon  be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed 
them.  Many  families  had  a  tight  race  to  get  from  the  lower  floors  into  the 
chambers,  and  some  who  had  no  chambers  to  flee  to,  found  refuge  on  the  roofs. 
The  family  of  James  Congden,  on  C;iss  street,  reached  the  second  story  barely 
in  time,  and  in  the  morning,  on  taking  a  peep  into  the  parlor  which  had  been  so 
neat  and  cheerful  the  night  before,  they  found  two  pigs  had  floated  in  and 
quartered  themselves  on  the  piano,  where  they  were  waiting  patiently  for  the 
waters  to  assuage.  A  hired  man  of  M.  0.  Cagwin's,  on  the  same  street,  was 
not  aroused  until  the  waters  came  over  his  bed.  Without  taking  very  much 
time  to  make  his  toilet,  he  jumped  for  the  door  and  on  stepping  out  found  the 
steps  had  gone,  and  when  he  planted  his  feet  where  they  had  been  he  went  in 
all  over.  He  swam  for  the  barn,  cut  loose  his  team  and  saved  them  from 
drowning.  The  lumber-yards  were  all  afloat  and  many  thousand  feet  of  lumber 
sought  a  Southern  market  without  a  shipping  bill  or  clearance.  Bluff  stock  rose 
suddenly;  many  fled  thither  for  refuge.  W.  S.  Brooks  said  his  beautiful  place 
on  Scott  street  was  for  sale,  but  he  still  stays  there,  and  we  presume  does  not 
lie  awake  nights  for  fear  of  a  recurrence  of  the  scene.  Many  felt  for  a  time 
that  they  would  like  to  go  up  higher;  but  as  the  floods  subsided  we  suppose  they 
concluded  it  was  not  much  of  a  shower  after  all.  The  excitement  and  damage 
was  by  no  means  cdnfined  to  Joliet.  The  railroads  leading  to  the  city  were 
flooded  and  greatly  damaged,  bridges  swept  away,  culverts  destroyed, Bracks  torn 
up  and  embankments  torn  away,  and  the  bridges  on  all  the  county  roads  were 
in  like  condition,  and  a  virtual  blockade  was>  established  for  a  few  days.  Farm- 
ers were  also  great  sufferers,  stacks  of  grain  and  hay  were  destroyed,  and  few 
escaped  some  damage. 

RAILROADS. 

The  opening  of  the  canal  made  a  great  change  in  our  mode  of  travel  to 
Chicago.  We  had  been  wont  to  go  by  stage,  a  long  and  tedious  ride — hot  and 
dusty  in  Summer,  and  cold  and  uncomfortable  in  Winter.  Or,  we  could  drive 
our  own  conveyance,  occupying  from  three-fourths  of  a  day  to  a  day  and  a  half, 
according  to  the  weather.  Sometimes  it  required  a  day  to  get  across  the  nine 
miles  lying  between  "Widow  Berry's  Point"  and  the  Chicago  River,  a  low, 
wet.  prairie  then,  although  much  of  it  is  now  included  in  West  Chicago.  It 
consumed  three  days,  generally,  to  go,  do  business  and  return.  But  now  the 
canal  being  open,  we  could  go  aboard  a  packet  at  night  and  wake  up  (if  we  were 
lucky  enough  to  sleep)  in  Bridgeport,  transact  our  business  and  return  at  night, 


336  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

thus  losing  only  one  day.  This  was  a  great  improvement,  and  for  a  while  we 
were  happy  and  content.  But  after  a  few  years,  we  began  to  sigh  for  some- 
thing better  and  swifter.  Canals  were  slow.  They  were  safe,  to  be  sure;  but 
who  would  not  rather  risk  his  life  than  to  be  all  day  or  all  night  going  forty 
miles,  when  he  could  do  it  in  a  couple  of  hours  ?  We  must  have  railroads. 
The  principal  towns  in  the  county  became  agitated  with  railroad  projects ;  pub- 
lic meetings  Avere  held,  and  the  county  papers  were  filled  with  the  reports,  and 
with  discussions  and  projects. 

The  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  Railroad  Company  was  chartered  in  1850-51, 
and  organized  in  1851.  One  of  our  citizens,  N.  D.  Elwood,  Esq.,  was'one  of 
the  Directors,  and  Secretary  of  the  Board.  The  road  was  opened  from  Joliet 
to  Chicago  in  October,  1852.  Matteson  was  a  large  contractor,  and  the 
work  was  driven  with  his  usual  energy.  The  President  of  the  road  gave 
Joliet  and  vicinity  a  free  ride.  The  packet-boat  business  soon  dwindled 
and  expired.  Capt.  Connett,  the  famous  canal  captain,  had  to  get  meta- 
morphosed into  a  railroad  conductor.  Now  we  could  go  from  Joliet  in  the 
morning,  buy  half  the  city  (if  we  had  the  dimes),  and  return  at  night.  Lock- 
port  was  left  out  in  the  cold,  and  she  was  welcome  to  her  old  canal  office,  over 
which  Jolietians  had  growled  so  many  years. 

The  Rock  Island  Railroad  was  opened  to  the  Mississippi  in_1854.  The 
builders  of  the  road  (Farnham  &  Sheffield)  chartered  some  steamboats,  and  gave 
the  people  a  big  excursion  to  St.  Paul.  Happy  the  man  who  was  important 
enough  to  get  a  ticket.  Pleasant  memories  of  that  excursion  still  linger  in  the 
minds  of  many  of  our  citizens.  Some  interesting  stories  are  told  of  the  affair. 
Some  strong  temperance  men  at  home  were  said  to  have  been  very  much  afraid 
of  Mississippi  water  in  its  undiluted  state.  Preachers,  on  their  return,  made 
the  country  and  the  Great  West  the  theme  of  their  discourses.  It  was  not  known 
then  that  the  writer  would  be  a  historian,  and  everybody  had  forgotten  that  he  was 
Judge,  and  consequently  he  got  no  ticket,  and  therefore  cannot  expand  the  subject. 
That  was  a  great  oversight  in  Messrs.  Farnham  &  Sheffield.  But  there  was  a 
compensation — we  did  not  have  to  drink  Mississippi  water  !  There  was  an  in- 
cident, however,  connected  with  this  road,  which  occurred  soon-  after  it  was 
in  full  operation,  about  which  we  know  something  and  will  relate  a  little. 

On  Wednesday  night,  November  1,  1854,  a  most  appalling  accident 
occurred  on  the  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  Railroad,  a  few  miles  below 
our  city,  near  Rock  Run.  The  engine  of  the  down  passenger  train  was  thrown 
from  the  track  by  running  over  a  horse,  and  upon  it  the  two  forward  passenger 
cars  were  thrown.  One  of  the  steam-pipes  of  the  engine  was  severed,  and  the 
escaping  steam  was  poured  through  the  cars,  terribly  scalding  sixty-two  of  the  pas- 
sengers, literally  cooking  some  of  them  alive.  Twelve  of  this  number  died  within 
a  few  minutes.  The  train  was  brought  back  to  the  city  about  8  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  the  scenes  of  suffering  presented  at  the  depot  were  indescribable 
and  sickened  the  heart  of  every  beholder.  N.  D.  Elwood,  Esq.,  and  other 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  337 

officers  of  the  road  were  indefatigable  in  their  efforts  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of 
those  who  survived.  The  stone  house  on  Scott  street,  next  to  the  present  resi- 
dence of  W.  A.  Steele,  was  appropriated  as  a  hospital,  and  thither  the  survivors 
were  taken.  Our  physicians,  Drs.  Harwood,  Danforth  and  McArthur,  were 
in  attendance  by  order  of  the  railroad  company,  and  nobly  acquitted  themselves. 
The  citizens  of  Joliet,  especially  the  ladies,  were  untiring  in  their  attention, 
and  everything  possible  was  done  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  survivors. 
Among  the  number  of  the  dead  was  a  man  from  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  his  mother, 
wife  and  two  children — five  of  one  family ;  their  name  was  Laughlin.  A  niece 
of  Mr.  Laughlin  was  also  supposed  to  be  fatally  wounded,  and  four  others. 
Seven  others  were  dangerously  scalded,  and  eleven  scalded  more  or  less  severely. 
Four  of  these  died  subsequently,  making  sixteen  deaths  in  all.  The  hospital 
was  established  with  Dr.  McArthur  as  Director,  and  Drs.  Bailey,  Davis,  and 
others  beside  the  three  previously  named  were  called  into  the  service.  For 
many  weeks  the  attention  of  these  doctors,  and  of  our  ladies  as  nurses,  was 
demanded.  Some  of  those  who  survived  were  seriously  injured  for  life,  losing 
a'n  eye  or  an  ear,  and  will  carry  the  marks  of  the  terrible  burns  to  their  graves. 
They  will  not  forget  the  gratuitous  and  unremitting  services  of  our  men  and 
women  as  volunteer  nurses. 

Two  villages  have  been  built  up  by  this  road  in  our  county — New  Lenox 
and  Mokena. 

N.    D.    ELWOOD. 

The  Secretary  of  this  road,  Nelson  D.  Elwood,  was  so  long  identified  with 
Lockport,  Joliet  and  Will  County,  that  a  brief  mention  of  the  part  he  played 
in  our  history  is  called  for.  He  came  to  this  county  in  1837,  and  settled  at 
Lockport,  where  he  obtained  employment  in  the  engineer  department  of  the  * 
canal.  Having  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  father  at  eight  years  of  age,  his, 
opportunities  for  acquiring  an  education  were  limited;  but  he  was  possessed  of 
so  quick  and  inquiring  turn  of  mind  that  he  readily  acquired  the  elements  of  a 
substantial  business  education,  and  was  an  accomplished  penman,  accountant 
and  surveyor.  In  1843,  he  was  elected  County  Clerk,  and  held  the  office  six 
years.  During  this  time  he  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Will 
County  and  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State  in  1847.  On  leaving  the 
office  of  County  Clerk,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Judge  Parks,  which  contin- 
ued through  his  life.  He  was  one  of  the  original  directors  of  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  &  Pacific  Railroad,  and  for  five  years  Secretary  to  the  Board,  as  above  re- 
lated, and  mainly  instrumental  in  obtaining  the  right  of  way.  With  Gov.  Matte- 
son,  he  built  the  Joliet  &  Northern  Indiana  Railroad,  commonly  known  as  the  "  cut- 
off,"  and  now  a  branch  of  the  Michigan  Central,  and  was  its  President  until  it 
was  sold  to  the  Central.  Mr.  Elwood  was  also  closely  identified  with  the  pros- 
perity of  the  city  of  Joliet.  He  was  Mayor  during  the  years  1855  and  1856, 
and  an  Alderman  from  1857  until  his  death.  He  was  also  placed  upon  the 
first  Board  of  Penitentiary  Commissioners,  and  continued  until  his  death.  He 


338  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

was  re-appointed  when  laid  upon  what  proved  to  be  his  death-bed,  and  this 
appointment  was  made  by  an  administration  adverse  to  him  in  politics.  Mr. 
Elwood  was  long  an  official  member  of  the  Episcopal  society,  and  also  eminent 
as  a  Mason,  holding  many  important  offices  in  all  the  grand  bodies  of  the  State, 
He  died  February  24,  1861,  leaving  one  son,  James  G.  Elwood,  present  Mayor 
of  Joliet,  and  a  widow  now  residing  in  Chicago. 

THE   C.,  A.  &    ST.  L.  R.  R. 

The  Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  was  chartered  and  organized  in 
1851-52.  The  work  was  commenced  in  1852,  and  the  road  opened  to  this  city 
in  August,  1854,  and  from  this  city  to  Chicago  in  1857.  This  road  added 
greatly  to  our  commercial  facilities.  Passing  through  Wilmington,  Joliet  and 
Lockport,  it  gave  Joliet  another  route  to  Chicago  and  access  to  the  coal-fields 
of  our  county ;  also  to  Wilmington  and  Lockport,  the  railroad  communication 
they  had  so  long  desired.  The  daily  "bus  "  between  Lockport  and  Joliet  was 
useless,  and  that  city  was  happy. 

During  the  Winter  of  1854—55,  occurred  a  great  snowstorm,  which  is,  no  doubt, 
yet  remembered  by  many.  The  train  which  left  Joliet  at  noon  on  the  25th 
day  of  January,  with  350  passengers,  22  of  whom  were  members  of  the  Illinois 
Legislature,  was  brought  to  a  full  stop  when  near  D wight-.  The  weather  had 
grown  cold  and  the  engines  had  frozen  up,  and  they  were  utterly  unable  to  pro- 
ceed. They  were  held  in  this  condition  for  six  days  and  nights,  during  which 
it  was  excessively  cold,  and  there  was  much  discomfort,  to  use  no  stronger  ex- 
pression. It  was  several  miles  to  timber,  and  the  stock  of  fuel  carried  by  the 
train  was  soon  exhausted.  The  seats  of  the  cars  and  also  the  second-class  cars 
were  cut  up  for  fuel.  They  had  no  provisions  the  first  day  excepting  a  few 
cans  of  oysters  and  a  few  boxes  of  crackers,  which  were  in  the  freight  car. 
Relief,  to  some  extent,  was  brought  in  sleigh  sfrom  the  surrounding  farmhouses 
and  the  nearest  villages ;  and  on  the  seventh  day,  an  engine  from  Joliet  suc- 
ceeded in  forcing  its  way  through  and  bringing  the  shipwrecked  train  back  to 
Joliet.  Some  of  the  Legislature,  among  them  Messrs.  Parks  and  Osgood,  went 
forward  from  Dwight  in  sleighs. 

We  wish  that  this  was  the  only  disaster  that  we  were  called  upon  to  record 
in  the  history  of  this  road.  But  on  Saturday  evening  of  August  16,  1873. 
there  was  one  which  was  indeed  frightful,  and  exceeded,  in  the  number  lost, 
that  of  the  R.  I.  R.  R.,  as  there  were  twenty-three  persons  killed  and  thirty- 
one  wounded.  The  accident  occurred  about  one-half  a  mile  this  side  of  the  Sag 
bridge,  in  Cook  County.  The  train  which  left  Chicago  at  9.40  was  well 
crowded  with  passengers.  Although  about  ten  minutes  behind  at  Willow 
Springs,  it  had  the  right  of  way  to  Lemont,  and  the  conductor  ordered  the 
engineer  to  make  up  the  time.  There  was  a  heavy  fog  in  the  valley,  and  as 
the  train  passed  around  a  curve  at  the  feeder,  the  engineer  saw  the  flash  of  a 
headlight.  He  instantly  reversed  his  engine,  opened  the  valve  and  leaped  for 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  339 

life.  An  instant  collision  occurred  with  a  coal  train,  coming  on  at  full  speed, 
and  with  much  the  heaviest  locomotive.  The  passenger  engine  was  thrown 
into  the  ditch,  and  that  of  the  freight  train  went  on  like  a  mad  bull,  and,  toss- 
ing the  express  and  baggage  cars  one  side,  like  a  leaf  in  the  wind,  plunged, 
with  terrible  force,  into  and  under  the  smoking-car,  which  had  been  raised  up 
by  the  collision.  The  passengers  were  thrown  in  a  heap  to  the  rear  end  of  the 
cars,  and  some  tossed,  with  the  seats  on  which  they  sat,  into  the  air,  and  fell, 
bruised  and  scalded,  into  the  swamps  on  either  side.  The  smoke-stack  of  the 
locomotive  was  broken  off  at  the  first  collision,  and  the  end  of  the  smoking-car 
was  pushed  over  the  boiler  and  rested  on  the  top  of  it,  and  the  escaping  steam 
filled  the  car.  Only  two  men  in  the  car  escaped  injury,  and  they  were  in  the 
first  seat  and  were  thrown  into  the  air,  while  one  who  sat  by  their  side  was 
severely  scalded.  The  concussion  of  the  collision  was  so  great  that  the  pas- 
sengers in  the  other  cars  were  stunned  for  the  moment  and  did  not  realize  what 
had  happened,  and  that  many  of  their  fellow-passengers  were  dying  around 
them  and  being  scalded  alive.  Indeed,  the  only  effective  assistance  came  from 
the  neighboring  houses,  after  the  citizens  had  been  aroused.  The  scene  which 
met  them  was  heart-rending  in  the  extreme ;  the  cries  of  the  suffering  pierced 
the  night  air,  and  the  crash  of  the  collision  and  the  roar  and  hissing  of  the 
steam  were  heard  at  Lemont,  and  aid  dispatched  to  the  scene.  Dispatches 
were  sent  from  Lemont  to  Chicago,  and  a  relief  train,  with  physicians,  nurses 
and  supplies,  reached  the  scene  at  2  o'clock  A.  M.  In  the  mean  time,  the 
wounded  and  scalded  had  been  removed  to  the  uninjured  cars,  and  were 
attended  by  those  who  had  come  to  their  rescue  from  the  vicinity.  Their  con- 
dition was  indescribably  horrid.  Six  were  found  already  dead,  and  forty 
wounded,  who  were  enduring  the  most  intense  sufferings.  They  were  taken  to 
Chicago  hospitals ;  two  died  on  the  way  and  fifteen  afterward.  Among  the 
latter  were  J.  W.  Smith,  the  recently-appointed  Warden  of  the  Penitentiary; 
J.  W.  Fluerey,  the  Purchasing  Agent  of  the  same ;  James  O'Neil,  a  crockery 
merchant  on  Bluff  street,  Joliet,  son-in-law  of  Dr.  Leavy,  and  two  other  resi- 
dents of  Joliet — Jacob  Lauser  and  John  Metzgar,  a  brakeman.  The  engineer 
of  the  coal  train  was  arrested  and  put  in  jail.  The  conductor  was  a  resident 
of  Joliet  and  had  been  some  time  in  the  employ  of  the  company  here,  and  was 
regarded  as  a  sober  and  reliable  man.  He  was  the  son  of  one  of  our  most  an- 
cient Irishmen  (who  died  soon  after).  He  was  not  to  be  found  for  some  time, 
but  was  afterward  arrested  at  Monee.  He  could  give  no  explanation,  except 
that  of  forgetfulness. 

There  is  still  another  incident  of  great  interest  touching  this  road.  In 
October,  1862,  the  road  was  sold  at  the  Court  House  in  Joliet  on  the  third 
mortgage,  for  the  benefit  of  the  first  and  second  mortgages  as  well,  all  repre- 
senting the  trifling  sum  of  $6,500,000.  It  was  bought  in  at  this  sale  by  Sam- 
uel J.  Tilden  and  partner,  for  the  sum  of  $1,600,000.  We  are  happy  to  have 
this  opportunity  of  getting  Samuel  and  his  "barrel"  into  the  history  of  Will 


340  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

County.  This  he  will  no  doubt  feel  to  be  some  compensation  for  having  been 
swindled  (?)  out  of  the  Presidency.  And  as  matters  have  turned  out,  we  are 
very  glad  we  did  not  bid  against  him.  We  hardly  know  why  we  did  not,  but 
perhaps  the  following  circumstance,  which  occurred  a  little  before  and  which 
we  take  from  the  files  of  the  Signal,  will  account  for  it.  "  The  residence  of  G. 
H.  Woodruff,  of  this  city,  was  entered  last  night  by  some  miscreant  and  about 
$100  taken  from  Mr.  W.'s  pants."  Now  this  "miscreant"  is  the  only  man 
we  have  not  forgiven,  but  we  promise  to  forgive  him  if  he  will  return  the  prin- 
cipal, and  we  will  say  nothing  about  the  interest  and  ask  no  questions.  This 
is  certainly  a  liberal  offer  as  the  interest  would  now  exceed  the  principal. 
Anyhow  we  give  him  due  notice  that  he  can't  do  it  again  !  There  !  we  have 
succeeded  in  getting  into  this  history,  and  in  such  company,  too ! 

Another  railroad,  the  Chicago,  Joliet  &  Peoria  Railroad,  has  been  opened  from 
Joliet  to  Streator.  This  passes  from  Joliet  along  the  east  bank  of  the  Des  Planes, 
through  the  towns  of  Joliet  and  Channahon,  crossing  the  Kankakee  near  its 
mouth,  and  so  on  through  Grundy,  Livingston,  Woodford  and  Tazewell  Counties, 
to  Peoria,  connecting  with  Streator  by  a  cross-road.  We  thus  have  access  to 
vast  coal-fields,  and  our  coal  dealers  supply  those  who  wish  with  Streator  coal. 
Yet  another  railroad — the  Chicago,  Danville  &  Vincennes — has  been  opened, 
which  passes  through  the  townships  of  Crete,  Washington,  the  ancient  village 
of  Crete  and  the  modern  ones  of  Goodenow  and  Beecher,  giving  the  extreme 
eastern  part  of  our  county  all  needed  facilities. 

The  Joliet  &  Northern  Indiana  Railroad,  commonly  called  the  cut-off,  and  now 
owned  and  controlled  by  the  Michigan  Central,  is  becoming  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant railroad  connections,  furnishing  as  it  does  a  direct  communication  with  the 
Eastern  markets,  and  it  is  making  Joliet  one  of  the  most  important  centers  of  the 
grain  and  pork  trade,  as  will  appear  from  statistics  elsewhere  given.  The  opening 
of  this  road  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Chicago,  she  being  unwilling  to  lose  any 
part  of  her  immense  trade.  A  fierce  paper  war  was  waged  during  its  incuba- 
tion, but  the  project  was  so  important  and  so  obviously  just  that  it  was  bound  to 
carry  in  time.  This  road  was  built  in  1855,  and  among  the  benefits  which 
accrued  to  us  from  it,  we  must  not  forget,  was  the  coming  here  of  Calvin 
Knowlton,  long  time  its  Superintendent.  His  given  name,  we  think,  another 
case  of  lucus  a  non  lucendo.  It  has  also  built  up  two  stations — the  villages  of 
Spencer  and  Frankfort. 

The  Chicago  branch  of  the  Illinois  Central  road,  which  was  part  of 
the  grand  scheme  of  1837,  but  had  no  vitality  until  Congress  made 
the  magnificent  donation  of  3,000,000  acres  of  public  lands  to  the  State 
for  its  construction,  passes  through  the  towns  of  Peotone,  Will  and  Monee, 
having  created  the  two  flourishing  villages  of  Peotone  and  Monee.  Sev- 
eral other  roads  have  been  projected  and  surveyed  through  our  county,  and  will, 
perhaps,  sometime  become  fixed  facts ;  but  as  they  are  still  in  the  future,  we 
leave  them  for  some  future  historian. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  341 

PLANKROADS. 

The  Oswego  &  Indiana  Plankroad  was  chartered  in  1849-50,  and  the  sub- 
scription books  opened  in  1851,  and  the  stock  soon  taken.  Directors  were 
chosen  in  May,  1851.  These  were  J.  A.  Matteson,  M..H.  Demmond,  H.  D. 
Risley,  Isaac  Cook  and  Uri  Osgood.  The  Directors  organized  by  choosing  H. 
D.  Risley,  President ;  Uri  Osgood,  Treasurer,  and  H.  E.  Streeter,  Secretary. 
Under  the  energetic  superintendency  of  the  President,  the  road  was  soon 
opened  to  Plainfield.  "Work  was  also  done  beyond.  This  road  was  in  use  for 
several  years  until  worn  out,  when  the  road  was  abandoned.  It  was  under  its 
charter,  which  was  a  liberal  one,  that  considerable  railroading  was  done.  A 
plankroad  was  also  constructed  for  a  few  miles  south  of  the  city.  Lockport 
also  rejoiced  in  a  plankroad,  chartered  under  the  name  of  the  Lockport,  Plain- 
field  &  Yorkville  Plankroad,  organized  in  June,  1855,  at  Plainfield.  Hiram 
Norton,  John  F.  Daggett,  George  Gaylord,  D.  C.  Norton  and  S.  Hamlin  were 
Directors.  Hiram  Norton,  President ;  J.  F.  Daggett,  Treasurer  and  Secretary ; 
A.  J.  Mathewson,  Surveyor.  They  built  a  road  to  Plainfield,  which  has  also 
ceased  to  be  a  plankroad.  Plankroads,  like  many  other  things,  seem  to  be  obsolete. 

There  are  several  persons  who  have  been  prominent  in  our  early  history, 
but  who  have  now  passed  from  the  scene  of  their  earthly  activities,  about  whom 
it  is  proper  that  something  more  should  be  said  than  we  have  found  it  conven- 
ient to  do  in  the  progress  of  our  narrative.  Some  of  these  we  will  now  briefly 
notice.  We  begin  with 

JESSE    0.    NORTON. 

He  was  born  in  Benningtori,  Vt.,  in  December,  1812.  His  father,  Col. 
Martin  Norton,  was  a  soldier,  serving  his  country  at  the  time  of  his  birth.  He 
pursued  the  usual  preparatory  course  and  entered  Williams  College  in  1831, 
and  graduated  with  honor  in  1835.  Having  no  means,  and  entirely  depend- 
ent upon  his  own  exertions,  he  immediately  commenced  teaching,  first  at  Wheel- 
ing, Perm.,  and  afterward  in  Potosi,  Mo.  While  here,  he  formed  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  lady  he  soon  married,  Miss  Phebe  A.  Sheldon.  In  about  one  year 
after  their  marriage  they  came  to  Joliet — in  1839.  The  writer  well  remembers 
his  first  meeting  with  Mr.  Norton,  soon  after  his  arrival,  and  how  greatly  pre- 
possessed he  was  by  his  courteous  and  winning  manner,  and  he  soon  formed  an 
intimote  acquaintance  with  him  and  his  wife.  His  genial  manners  soon  made 
him  popular  and  beloved  by  the  community  where  he  had  settled,  while  his 
ability  and  integrity  soon  won  a  way  for  him  in  professional  and  political  life. 
In  1846,  he  was  elected  County  Judge,  and  re-elected  in  1848.  He  was  chosen 
to  represent  our  county  in  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  of  1848.  In 
1850,  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  and,  in  1852,  was  chosen  to  rep- 
resent this  District  in  Congress,  and  was  re-elected  in  1854.  In  1857,  he 
was  elected  Circuit  Judge,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  the  position  with 
ability.  In  1862,  he  was  again  elected  to  Congress.  In  1866,  he  received  the 


342  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

appointment  of  District  Attorney  for  the  Northern  District  of  Illinois,  and 
removed  to  Chicago.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  this  office  with  ability  until 
April,  1869,  when  he  became  associated  with  Judge  J.  R.  Doolittle  in  the 
practice  of  law,  and  kept  up  this  connection  until  the  great  fire  of  1871,  which 
destroyed  their  library  and  papers.  He  subsequently  received  the  appointment 
of  Counsel  to  the  City  of  Chicago.  He  died  August  8,  1875,  and  his  remains 
were  brought  to  Joliet,  where  the  greatest  portion  of  his  active  life  had  been 
passed,  and  they  rest  in  Oakwood.  Mr.  Norton  was  an  able  and  effective 
speaker,  both  at  the  bar  and  on  the  "stump,"  and  in  the  legislative  hall.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  in  Joliet,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church 
(now  the  Central  Presbyterian).  Mrs.  Norton  and  four  children  survive  him. 

URI    OSGOOD 

was  one  of  our  first  lawyers — first  in  point  of  time  and  also  of  ability.  He 
came  here  the  same  year  in  which  our  county  was  organized  (1836)  and  from 
that  day  to  that  of  his  death  was  one  of  our  most  prominent  men.  He  was 
gifted  with  more  than  ordinary  mental  powers,  and  took  a  high  position  at  the 
bar.  He  also  filled  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility.  He  was  elected  to  the 
State  Senate  in  1852,  and  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress  in  1858, 
and  made  a  strong  canvass  in  a  Republican  district  and  against  a  most  popular 
opponent.  Mr.  Osgood  accumulated  a  considerable  property,  and  established  a 
private  bank.  He  was  a  man  of  strictly  temperate  habits  and  pure  life.  His 
death  was  remarkably  sudden.  He  had  partaken  of  his  breakfast  as  usual,  and 
risen  to  go  down  town  to  attend  Court,  when  he  complained  of  a  pain  in  his 
chest.  His  family  at  once  sent  for  Dr.  Casey,  who  arrived  in  a  few  moments,  but 
found  Mr.  0.  in  a  dying  condition.  He  did  not  live  half  an  hour  after  getting 
up  from  his  breakfast.  Mr.  Osgood  was  a  native  of  Chenango  County,  N.  Y., 
and  62  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  February  8, 1871. 

w.  c.  GOODHUE, 

another  Joliet  lawyer,  died  October  19,  1870.  He  was  the  son  of  Deacon 
Ezra  Goodhue,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Plainfield,  and  a  graduate  of  Knox 
College,  Galesburg.  He  came  to  Joliet  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  in 
1857.  He  was  comparatively  a  young  man  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  his 
friends  anticipated  for  him  a  useful  and  successful  career.  He  had  just  served 
as  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1870,  participating  actively 
in  its  debates  and  serving  on  important  committees.  He  was  one  of  the  Com- 
mittee that  prepared  the  address  of  the  Convention  to  the  people.  Mr.  Good- 
hue  was  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Plainfield.  He  died  Oct. 
19,  1870,  in  the  39th  year  of  his  age. 

W.    E.    LITTLE. 

In  the  year  1840,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  promising  young  men  we 
have  ever  had  came  to  Joliet.     This  was  William  E.  Little.     He  was  born  in 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  343 

the  State  of  New  York,  but  while  quite  young  his  parents  moved  to  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  acquired  a  good  education,  chiefly  by  his  own  exertions.  One  year 
he  spent  in  Oberlin  College,  Ohio.  After  leaving  Oberlin,  he,  at  the  age  of 
19,  entered  the  law  office  of  his  brother,  at  Montrose,  Penn.,  and  afterward 
pursued  his  professional  studies  at  Wilkesbarre,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  at  21  years  of  age.  He  was  then  married  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Curtis, 
and  immediately  (1840)  removed  to  Joliet.  Young  as  he  was  in  years  and  in 
his  profession,  he  at  once  took  high  rank  at  the  Will  County  bar,  which  then 
numbered  in  its  ranks  such  men  as  Newkirk,  Wilson,  Boardman,  Henderson, 
Osgood,  Fellows,  Parks  and  others,  and  where  he  also  encountered  such  men  as 
Caton,  Collins,  Spring,  Butterfield,  Dickey,  Goodrich  and  others  from  Chicago. 
In  such  a  bar  and  in  such  a  circuit,  young  Little  commanded  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  his  older  brethren,  and  was  justly  regarded  as  a  young  man  of 
great  promise.  He  also  soon  entered  the  political  arena,  and  was  as  ready  and  as 
popular  on  the  stump  as  at  the  bar.  He  was  elected,  in  1848,  by  the  Demo- 
cratic party  to  represent  this  district,  then  embracing  Will,  Du  Page,  Iroquois 
and  Kendall  Counties  in  the  General  Assembly.  While  in  the  Legislature,  he 
was  Chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  and  prepared  able  reports  on  the 
subjects  committed  to  it.  It  is  an  interesting  incident  that,  at  the  same  time, 
his  brother  was  Chairman  of  the  like  committee  in  the  Legislature  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

In  the  canvass  for  the  Democratic  nomination  to  Congress  in  1850,  his 
friends  brought  him  out  as  a  candidate  for  the  nomination,  and  he  received  as 
high  as  38  votes.  Richard  S.  Malony,  however,  received  the  nomina- 
tion. All  who  knew  him  believed  that  his  election  to  Congress  was  only  post- 
poned a  little,  and  that  a  brilliant  political  career  was  before  him.  He  was  a 
graceful  and  effective  speaker,  and  while  he  lived  he  divided  the  honors  of  Fourth 
of  July  oratory  with  Judge  Parks.  But  all  his  own  aspirations  and  the  hopes 
and  expectations  of  his  many  friends  were  blighted  by  his  early  death,  which 
occurred  September  30,  1851,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four.  The  members  of  the 
bar  of  this  and  adjoining  counties,  the  societies  of  Masons  and  Odd  Fellows 
from  Lockport  and  Joliet  testified  their  respect  by  full  attendance  at  his  funeral, 
and  numerous  testimonials  of  respect  filled  the  papers  at  the  time. 

Mr.  Little  left  a  widow  and  four  daughters,  who  have  long  been  known  to 
the  people  of  Joliet,  and  loved  and  honored  on  their  own  account  as  well  as 
that  of  the  husband  and  father.  A  beautiful  tribute  to  his  memory  was  given 
in  the  True  Democrat,  from  the  pen  of  the  assistant  editor,  Mrs.  E.  A.  W. 
Hopkins. 

DAVID    L.    GREGG 

must  be  added  to  the  list  of  brilliant  young  lawyers  who  have  once  shone  at 
the  Will  County  bar,  and  who  have  now  gone  to  a  Higher  Court.  Of  his  early 
history,  we  are  not  informed.  He  came  here  at  an  early  day,  was  some  time 
editor  of  the  first  paper — the  Courier,  the  predecessor  of  the  Signal — was 


344  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

elected  to  the  Legislature  in  1840,  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  by  Gov. 
French  in  1851,  came  within  two  votes  of  Gov.  Matteson  for  the  nomination 
for  Governor ;  was  appointed  Commissioner  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  by  Presi- 
dent Pierce,  and  after  his  return  received  an  appointment  to  a  Nevada  land 
office,  where  he  died  in  1869.  He  was  first  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Joliet.  He 
was  an  accomplished  scholar,  a  brilliant  orator  and  a  warm  politician. 
We  must  mention  the  name,  also,  of 

WILLIAM    A.    BOARDMAN, 

once  a  prominent  lawyer  in  the  early  day,  a  partner  of  Judge  Henderson  and 
a  brother-in-law  of  Joel  A.  Matteson  and  Henry  Fish.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
reasoning  powers  and  able  in  argument,  although  so  quaint  or  odd  in  his  man- 
ner of  expression  as  often  to  make  it  difficult  to  suppress  a  smile.  He  went  from 
here  to  Lake  County,  where  he  became  County  Judge.  He  died  when  visiting 
some  friends  in  this  county,  in  October,  1872.  His  death  was  very  sudden. 

E.    C.    FELLOWS. 

As  appears,  from  the  foregoing  pages,  Mr.  Fellows  first  came  to  Channahon 
in  1834,  and  soon  after  took  up  his  residence  and  hung  out  his  shingle  in  Joliet, 
and  from  that  time  until  failing  health  prevented,  he  was  one  of  our  busiest 
and  most  successful  lawyers.  He  was  a  man  of  keen  and  penetrating  mind, 
and  especially  noted  as  a  criminal  lawyer,  generally  employed  on  the  side  of 
the  defense,  and  no  client  ever  suffered  from  his  neglect.  He  was  a  native  of 
Columbia  County,  N.  Y.,  and  died  at  Lockport  in  August,  1876. 


J.    E.    STREETER 


Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Nebraska,  was  still  another  Joliet 
lawyer  for  several  years,  and  figured  somewhat  in  our  politics.  He  had  many 
friends  here  who  justly  esteemed  him  for  his  many  fine  qualities  of  head  andheart. 
He  always  labored  under  the  disadvantage  of  poor  health  and  a  feeble  physique, 
and  his  ambition  always  outran  his  strength.  He  was  a  fine  speaker,  and  at  the 
commencement  of  our  war  era,  as  well  as  in  political  campaigns,  was  often 
heard  in  eloquent  advocacy  of  what  he  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  justice  and 
the  Union.  He  enjoyed  political  excitement,  and  if  his  health  had  been  equal 
to  his  ambition,  would  have  made,  no  doubt,  a  brilliant  career.  But  consump- 
tion had  early  marked  him  as  her  prey,  and  he  died  February  20,  18t>3. 

FIRMAN   MACK, 

was  for  many  years  one  of  our  most  active  and  reliable  business  men.  He  re- 
sided in  Chicago  a  few  years,  and  came  here  about  1837.  He  commenced  here 
at  his  trade  as  a  shoemaker,  and  gradually  increased  his  business  from  year  to 
year,  growing  with  the  place  until  he  became  a  wholesale  dealer  and  manufact- 
urer of  boots,  shoes  and  leather,  employing  largely,  at  one  time,  convict  labor. 
He  built  several  stores,  not  less  than  six  in  all,  and  two  fine  residences,  one  on 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COU11TY.  345 

Broadway  and  another  on  Richard  street.  He  served  the  city  as  School  Di- 
rector, Alderman  and  Mayor.  He  was  a  member  and  a  liberal  supporter  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  and  aided  liberally  all  other  church  and  benevolent  enter- 
prises. He  was  a  man  of  few  words,  but  he  led  an  active,  busy,  useful  life. 
Many  will  remember  his  mysterious  death,  and  how  startled  the  community 
was  by  the  intelligence  that  his  body  had  been  found  in  the  Chicago  River. 
Various  theories  and  conjectures  have  been  entertained  in  respect  to  his  untimely 
taking  off;  but  the  facts  are  still  wrapt  in  mystery  and  will  probably  never  be 
known  until  the  great  day  when  all  things  shall  be  revealed.  His  death  oc- 
curred August  10,  1872,  at  the  age  of  55. 

j.  T.  M'DOUGALL 

was  born  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  came  to  Joliet  in  1845,  and  was  for  a  long  time 
a  prominent  business  man  here.  He  received  the  appointment  of  Postmaster 
under  Taylor,  which  he  resigned  in  1852,  to  take  the  position  of  Cashier  in  the 
Merchants'  &  Drovers'  Bank,  established  by  Matteson — the  first  bank  of  issue 
in  Will  County.  While  on  the  Tennessee  River,  in  the  Spring  of  1862,  upon 
matters  of  business  connected  with  the  army,  he  was  taken- sick  and  reached  St. 
Louis  only  to  die  May  19,  1862. 

REV.    EDWARD    SAVAGE, 

for  some  time  Pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church,  bookseller,  School  Commissioner 
in  1859  and  1860;  highly  respected  as  a  Christian  and  an  able  preacher;  died 
of  consumption  April  27, 1863.  He  left  one  son,  on  whom  his  mantle  has  fallen. 
He  was  46  years  of  age. 

H.    D.    RISLEY, 

one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Channahon,  afterward  Sheriff  of  our  county  for  four 
years — 1840-43,  President  of  the  Joliet  &  Oswego  Plankroad,  and  long  and 
well  known  in  business  circles  here  and  at  Wilmington,  where  he  some  time 
resided;  was  born  in  Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  and  came  west  from  Onondaga 
County  in  1833.  He  died  in  December,  1862. 

JOHN    MILLER, 

one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Du  Page,  and  the  first  Supervisor  of  the  town, 
and  also  our  Representative  to  the  State  Legislature  in  1846  and  in  1848,  was  a 
fine  specimen  of  a  Will  County  yeoman,  physically,  intellectually  and  morally. 
He  died,  greatly  regretted,  in  March,  1851. 

AGRICULTURE,    AND   AGRICULTURAL   AND   MECHANICAL    ASSOCIATION. 

There  have  been  several  county  agricultural  associations  in  our  past  history, 
and  two  places,  besides  the  one  now  occupied,  have  been  fitted  up  for  their  use. 
The  first  was  located  on  the  well-known  Stevens  Farm,  in  a  beautiful  grove  hav- 
ing a  beautiful  and  abundant  spring,  and  buildings  were  erected,  and  consider- 
able improvements  made.  When  the  war  came  on,  it  was  changed  into  a  mili- 
tary camp  and  barracks,  and  afterward  reverted  to  Mr.  Stevens.  A  place  was 


346 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 


also  fitted  up  on  the  hill  above  the  Penitentiary,  on  the  Lockport  road,  and 
considerable  money  expended.  This  was,  however,  more  of  a  hippodrome,  we 
believe,  than  an  agricultural  association.  The  present  Agricultural  and  Me- 
chanical Association  is  now  (Sept.  12)  holding  its  ninth  aimual  fair.  It  has 
beautiful  grounds  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  city,  near  the  termination  of 
the  street  railway,  which  have  been  beautifully  fitted  up  with  the  necessary 
halls  and  stock  pens,  and  all  the  usual  conveniences  of  such  establishments. 
There  is  a  fine  spring  on  the  grounds  which  furnishes  all  the  water  necessary. 
The  programme  for  the  fair  now  being  held,  offers  a  large  and  liberal  list  of 
premiums,  which  are  open  to  all  competitors.  The  Association  was  organized 
in  1869,  under  the  general  act  of  the  Legislature,  and  has  a  capital  of  $26,000. 
The  Board  of  officers  is  as  follows  :  President,  Charles  Snoad,  of  New  Lenox  ; 
Vice  Presidents,  William  E.  Henry,  of  Joliet  ;  C.  A.  Westgate,  of  Peotone; 
B.  F.  Carter,  of  Troy;  R.  J.  Boylan,  of  Elwood;  Frank  Searles,  of  New 
Lenox  ;  Secretary,  William  T.  Nelson,  of  Wilmington  ;  Treasurer,  E.  H.  Aikin, 
of  Joliet  ;  with  a  Board  of  nine  Directors,  and  eighteen  Superintendents  under 
the  General  Superintendent,  L.  E.  Ingalls. 

AGRICULTURAL    PRODUCTIONS. 

In  no  way  can  we  so  well  give  an  idea  of  the  kind  and  amount  of  produc- 
tions of  the  county  as  by  the  following  condensed  abstract  from  the  Assessor's 
returns  : 

PRODUCTS.  ACRES.         BUSHELS. 

Corn  .......................................................................  132,332  4,324,432 

Winter  wheat  ...........................................................  112*  2,330 

Spring  wheat  .....  ....  ..................................................  1,<>84£  23,069 

Oats  .......................................................................  60,796  2,415,712 

Rye  ........................................................................  1,438  28,732 

Barley  ....................................................................  43}  826 

Buckwheat  ..............................................................  226£  2,567£ 

Castor  beans  ............................................................  1£  22 

Beans  ......................................................................  29^  427 

Pease  ....................................................................  2£  106 

Irish  potatoes  ...........................................................  2,650T%57  189,506 

Sweet  potatoes  ....  ......................................  .  ..............  2  125 

Apple  orchard  ...........................................  '.  .............  4,025}  1,639 

Peach  orchard  ........................................................  276 

Pear  orchard  ............................................................  10 

FOUNDS. 

Tobacco  ..................................................................  5J  6,765 

Broom  corn  ............................................................  3  10,500 

TONS. 

Timothy  meadow  .......................................................  43,615  56,965^ 

Clover  meadow  .........................................................        4,481  7,474 

Prairie  meadow  ........................................................  30,180T759ff  36,650 

Millet  and  Hungarian  .........................................  .......           505J  428 

GALLONS. 

Sorghum  .................................................................  33  1,385 

Vineyards  ...............................................................  12|  240 


^-e5^O 


(DECEASED) 
JOLIET 


HE  U53OT 

OF  THE 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  349 

VALUE. 

Turnip  and  other  root  crops 82£  $90635 

Other  fruit  and  berries  not  included  above 22  2363 

Other  crops  not  named  above 9,148^*^  3239 

Pasture  (not  including  woodland) 88,552 

Woodland  (not  including  pasture) 17,830 

Uncultivated  land  not  included  above 17,279£ 

Area  of  city  and  town  real  estate  not  included  above 1,807-j^ 

SHEEP. 

No.  killed  by  dogs 252 

Average  value  of  number  killed  by  dogs $3  30 

No.  of  pounds  of  wool  shorn 30,582 

No.  of  fat  sheep  sold 961 

Average  weight  per  head 108 

DAIRY. 

No.  of  cows  kept 17,366 

Pounds  of  butter  sold 787,012 

Pounds  of  cheese  sold 67,860 

Gallons  of  cream  sold 10,060 

Gallons  of  milk  sold 1,322,646 

CATTLE. 

No.  of  fat  cattle  sold 9,352 

Average  gross  weight  per  head  of  fat  cattle , 942 

HOGS. 

No  of  fat  hogs  sold 37,500 

Average  gross  weight  of  fat  hogs  254 

No.  of  hogs  and  pigs  died  of  cholera 2,064 

Average  gross  weight 87 

CROPS. 

No.  of  bushels  of  timothy-seed  in  1877 9,513 

No.  of  bushels  of  clover-seed  in  1877 1,898 

No.  of  bushels  of  Hungarian  and  millet  seed  in  1877 4,744 

No.  of  bushels  of  flaxseed  in  1877 13,111 

Pounds  of  grapes .' 15,815 

NUMBER.  VALUE. 

Horses .' 14,547     $571,362  00 

Cattle 40,514      402,532  00 

Mules  and  asses 501      '  16,529  00 

Sheep 6,586  7,389  00 

Hogs 37,954        39,366  00 

Assessed  value  of  land  exclusive  of  city  lots 9,271,860  00 

THE  SORGHUM  FEVER  AND  OTHER  THINGS. 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  sorghum  makes  but  a  small  figure  in 
our  present  agricultural  productions ;  but,  in  common  with  many  other  counties, 
Will  County  took  its  turn  at  the  sorghum  fever.  This  raged  along  between 
1855  and  1865.  The  farmers  generally,  at  one  time  or  another,  raised 
sorghum.  They  made  their  own  molasses,  and  tried  to  make  their  own  sugar. 
Merchants  sold  sorghum-seed,  and  the  sorghum-mills  ornamented  the  farmers' 
door-yards,  and  the  tall  and  handsome  canes  grew  in  luxuriant  beauty  in  his 
fields.  The  war  added  stimulus  to  its  production,  as  it  seemed  for  a  time  as 


350  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

though  we  should  be  cut  off  from  our  Southern  supply  of  sugar  altogether. 
Sorghum  conventions  were  held,  at  which  samples  were  displayed  and  the 
modes  of  cultivation  discussed. 

Among  the  most  enthusiastic  believers  in  sorghum  was  the  Rev.  Royal 
Reed,  for  some  time  a  Congregational  preacher  here  and  elsewhere.  He  be- 
lieved that  it  was  going  to  prove  a  bonanza  to  the  farmers  and  the  country  ; 
that  it  would  supply  sirup  and  sugar  from  its  juice,  a  beautiful  dye,  outvying 
the  famous  Tyrian,  from  its  seed,  the  best  and  cheapest  fiber  for  paper  in  its 
stalk,  and  last  but  not  least,  a  spirit  could  be  distilled  from  the  pomace  which 
would  put  New  England  and  Jamaica  to  shame.  The  dominie  had  a  little  planta- 
tion on  which  he  raised  the  cane,  and  he  set  up  a  mill  in  his  yard,  and  the  steam 
of  his  evaporating-pan  went  up,  day  after  day,  a  sweet  incense  to  Ceres.  He 
tried  to  make  sugar,  but  the  product  was  small.  But  his  rum  was  a  success. 
The  libations  he  poured  out  to  Bacchus  were  the  admiration  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. Many  were  permitted  to  taste  just  enough  to  see  what  could  be  done 
with  sorghum,  but  only  in  medicinal  doses.  Not  much  was  heard  about  the 
dominie's  sugar,  but  the  praises  of  his  rum  were  on  the  lips  of  not  a  few.  But 
the  sorghum  fever  passed  away,  like  many  another.  It  did  not  prove  a  success ; 
its  sirup  always  had  an  unpleasant  twang,  and  refused  to  granulate,  and  soon 
the  farmers  stopped  raising  it,  and  the  sorghum-mills  rotted  and  no  longer  orna- 
mented the  landscape.  This  mention  of  sorghum  has  given  us  an  opportunity 
to  tell  a  pretty  good  story  of  its  enthusiastic  disciple.  He  is  still  living,  but 
just  over  the  county  line  in  Grundy  County,  so  we  think  it  will  be  safe.  It 
illustrates  the  manner  in  which  so  many  people  blunder  when  they  attempt  to 
quote  Scripture,  and  thus  it  has  a  good  moral.  If  it  were  not  for  the  good  moral 
we  should  not  tell  it.  While  Pastor  of  the  old  Congregational  Church  here, 
he  boarded  awhile  in  the  family  of  some  ladies  who  kept  a  female  boarding- 
school.  They  had  quite  a  large  family  of  teachers  and  boarding  scholars. 
These  ladies  had  a  rule  that,  as  each  one,  teachers  and  boarders,  took  their  seats 
at  the  table  they  should  repeat  a  text  of  Scripture — a  very  pleasant  and  com- 
mendable practice,  in  favor  of  which  much  might  be  said.  On  one  occasion, 
one  of  the  ladies  gave  as  her  text:  "  Duty  is  ours,  consequences  are  God's." 
It  was  the  dominie's  turn  next,  and  he  matched  her  quotation  with  another 
equally  scriptural,  if  not  equally  beautiful :  "Let  every  tub  stand  on  its  own 
bottom."  The  Dominie  had  to  hunt  another  boarding-place. 

How  many  fevers  we  have  survived  !  The  bilious  fever,  the  gold  fever,  the  land 
fever,  the  oil  fever,  the  superheated  steam  fever,  the  war  fever,  the  sorghum  fever, 
the  woolen-factory  fever,  the  rolling-mill  fever,  the  Linden  Heights  fever,  the  horse- 
railway  fever,  the  "  Dolly  Varden  "  fever — and  yet  we  still  live!  And  then 
the  dress-reform  fever,  which  raged  in  1850-51-52.  We  had  thought  seriously 
of  writing  up  its  history,  but  we  feel  incapable  of  doing  the  subject  justice,  and 
it  is  a  delicate  theme.  It  was  a  brave  and  heroic  attempt  on  the  part  of  a  few 
to  bring  about  a  change  in  female  costume ;  but  it  failed,  notwithstanding  it 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  351 

had  the  zealous  support  of  both  the  Signal  and  True  Democrat,  and  those  who 
were  its  zealous  advocates  and  exemplars  now  wear  dresses  longer  than  ever ! 

SCHOOLS   AND   SCHOOL   MATTERS. 

The  donation  by  the  General  Government  of  the  sixteenth  section  of  each 
township  of  the  public  lands — one-thirty-sixth — was  made  by  the  same  act 
which  provided  for  their  survey.  This  was  a  most  generous  donation  on  the 
part  of  our  parental  Government,  and  was  designed  to  furnish  a  nucleus,  at 
least,  of  a  general  system  of  education ;  and,  although  many  of  these  sections 
were  prematurely  sold,  and  the  avails  of  such  sales  have,  in  many  instances, 
been  squandered,  still  the  fund  derived  from  this  and  other  sources  lightens  to 
some  extent  the  taxes  raised  for  school  purposes.  There  is  besides  this,  a  school, 
college  and  seminary  fund,  being  3  per  cent  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  sale  of 
public  lands,  which  is  distributed  by  the  State  to  each  county  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  scholars.  Our  county  receives  nearly  $1,000  annually.  Cer- 
tain fines  inflicted  for  misdemeanors  are  assigned  to  the  school  fund.  The 
amount  varies  from  $200  to  $800,  according  to  behavior  of  the  citizens.  In 
1877,  it  was  $510.63.  There  is  also  a  general  tax  levied  by  the  State  for  school 
purposes,  which  is  distributed  to  counties  according  to  population  under  21 
years.  The  amount  received  by  our  county,  for  1877.  was  $16,432.53.  In 
addition,  each  school  district  has  the  power,  within  certain  limits,  to  raise  the 
amount  needed  for  keeping  up  the  respective  schools,  and  also  special  taxes  for 
building  schoolhouses.  In  incorporated  cities,  the  city  schools  come  under  the 
city  control,  and  the  corporation  has  power  to  assess  the  needed  tax.  During 
the  earlier  years  of  our  history,  of  course,  schools  were  left  chiefly  to  the  volun- 
tary efforts  of  neighborhoods.  Some  of  them  we  have  already  noticed. 

The  present  system  of  schools  assumed  substantially  its  present  shape 
somewhere  about  the  year  1850.  The  duties  of  School  Commissioners  were  pre- 
viously confined  to  the  charge  of  the  funds,  and  the  duties  of  the  School  Trustees, 
in  each  township,  to  the  sixteenth  section  and  care  of  the  township  fund.  It  is 
greatly  to  be  regretted  that  the '  people  have  been  so  careless  in  their  selection 
of  school  officers.  These  should  be  selected  with  the  greatest  care  and  from 
the  best,  wisest  and  most  responsible  citizens,  without  regard  to  politics.  Some 
townships  have  paid  dearly  for  their  carelessness  in  this  regard,  and  still,  what 
ought  to  elicit  the  most  interest  is  really  treated  as  of  little  importance.  The 
last  published  report  of  the  County  Superintendent,  Mrs.  Mclntosh,  gives  : 

The  total  number  of  persons  between  6  and  21  years 17,602 

The  total  number  enrolled  in  public  schools 12,814 

The  total  number  enrolled  in  private  schools 1,276 

The  total  number  not  attending  any  school 3,615 

Number  of  teachers  in  public  schools 419 

Number  of  teachers  in  private  schools 

Total  number  of  schoolhouses 207 

Total  number  of  volumes  in  school  libraries 859 

Total  amount  paid  teachers  for  year  ending  September,  1876 $90,596  03 


352  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Total  amount  paid  male  teachers  for  the  year  ending  September,  1876..     29  057  48 
Total  amount  paid  female  teachers  for  the  year  ending  September,  1876,     62,538  55 

Number  of  male  teachers 124 

Number  of  female  teachers 295 

Average  monthly  wages  to  males $46  84 

Average  monthly  wages  to  females 30  06 

Total  amount  of  receipts  for  the  year $177,778  69 

Total  amount  of  expenditures  for  the  year 137,865  72 

Balance  on  hand 39,912  97 

Matters  specially  relating  to  the  different  towns,  are  left  to  the  township 
historian.  Private  schools  have  been  taught,  from  time  to  time,  in  the  principal 
towns  of  the  county.  In  Joliet,  by  Alexander  Mclntosh,  S.  W.  Stone,  S.  0. 
Simends,  K.  J.  Hammond,  Miss  C.  C.  McDonald,  and  Mrs.  Grover.  Aji  acad- 
emy was  once  organized  by  the  efforts,  principally,  of  Rev.  L.  H.  Loss,  and 
flourished  awhile  under  the  administration  of  Samuel  Emerson.  There  was 
once  a  young  lady's  boarding  and  select  school,  which  flourished  some  years, 
and  was  managed  by  Mrs.  Crowley  and  her  sister  and  daughter.  S.  0.  Simonds 
taught  a  normal  school  at  one  time.  Commercial  schools  have  also  been  in  operation 
much  of  the  time,  by  Prof.  Russell  and  others.  There  have  been  and  still  are 
several  parochial  schools,  and  Mrs.  Mclntosh  has  at  present  a  select  school. 
These  will  come  under  the  notice  of  the  township  historian.  Mr.  K.  J.  Ham- 
mond had,  at  one  time,  a  flourishing  academy  at  Plainfield,  and  there  was  once 
a  college,  called  the  Northwestern,  in  operation  there,  but  which  has  now  been 
removed  to  another  county.  After  its  removal,  the  building  was  occupied  by 
an  academy  under  the  auspices  of  the  Fox  River  Union.  We  wish  we  could 
place  upon  record  a  flourishing  college  or  even  a  high  school  or  academy ;  but, 
after  all,  the  people's  colleges  are  the  most  important  to  our  well-being,  and 
should  be  looked  after  in  all  their  interests  much  more  closely  and  wisely  by 
our  voters  and  tax-payers,  and  especially  by  parents. 

LITERARY. 

We  had  intended  to  devote  a  page  or  two, to  the  literary  history  of  Will 
County,  but  we  have  found  the  work  too  vast  as  well  as  too  delicate.  Although 
we  should  know  well  where  to  begin — with  that  first  fourth  of  July  oration — we 
should  not  know  when  or  where  to  stop.  We  have  already  spoken  of  Mrs.  E. 
Jessup  Eames,  of  Channahon,  our  first  poetess  in  point  of  time,  and,  perhaps, 
in  point  of  ability.  She  published  a  volume  in  her  lifetime  which  contains 
some  "beautiful  pieces.  Mrs.  E.  A.  W.  Hopkins,  a  long-time  resident  of  Joliet 
in  its  earlier  days,  also  has  published  a  volume  or  two.  Of  these  we  could 
safely  speak  ;  but  when  we  should  undertake  to  go  into  a  full  list  of  writers, 
both  in  poetry  and  prose,  who  have  flourished  during  the  forty-odd  years  of  the 
county's  existence,  we  should  be  lost  in  the  multitude  of  names  and  in  the 
effort  to  select  those  most  worthy  of  notice ;  and  we  should  be  sure  to  leave  out 
some  one  who  would  be  entitled  to  have  his  or  her  name  handed  down  to  future 
fame  on  the  pages  of  this  history.  We  therefore  forbear  to  undertake  the  work, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  353 

and  leave  it  to  another.  Even  while  we  write,  we  have  heard  that  one  of  our 
well-known  citizens  has  a  poetical  work  in  the  press ;  and  it  is  but  a  day  or  two 
since,  a  grave  Judge,  while  sitting  upon  the  bench,  broke  out  into  verse  at  the 
sight  of  a  brother  lawyer's  new  overcoat  ! 

PENITENTIARY. 

In  1857,  the  Legislature  authorized  the  building  of  a  new  Penitentiary,  to 
be  located  at  Joliet.  Commissioners  were  appointed  to  superintend  the  work. 
They  purchased  a  tract  of  land  on  Section  3  of  this  township,  of  72  19-100 
acres,  with  a  front  on  the  Canal  of  55  rods.  No  better  selection  could  probably 
have  been  made.  The  ground  is  underlaid  by  our  limestone  strata  to  such  a 
depth  as  to  render  all  tunneling  out  an  impossibility.  There  was  a  fine  natural 
spring  on  the  property,  and  considerable  stone,  valuable  for  its  construction,  and 
large  quarries  in  the  vicinity.  The  Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  passes 
between  it  and  the  Canal. 

Boyington  &  Wheelock,  of  Chicago,  were  selected  as  the  architects,  and  a 
most  extensive  and  beautiful  plan  was  projected.  John  B.  Preston  was  ap- 
pointed Superintendent  of  construction  and  engineer,  but  served  only  a  short 
time,  as  his  duties  as  Superintendent  of  the  Canal  required  his  time.  On  his 
resignation,  George  R..  McGregor  was  appointed  to  fill  the  place.  Work  was 
commenced  in  August,  1857,  and  by  January  1,  1858,  $125,000  of  work  was 
under  contract  with  .Sanger  &  Casey.  Sixteen  acres  were  inclosed  .by  a  wall 
six  feet  thick  and  twenty-five  feet  high.  A  beautiful  Warden's  house  occupying 
the  center  of  the  south  front,  with  winga  which  contain  the  cells,  was  com- 
menced on  the  plan  drawn  by  the  architects  we  have  named,  furnishing  900  con- 
gregate cells  and  100  solitary  and  100  female.  In  May,  1859,  prisoners  began 
to  be  removed  from  Alton,  and  by  June,  1860,  all  were  removed. 

At  the  start,  the  prison  was  leased,  but  in  June,  1867,  the  State  assumed 
control,  and  three  Commissioners  were  temporarily  appointed.  They  were 
subsequently  elected  by  the  people. 

A  Warden,  Deputy  Warden,  Chaplain,  Matron  and  Physician  were  chosen, 
and  the  work  has  been  completed  on  the  original  plan.  Within  the  walls,  also, 
many  buildings,  sheds,  etc.,  necessary  for  the  mechanical  operations  carried  on, 
have  been  from  time  to  time  erected,  and  at  present  the  walls  inclose  an  im- 
mense amount  of  mechanical  and  manufacturing  establishments,  and  is  a  vast 
hive  of  industries,  where  those  who  have  forfeited  their  right  to  freedom  are 
required  to  serve  the  State,  and  earn  their  own  support. 

The  original  estimate  of  the  cost  was  $550,000.  The  sum  of  $300,000 
was  originally  appropriated  to  operate  it.  In  1869,  $350,000  more  were  appro- 
priated, and  in  1871,  $175,000.  In  1871,  the  law  was  revised  for  its  govern- 
ment, and  the  appointment  of  Commissioners  vested  in  the  Governor  and  sub- 
ject to  his  removal.  The  Commissioners  were  also  authorized  to  lease  the  labor 
of  the  convicts,  and  this  is  the  plan  now  pursued  as  far  as  possible.  During  the 


854  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

last  year  of  Gov.  Palmer's  administration  the  institution  became  self-sus- 
taining. 

The  prison  has  passed  through  various  changes  in  its  administration  and 
policy,  both  during  its  construction  and  since,  and  has  been  a  source  of  much 
discussion,  which  it  is  not  important  to  record.  It  seems  now  to  be  wisely  and 
carefully  managed,  and  has  been  as  prosperous  during  the  era  of  hard  times  as 
any  other  establishment.  The  prisoners  are  under  good  and  kind  discipline, 
and  no  efforts  seemed  to  be  spared,  consistent  with  their  safe-keeping  and  the 
ends  of  justice,  to  secure  their  physical,  moral  and  religious  comfort  and  im- 
provement. A  chapel  with  regular  religious  services,  a  hospital  and  well-stocked 
dispensary,  and  the  necessary  attendants,  with  a  skillful  physician  outside  who 
visits  the  prison  daily,  a  library  of  6,000  volumes  for  reading,  and  a  school  and 
over  1,000  books  for  instruction — these  are  some  of  the  provisions  made  for 
their  benefit.  Each  cell  is  also  supplied  with  a  Bible.  When  the  prison  was 
first  planned,  it  was  thought  to  be  on  so  large  a  scale  that  it  would  answer  the 
needs  of  the  State  for  many  years  ;  but  it  has  already  been  found  insufficient, 
and  a  new  one  is  being  constructed. 

Efforts  for  the  spiritual  good  of  the  convicts  were  made  by  a  former  Chap- 
lain, Rev.  Mr.  Lathrop,  who  is  entitled  to  the  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
community ;  and  these  are  continued  by  the  present  Chaplain,  A.  T.  Briscoe, 
who  resigned  the  post  of  Commissioner  to  take  his  present  one,  and  is  devoted 
to  his  work. 

The  number  of  inmates  at  present  (October  12,  1878)  is  1,646.  Of  these, 
1,621  are  males  and  25  females.  There  are  leased  1,244,  and  employed  by 
State,  402. 

The  present  Government  is  as  follows  : 

Board  of  Commissioners. — Robert  L.  Dulaney,  President ;  A.  M.  Jones, 
Secretary ;  S.  H.  Jones. 

Officials. — Robert  W.  McClaughry,  Warden ;  Benjamin  L.  Mayhew,  Deputy 
Warden  ;  D.  C.  Sleeper,  Assistant  Deputy  Warden  ;  A.  T.  Briscoe,  Chaplain  ; 
A.  W.  Heise,  M.  D.,  Physician  ;  Gallus  Mueller,  Clerk;  John  D.  Leland,  Stew- 
ard ;  Mrs.  J.  E.  Judson,  Matron  ;  C.  F.  Gross,  Usher. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  at  times  as  to  the  effects  of  the  Prison  upon 
the  prosperity  of  the  city  and  county,  and  it  is  often  the  theme  of  partisan 
denunciation.  One  thing  seems  plain,  that  the  State  must  either  keep  its  convicts 
in  idleness  and  tax  the  people  for  their  support,  or  employ  them  in  such  work  as 
is  remunerative ;  and  while  it  may  in  some  cases  interfere  somewhat  with  the 
wages  of  mechanics  outside,  yet  the  same  objection  is  urged  against  labor-saving 
machinery.  The  disadvantages  in  this  respect  we  think  have  been  trifling  and 
temporary,  while  the  benefits  to  the  place  have  been  many  and  permanent.  The 
Penitentiary  gives  employment  to  a  great  many  men  besides  the  convicts,  as 
guards  and  keepers,  foreman  and  engineers,  and  also  brings  in  men  to  reside 
here  (who  employ  their  labor)  with  their  families.  It  makes  a  ready  market 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  355 

for  the  products  of  farmers  in  the  vicinity,  as  will  appear  from  the  following 
estimate  which  we  have  seen  of  an  ordinary  dinner :  30  pounds  of  butter,  1,700 
pounds  of  beef,  1,300  pounds  of  pork,  10  bushels  of  beans,  300  pounds  of  hom- 
iny, 300  pounds  of  rice,  10  bushels  of  peas,  24  bushels  of  potatoes,  2,800  pounds 
of  cabbage,  10  barrels  of  krout,  1,200  pounds  of  bread,  250  pounds  of  coffee,  etc. 

Not  the  least  among  the  benefits  which  the  city  and  county  have  derived  from 
the  location  of  the  prison  must  be  reckoned  the  valuable  and  enterprising  men  it 
has  from  time  to  time  added  to  our  population.  Among  the  earlier  of  these  we 
must  reckon  the  genial,  large-hearted  Samuel  K.  Casey  (now  deceased) ;  Dr.  John 
R.  Casey,  his  brother,  who  was  several  years  the  Physician  in  Charge,  and  still 
resides  among  us ;  and  our  enterprising  citizen,  William  A.  Steele,  who  was  Clerk 
for  the  original  contractors,  Sanger  &  Casey,  and  who  has  since  done  so  much  to 
develop  the  stone  business  here'  The  list  might  be  extended  through  the  years, 
and  would  be  found  to  include  many  valuable  citizens,  some  still  residents  here. 

The  amount  of  supplies  purchased  from  Will  County  farmers  and  merchants 
for  the  use  of  the  prison  cannot  be  less  than  $100,000  annually ;  while  the 
amount  paid  out  by  the  State  and  by  contractors  for  salaries  and  wages  to 
officers,  employes  and  foremen  who,  with  their  families,  live  in  Joliet,  will  at 
least  reach  the  same  figure. 

We  give  the  statistics  of  the  prison  at  the  date  of  October  12,  1878  : 

CONTRACTS. 

NMne  of  Contractors.  1J±[S?>  E^d.           . 

Cigar  shop National  Cigar  Company 190 

Harness  shop Risser  &  Reitz 100  98 

Boot  and  shoe  shop... Selz,  Schwab  &  Co 425  424 

Wire  fence  shop Joliet  Wire  Fenc-?  Company 30  to      60  47 

Cooper  shop J.  H.  Winterbotham  &  Sons 160  171 

Butt  shop Ohio  Butt  Company 90  88 

Brush  shop Ohio  Brush  Works 65  66 

Marble  shop Burlington  Manufacturing  Co...  65  69 

Granite  shop G.  A.  Haley  &  Co 40  22 

Tailor  shop A.  V.  Hutching 50  36 

Knitting  shop H.  C.  Cullom 25  to     50  33 

Total  on  contracts 1,244 

STATE    WORK. 

State  runners  in  contract  shops .     35 

Stone  department 

State  shops 56 

Stables 16 

Yard  gang 44 

Store  and  farm 17 

Convict  kitchen 17 

Wash-room  and  clothing  department 26 

Cell  houses 37 

Hospital  nurses 5 

Warden  house 36 

Female  prison 25 

Total  on  State  work 402 

Total...  1,646 


356  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Of  the  402  men  employed  for  State  work,  88  men  in  stone  department,  56  men  in  State 
shops,  and  10  men  in  store  and  farm  are  absolutely  productive.  The  balance  are  mostly 
employed  for  the  service  and  at  the  expense  of  the  institution. 

Citizens'  pay-roll  of  Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  108  men.  Contractors'  employes  at  Illinois 
State  Penitentiary,  about  75  men. 

Wishing  to  get  some  idea  of  the  religious  efforts  which  are  made  for  the 
benefit  of  the  inmates  of  the  Penitentiary,  we  availed  ourselves  of  the  kind 
permission  of  the  Warden  to  attend  the  Sabbath  service  on  the  beautiful 
Autumn  morning  which  greeted  us  the  20th  of  October,  1878.  A  short  walk 
brought  us  to  the  gate  which  opens  on  the  graveled  serpentine  path  leading  up 
from  the  Lockport  road,  through  a  beautiful,  well-kept  lawn  of  brightest  green, 
dotted  with  flower-beds,  to  the  handsome  stone  porch  which  commands  the 
entrance  to  the  main  hall.  Pausing  here  a  moment  to  look  at  the  lawn,  con- 
sisting of  two  terraces,  the  upper  one,  over  which  we  had  just  come,  in  front 
of  the  east  wing,  and  the  lower  one,  running  along  the  west  wing  to  the  Chi- 
cago, Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  with  a  beautiful,  well-filled  greenhouse  at 
the  dividing  wall,  we  push  open  the  door  and  find  ourselves  in  the  marble-paved 
hall,  from  which  we  enter  the  reception-room.  Here  we  find  quite  a  com- 
pany, largely  composed  of  ladies,  who  have  come  on  a  similar  errand.  After  a 
few  moments,  the  Chaplain  and  the  Warden  enter,  and  invite  us  to  accompany 
them.  We  pass  through  the  iron-grated  door  in  the  iron  grated  partition, 
which  turns  noiselessly  upon  its  hinges  at  the  bidding  of  a  turnkey,  and  find 
ourselves  in  another  hall ;  but  now  we  are  separated  from  the  outside  world, 
and  can  only  return  by  the  permission  of  the  turnkey  who  has  admitted  us. 
But  we  pass  on  through  another  similar  door  into  the  prison-yard,  where  we 
catch  a  glimpse  of  many  work-shops  of  various  kinds,  and  find  the  building  for 
which  we  are  bound,  in  the  second  story  of  which  is  the  chapel.  This  con- 
tains, on  the  first  floor,  the  kitchen  and  other  rooms,  and  is  bordered  all  along 
the  west  front  by  a  narrow"  terrace  of  green  turf,  which  affords  a  grateful  relief 
to  the  glare  of  stone  walls  and  well-beaten  thoroughfares.  At  the  south  end  of 
this  building,  we  pass  up  an  outside  stairway,  through  a  door  in  the  southwest 
corner,  which  admits  us  to  the  chapel,  a  large,  rectangular  room,  well  lighted 
and  ventilated,  and  plainly  seated,  with  a  capacity,  we  judge,  of  ten  or  twelve 
hundred.  At  the  further  end  is  a  door,  through  which  the  striped  audience  is 
filing  in,  taking  their  seats  in  squads  as  directed  by  guards.  At  the  end  by 
which  we  have  entered,  is  an  elevated  platform,  filled  with  the  comfortable 
rustic  chairs  of  the  prison  manufacture.  These  are  being  filled  with  that  por- 
tion of  the  audience  which  are  not  in  uniform.  In  the  center  of  the  platform,  is 
a  neat  desk,  on  which  lies  a  large  Bible,  and  a  cottage- organ  is  on  the  eastern 
end.  As  soon  as  all  the  audience — consisting,  on  the  main  floor,  as  we  judge, 
of  about  eight  hundred  men,  uniformed,  and  a  dozen  guards  who  occupy  chairs 
on  raised  platforms  on  either  wall,  and  on  the  platform  at  the  south  end,  of  a 
company  of  thirty  or  forty  well-dressed  gentlemen  and  ladies — are  seated,  the 
choir  of  nine  young  men  in  the  prevalent  uniform,  assisted  by  Miss  Cleghorn, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  357 

of  Joliet,  at  the  organ,  commence  the  singing  of  a  familiar  hymn,  in  which 
many  of  the  audience  join.  The  services  then  proceed  very  much  as  in  any  of 
our  churches  —  prayer,  reading  of  Scripture,  singing,  etc.,  after  which  the 
Chaplain  delivers  a  plain,  practical  and  pungent  discourse  from  the  text, 
Romans,  viii,  34. 

After  the  discourse,  the  Chaplain  invited  Mr.  Jones,  one  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, who  happened  to  be  present,  to  make  an  address,  who  did  so  in  an 
earnest  appeal  to  the  hearers  to  resolve  to  lead  a  better  life. 

During  these  exercises,  the  audience  was  quiet  and  attentive,  and  apparently 
as  deeply  interested  as  any  we  have  ever  seen.  How  much  of  this  was  due  to 
the  watchful  eyes  of  the  guards,  we  cannot  tell.  Although  the  attendance  is 
not  voluntary  (except  upon  the  class  meeting),  many,  we  presume,  attend  also 
from  choice.  If  they  do  not  do  so  for  moral  reasons,  it  must  afford  an  agree- 
able diversion  from  the  labors  and  thoughts  of  the  week ;  and  if  they  are 
greeted  every  Sabbath  with  such  an  array  of  youth  and  beauty  as  met  them 
upon  the  occasion  of  which  we  write,  we  should  think  they  would  look  forward 
to  it  with  eager  anticipation.  But  to  be  thus  reminded  of  the  sisters,  wives, 
mothers  and  children,  whose  hearts  they  have  broken  and  whb-se  names  they 
have  dishonored  and  whose  prayers  and  entreaties  they  have  disregarded,  may 
not  be  a  cheerful  sight ! 

As  the  chapel  is  not  large  enough  to  accommodate  all  the  inmates,  the  east 
and  west  wing  attend  on  alternate  Sabbaths. 

We  scrutinized  the  audience  closely  to  see  if  there  was  any  marked  differ- 
ence in  the  apparent  intellectual  and  moral  development  of  the  striped  audience 
and  the  people  we  meet  every  day,  and  were  forced  to  admit  that  no  such  differ- 
ence was  visible.  We  noticed,  also,  that  many  seemed  to  be  deeply  interested 
in  the  services. 

After  the  service  was  over  and  the  benediction  pronounced,  the  largest  por- 
tion of  the  uniformed  audience  withdrew  at  the  north  door,  in  charge  of  the  guards. 
A  part,  however — about  200,  as  we  judged — remained,  and  were  seated  in  the 
front  seats,  when  the  Chaplain  commenced  a  class  meeting,  opening  it  with  sing- 
ing, after  which  he  called  upon  a  brother  to  pray,  when  a  young  convict  (who 
is  the  prison  librarian)  led  in  a  fervent  and  well-worded  prayer — every  one  in 
the  seats  kneeling.  The  brethren  were  then  permitted  to  speak  briefly,  and  ten 
or  twelve  responded,  one  after  another,  the  Chaplain  occasionally  putting  in  a 
word  of  instruction  or  encouragement,  arid  passing  around  in  his  audience  and 
shaking  them  by  the  hand.  It  was  a  deeply  interesting  and  affecting  sight. 
Some  alluded  to  their  situation,  spoke  of  the  causes  that  had  placed  them  where 
they  were,  and  avowed  their  purpose  to  persevere,  with  the  help  of  God.  One 
or  two  thanked  God  that  they  had  been  put  where  they  were,  as  it  had  been 
the  means  of  their  conversion.  Among  the  number  who  spoke  were  three  col- 
ored brethren,  and  one  was  especially  fervent  and  happy.  His  face  shone  like 
that  of  Moses  when  he  came  down  from  the  mount,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that 


358  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

the  brother  had  himself  been  upon  the  mount  and  held  communion  with  his 
Maker.  He  avowed  his  love  for  Christ  and  his  happiness  since  he  had  found 
Him.  Nothing  now,  he  said,  gave  him  any  trouble ;  all  was  joy  and  peace. 
He  was  full  of  the  spiritual  elan  of  his  mercurial  race,  and  spoke  on  with  volu- 
ble earnestness,  with  his  eyes  rolled  up  to  the  ceiling,  increasing,  each  moment, 
in  fervor,  his  spiritual  Pegasus  mounting  higher  and  higher,  until  he  seemed 
just  ready  to  go  up  in  a  chariot  of  fire,  when  he  was  brought  back  to  earth  by 
a  judicious  word  or  two  from  the  Chaplain  and  the  starting  of  a  hymn,  which 
brought  the  dark-skinned  brother  to  his  seat,  seemingly,  we  thought,  a  little 
disappointed  in  being  thus  brought  back  to  earth.  The  whole  service  was  most 
admirably  conducted  by  the  Chaplain,  who  seemed  to  have  his  flock  under  per- 
fect control.  About  one-third  of  those  who  remained  seemed  to  belong  to  the 
class,  or  society .  An  opportunity  was  given  to  any  of  the  rest  to  join.  On 
this  occasion,  one  did  so,  and  was  called  out  in  front  and  greeted  by  the  Chap- 
lain with  a  hearty  hand-shake  and  a  word  or  two  of  advice. 

The  service  was  closed  at  half  past  11  by  the  distribution  of  religious  papers 
and  the  singing  of  the  doxology,  and  thus  we  had  spent  two  and  a  half  hours 
in  a  most  interesting  manner  and  without  weariness. 

We  were  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the  Chaplain  is  doing  a  good 
work  in  his  chosen  field ;  that  he  is  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  and  that 
he  has,  perhaps,  as  much  evidence  of  his  success  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  most 
Pastors. 

We  understand  that  one  of  the  Catholic  Pastors  of  our  city  also  holds  a 
religious  service  at  the  prison,  at  which  the  inmates  of  that  faith  are  permitted 
to  attend,  and  that  the  Chaplain  has  an  afternoon  service  for  the  women. 


OFFICIAL  RECORD. 

COUNTY    OFFICERS. 

Previous  to  the  adoption  of  township  organization  in  1850,  the  county  had 
been  divided  into  precincts  for  the  purpose  of  election,  with  precinct  Justices  of 
the  Peace  and  Constables,  the  county  legislation  and  general  business  being 
transacted  by  County  Commissioners.  The  list  of  County  Commissioners  from 
the  organization  of  the  county  to  1850,  is  as  follows : 

Holder  Sisson,  1836-39,  4  years,  deceased ;  Thomas  Durham,  1836-38,  3  years,  deceased  ; 
James  Walker,  1836,  1  year,  deceased  ;  R.  L.  Wilson,  1837-38,  2  years,  deceased  ;  J.  Blackstone, 
1839,  1  year,  deceased  ;  Thomas  Cox,  parts  of  1839-40  ;  W.  B.  Peck,  1839-42,  4  years,  deceased; 
William  Gougar,  part  of  1840-41,  2  years, deceased  ;  H.  Sisson,  1840,  1  year,  deceased;  Samuel 
Whalon,  1841-43,  3  years,  deceased;  N.  Hawley,  1842-44,  3  years,  deceased;  F.  Mitchell, 
1844-46,  3  years;  Willard  Wood,  1843-44,  2  years  ;  Robert  Stevens,  1845-47,  3  years,  deceased ; 
James  Walker,  1846-19,  4  years,  deceased  ;  J.  B.  Schemerhorn,  1848-49,  2 years;  F.  Worcester, 
1847-49,  3  years. 

On  the  first  organization  of  the  county,  there  was  included  a  tier  of  four  town- 
ships on  the  south,  lying  east  of  Wesley,  and  also  that  part  of  the  townships  south  of 


'  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  359 

them  and  north  of  the  Kankakee  River,  which  were  lost  to  us  on  the  organiza- 
tion of  Kankakee  County  in  1853,  and  it  was  from  this  part  of  the  county  that 
Thomas  Durham  and  F.  Worcester  were  chosen.  On  the  organization  of  Du 
Page  County  in  1839,  we  came  very  near  losing  half  the  townships  of  Wheat- 
land  and  Dupage.  It  was  left  by  the  act  to  the  voters  residing  on  the  half 
townships  to  decide  by  vote  in  August  to  which  county  they  would  belong. 
They  very  wisely  decided  to  remain  in  Will  County.  But  they  had  not  much 
wisdom  to  spare,  as  the  matter  was  decided  by  a  majority  of  one  vote. 

We  shall  now  close  our  historical  sketch  by  giving  a  list  of  all  the  other 
county  officers  from  the  erection  of  the  county  to  the  present  time,  and  follow 
it  with  a  list  of  those  who  have  filled  State  and  other  offices  from  the  county. 
This  will  be  more  cheerful  reading,  and  will  get  many  good  men  into  history  : 

County  Clerks.— Levi  Jenks,  1836-42,  7  years  ;  N.  D.  Elwood,  1843-48,  6  years,  deceased  ; 
0.  L.  Hawley,  1849-56,  8  years,  deceased  ;  William  Tonner,  1&57-64,  8  years  ;  Henry  Logan,  1865- 
68,  4  years  ;  J.  C.  Williams,  1869-73,  5  years  ;  W.  B.  Hawley,  1874-77,  4  years;  W.  H.  Zarley, 
1878,  now  in  office. 

Recorders.— G.  H.  Woodruff,  1836-42,  7  years  ;  R.  C.  Duncan,  1843-47,  5  years,  died  in  1874. 

Circuit  Clerks. — Levi  Jenks,  1836-40,  5  years  ;  William  Smith,  1841-37,  7  years,  deceased. 

Circuit  Clerks  and  Recorders  (offices  united). — M.  McEvoy,  1848-51,  4  years,  died  in  1861 ;  R. 
E.  Barber,  1 852-55,  4  years  ;  Alex.  Mclntosh,  1856-59,  4 years;  B.  F.  Russell,  1860  67,  8 years, 
deceased  ;  Conrad  Tatge,  1868-75,  8  years  ;  Robert  Clow,  1876,  4  years  ;  now  in  office. 

Treasurers. — C.  Clement,  1836, 1  year ;  Bennett  Allen,  1837, 1  year,  deceased ;  Samuel  Anderson, 
1838, 1  year,  deceased ;  William  Adams,  1839-42,  4  years;  Isaac  Jessup,  1843-46,  4years,  deceased; 
H.  N.  Stoddard,  1847-50,  4  years,  deceased  ;  Benjamin  Richardson,  1851-54,  4  years,  died  in 
August,  1869;  C.  H.  Weeks,  1855-58,4  years;  F.  D.  S.  Stewart,  1859-60,  2  years  ;  Benjamin 
Richardson,  1861-62,  2  years,  deceased  ;  Fred.  Schring,  1863-66, 4  years  ;  A.  J.  Fries,  1867-68, 2 
years  ;  R.  F.  Barber,  1869-70,  2  years  ;  A.  J.  Fries,  1871-73,  3  years  ;  James  W.  Martin,  1873-76, 
4  years  ;  John  T.  Donahue,  1877 ;  now  in  office. 

Sheriff's. — F.  Aldrich,  1836-39,4  years;  H.  D.  Risley,  1840-43,  4  years,  deceased  ;  James 
Broadie,  1844-47,  4  years,  deceased ;  Alonzo  Leach,  1848-49,  2  years  ;  R.  J.  Cunningham,  1850- 
51,  2  years,  deceased;  Alonzo  Leach,  1852-53,  2  years;  P.  P.  Scarritt,  1854-55,  2  years; 
George  R.  Dyer,  1856-57,  2  years  ;  Alonzo  Leach,  1858-59,  2  years ;  W.  W.  Bartlett,  1860-61,  2 
years  ;  George  Monroe,  1862-63,  2  years  ;  John  Reid,  1864-65,  2  years  ;  George  Strathdie, 
1866-67,  2  years  ;  H.  Johnson,  1868-69,  2  years  ;  R.  W.  Marshall,  1870-71,  2  years  ;  G.  M. 
Arnold,  1872-75,  4  years ;  Warren  S.  Noble,  1876-78,  resigned ;  Henry  S.  Piepenbrink, 
1878. 

County  Judges. — Hugh  Henderson,  1837,  1  year,  deceased;  G.  H.  Woodruff,  1838,  1  year; 
A.  Cagwin,  1839-42,  4  years  ;  J.  0.  Norton,  1843-1848,  6  years,  deceased ;  G.  D.  A.  Parks, 
1849-52,  4  years  ;  S.  Simmons,  1853-56,  4  years  ;  0.  L.  Hawley,  1857-60,  4  years,  deceased ; 
C.  H.  Weeks,  1861-64,  4  years  ;  David  Willard,  1865-73,  9  years  ;  Benjamin  Olin,  1874,  still 
in  office. 

School  Commissioners.— Le\i  Jenks,  1836-40,  5  years  ;  James  Stout,  1841-44,  4  years,  de- 
ceased ;  Thomas  Allen,  1845,  part  of  year ;  G.  S.  Fake,  1845-46,  two  years  ;  H.  N.  Marsh, 
1847-48,  two  years;  K.  J.  Hammond,  1849-52,  4  years;  S.  W.  Stone,  1853-54,  two  years;  S. 
O.  Simonds,  1855-56,  2  years  ;  B.  F.  Allen,  1857-58,  2  years ;  Edward  Savage,  1859-60,  2 
years,  deceased  ;  S.  0.  Simonds,  1861-62,  2  years ;  Charles  McReading,  1863-64,  2  years,  de- 
ceased ;  Dwight  Haven,  1865-68,  4  years;  S.  0.  Simonds,  1869-73,  5  years;  Mrs.  S.  C.  Mcln- 
tosh, 1874-77,  4  years  ;  Joseph  F.  Perry,  1878,  still  in  office. 

County  Surveyors.— Addison  Collins,  1836-39,  4  years,  deceased;  R.  J.  Boylan,  1840-48,  9 
years;  J.  Woolley,  1849-52,  4  years,  deceased;  A.  J.  Matthewson,  1853-60,  8  years;  Adam 


360  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Comstock,   1861-64,  4  years  ;   N.  D.  Ingraham,   1865-66,  2  years  ;  Adam  Comstock,  1867-74,  8 
years ;  A.  J.  Matthewson,  1875,  4  years,  still  in  office. 

Coroners— E.  M.  Daggett,  1836-37,  2  years;  Joel  George,  1838-43,  6  years;  C.  White, 
1844,  1  year;  Benjamin  Richardson,  1845-51,  7  years,  deceased  ;  A.  B.  Mead,  1852-53,  2years: 
J.  H.  Reece,  1854-57,  4  years  ;  Charles  Demmond,  1858-61,  4  years,  died  in  1867 ;  E.  E.  Daly, 
1862-63,  2  years;  J.  H.  Reece,  1864-65,  2  years ;  A.  J.  Fries,  1866-67,  2  years ;  J.  H.  Reece, 
1868-69,  2  years;  Charles  Richards,  1870-74,  5  years;  M.  B.  Campbell,  1875-76,  2  years; 
Thomas  McBride,  1877,  still  in  office. 

BOARD    OF   SUPERVISORS. 

Town  of  Channahon. — George  Tryon,  1850—52,  3  years ;  H.  Henderson,  1853,  1  year,  de- 
ceased; J.  J.  Schemmerhorn,  1854-56,  3  years;  Charles  C.  Smith,  1857-61,  5  years;  E.  H. 
Jessup,  1862,  1  year ;  John  T.  Randall,  1863-65,  3  years ;  J.  N.  Fryer,  1866-77-78,  13  years, 
still  in  office. 

Town  of  Crete.— N.  Brown,  1850,  1  year  ;  A.  Wilder,  1851-53,  3  years  ;  Willard  Wood,  1854, 
1  year;  Z.  Henderson,  1855,  1  year. 

The  town  of  Washington  was  then  set  off. 

Crete  (continued). — Willard  Wood,  1856,  1  year;  M.  Kile,  1857,  1  year;  H.  H.  Mynard, 
1858,  1  year  ;  W.  Hewes,  1859,  1  year;  C.  Tatge,  1860,  1  year  ;  N.  Brown,  1861,  1  year;  E.  W. 
Beach,  1862,  1  year ;  H.  A.  Dean,  1863,  1  year ;  C.  Tatge,  1864,  1  year ;  W.  Hewes,  1865,  1 
year;  C.  Tatge,  1866-7,  2  years;  C.  Horn,  1868,  1  year;  J.  O'Meier,  1869-71,  3  years;  C. 
Horn,  1872,  1  year;  J.  O'Meier,  1873-74,  2  years;  D.  S.  Bordwell,  1875-76,  2  years;  J. 
O'Meier,  1877-78,  2  years,  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Dup age — John  Miller,  1850,  1  year;  A.  C.  Paxton,  1851-52,  2  years;  R.  W. 
Smith,  1853-54,  2  years,  died  January  2,  1869 ;  H.  Boardman,  1855,  1  year  ;  E.  D.  Eaton,  1856, 
1  year;  A.  C.  Paxton,  1857,  1  year  ;  T.  H.  Abbott,  1858-59,  2  years;  B.  B.  Clark,  1860,  1  year; 
J.  P.  King,  1861,  1  year;  Robert  Strong,  1862,  1  year;  B.  B.  Clark,  1863,  1  year;  E.  Virgil, 
1864,  lyear;  R.  W.  Smith,  1865-67,  3  years;  A.  Godfrey,  1868,  1  year;  J.  B.  King,  1869,  1 
year;  John  Royce,  1870-73,  4  years  ;  Thomas  Williams,  1874-78,  4  years,  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Frankfort.— W.  B.  Cleveland,  1850-52,  3  years  ;  M.  Van  Home,  1853-56, 4  years  ; 
0.  McGovney,  1857,  1  year ;  H.  S.  Higgins,  1858,  1  year ;  0.  McGovney,  1859-60,  2  years  ; 
John  Reid,  1861-63,  3  years;  J.  B.  Etz,  1864,  1  year;  Josiah  Carpenter,  1865,  1  year;  George 
Bez,  1866,  1  year  ;  0.  McGovney,  1867-68,  2  years  ;  J.  Hunter,  1869-70,  2  years;  S.  Shuberth, 
1871-72,  2  years  ;  H.  R.  Wood,  1873,  1  year  ;  John  Baumgartner,  1874-75,  2  years  ;  John  Mc- 
Donald, 1876-78,  still  in  office. 

Town  of  Florence.— W.  W.  Monteith,  1851,  1  year;  E.  H.  Strong,  1852,  1  year;  J.  Linebar- 
ger,  1853,  1  year ;  S.  Morey,  1854,  1  year;  J.  Kahler,  1855, 1  year ;  J.  Shoemaker,  1856,  1  year  ; 
M.  Tuttle,  1857-58,  2  years;  J.  Shoemaker,  1859-61,  3  years;  J.  Kahler,  1862,  1  year;  J. 
Linebarger,  1863,  1  year;  J.  M.  White,  1864,  1  year;  C.  Hazard,  1865-69,  5  years;  S.  Morey, 
1870,  1  year;  J.  Shirk,  1871-73,  3  years;  Thomas  Maher,  1874-76,  3  years;  Royal  S.  Corbin, 
1877-78,  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Qreengarden. — J.  A.  Bemiss,  1853,  1  year  ;  N.  Johnson,  1854-55,  2  years ;  G.  M. 
Green,  1856-57,  2  years  ;  B.  K.  Hutchinson,  1858,  1  year  ;  J.  W.  Young,  1859-1860,  2  years  ; 
M.  F.  Sanders,  1861-62,  2  years  ;  A.  A.  Angel,  1863,  1  year;  G.  M.  Green,  1864,  1  year;  M.  F. 
Sanders,  1865,  1  year  ;  L.  J.  Burditt,  1866-67,  2  years ;  G.  B.  Wood,  1868-70,  3  years ;  H. 
Eisenbrandt,  1871-72,  2  years  ;  H.  H.  Stasson,  Jr.,  1873-78,  5  years,  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Homer. — Samuel  Blount,  1850,  1  year  ;  Ira  Austin,  1851,  1  year;  Addison  Collins, 
1852-53,  2  years ;  Ira  Austin,  1854-59,  6  years  ;  Alanson  Granger,  1860,  1  year  ;  Amos  Savage, 
elected  in  1861 ;  resigned  to  go  to  the  war ;  J.  D.  Frazer,  1861,  1  year  ;  S.  Knapp,  1862,  1  year ; 
Alanson  Granger,  1863,  1  year;  A.  G.  Rowley,  1864-65,  2  years  :  Levi  Hartwell,  1866,  1  year; 
Amos  Savage,  1867-72,  6  years  ;  J.  H.  Randle,  1873,  1  year  ;  J.  D.  Frazer,  1874,  1  year ; 
Amos  Savage,  1875-76,  2  years  ;  A.  G.  Rowley,  1877,  1  year ,  J.  D.  Frazer,  1878,  now  in 
office. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  361 

Town  of  Jackson. — S.  Johnson,  1850,  1  year;  George  Linebarger,  1851-53,  3  years ;  E^  B. 
Crafts,  1854-55,2  years;  S.  Johnson,  1856,  1  year;  George  Linebarger,  1857,  1  year;  E.  B. 
Crafts,  1858,  1  year;  George  Linebarger,  1859,  1  year;  D.  D.  Powless,  1860,  1  year;  S.  John- 
son, 1861,  1  year  ;  S.  Young,  1862,  1  year :  George  Linebarger,  1863, 1  year ;  H.  Spangler,  1864, 
1  year  ;  George  Linebarger,  1865-1867,  3  years ;  Thomas  Tait,  1868,  1  year;  H.  Spangler,  1869- 
76,  7  years  ;  W.  F.  Keith,  1876-77,  2  years  ;  Henry  Spangler,  1878,  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Joliet. — Charles  Clement,  1850-52,  3  years  ;  A.  Cagwin,  1853,  1  year;  F.  Aldrich, 
1854,  1  year;  Joel  George,  1855,  1  year;  Edmund  Wilcox,  1856, 1  year;  E.  Wilcox  and  R.  Stev- 
ens, 1857,  1  year;  S.  W.  Bowen  and  J.  Shutts,  1858,  1  year ;  R.  E.  Goodell  and  E.  Wilcox,  1859, 
1  year  ;  R.  E.  Goodell  and  H.  B.  Goddard,  1860,  1  year ;  R.  E.  Goodell  and  George  Woodruff, 
1861,  1  year;  George  Woodruff  and  J.  C.  Zarley,  1862,  one  year;  S.  K.  Casey  and  J.  Shutts, 
1863,  1  year;  W.  S.  Brooks  and  John  Shutts,  1864-66,  3  years;  W.  S.  Brooks  and  E.  Daly, 
1867-68,  2  years  ;  W.  S.  Brooks  and  A.  Schiedt,  1869-70,  2  years;  William  Werner  and  D.  P. 
Hendricks,  1871,  1  year;  William  Werner  and  W.  A.  Strong,  Jr.,  1872, 1  year;  William  Werner 
and  R.  Walsh,  1873,  1  year;  William  Werner,  A.  0.  Marshall,  James  Boland  and  N.  D.  Tighe, 
1874,  1  year;  W.  S.  Brooks,  John  Ryan,  James  Boland  and  Nathaniel  Barnes,  1875,  1  year;  W. 
S.  Brooks,  John  Ryan,  Antony  Schiedt  and  William  Werner,  1876,  1  year  ;  F.  J.  Rapple,  William 
Werner,  John  Ryan  and  Mansfield  Young,  1877,  1  year  ;  F.  J.  Rapple,  John  Schiedt,  William 
Gleason,  John  Lyons,  1878,  1  year  ;  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Lockport.—J.  W.  Paddock,  1850,  1  year  ;  Joel  C.  Mills,  1851-52,  2  years ;  Henry 
Torrey,  1853,  1  year;  C.  Dowd,  1854,  1  year;  J.  C.  Mills,  1855,  1  year;  R  B.  Harrington, 
1856,  1  year;  A.  S.  Anderson,  1857,  1  year;  C.  E.  Boyer,  1858,  1  year;  William  Hanley,  1859, 
1  year;  S.  Sly,  1860-61,  2  years;  S.  Lonergan,  1862,  1  year;  W.  H.  Baker,  1863-65,  3  years; 
J.  Fiddyment,  1866-68,  3  years;  P.  Fitzpatrick,  1869-70,  2  years;  J.  F.  Daggett,  1871,  1  year; 
J.  H.  Arnold,  1872,  1  year;  W.  W.  Marcy,  1873-74,  2  years;  Julius  Scheibe,  1875,  1  year;  J. 
A.  Boyer,  1876,  1  year;  George  M.  Arnold,  1877-78,  2  years;  now  in  office. 

Trenton.— William  Nelson,  1850,  1  year;  M.  Baily,  1851-52,  2  years. 

The  town  was  then  divided  into  Manhattan  and  Greengarden. 

Town  of  Manhattan — John  Young,  1863,  1  year;  Clark  Baker,  1854-55,  2  years;  John 
Young,  1856-60,  5  years;  Clark  Baker,  1861-62,  2  years;  G.  A.  Buck,  1863-64,  2  years;  J.  E. 
Baker,  1865-69,  5  years;  G.  A.  Buck,  1870-73,  3  years;  Stephen  Robinson,  1873-74,  2  years; 
Clark  Baker,  1875,  1877-78,  4  years;  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Carey.— S.  W.  Cooper,  1850,  1  year ;  John  S.  Holland,  1851-53,  3  years  ;  George 
Baker,  1854-55,  2  years;  B.  Sheridan,  1856,  1  year;  D.  Milliken,  1857-58,  2  years;  now 
in  office. 

The  town  of  Carey  was  then  divided  into  Will  and  Monee. 

Monee.—O.  Kahler,  1859-62,  4  years  ;  A.  Herbert,  1863-64,  2  years  ;  E.  C.  Howard,  1865, 
1  year;  A.  Vass,  1866-68,  3  years;  S.  W.  Cooper,  1869,  1  year;  J.  Griffith,  1870-72,  3  years  ; 
J.  Kolstedt,  1873-74,  2  years;  Leubbe  Albers,  1875-77,  3  years;  John  Koldstedt,  1877,  now  in 
office. 

New  Lenox.— J.  Van  Duzer,  1850,  1  year;    A.  McDonald,  1851,  1  year;    B.  F.  Allen,  1852,' 

1  year;  G.  McDonald,  1853,  1  year ;  J.  C.  Kerchival,  1854-55,  2  years ;  Dwight  Haven,  1856-57, 

2  years  ;    J.  C.  Kerchival,  1858,  1  year  ;    Dwight  Haven,  1859-60,  2  years  ;    A.  Frank,  1861-63, 

3  years;    T.  Doig,  1864,  1  year;    Dwight  Haven,  1865,  1  year;    T.  Doig,  1866-67,  2  years; 
Dwight  Haven,  1868,  1  year;    T.  Doig,  1869,  1  year;    C.  Snoad,  1870-71,  2  years;    J.  Francis, 
1872,  1  year;    P.  Cavanaugh,  1873,  1  year:    Thomas  Doig,  1874,  1  year;    John  Francis,  1876, 
1877-78,  4  years  ;  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Flainfield.—l,.  Hamlin,  1850,  1  year;  J.  Ballard,  1851,  1  year;  A.  Culver,  1852, 
1  year;  L.  Hamlin,  1853,  1  year;  Cyrus  Ashley,  1854,  1  year;  Winthrop  Wright,  1855-56,  2 
years  ;  A.  Culver,  1857,  1  year  ;  D.  Vandersoll,  1858,  1  year  ;  A.  Culver,  1859, 1  year;  Winthrop 
Wright,  1860,  1  year;  W.  P.  Caton,  1861-68,  8  years;  A.  McClaskey,  1869-76,  8  years;  Hervey 
Stratton,  1877-78,  2  years  ;  now  in  office. 


362  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Peotone. — M.  Wright,  1858,  1  year;  S.  Goodspeed,  1859-60,  2  years;  J.  P.  Dean,  1861-62, 
2  years  ;  F.  Fahs,  1863-64,  2  years;  S.  C.  Guion,  1865-67,  3  years ;  S.  Goodspeed,  1868-69,  2 
years ;  T.  Gilkerson,  1870,  1  year ;  R.  Crawford,  1871-72,  2  years  ;  David  L.  Christian,  1873,  1 
year;  R.  Crawford,  1874,  1  year;  Michael  Collins,  1875-76,  2  years;  J.  B.  Sollitt,  Sr.,  1877,  1 
year ;  Michael  Collins,  1878,  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Reed.— John  Kilpatrick,  1850,  1  year ;  T.  T.  Tilden,  1851-53,  3  years  ;  A.  Yates, 
1854,  1  year;  R.  S.  Nobles,  1855,  1  year;  R.  Warner,  1856-57,  2  years;  J.  Martin,  1858,  1 
year;  F.  D.  S.  Stewart,  1859,  1  year;  T.  T.  Tilden,  1860-61,  2  years  ;  F.  D.  S.  Stewart,  1862-63, 
2  years;  M.  Stewart,  1864-1865,  2  years;  S.  P.  Stewart,  1866-67,  2  years  ;  E.  Gano,  1868-69, 
2  years  ;  William  Conner,  1870-72,  3  years  ;  Thomas  Hennebry,  1873,  1  year  ;  William  Mooney, 
1874,  1  year;  H.  Le  Caron,  1875,  1  year;  J.  R.  Marsh,  1876,  1  year;  John  Young,  1877-78,  2 
years,  still  in  office. 

Town  of  Troy. — J.  H.  Robinson,  1850-51,  2  years ;  John  McEvoy,  1852,  1  year;  John  T. 
Randall,  1853-54,  2  years  ;  P.  Rowan,  1855,  1  year  ;  G.  Kinsella,  1856-58,  3  years ;  J.  Dillon, 
1859-60,  2  years,  died  in  1867  ;  N.  Hull,  1861-62,  2  years ;  H.  W.  Searles,  1863-64,  2  years  ; 
J.  Dempsey,  1865-1867,  3  years  ;  D.  C.  Searles,  1868,  1  year;  William  McEvoy,  1869-71,3 
years;  David  Murphy,  1872-73,  2  years;  James  McDonald,  1874-75,  2  years ;  D.  C.  Searles, 
1876-78,  3  years  ;  now  in  office. 

Town  of  Wilmington. — John  Frazier,  1850,  1  year. 

The  town  was  then  divided  into  Wilmington,  Florence  and  Wesley. 

Town  of  Wilmington  — A.  J.  Mclntyre,  1851-52,  2  years;  H.  R.  Whipple,  1853-55,  3  years; 
J.  J.  Camp,  1856-57,  2  years;  R.  S.  Nobles,  1858,  1  year;  J.  D.  Henderson,  1859-60,  2  years; 

D.  U.  Cobb,  1861-62,  2  years ;    A.  J.  Mclntyre,  1863-64,  2  years ;    F.  Mitchell,  1865,  1  year ; 

E.  R.  Willard,  1866-67,  2  years;    J.   H.  Daniels,   1868-70,  3  years;    S.  C.  Camp,  1871-73,  3 
years;  R.  C.  Thompson,  1874-76,  3  years;  S.  Silliman,  1877-78,  2  years;  still  in  office. 

Town  of  Wheatland.—D.  W.  Cropsey,  1850-51,  2  years;  S.  Simmons,  1852-53,  2  years;  F. 
Boardman,  1854-56,  3  years;  Robert  Clow,  1857,  1  year;  S.  Simmons,  1858-60,  3  years;  Rob- 
ert Clow,  1861-76,  16  years ;  J.  M.  McMicken,  1877-78,  2  years,  still  in  office. 

Town  of  Wesley. — John  Frazier,  1851,  1  year;  H.  Warner,  1852-55,  4  years;  David  Wil- 
lard, 1856-61,  6  years;  John  Frazier,  1862,  1  year;  D.  Willard,  1863,  1  year;  S.  S.  Case,  1864, 
1  year;  David  Willard,  1865-69,  5  years;  Sylvester  Jones,  1870-73,  4  years;  Guy  M.  Beck- 
with,  1874,  1  year;  H.  Warner,  1875-78,  4  years;  still  in  office. 

Town  of  Wilton. — William  Dancer,  1850,  1  year;  James  Kibben,  1851,  1  year;  H.  Hervey, 
1852-55,  4  years:  W.  T.  Nelson,  1856,  1  year;  William  Mills,  1857,  1  year. 

The  town  of  Peotone  was  then  set  off. 

Town  of  Wilton,  continued. — William  Mills,  1858,  1  year;  A.  Warner,  1859,  1  year;  M.  0. 
Cagwin,  1860-63,  4  years;  M.  Dennis,  1864,  1  year;  W.  B.  Bass,  1865-67,  3  years;  J.  Kenis- 
ton,  1868-70,  3  years;  S.  Smith,  1871-73,  3  years;  Samuel  G.  Nelson,  1874-78,  5  years,  still  in 
office. 

Town  of  Will.—S.  Storer,  1859-61,  3  years  ;  H.  N.  Ingersoll,  1862-63,  2  years;  F.  P.  Lilley, 
1864,  1  year;  H.  N.  Ingersoll,  1865,  1  year;  F.  P.  Lilley,  1866-67,  2  years;  James  Maxwell, 
1868,  1  year;  F.  P.  Lilley,  1869-73,  5  years;  J.  B.  Sollitt,  Jr.,  1874-76,  3  years;  John  I.  Rice, 
1877,  1  year;  R.  Patterson,  1878  ;  still  in  office. 

At  the  July  session  of  the  Board,  all  that  part  of  the  town  of  Reed  lying 
east  of  the  section  line  dividing  Towns  3  and  4,  and  running  south,  through 
the  township,  was  set  off  into  a  new  town,  and  named  Ouster — thus  making  it 
sure  that  the  name  of  the  hero  of  a  late  Indian  battle  should  be  preserved  ;  and 
at  the  September  session  of  the  Board,  there  was  a  new  Supervisor  for  the 
town  of  Ouster — George  W.  Petro,  1876-78,  3  years. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  363 

Town  of  Washington. — R.  Richards,  1856,  1  year;  J.  White,  1857,  1  year;  E.  C.  Richards, 
1858,  1  year  ;  Z.  Dewey,  1859-60,  2  years  ;  H.  Bahlman,  1861-62,  2  years ;  R.  Dunbar,  1863-64, 
2  years  ;  F.  Kouka,  1865,  1  year;  R.  Dunbar,  1866-68,  3  years ;  H.  Mathias,  1869-70,  2  years: 
F.  Wilkie,  1871-78,  9  years  ;  now  in  office. 

Besides  the  county  officers  whose  names  are  given  in  the  preceding  lists, 
Will  County  has  furnished  men  to  the  Legislature,  Senatorial  and  Congressional 
Districts  of  which  she  has  formed  a  part,  and  to  the  State  and  United  States 
service,  as  follows : 

Governor. — J.  A.  Matteson,  1852. 

Secretary  of  State. — David  L.  Gregg,  1851,  also  Commissioner  to  Sandwich  Islands. 

Members  of  Congress. — J.  0.  Norton,  1852,  1854,  1862;   Henry  Snapp,  1871,  to  fill  vacancy. 

State  Senate. — John  Pearson,  1843,  resigned ;  Joel  A.  Matteson,  special,  1843  and  1848  ;  Uri 
Osgood,  1852;  G.  D.  A.  Parks,  1856;  Henry  Snapp,  1868,  resigned;  J.  F.  Daggett,  1871,  to 
fill  vacancy  ;  William  S.  Brooks,  1872  ;  A.  0.  Marshall,  1874  and  1878. 

General  Assembly. — James  Walker  (town  of  Plainfield),  1836  ;  David  L.  Gregg,  Joliet, 
1840;  Addison  Collins,  Homer,  1842 ;  William  E.  Little,  Joliet,  1846  and  1848;  John  Miller, 
Dupage,  1846  and  1848;  0.  H.  Haven,  Joliet,  1849,  to  fill  vacancy;  J.  0.  Norton,  Joliet,  1850 ; 
S.  W.  Randall,  Joliet,  1850;  G.  D.  A.  Parks,  Joliet,  1854;  Hiram  Norton,  Lockport,  1858; 
Charles  E.  Boyer,  Lockport,  1862 ;  A.  J.  Mclntyre,  Wilmington,  1864 ;  Robert  Clow,  Wheatland, 
1866  and  1870;  George  Gaylord,  Lockport,  1868 ;  William  S.  Brooks,  Joliet,  1870;  John  H. 
Daniels,  Wilmington,  1870;  Jabez  Harvey,  Wilton,  1872;  Amos  Savage,  Homer,  1872;  John  S. 
Jessup,  Wilmington,  1872 ;  H.  H.  Stassen,  Greengarden,  1874;  William  Mooney,  Reed,  1874; 
Frederick  Kouka,  Washington,  1876;  L.  H.  Goodrich,  Seed,  1874  and  1876;  D.  H.  Pinney, 
Joliet,  1876. 

United  States  District  Attorney  for  Northern  Illinois. — Jesse  0.  Norton ;  appointed  by 
Johnson. 

Circuit  Judges.— John  Pearson,  1857  ;  Hugh  Henderson,  1849  ;  S.  W.  Randall,  1854  ;  J.  0. 
Norton,  1857  ;  Josiah  McRoberts,  1866,  still  in  office  ;  Francis  Goodspeed,  1877,  still  in  office; 

J.  E.  Streeter,  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Nebraska. 

District  Attorneys.— MT'I  Osgood,  1836;  William  A.  Board  man,  1845;  S.  W.  Bowen,  1851 ; 
F.  A.  Bartleson,  1857 ;  Henry  Logan,  1861 ;  S.  W.  Munn,  1864;  C.  A.  Hill,  1868 ;  E.  C.  Hager, 
1872 ;  J.  R.  Flanders,  1876. 

Canal  Trustee  for  State. — Josiah  McRoberts  ;  appointed  in  1853. 

Surveyor  General  of  Oregon. — John  B.  Preston,  of  Lockport ;  appointed  in  1850. 

Delegates  to  Constitutional  Convention,  1847-4$. — J.  0.  Norton,  of  Joliet ;  Hugh  Henderson, 
of  Joliet. 

Delegate.to  Constitutional  Convention  of  1861-62. — Francis  Goodspeed,  of  Joliet. 

Delegate  to  Constitutional  Convention  of  1870. — William  C.  Goodhue,  of  Joliet. 

Penitentiary  Commissioners. — N.  D.  Elwood,  of  Joliet,  on  first  Board ;  G.  D.  A.  Parks,  of 
Joliet,  1864 ;  John  Reid,  1867. 

State  Board  of  Equalization. — William  P.  Caton,  of  Plainfield,  1867  ;  Amos  Savage,  of  Homer, 
1876. 

United  States  Assessors. — Henry  Snapp,  H.  B.  Goddard. 

United  States  Collectors. — Charles  M.  Hammond.  1867;  Horace  Weeks,  1872;  W.  R.  Penning- 
on,  Deputy. 

Joliet  Postmasters. — A.  W.  Bowen,  from  the  establishment  of  the  office,  in  1835,  to  the 
administration  of  Taylor ;  J.  T.  McDougall,  1850,  Taylor's  administration ;  M.  K.  Brownson, 
1853,  Fillmore's  administration;  Calneh  Zarley,  1854,  Pierce's  administration  ;  Calneh  Zarley, 
1858,  Buchanan's  administration  ;  J.  L.  Braden,  1861,  Lincoln's  administration  ;  H.  N.  Marsh, 
Lincoln's  administration;  Alonzo  Leach,  1865,  Johnson's  administration;  Anson  Patterson, 
first  term  of  Grant's  administration ;  James  Goodspeed,  second  term  of  Grant's  administration; 
James  Goodspeed,  Hayes'  administration. 


364  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

AN    OMISSION. 

We  have  already  discovered  one  omission  which  was  made  in  the  list  of 
early  settlers  on  Hickory  Creek,  to  wit :  Asher  Holmes,  who  came  in  the 
Spring  of  1835,  from  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.  He  has  been  dead  twenty  years  or 
more,  but  left  a  widow  who  still  lives,  and  sons  who  perpetuate  his  name. 

No  doubt  we  have  made  other  omissions ;  if  so,  it  has  been  involuntary,  and 
no  one  will  regret  it  more  than  the  writer. 

PARTING   WORDS. 

The  writer  has  now  probably  appeared  in  the  role  of  a  historian  for  the  last 
time.  Without  feeling  that  he  had  any  special  fitness  for  the  work,  he  has  been 
led  to  undertake  it  by  a  desire  to  preserve  the  names  and  memory  of  the 
original  settlers  of  Will  County,  and  also  of  the  brave  boys,  their  sons,  and  the 
sons  of  the  later  comers,  as  well,  who  hazarded,  and  in  many  cases  lost,  their 
lives  to  save  the  Union.  While  the  record  may  be  somewhat  imperfect,  it  is 
believed  to  be  in  both  cases  substantially  correct.  That  he  has  been  permitted 
to  discharge  this  duty  affords  him  no  little  satisfaction,  although  it  has  greatly 
interfered  with  his  legitimate  calling. 

It  is  no  small  satisfaction,  also,  that  he  was  permitted  to  see  the  region  we 
now  call  Will  County,  when  it  was  yet  in  its  pristine  beauty ;  its  prairies,  fresh 
from  the  Creator's  hand,  still  the  lair  of  the  wolf  and  the  wild  deer,  while  the 
canoe  of  the  Indian  still  shot  along  its  streams,  and  the  solitudes  of  its  forests 
echoed  the  crack  of  his  rifle,  and  the  paths  worn  by  his  moccasined  feet  were 
still  the  guiding  trail  of  the  emigrant ;  and  then  to  have  lived  to  see  those  ver- 
dant wastes  clothed  with  flocks  and  herds,  with  waving  harvest-fields,  and  the  vast 
forests  of  rustling  corn,  in  whose  depths  armies  might  ambush ;  to  see  its  soli- 
tudes become  peopled  with  50,000  civilized  and  intelligent  human  beings ;  its 
streams  forced  to  subserve  the  ends  of  manufacture  and  commerce ;  to  see  the 
trail  of  the  Indian  obliterated  by  the  railway  track,  and  the  ox-team  and  prairie 
schooner  displaced  by  the  locomotive  and  the  rushing  train ;  to  see  the  land- 
scape dotted  with  happy  homes,  churches  and  schoolhouses,  and  the  silence  of 

its  wastes  broken  by 

"The  laugh  of  children,  the  soft  voice 
Of  maidens,  and  the  sweet  and  solemn  hymn, 
Of  Sabbath  worshipers;" 

to  have  been  permitted  to  witness  all  this  change  during  the  years  that  have 
come  and  gone  in  quick  succession  while  the  panorama  has  been  unfolding  be- 
fore him — this  he  counts  one  of  his  chiefest  satisfactions.  And  while  the  mem- 
ory delights  to  linger  over  the  past,  and  the  imagination  to  recall  the  lovely 
pictures  presented  to  his  eye  forty-four  years  ago,  he  is  not  of  the  number  of 
those  who  say  or  feel  that  "the  former  times  were  better  than  these." 


(DECEASED) 
JOLIET. 


Or  T3E- 


TOWNSHIP   HISTORIES. 


JOLIET    TOWNSHIP. 

The  interest  which  attaches  itself  to  all  that  is  connected  with  the  explora- 
tions and  discoveries  of  the  early  French  travelers  in  the  North  west  in  creases  as 
time  rolls  on.  That  history  read  in  the  blazing  sunlight  of  the  present  day, 
has  all  the  fascination  of  a  romance,  and,  after  more  than  two  centuries  gone  by, 
the  names  of  many  courageous  and  devoted  men  rise  up  in  peerless  grandeur. 
Penetrated  with  enthusiasm,  and  bearing  high  the  cross,  Marquette,  La  Salle, 
De  Frontenac,  Joliet,  Hennepin,  De  Charlevoix,  the  Chevalier  de  Trull,  and  so 
many  others,  made  their  way  into  unknown  lands,  and  through  perils,  and  in 
the  midst  of  savages,  in  the  face  of  sickness  and  privation,  desolation  and 
danger,  they  planted  the  flag  of  civilization  in  this  great  section  of  country, 
known  as  the  Northwest.  In  this  beautiful  valley  of  the  Des  Planes,  some 
of  these  early  French  explorers  wandered  a  hundred  years  before  the  oldest  of 
us  were  born.  But  in  our  attempt  to  write  a  full  and  complete  history  of  Joliet 
Township,  we  do  not  propose  to  go  back  to  the  days  of  Marquette  and  La  Salle, 
and  of  Joliet  and  Hennepin,  but  shall  commence  at  a  period  still  green  in  the 
memory  of  some  who  are  yet  living,  and  whose  minds  run  back  with  much  dis- 
tinctness to  the  early  settlements  in  the  Des  Planes  Valley.  But  few  more 
beautiful  localities  are  to  be  found  in  the  State  of  Illinois  than  this  valley,  and 
the  country  generally,  as  embraced  in  the  township  of  Joliet.  Its  hills  and 
bluffs  and  picturesque  grottoes,  its  fine  rolling  plains,  and  its  timber-bordered 
streams,  present  a  variety  of  scenery  of  which  the  great  prairies  are  wholly  des- 
titute. The  town  is  watered  by  the  Des  Planes  River,  which  enters  its  borders 
from  the  north,  and,  passing  through  the  city  of  Joliet,  runs  in  a  southwesterly 
direction  to  its  confluence  with  the  Kankakee.  Hickory  Creek  flows  in  from 
the  east,  and  empties  into  the  Des  Planes  at  Joliet  City ;  while  several  smaller 
brooks,  together  with  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  pass  through  the  town- 
ship, so  that  no  section  could  be  better  watered  or  better  drained.  Underly- 
ing the  surface  of  a  great  portion  of  the  town,  perhaps  the  whole  of  it,  are 
beds  of  stone,  which  for  building  purposes  is  almost  without  equal  in  this  or 
any  other  country ;  and  the  numerous  quarries,  more  particularly  referred  to  in 
the  chapter  devoted  to  the  city  of  Joliet,  give  employment  to  hundreds  of  men, 
and  are,  perhaps,  the  most  extensive  business  carried  on  in  the  city,  or  even  in 


368  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

the  township.  The  railroad  facilities  of  Joliet  are  excellent.  The  Chicago, 
Rock  Island  &  Pacific ;  the  Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis ;  the  Chicago,  Pekin 
&  Southwestern,  and  the  "Joliet  Cut-off"  of  the  Michigan  Central,  center  in 
the  city  of  Joliet,  and  traverse  the  township  in  every  direction,  affording 
means  of  transportation  and  of  travel.  The  canal,  too,  is  a  valuable  auxiliary, 
as  well  as  a  competitor,  in  moving  the  large  quantities  of  freight  from  this  sec- 
tion. The  township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Lockport,  on  the  east  by 
New  Lenox,  on  the  south  by  Jackson,  on  the  west  by  Troy,  and  is  known  as 
Town  35  north,  Range  10  east  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  with  a  popula- 
tion, in  1870,  aside  from  the  city  of  Joliet,  of  2,940  inhabitants.  It  is  about 
one-half  or,  perhaps,  two-thirds  fine  rolling  prairie,  while  the  remainder,  prin- 
cipally along  the  Des  Planes  River  and  Hickory  Creek,  is  well  timbered — or 
was  at  the  time  of  the  early  settlement  of  the  country — and  is,  in  places,  rather 
hilly. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  Joliet  Township  and  City,  the  Empire  State  con- 
tributed much  of  the  population,  both  of  city  and  township.  So  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  collect  the  names  of  early  settlers,  and  the  localities  from  whence 
they  came,  up  to  and  including  1835,  together  with  the  date  of  settlement,  we 
give  them  in  the  following  tabulated  statement,  which  we  have  taken  consider- 
able care  in  preparing : 

Major  Robert  G.  Cook New  York 1831 

John  B.  Cook  (his  father) New  York 1831 

Philip  Scott New  York 1831 

Reason  Zarley Ohio 1831 

Robert  Stevens Indiana 1831 

David  Maggard Indiana 1831 

Benjamin  Maggard Indiana 1831 

Jesse  Cook Indiana 1831 

Daniel  Robb.. 1831 

William  Billsland Indiana 1831 

Aaron  Moore Ohio 1832 

R.  E.  Barber Vermont 1832 

Col.  Sayre New  Jersey 1832 

Seth  Scott New  York 1832 

Charles  Clement New  Hampshire 1833 

Rev.  George  West M.  E.  Minister 1833 

Rodney  House Connecticut 1833 

Charles  Reed Indiana 1833 

William  Hadsell New  York 1833 

Dr.  A.  W.  Bowen New  York 1834 

Elias  Haven New  York 1834 

Philo  A.  Haven New  York 1834 

Orlando  H.  Haven New  York 1834 

James  Haven New  York 1834 

Dr.  David  Reed New  York 1834 

M.  H.  Demmond New  York 1834 

Wm.  B.  Hawley New  York 1834 

Benj.  F.  Barker New  York 1834 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  369 

I 

Benjamin  Richardson From  the  East 1834 

James  Rockwell., Connecticut 1834 

Abner  Cox Indiana 1834 

I.  P.  King ...Indiana 1834 

Joseph  Zumalt Indiana 1834 

Jacob  Zumalt Indiana 1834 

Charles  Sayre New  Jersey 1 1834 

James  McKee Kentucky 1834 

Daniel  Clement New  Hampshire 1834 

Richard  Hobbs Indiana 1834 

N.  H.  Clarke 1834 

Thomas  H.  Blackburn 1834 

0.  D.  Putnam 1834 

Harlow  Webster 1834 

Geo.  H.  Woodruff. New  York 1834 

N.  H.  Cutter Massachusetts 1834 

Jay  Ly,ons 1834 

Chas.  W.  Brandon New  York 1834 

James  C.  Troutman Ohio 1834 

Edward  Perkins  New  York 1834 

Fenner  Aldrich 1835 

Ilervey  Lowe New  York 1835 

F.  Collins  Hoosier 1835 

Oliver  W.  Stillman  Massachusetts 1836 

Robert  Duncan Detroit 1835 

Thomas  Culbertson  Delaware 1835 

Charles  W.  Hopkins New  Jersey 1835 

S.  W.  Bowen New  York 1836 

Dr.  Zelotus  Haven New  York 1836 

Hugh  Henderson New  York 1835 

Wm.  A.  Boardman New  York 1836 

Russell  Frary New  York 1835 

Michael  Shoemaker New  York ....1835 

JohnL.  Wilson New  York 1835 

Richard  L.  Wilson New  York 1835 

Charles  L.  Wilson New  York 1835 

Abijah  Cagwin  New  York 1835 

H.  N.»  Marsh New  York 1835 

J.  Beaumont New  York 1835 

George  Higley Ohio.... 1835 

Levi  Jenks New  York 1835 

William  Walters Indiana v 1835 

0.  F.  Rogers New  York 1835 

Rev.  J.  H.  Prentiss New  York 1835 

George  Squire 1835 

Wm.  A.  Chatfield Indiana 1835 

C.  C.  Pepper New  York 1835 

Francis  Nicholson  New  York 1835 

W.  R.  Atwell New  York 1835 

John  M.  Wilson New  York 1835 

Allen  Pratt Massachusetts 1835 

Barton  Smith Indiana 1835 

Jonathan  Barnett New  York 1835 

E.  M.  Daggett Indiana 1835 


370  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

George  Howlitson Scotland 1835 

Asa  Rowe.... '. 1835 

Elias  Hyde New  York 1836 

S.  B.  Hopkins  New  Jersey 1835 

In  1836  we  may  notice  among  the  arrivals  in  the  new  settlement,  George 
Woodruff,  Joel  A.  Matteson,  R.  Doolittle,  Edmund  Wilcox,  Uri  Osgood, 
Thomas  R.  Hunter,  E.  C.  Fellows  and  Francis  L.  Cagwin,  from  New  York, 
and  Otis  Hardy  and  H.  Hartshorn,  from  Vermont ;  Orange  Chauncey,  Albert 
Shepard,  James  Stout,  Thomas,  Edward  and  Bennett  Allen,  John  Curry,  J.  J. 
Garland,  W.  J.  Heath,  J.  C.  Newkirk,  William  Blair,  Rufus  Calton,  Stephen 
Hubbard,  Dr.  Little,  Henry  Fish,  M.  Worthingharn,  David  L.  Roberts,  Isaac 
H.  Palmer,  E.  E.  Bush,  Theodore  Woodruff,  H.  K.  Stevens,  David  Richards, 
G.  W.  Cassedy,  and  a  great  many  others,  whose  native  States  we  have  not 
learned.  A  number  of  these,  together  with  others  mentioned,  will  receive 
additional  notice  in  the  history  of  the  city  of  Joliet,  as  well  as  in  the 
general  history.  But  immigrants  were  coming  in  so  fast  that  it  is  impossible, 
after  this  long  lapse  of  time,  to  keep  trace  of  them.  A  confusion  of  dates 
occurs  in  the  attempt,  something  like  that  of  tongues  at  the  Tower  of  Babel. 
We  have  enumerated,  in  the  foregoing  table,  the  settlers  both  in  the  city 
and  township  of  Joliet,  and  as  already  mentioned,  a  preponderance  of  them 
were  from  New  York.  Among  the  first  from  that  State  were  Major  Robert  G. 
Cook  and  his  father,  John  B.  Cook,  and  Philip  Scott,  who  settled  in  the  town- 
ship in  the  latter  part  of  1831.  The  elder  Cook  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier, 
and  was  old  and  feeble  when  he  came  to  the  settlement.  A  few  of  the  early 
settlers  who  still  survive  remember  to  have  seen  him  carried  in  the  first  Fourth 
of  July  procession  had  in  the  infant  city.  He  died  about  1833-4,  and  was  one 
of  the  first  deaths  to  occur  in  the  town.  Robert  Stevens  was  born  in  Kentucky, 
but  mostly  reared  in  Ohio,  and  emigrated  to  Indiana,  where  he  remained  some 
years,  removing  to  Illinois  and  to  this  township  in  1831.  He  settled  just  east  of 
the  present  city  of  Joliet,  where  his  widow  still  lives.  He  arrived  in  the 
Spring  of  that  year  in  time  to  raise  a  crop  of  corn.  During  the  fright  that 
prevailed  in  the  scattered  settlement  incident  to  the  Black  Hawk  war,  Mr. 
Stevens  took  his  family  to  Danville,  and  sent  them  under  safe  escort  to  Indiana, 
while  he  returned  and  "put  in  a  crop."  David  and  Benjamin  Maggard  and 
Jesse  Cook  were  also  from  the  Hoosier  State,  otherwise  Indiana,  and  made  set- 
tlements in  1831.  Jesse  Cook  made  a  settlement  in  what  was  called  Trout- 
man's  Grove,  and  now  lives  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  and  is  quite  an 
old  man,  but  full  of  energy  for  one  of  his  years.  David  Maggard,  who  is 
noted  for  having  built  the  first  house  in  the  present  city  limits,  as  elsewhere 
mentioned,  and  Stevens,  after  he  returned  from  seeing  his  wife  safe  beyond 
Indian  outrages,  worked  their  farms  together,  as  a  matter  of  safety  and  protec- 
tion againt  surprise  from  the  Indians.  As  a  further  means  of  safety,  instead  of 
occupying  their  cabins  at  night,  would  sleep  in  a  cavern  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  which  they  would  always  leave  before  daylight,  that  no  lurking  savage 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  371 

might  discover  their  place  of  refuge.  Maggard's  settlement  was  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  nearly  opposite  the  Rolling  Mills,  while  Stevens',  as  already 
stated,  was  on  the  east  side.  Usually  at  evening  they  would  retire  to  the  west 
side,  and  while  Stevens  cooked  supper  Maggard  would  stand  guard,  or  rather 
sit  guard  in  a  tree-top.  One  evening  he  had  mounted  guard  in  a  tree,  and  be 
ing  tired  from  his  day's  labor,  went  to  sleep  and  dropped  his  gun.  The  Mag- 
gards  were  related  to  Stevens'  first  wife,  who  survived  the  hardships  of  a  fron- 
tier settlement  but  a  few  years.  Robert  Stevens  was  the  first  elected  Sheriff  of 
Will  County,  after  it  was  detached  from  Cook,  and  with  an  litter  indifference  to 
the  honors  pertaining  to  office  unknown  at  the  present  day,  he  declined  to  qual- 
ify and  left  the  office  to  those  more  anxious  to  serve  the  dear  people.  William 
Billsland  and  Daniel  Robb  were  likewise  Hoosiers  and  came  to  the  neighbor- 
hood in  1831. 

Reason  Zarley,  to  whom  is  generally  attributed  the  honor  of  making  the  first 
permanent  settlement  in  Joliet  Township,  came  to  Illinois  in  1829,  from  Ohio,  and 
to  this  neighborhood  in  the  Springof  1831,  where  he  made  a  permanent  settlement. 
He  was  a  soldier  in  the  last  struggle  of  the  United  States  with  Johnny  Bull,  and 
was  one  of  the  few  survivors  of  the  bloody  affair  of  Brownstown,  where  100 
American  soldiers  were  attacked  by  800  savages  and  400  English,  but  little  less 
savage  than  their  red  allies,  and  from  which  few  of  the  former  escaped  to  tell 
the  tale  of  carnage.  He  was  in  the  army,  also,  at  the  time  of  Hull's  disgrace- 
ful surrender.  Mr.  Zarley  is  mentioned  as  a  prominent  and  influential  man, 
foremost  in  every  enterprise  calculated  to  promote  the  interest  of  the  city  and 
country.  When  he  died,  a  Chillicothe  (Ohio)  paper  noticed  his  death,  as  one 
of  the  pioneers  of  that  section  of  the  country.  So  far  as  can  be  obtained  with 
any  degree  of  reliability,  this  comprises  all  who  came  to  the  township  during 
the  first  year  of  its  settlement.  And  the  next  year  (1832),  but  few  additions 
were  made  to  the  little  community,  doubtless  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Black 
Hawk  or  Sac  war  was  raging  in  all  its  terror,  and  the  mutterings  of  the  storm 
extended  to  this  locality.  Aaron  Moore,  a  brother-in-law  of  Jesse  Cook,  came 
from  Ohio  ;  R.  E.  Barber,  from  Vermont ;  Seth  Scott,  a  brother  of  Philip  Scott, 
from  New  York.  These  are  all  that  we  have  any  account  of  settling  here  this  year. 
But  in  1833,  the  colony  was  augmented  by  the  arrival  from  New  York,  William 
Hadsell ;  from  Connecticut,  Rodney  House ;  from  Indiana,  Charles  Reed  ;  from 
New  Hampshire,  Charles  Clement  and  Rev.  Geo.  West,  a  Methodist  preacher. 
Where  Rev.  Mr.  West  came  from,  we  have  been  unable  to  ascertain.  Reed,  one 
of  the  very  first  settlers  of  the  city,  and  Charles  Clement,  generally  acknowledged 
as  the  "oldest  living  inhabitant,"  will  be  noticed  further  in  the  city's  history. 
William  Hadsell  is  living,  but  old  and  infirm,  both  mentally  and  physically,  and 
his  memory  is  too  feeble  to  give  any  information  of  special  interest  in  this  his- 
tory. The  year  1834,  witnessed  the  greatest  influx  of  new-comers  of  any 
year  since  the  pale-faces  had  first  "broke  ground  "  in  this  section.  During  the 
year,  the  Empire  State  sent  out  to  the  new  settlement  Dr.  A.  W.  Bowen,  Geo. 


372  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

H.  Woodruff,  Elias  Haven  and  three  sons,  Philo  A.,  Orlando  H.,  and  James 
Haven,  Charles  W.  Brandon,  Dr.  David  Reed,  M.  H.  Demniond,  Edward  Per- 
kins, William  B.  Hawley  and  Benjamin  F.  Barker.  Benjamin  Richardson 
was  from  the  East,  probably  from  New  York  ;  from  Indiana,  Abner  Cox, 
Richard  Hobbs,  J.  P.  King,  Joseph  and  Jacob  Zumalt ;  from  Connecticut, 
James  Rockwell ;  from  New  Jersey,  Charles  Sayre ;  from  Kentucky,  James 
McKee ;  from  New  Hampshire,  Daniel  Clement,  a  brother  to  Charles  Clement, 
who  had  come  out  the  year  before ;  from  Massachusetts,  N.  H.  Cutter :  from 
Ohio,  James  C.  Troutman ;  and  Jay  Lyons,  N.  H.  Clarke,  Thomas  H.  Black- 
burn, 0.  D.  Putnam,  Harlow  Webster,  whose  native  States  cannot  now  be  as- 
certained. Dr.  Bowen  was  from  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  and  is  noticed  else- 
where as  the  first  physician  in  the  town.  He  arrived  in  March  and  made  a 
claim  on  what  was  afterward  known  as  the  "  Luther  Woodruff  Place,  '  and  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  the  Summer,  built  a  cabin  near  where  the  Union  School 
House  now  stands.  Soon  after  his  settlement,  he  opened  a  store,  which  he  after- 
ward sold  to  Frary.  He  lives  at  present  in  Wilmington,  and  receives  an  extended 
notice  in  the  general  history.  Hon.  George  H.  Woodruff,  to  whose  able  pen  we 
are  indebted  for  our  general  county  history,  is  one  of  the  few  old  landmarks 
still  left  in  Joliet.  The  Havens  came  in  the  Fall  of  this  year,  and  Philo 
and  James  went  to  California  during  the  gold  excitement,  where  they  still 
live.  The  old  gentleman  died  several  years  ago.  Dr.  Zelotus  Haven  was 
a  brother  of  Elias,  but  came  to  the  settlement  the  next  year.  Dr.  David 
Reed  also  came  in  the  Fall,  and  was  the  next  physician  after  Dr.  Bowen,  and 
located  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  Benjamin  F.  Barker  came  soon  after 
Dr.  Bowen,  and  built  the  first  dwelling  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  in  the 
present  city  of  Joliet.  Charles  Sayre,  a  nephew  of  Col.  Sayre,  was  a  tailor  by 
trade,  and  the  first  in  the  town.  Brandon  came  during  the  Summer.  He  was  a 
stone  mason,  and  built  a  house  one  mile  below  the  present  city.  Martin  H. 
Demmond  arrived  in  June,  and  was  one  of  the  first  merchants  of  the  place. 
Perkins  -settled  in  Five-Mile  Grove,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  township,  as 
the  place  was  then  called.  Hawley  settled  during  the  Summer.  Benjamin 
Richardson  settled  first  in  the  Plainfield  neighborhood,  and  came  here  in  1836. 
He  was  a  chair  maker,  the  first  of  that  craft  in  the  township.  Abner  Cox, 
Richard  Hobbs,  J.  P.  King  and  the  Zumalts  all  made  settlements  during  the 
year.  Hobbs  was,  for  many  years,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  his  courts,  in 
those  primitive  times,  furnished  the  legal  fraternity  with  numerous  anecdotes, 
illustrative  of  the  pioneer  days.  James  McKee  is  mentioned  in  the  general 
history  of  the  county  in  another  part  of  this  work,  as  one  of  the  enterprising 
men  of  that  early  day.  He  bought  a  claim  from  Charles  Reed,  and  upon  it 
erected  a  mill,  the  frame  of  which,  is  yet  standing,  but  devoted  to  other  purposes. 
Though  not  the  first  mill  in  Will  County,  it  was  built  on  a  far  more  pretentious 
scale  than  had  ever  been  attempted  in  this  part  of  the  State.  McKee  was  the 
first  Justice  of  the  Peace  on  the  west  side  of  the  river.  Daniel  Clement  came 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  373 

in  May  of  this  year.  There  were  probably  other  settlers  than  those  mentioned,  who 
came  this  year,  but  if  so,  their  names  are  forgotten  by  the  few  who  still  survive. 
During  the  year  1835,  the  settlement  grew  rapidly.  Among  those  who 
came  this  year  were  the  following :  Hervey  Lowe,  S.  W.  Bowen,  Hugh  Hender- 
son, Wm.  A.  Boardman,  Russell  Frary,  Michael  Shoemaker,  John  L.  Wilson, 
Richard  L.  Wilson,  Charles  L.  Wilson,  Abijah  Cagwin,  H.  N.  Marsh,  J.  Beau- 
mont, Levi  Jenks,  0.  F.  Rogers,  Rev.  J.  H.  Prentiss,  C.  C.  Pepper,  Francis 
Nicholson,  W.  R.  Atwell,  Jonathan  Barnett,  John  M.  Wilson,  Elias  Hyde, 
from  New  York  ;  Oliver  W.  Stillman  and  Allen  Pratt,  from  the  old  Bay  State ; 
S.  B.  Hopkins  and  Charles  W.  Hopkins,  from  New  Jersey ;  E.  M.  Daggett, 
Barton  Smith,  Wm.  A.  Chatfield,  William  Walters,  F.  Collins,  from  the 
Hoosier  State  of  Indiana ;  Thos.  Culbertson,  from  Delaware ;  Robert  Duncan, 
from  Detroit ;  George  Higley,  from  Ohio ;  and  J.  Lyons,  Asa  Rowe,  George 
Squire,  whose  native  place  we  could  not  learn.  Hugh  Henderson  came  in  the 
Fall  of  this  year,  and  was  the  first  lawyer  in  Joliet  Township  or  City.  Board- 
man came  soon  after,  and  was  his  partner  in  the  law  business.  Russell  Frary 
bought  Dr.  Bowen 's  stock  of  goods,  who  had  opened  a  store  £oon  after  he  set- 
tled in  the  town.  Frary  remained  in  the  mercantile  business  several  years,  but 
finally  sold  out  and  returned  to  New  York.  Michael  Shoemaker  was  a  brother 
to  Dr.  Bowen's  wife,  and  lived  in  Joliet  till  1840.  He  formed  a  copartnership 
with  Dr.  Bowen,  which  continued  from  1836  to  1838,  when  Bowen  sold  to  J. 
A.  Matteson,  and  the  firm  changed  to  Matteson  &  Shoemaker.  The  latter 
finally  closed  up  his  business  and  went  to  Jackson,  Mich.,  and  is  at  present  a 
member  of  the  Senate  of  that  State.  Hervey  Lowe  was  a  brother-in-law  of 
Gov.  Matteson,  and  now  lives  in  Chicago.  John  L.,  Richard  L.  and  Charles 
L.  Wilson  were  brothers,  and  the  middle  initial  of  each  name  was  the  same,  and 
was  for  the  mother's  family.  They  were  from  Albany,  and  came  in  March. 
Charles  died  within  the  present  year ;  Richard  died  several  years  ago,  and  John 
is  in  Chicago — one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Evening  Journal.  Abijah  Cagwin 
settled  on  Section  12,  of  this  township,  and  is  still  living.  H.  N.  Marsh,  whose 
father  first  settled  in  Crete  Township,  was  a  cabinet  maker,  a  business  he  fol- 
lowed until  1847,  when  he  purchased  the  True  Democrat,  as  noticed  in  the 
history  of  the  city  of  Joliet.  Rev.  J.  H.  Prentiss  was  a  Presbyterian  preacher, 
and  the  first  resident  minister  in  the  city  or  township.  Chas.  Hopkins  settled 
here  during  the  Fall.  His  wife  was  a  literary  lady,  and  a  writer  of  consider- 
able merit.  Robert  Duncan  was  at  one  time  Recorder,  and  for  many  years  an 
active  merchant.  Oliver  W.  Stillman  was  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  on  the 
East  Side,  and  was  elected  in  1836,  while  McKee  was  the  first  on  the  West 
Side,  as  already  noticed.  John  M.  Wilson  is  the  well-known  Judge  Wilson,  of 
Chicago.  Collins  came  this  Summer,  and  lived  for  a  while  in  Robert  Stevens' 
house,  whose  wife  had  died  just  before  Collins  came  to  the  settlement.  Levi 
Jenks  was  for  some  time  Clerk  of  the  County  Court,  and  at  last  accounts  of  him 
was  in  California.  Win.  Walters  settled  on  the  West  Side,  and  now  lives  in 


374  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Grundy  County.  Chatfield  was  another  West  Sider,  and  one  of  the  early 
Justices  of  the  Peace. .  Allen  Pratt  Avas  an  old  bachelor  or  widower,  and  was  a 
little  near-sighted.  "  The  girls  used  to  have  a  deal  of  fun  with  him,"  as  an  old 
lady  expressed  it  to  us.  One  evening,  he  had  been  with  a  party  of  young  ladies, 
and  returning  home  by  moonshine  saw  what  he  thought  was  a  black  place  in 
the  road,  and  upon  stepping  on  it  found  it  to  be  a  cow  lying  down.  It  sprang 
to  its  feet,  bringing  him  astride  its  back,  and  dashed  away  at  full  speed,  treat- 
ing him  to  a  kind  of  John  Gilpin  ride.  C.  C.  Pepper  was  one  of  the  early 
disciples  of  Blackstone.  L.  B.  Hopkins  was  a  merchant,  on  the  East  Side, 
and  Hyde  was  a  carriage  maker  on  the  East  Side.  Atwell  was  a  blacksmith, 
and  one  of  the  first  in  the  settlement.  Of  the  others  mentioned,  not  much 
information  can  now  be  obtained.  Thus  we  have  endeavored  to  briefly  notice 
the  early  settlers  of  Joliet  Township.  It  may  be  that  the  names  of  many  of 
those  who  settled  here  in  the  years  named  have  been  omitted  from  the  list -given, 
but  we  have  taken  much  pains  and  trouble  to  obtain  them  so  far  as  possible,  and 
in  doing  so  have  drawn  pretty  freely  on  the  memories  of  the  few  early  settlerg 
still  living  and  within  our  reach. 

When  the  first  white  man  came  to  Joliet  Township  in  1831,  there  were 
plenty  of  Indians  in  the  present  limits  of  Will  County,  and,  though  of  the 
friendly  Pottawatomies,  yet  the  very  fact  that  they  were  surrounded  by  savages, 
whose  ferocity,  when  aroused,  is  scarcely  equaled  by  wild  beasts,  coupled  with 
the  fact  that  low  mutterings  were  now  and  then  borne  to  them  on  the  gale,  of  the 
threatening  troubles  with  the  Sacs,  then  on  the  verge  of  taking  the  war  path, 
all  conspired  to  divest  the  wilderness  of  its  romance,  and  render  their  every-day 
life,  to  say  the  least,  unpleasant.  The  Pottawatomies,  though  friendly  as  already 
stated,  were  looked  upon  with  much  suspicion  at  times,  and  required  a  good  deal 
of  watching  to  prevent  their  petty  thieving,  a  penchant  for  which  is  a  native 
characteristic  of  the  red  man.  While  the  Black  Hawk  war  was  raging  in  1832, 
the  few  settlers  who  remained  upon  their  claims  built  a  fort  in  the  present  city 
limits  of  Joliet,  which  they  called  "Fort  Nonsense,"  but  as  it  is  graphically 
described  in  the  general  history,  we  pass  it  with  this  slight  allusion.  Nearly  half 
a  century  has  passed  since  Black  Hawk  led  his  painted  warriors  over  the  prai- 
ries of  Illinois,  and  the  wilderness  where  a  few  hardy  pioneers  braving  danger, 
planted  a  feeble  settlement,  has  "  flourished  and  blossomed  like  the  rose."  The 
Indians  have  long  since  taken  up  their  line  of  march  toward  the  "  land  of  the 
setting  sun  ";  their  council  fires  burn  far  away  in  the  "  untrodden  West,"  and 
the  little  settlement  on  the  Des  Planes  River,  which  had  its  birth,  as  it  were, 
in  the  midst  of  an  Indian  war,  has  grown  into  a  prosperous  community,  with  a 
prosperous  city  in  its  midst.  The  half  dozen  families  that  settled  in  Joliet 
Township  in  1831,  have  increased  in  numbers,  and,  including  city  and  township, 
aggregate  several  thousand. 

In  all  new  communities,  one  of  the  first  things  thought  of  is  a  mill.  This 
branch  of  enterprise  engaged  the  attention  of  the  people  of  Joliet  Town- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  375 

ship  at  a  very  early  period  of  its  settlement.  When  we  look  around  us  at  the 
magnificent  mills  of  to-day  and  the  unbounded  facilities  for  procuring  our  sup- 
plies of  meal  and  flour,  it  seems  almost  impossible  to  realize  the  limited  means 
of  obtaining  bread  by  the  pioneers  of  fifty  years  ago.  What  would  we  think 
at  the  present  day,  of  having  to  go  to  Peoria  to  mill,  with  a  wagon  and  team, 
and  a  rainy  season  coming  on,  of  being  detained  six  weeksf?  And  yet  there  are 
those  living  within  sound  of  the  church  bells  of  Joliet,  who  remember  such  an 
experience.  The  first  attempt  at  a  mill  in  Joliet  Township  was  made  by  one 
John  Norman,  in  1833-4.  It  was  built  at  the  head  of  an  island  nearly  oppo- 
site the  penitentiary  and  was  rather  a  primitive  affair.  He  built  a  dam  across 
one  branch  of  the  river,  and  thus  turned  the  current  in  the  other.  In  this' his 
wheel  was  placed,  the  shaft  communicating  with  the  machinery  of  the  mill.  It 
was  a  small  log  structure,  and  its  capacity  for  grinding  rather  limited,  as  we 
have  been  told  that  fifteen  bushels  of  grain  in  twenty-four  hours  was  good  work 
for  it.  The  next  mill  was  McKee's,  built  on  the  west  side  of  the  river, 'just 
above  Jefferson .  street,  the  frame  of  which  is  still  standing,  a  monument  to 
pioneer  enterprise.  Several  saw-mills  were  built  in  the  town.  A.  Cagwin  built 
one  on  Hickory  Creek,  near  where  the  Reed  Mills  now  stand.  Col.  Sayre 
and  Mansfield  Wheeler  had  a  saw-mill  also  on  Hickory  Creek,  in  which  was 
sawed  the  lumber  for  the  first  frame  house  in  Joliet.  Clement  &  Clark,  and  the 
Haven  Bros,  built  mills  in  the  early  times,  as  noticed  in  the  general  his- 
tory of  the  county.  But  the  day  of  usefulness  of  these  original  mills  has 
long  since  passed,  and  the  more  modern  inventions  and  improvements  fill  their 
place. 

The  first  roads  through  Joliet  Township  were  the  old  Indian  trails  and  emi- 
grant trails,  the  latter  made  by  the  settlers'  wagons  passing  through  the  swamps 
and  prairie  grass.  When  a  man  in  those  days  started  to  a  certain  place  he  took 
the  most  direct  route  and  turned  aside  for  no  surmountable  object  The  stage 
route  from  Chicaga  to  Ottawa  was  the  first  effort  at  a  public  highway,  and  was 
opened  for  travel  as  early  as  1834.  Coaches  were  put  on  this  route,  which  ran 
along  on  the  west  bluff  of  the  Des  Planes  River,  and  was  considered  a  grand  im- 
provement on  the  mode  of  transit,  to  the  "  ox-team  express"  hitherto  in  use  be- 
tween the  settlement  and  Chicago.  But  for  a  number  of  years,  there  were  no 
bridges  over  the  water-courses  and  sloughs,  and,  as  a  consequence,  travel  on  this 
was  sometimes  prolonged  beyond  the  specified  periods  laid  down  in  its  time 
tables.  The  first  post  office  was  established  through  the  instrumentality  of  Dr. 
Bowen,  in  February,  1835,  who  was  appointed  Postmaster,  a  position  he  held  until 
the  election  of  Gen.  Taylor  as  President  in  1848.  The  mail  came  by  a  cross 
line  from  Plainfield  where  it  connected  with  the  Chicago  and  Ottawa  stage  line, 
that  being  the  nearest  station  of  the  line  to  this  settlement,  at  that  time.  A 
man  of  the  name  of  McDougall  succeeded  Dr.  Bowen  as  Postmaster.  The  first 
store  in  Joliet  Township  was  in  the  present  limits  of  the  city  of  Joliet,  where  it 
will  be  noticed.  The  church  history  of  the  township  is  so  closely  identified 


376  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

with  the  city  that  it  also  will  be  noticed  in  that  connection,  as  well  as  some  other 
points  usually  given  in  the  township  histories. 

The  first  birth  in  Joliet  Township  cannot,  at  this  distant  period,  be  given 
with  any  degree  of  correctness.  Mr.  Woodruff,  in  his  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  in 
speaking  of  this  matter,  says :  "  My  own  impressions  would  be  in  favor  of  a 
McKee,  as,  according  to  my  recollection,  such  an  event  was  a  yearly  one  at  the 
McKee  mansion."  This  is  as  definite  as  "  Forty  Years  Ago"  is  on  the  subject, 
and  our  own  inquiries  have  failed  to  elicit  any  further  information  ;  so,  with  Mr. 
Woodruff,  we  will  accord  the  honor  to  McKee,  in  absence  of  authority  to  the 
contrary.  The  first  death  in  the  settlement  is  likewise  involved  in  some  uncer- 
tainty. Some  are  of  the  opinion  that  Mr.  John  B.  Cook,  mentioned  elsewhere 
as  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  was  the  first  to  cross  over  the  "  Dark  River."  He 
was  verging  on  to  his  fourscore  when  he  came  to  this  township  with  his  son, 
Major  Cook,  and,  it  is  said,  died  in  a  few  years  after  he  came.  Others  there 
are  who  think  that  the  first  wife  of  Robert  Stevens  was  probably  the  first  death. 
She  was  a  lady  of  delicate  constitution,  and  survived  wilderness  life  but  a  few 
years,  at  furthest.  The  first  marriage  occurring  in  this  township,  was  Thomas 
Ellis  to  Miss  Anne  Pence,  of  the  Hickory  Creek  settlement,  and  the  matrimonial 
knot  was  tied  for  them  by.  Benjamin  F.  Barker,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  The  mar- 
riage took  place  on  the  4th  of  July,  1835,  and  was  a  part  of  the  exercises — not  on 
the  programme — of  the  first  Fourth  of  July  celebration  ever  held  in  Joliet 
Towsnhip.  This  celebration  of  our  National  Birthday  consisted  of  music,  a  pro- 
cession, reader,  orator,  dinner,  etc.,  and  was  held  in  a  little  grove  of  timber 
near  the  present  round-house  of  the  C.  A.  &  St.  L.  R.  R.,  and  enjoyed  by 
the  crowd  as  such  free  entertainments  usually  are.  Rev.  J.  H.  Prentiss  was 
Chaplain  of  the  occasion,  Jonathan  Barnett,  Marshal  of  the  procession,  Dr. 
Bowen  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  but  the  name  of  the  orator  of  the 
day  has  been  suffered  to  sink  into  oblivion.  It  was  doubtless  interesting,  and 
did  honor  to  the  day  they  celebrated. 

The  first  practicing  physician  in  the  town,  as  already  noted,  was  Dr.  A.  W. 
Bowen,  who  settled  here  in  1834,  and  is  at  present  living  in  Wilmington,  enjoy- 
ing in  his  old  age  the  competence  obtained  through  a  life  of  honest  toil  and 
square  dealing  with  his  fellow-men.  Dr.  Charles  Reed  was  the  next  physician 
after  Dr.  Bowen,  and  came  in  the  following  Autumn.  The  first  lawyers  are 
more  particularly  noticed  in  the  history  of  the  city,  where  legal  talent  usually 
congregates,  and  where  it  is  mostly  employed.  The  first  Justices  of  the  Peace 
of  Joliet  Township  were  Oliver  W.  Stillman,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and 
James  McKee  on  the  west  side,  and  were  elected  in  1836,  the  first  year  of  the 
formation  of  the  county.  The  courts  of  these  early  Justices  afforded  many 
ludicrous  and  humorous  incidents  characteristic  of  the  backwoods.  One  of  these 

dispensers  of  justice,  named Lawler,  usually  held  his  courts  in  a  building, 

the  front  room  of  which  was  occupied  as  a  saloon.  A  case  was  tried  before  him 
one  day  in  which  two  well-known  attorneys  were  engaged — Messrs.  D.  L.  Gregg 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  377 

and  E.  C.  Fellows.  It  seemed  rather  a  plain  case,  but  the  Justice  decided  it 
adversely  to  what  the  majority  really  expected,  which  so  exasperated  Mr.  Gregg, 
whose  case  had  thus  been  defeated,  that  he  jumped  to  his  feet  with  the  compli- 
mentary remark,  "You  are  a  —  old  jackass !"  Fellows  arose,  and  with  much 
dignity  said,  "  May  it  please  your  Honor,  the  Court  has  been  insulted,  and 
should  fine  the  offender  $1,000  and  imprison  him  for  life."  "  Oh,"  said  the 
'Squire,  "  Mr.  Gregg  and  I  understand  each  other.  Boys,  lets  all  go  and  take 
something  to  drink."  William  R.  Atwell  was  the  first  blacksmith,  and  had  a 
shop  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  as  early  as  1834.  The  first  school  house  was 
built  about  1836-7,  and  was  in  the  present  city  limits,  and  is  further  noticed  on 
another  page.  A  man  named  John  Watkins  taught  the  first  school  in  this 
primitive  temple  of  learning,  and  is  still  living  (in  New  Lenox  Township), 
though  old  and  feeble  and  nearly  blind.  This  was  not,  however,  the  first  school 
in  the  township,  or  settlement  it  was  then  ;  but  the  honor  of  teaching  the  first 
school  is  awarded  to  a  Miss  Cleveland,  who,  it  is  said,  taught  in  the  "  old  fort," 
which  has  been  frequently  mentioned  in  this  work.  She  lived  in  California, 
the  last  known  of  her.  Of  the  early  schools  of  the  township  but  little  can  now 
be  learned.  The  first  records  are  mislaid  or  destroyed,  and  hence  no  informa- 
tion can  be  obtained  through  that  source.  Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Fay, 
the  School  Treasurer,  we  have  examined  all  the  books  in  his  possession,  which 
consist  mostly  of  loan,  cash  and  account  books,  but  no  early  records  beyond 
these  account  books.  The  school  facilities  have  increased  somewhat  since  Miss 
Cleveland  taught  in  "  Fort  Nonsense,"  and  Watkins  in  the  little  school  house, 
as  we  find  in  the  report  of  1872  that  there  were  eleven  school  districts,  with 
pupils  enrolled  to  the  number  of  3,589.  Forty-five  teachers  were  employed, 
and  there  were  in  the  town  seventeen  school  houses.  The  special  tax  of  town- 
ship was  $2,140.12,  and  city  school  tax  $4,419.70.  Mr.  Fay's  last  report  to 
the  County  Superintendent  of  Schools  shows  the  following : 

Number  of  males  in  township  under  21  years  of  age  3,125 

Number  of  females  in  township  under  21  years  of  age 3,101 

Total 6,226 

Number  of  males  attending  school  in  township 1,107 

Number  of  females  attending  school  in  township 1,043 

Total 2,150 

Number  of  male  teachers  employed  5 

Number  of  female  teachers  employed 45 

Number  of  graded  schools  in  township  

Number  of  ungraded  schools  in  township 10 

Number  of  public  high  schools  in  township .'. 1 

Number  of  private  schools  in  township  

Number  of  male  pupils  in  private  schools 247 

Number  of  female  pupils  in  private  schools  357 

Number  of  teachers  employed  in  private  schools 14 

Estimated  value  of  school  property $66,400  00 

Estimated  value  of  school  libraries 250  00 

Estimated  value  of  school  apparatus 465  00 

Principal  of  township  fund 6,881  80 

Amount  of  district  tax  levy,  etc  22,192  00 


378  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

There  are  in  the  town  eighteen  comfortable  and  commodious  school 
houses,  five  of  which  are  built  of  stone,  and  the  others  are  substantial  frame 
buildings.  The  first  bridge  in  the  township  of  which  we  have  any  account  was 
built  over  the  Des  Planes  River  in  the  latter  part  of  1837.  At  that  time,, 
two  substantial  wooden  bridges  were  built  about  where  the  lower  and  middle 
bridges  now  are.  They  were  both  washed  away,  however,  in  the  next  Spring, 
which  was  a  season  of  unprecedented  high  water,  and  many  a  day  passed  before 
they  were  rebuilt,  or  other  accommodations  provided  for  crossing  the  river 
than  a  "  dug-out,"  or  ferry  boat,  when  it  was  too  high  to  ford.  But  at  the 
present  day,  the  town  is  well  supplied  with  excellent  bridges,  wherever  those 
useful  and  convenient  inventions  are  needed. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  this  section  of  the  country,  claims  were  usually 
made  by  "squatting  "  wherever  the  new-comer  found  land  or  a  situation  that 
suited  him,  provided  there  was  no  prior  claim.  Building  a  cabin  and  enclosing 
and  cultivating  a  patch  of  ground  established  a  pre-emption  right  to  their  claim 
—that  is,  a  right  to  purchase  it,  when  it  should  come  info  market,  at  the  Gov- 
ernment price  of  $1.25  per  acre;  and  at  the  land  sales,  though  there  might 
be  ever  so  many  speculators  present,  they  dare  not  bid  against  a  settler,  unless 
they  chose  to  risk  rousing  their  vengeance.  They  (the  settlers)  had  organized 
a  regular  court  to  protect  and  settle  their  claims,  which  was  a  kind  of  "  Higher 
Law,"  and  woe  unto  him  who  trespassed  upon  the  rights  of  this  court  or 
the  settlers.  A  compromise  was  finally  effected  between  the  settlers  and  specu- 
lators, whereby  the  latter  paid  for  the  land  and  the  settlers  gave  them  half,  and 
thus  securing  to  themselves  a  reasonable  amount  of  land  for  nothing.  The 
land  sale  of  1835  caused  a  great  rush  of  immigration  to  this  section  and  a  rage 
for  land  speculation,  and  soon  all  the  most  valuable  and  available  lands  were 
taken  up  or  secured  by  the  speculators.  In  1850,  the  county  adopted  township 
organization,  and  this  further  added  to  the  convenience  of  laying  claims  and 
locating  lands.  Upon  the  organization  of  townships,  this  one  received  the 
name  of  Joliet — a  name  conspicuous  in  the  early  history  of  Illinois  as  that  of 
one  of  the  early  French  explorers,  Louis  JOLIET.  The  first  Supervisor  of 
Joliet  Township  was  Charles  Clement,  who  held  the  position  for  three  years 
successively;  The  present  township  officers  are  as  follows,  viz.:  Frederick 
Rappell,  Supervisor,  and  John  Scheidt,  John  Lyon,  William  Gleason,  Assistant 

Supervisors;  Kelly,  Township  Clerk;  W.  D.  Fay,  School  Treasurer;  J. 

T.  Millspaugh,  Police  Magistrate;    R.  Doolittle,  Edmund  Wilcox,  J.  P.  Mur- 
phy, Patrick  Shanahan  and  William  P.  Webber,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Joliet  Township,  including  the  city,  politically  is  Democratic ;  and  has 
always,  we  believe,  been  of  that  color  in  politics  wherein  party  lines  were 
closely  drawn.  As  now,  so  it  was  in  the  days  of  Whigs  and  Democrats ;  and 
upon  all  important  occasions,  the  latter  usually  carried  the  day  with  ease,  par- 
ticularly during  "  canal  times,"  when  they  used  to  bring  the  sons  of  the  "  Ould 
Sod"  to  the  rescue.  As  to  the  township's  record  in  the  late  war,  it  has  been 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  379 

so  ably  and  truly  given  in  the  "  Patriotism  of  Will  County  "  that  we  make  no 
mention  of  it  here  other  than  to  refer  the  reader  to  that  excellent  work.  Per- 
haps the  history  of  Joliet  Township  would  not  be  complete  without  some  notice 
of  Joliet  Mound,  notwithstanding  it  is  referred  to  in  the  general  county  history. 
It  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention  in  the  early  explorations  of  the  country, 
and  was  believed  by  many  to  have  been  the  labor  of  the  Mound  Builders,  the 
remains  of  whose  works  constitute  the  most  interesting  class  of  antiquities  found 
within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  But  more  modern  theories  and  investi- 
gations have  exploded  that  idea,  and  it  is  generally  conceded  to  once  have  been  an 
"  island  in  the  ocean,"  or  in  the  mighty  river  which  is  supposed  to  have  flowed 
through  this  valley  ages  and  ages  ago,  as  the  southern  outlet  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan. That  it  was  formed  by  the  action  of  water  there  can  be  little  doubt,  since 
the  mound  has  been  dug  into  a  considerable  depth  and  found  to  be  composed  of 
sand  and  gravel,  deposited  upon  a  bed  of  clay.  Being  something  of  a  natural 
curiosity,  it  seems  to  be  a  pity  to  have  it  destroyed,  as  is  being  done  at  present 
by  the  Mound  Tile  Factory.  It  would  be  an  eligible  site  and  a  most  beautiful 
place  for  a  park.  Should  the  city  buy  it  for  that  purpose  and  convert  it  into  a 
park,  a  very  fine  one  could  be  made  of  it,  and  the  outlay  would  be  well  and 
judiciously  made. 

Having  traced  the  history  of  the  township  through  its  early  settlement  and 
down  to  its  organization,  touching  upon  the  main  points  of  interest,  we  come 
now  to  the  history  of 

THE   CITY   OF   JOLIET. 

Joliet,  or  as  sometimes  styled,  and  very  appropriately,  too,  the  "  Stone  City," 
is  situated  on  both  sides  of  the  Des  Planes  River,  in  a  beautiful  valley,  with  its 
suburbs  extending  back  on  to  the  bluffs  like  the  wings  of  a  great  army.  It  is 
thirty-eight  miles  from  Chicago,  and  connected  with  that  suburban  retreat  by 
two  of  the  greatest  railroads  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  has  also  water  com- 
munication with  Chicago  via  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal.  If  Joliet  is  not  a 
"city  set  on  a  hill,"  it  is  certainly  "founded  on  a  rock,"  for  the  entire  surface 
upon  which  it  is  situated  is  stone.  It  is  well  laid  out,  the  streets  broad,  with 
excellent  sidewalks,  and  bordered  with  handsome  trees.  Many  fine  residences 
and  business  houses,  built  of  stone — products  of  its  own  enterprise — are  to  be 
found  here  which  would  adorn  any  city.  Its  railroad  facilities  are  excellent ; 
having  the  advantage  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  to  the  West ;  the 
Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  to  the  South  ;  the  Chicago,  Pekin  &  Southwestern 
to  the  Southwest ;  and  the  Michigan  Central  to  the  East.  These  roads  have 
been  of  much  advantage  in  building  up  Joliet ;  and  their  machine  shops  located 
here  give  employment  to  a  large  number  of  men.  A  full  sketch  of  the  rail- 
roads and  of  the  canal  is  given  in  the  general  history,  and  so  will  not  be 
repeated  here. 

The  names  of  many  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  city  have  already  been  given 
in  the  settlement  of  the  township,  but  no  mention  made  of  them  beyond  the 


380  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

date  of  their  coming  to  the  county,  their  works  and  their  deeds  being  left  for 
this  chapter.  As  common  in  'townships  containing  county  seats,  most  of  the 
important  history  of  Joliet  centers  in  the  city  of  the  same  name.  Here  many 
of  the  more  stirring  events  of  the  times  transpired,  and  here,  as  just  stated, 
much  of  the  important  history  has  occurred.  Charles  Reed  is  generally  re- 
garded as  the  first  settler  in  the  city  of  Joliet,  or  was,  at  least,  the  first  to  lay 
claim  to  any  portion  of  the  land  in  the  original  city.  He  had  made  a  claim  on 
the  southeast  quarter  of  Section  9,  upon  which,  in  1833,  he  built  a  small  log 
house,  west  of  the  river,  and  very  near  where  the  National  Hotel  now  stands. 
Reed  was  from  Indiana,  and  had  settled  in  Reed's  Grove  about  1831,  but, 
attracted  by  the  water  power,  came  to  this  place,  as  already  noted,  and  com- 
menced preparations  for  building  a  mill.  In  the  Fall  of  1833,  James  B.  Camp- 
bell and  James  McKee  purchased  the  "  floats  "  granted  by  the  State  to  Silvia 
and  Rachel  Hall,  two  girls  who  had  been  captured  by  the  Indians,  as  narrated 
in  the  general  history.  Campbell  located  his  float  in  the  early  part  of  1834,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river,  embracing  a  part  of  the  present  city  of  Joliet.  On 
the  13th  day  of  May,  the  Surveyor's  certificate  was  filed,  and  on  the  10th  of 
June,  1834,  the  plat  was  recorded  and  the  town  christened  to  "Juliet,"  for 
Campbell's  daughter,  it  is  said  ;  a  name  it  bore  until  1845,  when  it  was  changed 
by  act  of  the  Legislature.  President  Van  Buren  and  his  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  Mr.  Paulding,  while  on  a  tour  through  the  West,  stopped  at  "Juliet," 
and,  noticing  the  difference  in  the  name  of  the  city  and  of  Joliet  Mound,  urged 
the  people  to  have  the  former  changed  to  correspond  with  the  latter,  which  was 
done  as  above  stated,  by  act  of  the  Legislature,  and  approved  February  26, 
1845.  The  act  further  provided  that  all  additions  subsequently  laid  out  "  shall 
be  known  as  additions  to  Joliet."  In  January,  1834,  McKee,  after  purchas- 
ing the  claim  of  Reed,  located  his  float  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  laid 
it  out  into  one-acre  lots.  In  April,  1834,  Charles  Clement  bought  one  acre 
from  McKee,  for  which  he  paid  him  $125,  and  on  which  he  erected  a  story  and 
a  half  building,  the  first  frame  house  in  West  Joliet.  Bailey  Brothers  had  some- 
time previously  built  a  frame  house  on  the  East  Side. 

As  already  stated,  Charles  Reed  is  regarded  as  the  first  permanent  settler 
in  the  original  town  of  Joliet,  or  "Juliet."  David  Maggard,  however,  settled 
in  what  is  at  present  the  city  of  Joliet,  some  three  years  before  Reed.  But  at 
the  time  Maggard  built  his  house,  which  was  nearly  opposite  the  Rolling  Mill, 
there  was  no  city  of  Joliet.  and  it  was  years  after  the  birth  of  the  city  before 
it  extended  its  limits  to  include  Maggard's  original  cabin.  Charles  Reed,  the 
pioneer  of  Joliet,  finally  went  to  Winnebago  County,  where  he  died  a  few  years 
ago.  Charles  Clement,  who  is  considered  the  oldest  living  resident  of  the  city, 
settled  permanently  in  the  Spring  of  1834.  He  commenced  merchandising  after 
he  had  been  here  some  time,  a  business  he  continued  for  many  years.  In 
1839,  he  with  others  started  the  first  newspaper  in  Joliet,  which  is  more  partic- 
ularly referred  to  in  the  history  of  the  city  press.  In  late  years,  he  has  retired 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  381 

from  active  business  life,  and  is  enjoying  his  well-earned  possessions.     Hon. 
Goerge  H.  Woodruff,  perhaps  the  next  "oldest  inhabitant,"  also  came  to  Joliet 
in  1834.     He  is  still  an,  active  business  man  of  the  West  Side,  and  entertains 
the  warmest  feelings  for  the  "country  beyond  the  river,"  and  it  may  be,  some 
prejudice  for  that  side  of  the  city.     His  able  pen  has  furnished  some  valuable 
history  to  the  county,  in  his  lectures  of  "Forty  Years  Ago"  and  the  "Patriot- 
ism of  Will  County,"  a  book  every  soldier  of  the  late  war  should  have.     His 
last  literary  effort,  and  perhaps  one  of  his  best,  is  the  writing  of  the  General 
County  History  of  this  work.     Otis  Hardy  settled  here  in  1836.     His  father 
died  when  he  was  but  16  years  old,  leaving  the  care  of  the  family  to  him,  a 
duty  he  faithfully  performed.     He  began  business  in  Joliet  as  a  carpenter,  but 
finally  drifted  into  the  lumber  business,  which  he  followed  for  twenty  years. 
Mr.  Hardy  has  been  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church  since  22  years  of  age,  a 
member  of  the  Quarterly  Conference  since  1837.  and  President  of  the   Will 
County  Bible  Society  for  forty  years.     He  is  a  man  of  large  benevolence  and 
exalted  charity,  and  built  at  his  own  expense  the  Richards  Street  Methodist 
Church  and  parsonage  at  a  cost  of  over  $5,000,  besides  liberal  contributions  to 
the  other  Methodist  churches  of  the  city.     He  had  little  when  he  came  to 
Joliet  except  a  strong  arm  and  willing  hand,  and  here  he  has  accumulated  his 
wealth.     George  Woodruff,  one  of  the  successful  merchants  and  bankers  of  the 
city,  came  here  in  1836.     He  first  commenced  in  the  grocery  and  commission 
business,  which  he  continued  a  number  of  years.     In  1852,  he  built  a  grain 
elevator  and  engaged  in  the  grain  business  until  1864,  in  which  year  the  First 
National  Bank  was  organized,  with  him  as  President — a  business  he  is  still 
engaged  in.     Edmund  Wilcox  is  another  of  the  old  settlers  of  1836.     He  was 
for  a  time  engaged  in  merchandising  in  partnership  with  Charles  Clement.     In 
1858,  sold  out  and  became  one  of  the  originators  of  the  Joliet  Gaslight  Com- 
pany, was  its  first  President,  and  superintended  the  erection  of  the  works  of 
the  company.     He  is  at  present  one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the  city 
and  township.     In  1852,  he  was  on  the  Legislative  Committee  for  laying  off  the 
city  into  wards,  and  also  member  of  a  committee  to  confer  with  Eastern  capital- 
ists as  to  the  expediency  of  building  a  railroad,  the  final  result  of  which  was 
the  building  by  the  Michigan  Southern,  the  Rock  Island  Railroad,  one  of  the 
best  appointed  roads  in  the  State  of  Illinois.     Another  of  the  business  men  of 
the  city  still  surviving,  is  R.  Doolittle.     He  came  in  1837,  and  was  elected 
Justice  of  the  Peace  a  few  years  later,  an  office  he  held  for  twelve  years ;  was 
also  Assignee  in  Bankruptcy  during  the  existence  of  the  old  bankrupt  act  of 
the  United  States  years  ago.     In  1852,  he  resumed  business  as  a  merchant, 
which  he  had  formerly  been  engaged  in,  and  the  firm  of  Doolittle  &  Stone 
erected  the  thiee-story  brick  building  on  the  south  side  of  Jefferson  street, 
which  was  the  second  building  west  of  Ottawa  street.     He  sold  to  his  partner 
in  1864,  and  engaged  in  railroad  contracting,  and,  in  1871,  was  again  elected 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  which  office  he  now  holds.     Uri  Osgood  came  from  New 


382  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

York  in  1836,  and  was  a  leading  lawyer  and  prominent  business  man  and 
banker  of  Joliet.  It  is  said  that  he  once  bought  all  the  land  on  Jefferson 
street  from  Ottawa  street  to  the  river,  for  two  black  horses  and  $50  in  money. 
It  would  take  a  national  bank  or  two  to  buy  the  same  district  now.  H.  N. 
Marsh  settled  here  in  1835,  and  engaged  in  cabinet  making.  In  1848,  he 
purchased  the  True  Democrat,  which,  on  the  organization  of  the  Republican 
party,  was  merged  into  the  Joliet  Republican.  He  continued  in  the  newspa- 
per business  until  the  completion  of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad,  in  1852,  when 
he  took  charge  of  the  offices  here,  a  position  he  has  ever  since  held,  with  the 
exception  of  three  years  from  1864  to  1867,  when  he  served  as  Postmaster  of 
Joliet.  Joel  A.  Matteson  is  another  of  the  early  business  men,  to  whom  Joliet, 
as  well  as  the  State  of  Illinois,  owes  much  of  its  prosperity.  He  set- 
tled in  the  city  of  Joliet  in  1836,  and  the  woolen  mill  was  one  of  the  monu- 
ments of  his  enterprise.  His  public  life  commenced  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
and  ended  as  Governor  of  the  State,  and  was  characterized  throughout  by  wise 
and  able  judgment  in  promoting  the  interests  of  the  country.  His  business  life, 
however,  did  not  remain  unspotted  to  the  end.  His  connection  with  the  canal 
scrip  is  familiar  to  most  of  our  readers,  and  without  a  wish  to  revive  painful 
and  disagreeable  reflections,  we  leave  it  to  them  to  draw  their  own  conclusions. 
The  Cagwins,  prominent  business  men  of  Joliet,  came  here  when  the  city  was  not. 
H.  A.  Cagwin  came  in  1834,  Abijah  in  1835 ;  Francis  L.  and  0.  D.  came  in 
1838.  Abijah  Cagwin  first  settled  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  city,  where 
he  remained  until  1840,  when,  having  been  elected  "Judge  of  Probate"  he 
moved  into  Joliet,  where  he  has  lived  ever  since.  He  and  Francis  L.  engaged 
in  merchandising,  produce,  lumber,  etc.,  which  they  continued  some  time. 
The  latter  is  now  in  the  banking  business,  and  the  former  is  dealing  in  grain. 
H.  A.  Cagwin  clerked  for  Cox,  the  first  merchant  of  the  place,  when  he  first 
came  to  Joliet ;  lives  now  in  California,  and  0.  D.  Cagwin  lives  in  Lockport. 
He  made  a  trip  to  California  during  the  gold  excitement  in  1849-50,  and  was 
gone  three  years.  Rodney  House  is  another  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  city. 
He  came  from  New  York  in  1835,  and  settled  on  .the  east  side  of  the  river,  and 
was  the  first  carriage  maker  on  this  side,  while  J.  Beaumont  was  the  first  on 
the  west  side,  and  had  come  to  the  new  city  a  short  time  before  House  came. 
Francis  Nicholson  came  from  New  York,  and  settled  on  the  west  side  in  1836. 
He  has  been  living  in  the  house  he  now  occupies,  for  thirty-four  years. 
Dr.  A.  W.  Bowen  first  settled  outside  of  the  city,  but  moved  into  it  in  a  short 
time,  and  was  among  the  first  merchants,  as  well  as  the  first  Postmaster  and 
the  first  practicing  physician.  We  have,  so  far  as  possible  to  obtain  them, 
given  the  names  of  early  settlers.  If  any  who  are  entitled  to  rank  as  old 
settlers  have  been  overlooked,  it  is  unintentional,  and  is  owing  to  their  names 
having  escaped  the  memory  of  the  few  still  living. 

The  first  merchant  in  Joliet  was  a  man  named  Cox,  who  commenced  the 
mercantile  business,  in  a  very  limited  way,  about  1833—4.     It  was  for  this  man 


JO,L/ET 


; 
OF  m  • 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  385 

Cox,  that  H.  A.  Cagwin  clerked  when  he  first  came  to  the  place.  Further  than 
this,  we  know  little  of  this  first  store  and  first  merchant.  The  next  store  was 
opened  by  M.  H.  Demmond,  who  used  one  room  of  his  residence  for  a  store- 
house, as  soon  as  it  was  finished.  In  the  mean  time,  while  waiting  for  the  com- 
pletion of  his  house,  his  goods  were  stored  in  Chicago,  in  the  first  warehouse 
ever  built  in  that  city.  In  January,  1835,  Demmond  bought  McKee's  claim, 
except  his  mill  property,  and  laid  it  off  into  town  lots — McKee  having  pre- 
viously divided  it  into  acre  lots  only — the  plat  being  recorded  in  June,  1830. 
Soon  after  laying  out  the  West  Side,  Clement  built  a  saw-mill,  and  under  the 
firm  name  of  Clement  &  Clark,  a  brisk  lumber  trade  was  at  once  inaugurated. 
This  year,  Demmond  set  the  example,  since  so  extensively  followed  in  Joliet,  by 
putting  up  the  first  stone  building.  It  is  the  block  of  business  houses  on  the 
West  Side,  opposite  the  National  Hotel,  and  upon  its  completion  was  appropri- 
ately celebrated  by  a  ball,  at  which  all  the  young  people  for  miles  around  con- 
gregated. By  way  of  embellishment,  we  draw  on  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  for 
the  following  anecdote,  which  occurred  while  Demmond  &  Curry  kept  a  store 
in  this  stone  block.  Dr.  Adams  had  a  fancy  hog,  one  of  the  long-nosed  kind, 
that  are  said  to  stick  the  snout  through  a  fence  and  pick  off  the  third  row  of 
corn.  In  those  days,  all  stock  was  permitted  to  run  at  large  in  the  street. 
This  hog  of  Adams'  seemed  to  know  in  a  moments  when  Demmond  &  Curry's 
cellar  door  was  open,  and  no  matter  in  what  part  of  the  town  he  might  be  wan- 
dering, he  instantly  appeared  upon  the  scene  and  slipped  in.  As  they  did  a 
large  barter  business,  they  of  course  took  in  a  great  deal  of  butter,  and  thus 
many  a  jar  was  rendered  unfit  for  anything  but  a  Chicago  restaurant,  by  the 
hog,  and  the  merchants  swore  vengeance  against  him.  One  rainy  night,  as  they 
were  closing  up,  they  heard  him  enter  the  cellar,  and,  instead  of  driving  him 
out,  closed  the  door  and  held  him  prisoner.  They  caught  him,  and  after  sat- 
urating him  thoroughly  with  spirits  of  turpentine,  took  him  to  the  door,  touched 
the  candle  to  him  and  bade  him  go.  He  went.  With  an  unearthly  yell  he 
tore  through  the  streets,  lightening  up  the  darkness  with  the  lurid  blaze,  and 
terribly  frightening  the  canal  people,  men  and  women,  who  verily  believed  it 
was  the  "  divil  himself,"  and  they  called  upon  all  the  saints  in  the  calendar  for 
protection.  On,  on  he  went,  putting  straight  for  the  river,  like  the  swine  of 
old,  plunged  in  the  stream  and  silence  and  darkness  reigned.  With  this  little 
digression,  parenthetically,  we  will  resume  our  subject.  The  next  stone  build- 
ing was  erected  by  John  L.  and  Richard  L.  Wilson,  in  1836,  on  the  East  Side, 
just  south  of  the  City  Hall,  in  which  they  opened  a  store.  In  1837,  the  stone 
block  known  as  "Merchant's  Row,"  was  built.  These,  with  a  number  of 
wooden  buildings  that  had  been  put  up  in  the  mean  time,  were  filled  with  stores 
of  different  kinds,  and  Joliet  was  becoming  a  place  of  considerable  business. 
The  first  blacksmith  of  whom  we  have  any  account,  was  W.  R.  Atwell,  who 
opened  a  shop  on  the  West  Side,  in  1835.  The  first  tinsmith  was  William 
Blair,  who  settled  on  the  West  Side,  in  1836,  and  opened  a  tin-shop,  where  he 


386  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

remained  several  years,  then  removed  to  Chicago.  Charles  Sayre  was  the  first 
tailor,  and  as  elsewhere  noted,  settled  in  Joliet  in  1834.  J.  Beaumont,  Rod- 
ney House  and  Elias  Hyde  were  the  first  carriage  makers.  Beaumont  was 
on  the  West  Side,  while  the  other  two  settled  on  the  East  Side.  Hugh 
Henderson  is  credited  as  the  first  lawyer  in  the  city  of  Joliet.  William  A. 
Boardman  and  E.  C.  Fellows  came  soon  after  Henderson ;  Boardman  and 
Henderson  were  partners  in  the  law  for  a  time.  Fellows  was  from  New 
York,  and  settled  first  in  Channahon  Township,  where  he  married  a  daughter 
of  Judge  Peck.  Benjamin  Richardson,  who  settled  in  Plainfield  Township,  in 
1834,  and  in  1836  came  to  Joliet,  was  a  chairmaker,  and  followed  the  business 
for  some  time  in  this  city.  Many  of  these  men,  noted  as  beginning  business 
here  more  than  forty  years  ago,  are  still  at  their  post,  and  it  is  a  theme  of  re- 
mark that  Joliet  has  a  larger  number  of  aged  business  men  than  any  other  city  in 
Northern  Illinois.  To  this  fact  is  attributable,  perhaps,  the  energy  and  enter- 
prise and  solid  business  qualities  which  are  so  strongly  characteristic  of  the 
"  Stone  City,"  for  men  usually,  as  they  grow  older,  lose  some  of  the  wild  spec- 
ulative recklessness  of  youth,  and  weigh  all  new  projects  well  before  taking 
hold,  and  younger  men  will  make  a  fortune — and  sometimes  lose  one— while 
they  look  at  a  proposition  and  debate  the  practicability  of  investing  in  it. 

The  grain  trade,  which  is  one  of  the  most  important  branches  of  business 
in  Joliet,  was  begun  in  an  early  day.  John  M.  Wilson  and  Charles  Clement 
were  the  first  grain  merchants  of  the  place,  and  used  an  old  barn  on  Block  16 
for  storage  purposes.  Their  net  profits  for  the  first  year,  and  the  only  one,  in 
which  they  handled  grain,  are  said  to  have  amounted  to  the  immense  sum  of  nine 
dollars.  They  made  a  corner  in  the  market  and  retired  from  the  business  at 
the  end  of  the  first  year.  But  without  attempting  to  follow  the  grain  trade 
through  all  its  stages,  from  Wilson  &  Clement's  "corner"  to  the  vast  propor- 
tions it  has  since  assumed,  we  will  endeavor  to  give  something  of  its  present 
status.  There  are  now  five  able  firms  engaged  in  grain,  viz.:  Carpenter  &  ! 
Marsh,  A.  Cagwin  &  Co.,  E.  R.  Knowlton,  H.  C.  Teed,  Wheeler  &  Co.  and  ! 
J.  E.  Bush.  Carpenter  &  Marsh  are  the  heaviest  dealers.  As  an  illustration, 
we  give  their  shipments  for  one  week,  taken  from  a  newspaper  publication  of 

1874: 

Monday 48  car  loads. 

Tuesday 44  " 

Wednesday , 21  " 

Thursday 33  " 

Friday 30  " 

Saturday 42  " 

Total  for  the  week 218       " 

They  handle  annually  not  far  short  of  three  and  a  half  million  bushels  of  grain, 
and  all  of  which  is  shipped  direct  to  Eastern  markets.  Their  elevator  capacity 
is  about  thirty  thousand  bushels,  and  twelve  to  fifteen  men  are  employed  in 
loading  and  unloading  grain.  Last  year,  this  firm  alone  handled  3,750,000 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  387 

bushels  of  grain,  most  of  which  was  corn  and  oats,  but  a  little  wheat  and 
barley.  A.  Cagwin  &  Co.  handle  annually  about  five  hundred  thousand 
bushels  of  corn  and  oats,  most  of  which  is  shipped  direct  to  the  East.  The 
elevator  used  by  this  firm  was  built  by  Carpenter  &  Marsh,  and  will  store 
from  fifteen  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  bushels  of  grain.  It  is  owned  bv 
M.  0.  Cagwin.  H.  C.  Teed,  Wheeler  &  Co.  handle  about  five  hundred  thou- 
sand bushels  annually,  and  have  storage  room  for  about  thirty  thousand  bushels 
in  Michigan  Central  Elevator.  They  also  handle  pressed  hay,  mill  feed  and 
wool,  which,  together  with  grain,  they  ship  East,  viz.:  to  Canada,  New  England 
and  Pennsylvania.  E.  R.  Knowlton  handles  about  three  hundred  thousand 
bushels  of  corn  and  oats,  which  are  shipped  East.  He  has  two  elevators,  one  of 
which  was  built  by  Cagwin,  in  an  early  stage  of  the  grain  business,  and  will 
store  about  eighteen  thousand  bushels  of  shelled  corn,  and  the  other  about 
twelve  thousand  bushels  of  oats.  His  cribbing  capacity  is  about  five  thousand 
bushels  of  ear-corn.  J.  E.  Bush,  whose  warehouse  and  elevator  stand  near 
the  Jefferson  street  bridge,  handles  about  six  hundred  thousand  bushels  of  corn 
and  oats  annually,  and  ships  both  to  the  East  and  to  Chicago — to  the  latter 
place  by  canal.  He  has  storage  room  for  about  forty  thousand  bushels.  As 
will  be  seen,  most  of  the  grain  handled  in  Joliet  is  shipped  direct  to  Eastern 
markets.  This  is  done  by  the  "Cut-off"  division  of  the  Michigan  Central 
Railroad,  a  very  important  road  for  the  business  of  Joliet,  as  it  avoids  the 
delay  and  expense  of  shipping  by  Chicago.  Much  of  the  grain  and  stock 
going  East  over  the  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  and  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroads 
are  here  transferred  to  the  "  Cut-off"  Railroad,  and  do  not  go  to  Chicago  at 
all,  which,  added  to  that  bought  at  this  point,  makes  Joliet  quite  a  center  of 
trade. 

Next  to  the  grain  interest,  and  perhaps  even  surpassing  it  in  importance  and 
as  a  source  of  actual  wealth  to  the  city,  is  stone  quarrying.  Joliet  stone  is 
known  throughout  the  State,  and  to  a  considerable  extent  in  many  other  States. 
From  the  inexhaustible  supply  of  the  finest  building  and  flag  stone,  the  large 
number  of  stone  buildings  and  most  excellent  sidewalks,  the  city  has  justly 
received  the  pseudonym  of  the  "  Stone  City."  The  neighborhood  of  Joliet  is 
as  prolific  of  stone  as  some  neighboring  sections  of  coal.  Indeed,  from  a  ramble 
among  the  quarries,  we  should  judge  the  supply  to  be  sufficient  almost  to  build 
a  "  Chinese  Wall"  around  the  entire  State.  So  far,  it  has  been  impossible  to 
form  any  accurate  idea  of  the  extent  or  quantity  of  stone  in  this  vicinity,  as 
the  number  of  quarries  now  in  successful  operation  required  no  labor  to  open 
them  other  than  the  scraping  off  of  the  trash  from  the  surface,  and  no  cause 
exists  for  going  to  any  great  depth  for  superior  qualities  of  the  "  raw  material." 
As  pertinent  to  the  subject,  we  quote  from  the  Geological  Survey  of  Illinois  : 
''  Only  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  of  beds  furnishing  '  dimension  stone  '  are  now 
quarried,  as  the  bottom  of  this  brings  the  quarryman  down  to  the  water-level, 
and  the  supply  has  thus  far  been  so  abundant  as  to  make  deeper  explorations 


388  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

unnecessary.  .  .  .  The  stone  itself  is  a  very  compact,  fine-grained,  clink- 
ing, magnesian  limestone,  but  thin  seams  of  greenish  clay  run  irregularly 
through  the  whole  mass,  which,  upon  long  exposure  in  situations  alternately 
wet  and  dry,  must  ultimately  cause  the  most  solid  layers  to  split  up.  The 
separation  in  the  quarry  into  '  ledges,'  often  twenty-four,  thirty  and  forty  inches 
in  thickness,  simply  results  from  the  presence  of  somewhat  thicker  partings  of 
this  same  greenish,  shaly  clay.  These  beds  were  formerly  described  as  com- 
posed of  light  buff  stone,  while  the  deeper  portions  of  the  quarries  now  furnish 
'blue  stone.'  The  difference  results  from  the  difference  in  amount  of  oxidation 
of  the  small  portion  of  iron  disseminated  through  the  whole  mass,  the  change 
having  resulted  from  atmospheric  influence.  The  same  change  must  ultimately 
take  place  in  all  the  '  blue  stone  '  which  is  brought  to  the  surface." 

Who  was  first  to  engage  in  quarrying,  as  a  regular  business,  we  have  been 
unable  to  ascertain,  but  are  of  the  opinion  that  as  the  city  grew  and  developed, 
enterprising  individuals  gradually  and  mechanically,  as  it  were,  drifted  into  it 
to  supply  the  increasing  demand  for  building  stone.  M.  H.  Demmond,  who  is 
mentioned  on  another  page  as  having  built  the  first  stone  house  in  1835,  must 
have  been  the  first  quarryman,  though  it  does  not  appear  that  he  extended  the 
business  beyond  his  own  immediate  wants.  JFrom  that  insignificant  beginning 
the  stone  business  has  continued  to  increase  until  it  has  reached  vast  proportions, 
and  the  quarries  in  and  around  Joliet,  in  ordinary  times,  give  employment  to 
more  than  five  hundred  men.  One  of  the  large  quarries  here  in  operation  is 
that  of  W.  A.  Steel,  who  employs  a  large  number  of  men,  and  ships  immense 
quantities  of  stone  to  almost  every  part  of  the  country,  and  commands  a  large 
trade  throughout  this  State,  having  shipped  some  sixty  thousand  car  loads  to 
the  Government  works  at  Rock  Island  alone.  The  Custom  Houses  at  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  and  Madison,  Wisconsin,  and  the  Capitol  of  Michigan  were  built 
principally  from  his  quarries.  But  our  space  forbids  a  more  extended  notice  of 
Mr.  Steel's  well-known  quarries.  Bruce  &  Co.  have  one  of  the  oldest  quarries 
in  the  vicinity  and  employ  a  large  number  of  pmen.  From  having  been  long  in 
the  business,  they  command  a  large  trade  and  ship  extensively  to  other  sections 
of  the  country.  The  Joliet  Stone  Company's  quarries  are  among  the  largest 
and  best  in  operation.  The  Company  was  organized  in  1877,  under  the  State 
law,  with  G.  H.  Munroe,  President ;  G.  M.  Campbell,  Secretary  and  Treasu- 
rer, and  D.  C.  Hays,  Superintendent.  So  recently  organized,  they  have  not 
yet  fully  developed  their  quarries,  but  furnish  a  superior  quality  of  limestone, 
and  the  bottom  layers  of  the  quarries  are  cement  stone.  They  employ  from 
twenty-five  to  one  hundred  men,  and  have  the  most  complete  steam  machinery 
for  sawing  and  rubbing  stone  in  use.  The  Company  has  recently  purchased 
and  opened  a  quarry  in  Alabama,  which  they  are  now  working  extensively. 
The  Werners  are  largely  engaged  in  the  stone  business.  Charles,  William  and 
Adam  Werner  operate  separate  quarries,  of  which  Charles,  perhaps,  does  the 
largest  business.  William  Davidson  &  Bro.  opened  their  quarries  in  1845,  and 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  389 

ship  largely  to  different  parts  of  the  country.  Their  quarries  are  on  the  Rock 
Island  Railroad  and  the  canal,  thus  affording  them  excellent  facilities  for  ship- 
ping. Bannon  and  Kronraeyer  both  own  and  operate  large  quarries,  the 
former  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  and  the  latter  on  the  canal,  just  south  of 
the  prison,  and  have  a  large  trade  both  at  home  and  abroad.  There  are  other 
quarries  around  the  city,  perhaps,  some  of  which  we  believe  are  doing  but  little 
business,  while  others  are  standing  wholly  idle.  In  this  brief  glance  at  the 
stone  interests  of  Joliet,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  business  is  one  of  immense 
volume  and  value.  Concluding  our  brief  sketch,  we  would  note  the  fact  that 
the  United  States  Government  has  subjected  this  stone  to  new  and  critical 
tests,  as  compared  with  the  stone  from  all  the  important  quarries  in  the  coun- 
try, and  both  the  War  and  Treasury  Departments  for  years  past  have  recog- 
nized its  superiority  and  drawn  on  Joliet  for  immense  quantities  of  it  for  the 
erection  of  public  buildings  throughout  the  country. 

The  history  of  the  press  dates  back  almost  to  the  beginning  of  Joliet.  The 
first  newspaper,  a  copy  of  which  we  have  before  us,  was  issued  on  the  20th  day 
of  April,  1 839,  and  was  called  the  Juliet  Courier.  It  presents  a  very  attractive 
appearance,  for  a  country  village  of  forty  years  ago,  and  we  extract  from  its 
well-filled  columns,  the  following  dedicatory  poem,  by  M.  N.  H.,  whom  many 
of  our  readers  will  doubtless  recognize : 

FOR   THE    JULIET    COURIER. 

Go,  Courier,  forth !  and,  heedless  of  all 

The  thorny  paths  thou  may'st  be  called  to  tread, 
Press  onward  !  breaking  from  the  Lethean  thrall 

That  dark  discouragements  may  round  thee  spread. 
Press  onward  !  and  thy  banner  undismayed 

Spread  to  the  breeze  that  sweeps  the  sunny  West — 
Our  Country's  banner!  while  beneath  its  shade, 

The  birds  of  Jove  amid  her  stars  at  rest, 

Protection  all  may  find,  and  be  with  freedom  blest ! 
Press  onward!  and  with  fearless  heart  proclaim 

Rest  to  the  weary  'neath  the  tyrant's  yoke  ; 
Freedom  to  all  who  groan  beneath  a  chain ; 

Joy  to  the  heart  by  stern  oppression  broke ! 
Then  fearless  of  repulse  may'st  thou  invoke 

The  sons  of  freedom  to  cheer  on  thy  way  ; 
And  feudal  serfs  from  their  long  dream  awoke, 

Led  by  thy  high  report,  shall  hither  stray, 

And  find  beneath  our  happier  skies  a  more  auspicious  day. 
Yet  shall  the  watchfires  on  our  hills  decay, 

And  factions  wrangle  round  our  sacred  flame ; 
The  stars  of  Union  from  their  orbit  stray, 

Like  the  "  lost  pleiad,"  ne'er  to  shine  again 
In  our  proud  standard  over  earth  and  main  ; 

Cease  not  to  raise  thy  voice  until  its  tone 
Shall  rouse  the  Patriot  to  shake  off  the  chain 

That  fatal  luxury  has  round  him  thrown  ; 

For  his  whole  country's  good  to  toil,  and  that  alone. 


390  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

And  as  thy  weekly  message  thou  dost  bring, 

The  cause  of  virtue  ne'er  forget  or  slight; 
Nor  fear  to  strip  from  vice  its  covering, 

Before  their  gaze  who  look  to  thee  for  light ! 
Nor  in  thine  intercourse  with  others  slight 

Their  faith  which  may  to  thee  like  error  seem ; 
But  thine  untiring  zeal  for  truth  unite 

With  charity  for  those  who  strangely  deem 
•    Their  cause  the  cause  of  truth,  and  THINE  an  idle  dream. 

Go  forth  !  and  ever  round  thine  onward  course 

May  flowers  of  intellect  unnumbered  spring  ; 
And  Genius  taught  by  thee  her  own  resource, 

To  thee  her  joyous  tribute  gladly  bring  ; 
And  Poesy  her  bright  imagining, 

Entwine  into  a  garland  for  thy  brow  ; 
While  lofty  honor  bears  with  tireless  wing 

Above  all  dalliance  with  the  mean  and  low  ; 

And  public  favor,  all  thou  dost  deserve,  bestow. 

'  The  paper  was  started  by  thirteen  of  the  enterprising  citizens  of  Joliet,  or 
Juliet,  of  whom  were  the  Allen  brothers,  Charles  Clement,  R.  Doolittle,  Judge 
Henderson  and  E;  Wilcox.  The  press  had  been  shipped  to  Ottawa,  but  not 
being  wanted  there,  was  offered  on  favorable  terms,  and  was  bought  by  Joliet. 
After  considerable  search  they  found  a  man  of  the  name  of  0.  H.  Balch  who 
had  edited  a  paper  in  Michigan,  and  was  also  a  practical  printer,  and  him  they 
secured  as  editor  and  publisher.  It  was  a  true-blue  Democratic  paper,  and  in 
his  salutatory  the  editor  promulgated  this  sensible  doctrine  :  *  *  *  "  He 
will  only  state  in  general  terms  that  he  intends  to  publish  a  newspaper  in  which 
the  principles  of  Democracy  shall  be  enforced  and  vindicated,  and  in  which  the 
National  Constitution  shall  be  held  up  to  view  as  the  foundation  of  our  Repub- 
lican institutions  and  the  bond  of  our  Union  and  as  the  safeguard  of  our  civil 
liberties."  In  its  columns  we  find  this  item  of  news,  which  was  probably  quite 
an  achievement  in  its  day,  but  when  compared  to  present  improvements,  is 
dwarfed  into  insignificance :  "  Rapid  Traveling. — It  is  stated  in  the  Wilming- 
ton (N.  C.)  Journal,  that  the  mail  is  now  carried  from  New  York  to  Charleston 
(by  way  of  the  Wilmington  &  Raleigh  Railroad)  in  eighty-four  hours."  It  ex- 
perienced the  usual  struggle  for  a  foot-hold  in  the  newspaper  field,  and,  after 
many  changes,  passed  into  the  hands  of  D.  L.  Gregg,  a  brilliant  young  lawyer, 
and  afterward  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  then  Secretary  of  State,  and  after- 
ward United  States  Consul  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  In  1843  it  was  pur- 
chased by  Hon.  Wm.  E.  Tattle,  who  changed  its  name  to  that  of  Joliet  Signal, 
which  name  it  still  retains.  He,  in  a  year  or  two,  sold  it  to  Hon.  S.  W.  Randall, 
and  he  sold  it  to  A.  0.  Stillman,  who  in  May,  1846,  sold  it  to  C.  &  C.  Zarley, 
sons  of  Reason  Zarley,  the  first  settler  of  Joliet  Township.  Calvin  Zarley,  before 
his  death,  disposed  of  his  interest  to  P.  Shuts,  the  other  Zarley  still  retaining  his 
interest.  The  firm  is  Zarley  &  Co.,  and  their  paper  has  ever  remained  Democratic, 
carrying  out  the  principles  heralded  to  the  world  on  the  day  of  its  birth. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  391 

The  Joliet  Republican  is  the  next  oldest  paper  to  the  Signal.  It  was 
originally  established  by  A.  Mclntosh  in  1847,  as  the  True  Democrat.  In 
1848  he  sold  it  to  II.  N.  Marsh  who  owned  and  edited  it  until  1852,  when 
Mr.  Mclntosh  bought  it  back,  and,  in  1857,  sold  it  to  Joseph  L.  Braden,  at  one 
time  Postmaster  of  Joliet,  who,  in  1864,  changed  its  name  to  Joliet  Republican. 
In  1866,  Bruden  died,  and  the  paper  being  sold,  was  bought  by  James  Good- 
speed,  Esq.,  the  present  owner,  and  the  present  Postmaster  of  Joliet.  The 
Republican  is  a  semi-weekly  paper  and  quite  readable. 

The  Joliet  Record  was  established  in  1870,  as  a  Democratic  journal,  and  is 
a  live,  free,  outspoken  newspaper.  It  is  an  able  defender  of  the  "  true  faith," 
and  death  on  political  stealings  and  unprincipled  doings  generally.  A  large 
quarto  paper,  it  is  well  filled  with  chaste  reading  matter,  and  a  good  fireside 
journal.  D.  C.  Henderson,  the  proprietor,  is  a  man  of  considerable  journalistic 
experience,  and  understands  making  a  readable  newspaper. 

The  Phcenix  is  a  weekly  paper.  In  January,  1877,  a  consolidation  was 
effected  of  the  Will  County  Courier,  Lockport  Phoenix,  Lemont  Eagle  and 
Plainfield  Echo,  and  two  other  publications  were  added,  one  at  Wilmington  and 
the  other  at  Braidwood.  An  editor  was  stationed  at  each  of  these  towns  ;  the 
type  set  up  by  them  and  shipped  to  Joliet  on  publication  day.  The  matter  was 
then  assorted  in  such  a  manner  that  the  reader  obtained  the  local  news  of  all 
these  points.  This  plan  gives  more  home  news  than  is  usually  contained  in 
ordinary  country  newspapers.  Each  editor  has  more  time  to  devote  to  news- 
gathering,  and  therefore  a  better  paper  can  be  published  at  each  point  and  sold 
cheaper  than  by  the  old  plan.  The  issues  at  present,  together  with  the  editors 
and  proprietors,  are  as  follows :  Joliet  Phoenix,  J.  S.  McDonald,  editor  and 
proprietor ;  Lockport  Phoenix,  J.  S.  McDonald,  proprietor,  and  Leon  Mc- 
Donald, editor ;  Wilmington  Phoenix,  J.  S.  McDonald,  proprietor,  and  C.  H. 
Duck  and  F.  H.  Hall,  editors ;  Lemont  Phoenix,  J.  S.  McDonald  and  W.  P. 
Haughey,  proprietors,  and  W.  P.  Haughey,  editor. 

The  Joliet  Sun  was  established  July  12,  1872,  by  C.  B.  Hayward,  as  a  Re- 
publican newspaper.  In  October,  1874,  the  proprietor  issued  the  first  copy  of 
the  daily  Sun,  and  since  then  a  daily  and  weekly  paper  has  been  issued,  the 
daily  being  an  evening  paper,  and  the  largest  daily  issued  in  the  Seventh  Con- 
gressional District.  The  Sun  is  a  live  newspaper,  and  a  true  exponent  of  Re- 
publican principles. 

The  Joliet  News  was  established  in  April,  1877,  as  a  morning  paper,  three 
columns,  by  Charles  F.  Dutcher,  as  editor  and  proprietor,  and  was  Independent 
in  politics.  In  October,  of  same  year,  it  was  bought  by  Nelson,  Ferris  &  Co., 
and  a  weekly  Greenback  paper  added.  It  is  still  owned  by  these  parties,  and  pub- 
lished daily  and  weekly  in  the  interests  of  the  Greenback  party.  It  is  in  a 
flourishing  condition,  and  rapidly  increasing  in  importance. 

The  first  hotel  of  which  we  have  any  account  was  the  "  Juliet  Hotel,"  and 
was  erected  in  1834.  It  was  kept  by  William  H.  Blackburn  in  1836,  but 


392  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

whether  or  not  he  built  it,  deponent  testifieth  not.  The  "  Old  American  House  " 
was  another  of  the  ancient  hostelries,  and  could  it  have  been  imbued  with  the 
power  of  speech  for  a  little  Avhile,  doubtless  it  could  "  a  tale  unfold,"  and  have 
detailed  an  interesting  history  of  early  times  and  events.  But  these  landmarks 
have  passed  away,  with  their  cramped  capacity  for  accommodating  "  man  and 
beast,"  and  no  city  of  its  size  can  boast  of  better  or  more  commodious  hotel  ar- 
rangements than  Joliet  at  the  present  day.  The  "  Robertson  House,"  the  "  St. 
Nicholas,"  and  the  "  National  "  (when  in  operation),  are  models  of  comfort  and 
elegance.  And  a  number  of  others,  such  as  the  "  Atkinson,"  "  Mansion," 
"  Auburn,"  "  City,"  etc.,  though  making  less  pretensions,  are  comfortable 
houses  of  entertainment. 

We  mentioned  in  the  history  of  Joliet  Township,  the  erection  of  the  first 
school  house  in  1836,  which  was  likewise  the  first  in  the  city  of  Joliet,  as  it 
was  built  within  the  present  city  limits  on  Hickory  street,  and  is  or  was  recently 
occupied  as  a  residence  by  Wm.  Terrell.  It  was  built  by  Demmond,  McKee, 
Beaumont  and  some  others  for  school  purposes,  and  was  also  used  for  a  temple 
of  worship.  As  previously  noticed,  John  Watkins  taught  the  first  school  in  this 
house — the  pioneer  teacher,  who  had  taught  one  of  the  very  first  schools  in 
Chicago.  As  the  demand  for  school  facilities  increased,  other  edifices  were  erected, 
and  to-day  the  city  is  well  supplied  with  substantial  school  buildings.  The 
High  School,  or  graded  school  buildings  on  the  East  and  West  Side,  are  built  of 
stone,  though  not  presenting  as  attractive  outward  appearance  as  some  other 
school  buildings  in  the  county.  The  schools  of  Joliet  are  divided  into  three 
classes,  viz.,  primary,  intermediate  and  high  school,  and  the  city  into  two  school 
districts  by  the  river.  Each  district  has  a  high  or  graded  school,  under  the  su- 
pervision of  six  inspectors — three  to  each  school,  and  all  subject  to  the  control 
of  the  city  government.  Then  of  the  ward  or  primary  schools  there  are  six, 
viz.;  The  Rolling  Mill,  Third  Ward,  Fourth  Ward,  Fifth  Ward,  Sixth  Ward 
and  Seventh  Ward.  Pupils  are  required  to  attend  the  primary  schools  in  their 
respective  wards  until  far  enough  advanced  to  enter  the  high  schools.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  common  schools,  there  are  a  number  of  private  and  Catholic  schools. 
Mrs.  Sarah  C.  Mclntosh,  formerly  County  Superintendent  of  Schools,  and 
whose  term  of  office  expired  in  1877,  has  since  opened  a  kind  of  academy, 
which  is  rapidly  increasing  in  popularity.  She  at  present  occupies  the  second 
story  of  the  National  Hotel  building  on  the  West  Side,  and  has  a  large  and 
flourishing  school.  Mrs.  Judge  Olin  also  conducts  a  private  school,  but  more  of 
a  primary  than  the  one  just  mentioned.  The  Convent  of  St.  Francis,  in 
charge  of  Mother  Francis,  Lady  Superior,  is  a  kind  of  boarding-school  or 
academy  of  a  high  order.  The  first  building  was  put  up  in  1858,  and  a  large 
three-story  addition  made  to  it  in  1870,  at  a  total  cost  of  about  $13,000.  It  is 
built  of  stone ;  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  West  Side  bluff,  overlooking  the 
city,  and  will  accommodate  sixty  or  seventy  pupils.  There  are  about  ninety 
Sisters  connected  with  the  order  here,  but  most  of  them  travel  over  the  country 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  393 

and  teach  wherever  their  services  may  be  needed,  and  only  about  fifteen  are 
here  permanently.  In  addition  to  the  Convent  of  St.  Francis,  there  are  three 
good  schools,  aside  from  the  common  schools  and  the  Monastery  of  St.  Francis, 
conducted  under  the  charge  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers  of  the  German  Catholic 
Church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  are  supported  exclusively  by  the  members 
of  this  Church,  without  any  aid  from  the  public  money.  These  schools  are 
attended  by  about  300  children.  Thus,  it  will  be  seen  from  these  observations, 
that  the  stranger  locating  in  Joliet  is  blessed  with  abundant  school  privileges, 
and  can  have  his  choice  of  public,  private  or  Catholic  schools. 

It  is  supposed  by  some  that  the  first  sermon  preached  in  "  Juliet "  was  by 
Rev.  George  West,  a  Methodist  preacher,  whose  arrival  in  the  settlement  is 
noticed  as  being  in  1833 ;  while  others  think  that  Rev.  J.  H.  Prentiss,  a  Pres- 
byterian, was  the  first  to  proclaim  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  pretty  generally 
conceded,  however,  that  the  first  church  was  built  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Methodists,  while  the  first  regular  church  society  was  organized  by  the  Episco- 
palians. This  pioneer  was,  as  it  is  still,  known  as  Christ's  Episcopal  Church, 
and  was  organized  by  Bishop  Chase,  the  first  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Illinois,  on 
the  16th  day  of  May,  1835.  (Bishop  Chase  was  the  founder  of  Jubilee  Col- 
lege, near  Peoria.)  The  following  were  the  original  members  :  Comstock  Han- 
ford,  John  Griswold,  Miles  Rice,  Orlen  Westover,  A.  W.  Bowen  and  wife, 
Julia  Ann  Hanford  and  Amorette  B.  Griswold,  all  of  whom,  except  Dr.  Bowen 
and  wife,  resided  in  the  adjacent  country.  Rev.  Andrew  Cornish  was  the  first 
settled  Rector  of  this  Church.  Before  his  advent,  Rev.  Mr.  Hallam,  Rector  of 
St.  James'  Church,  Chicago,  used  to  come  down  at  times  and  officiate.  The 
church  edifice  was  built  in  1857,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Locke,  now 
Rector  of  Grace  Church,  Chicago.  It  is  a  frame  building,  cost  about  $6,000, 
and  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Whitehouse,  the  second  Bishop  of  Illinois.  Be- 
fore the  building  of  this  church,  the  society  worshiped  in  the  school  house  or 
wherever  convenience  dictated.  The  present  membership  is  about  160,  and  the 
parish  is  without  a  regular  Rector.  The  ministers  who  have  been  in  charge  since 
its  organization  to  the  present  time  are  as  follows :  Rev.  Andrew  Cornish,  Rev. 
Wm.  Bostwick  (who  died  in  1845),  Rev.  Mr.  Brown  (his  brother-in-law),  Rev.  Mr. 
Todd,  Rev.  Mr.  Pulford,  Rev.  Wm.  Bostwick,  Jr.,  Rev.  Mr.  Locke,  Rev.  Mr. 
Wilkerson,  Rev.  Mr.  Gilbert,  Rev.  Mr.  Green,  Rev.  Mr.  Tays  and  Rev.  Mr.  Mor- 
rill.  A  flourishing  Sunday  school  is  connected  with  this  Church,  under  the 
superintendence  of  Henry  Knowlton,  with  an  average  attendance  of  about 
seventy-five  children.  An  Episcopal  Mission  has  been  organized  at  the  Rolling 
Mills,  which  is  in  a  very  prosperous  condition.  It  was  established  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Gilbert,  and  is  usually  attended  by  the  Rector  of  Christ  Church.  It  also 
maintains  an  interesting  Sunday  school. 

As  before  stated,  the  first  church  edifice  in  Joliet  was  built  by  the  Method- 
ists, in  1838,  and  cost  $2,500.  The  Rock  Island  Railroad  when  built,  in 
1852,  struck  the  house  and  bought  it,  allowing  the  society  $800  for  it.  There 


394  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

are,  we  believe,  several  claimants  for  the  honor  of  preaching  the  first  Methodist 
sermon  in  this  settlement.  Father  Beggs  and  a  local  preacher  named  Isaac 
Scarritt  both  contend  for  it,  while  others  accredit  a  local  Methodist  preacher, 
Rev.  Mr.  West,  as  having  preached  the  first  sermon.  Father  Scarritt  claimed 
to  have  also  preached  the  first  sermon  in  Chicago,  and  to  have  done  so  bare- 
footed, having  been  in  a  shipwreck  the  day  previous,  and  lost  his  shoes.  A 
class  was  formed  in  the  settlement  in  1832,  the  bounds  of  the  mission  extend- 
ing from  Chicago  to  Peoria  and  from  State  line  to  Fox  River,  and  from  1832 
to  1835,  was  known  as  Des^Planes  Mission ;  from  1835  to  1837,  as  Des  Planes 
Circuit,  which  extended  from  Blue  Island  to  Ottawa,  when  it  became  Joliet 
Station,  and  the  first  church  edifice  commenced  and  finished,  as  above  stated, 
in  1838.  In  1852,  after  disposing  of  their  first  church  to  the  Rock  Island 
Railroad  Company,  who  converted  it  into  a  blacksmith  shop,  the  society  built  a 
brick  church,  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  including  a  parsonage.  This  church  was 
burned  in  1859,  and  was  without  insurance.  The  same  year,  their  present 
stone  church  was  'built,  at  a  cost  of  $8,000,  and  afterward  remodeled,  with 
$2,000  additional  cost,  and  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Simpson.  It  has  now  a 
membership  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Axtell,  and  an  excellent  Sunday  school,  of  which  Elijah  Hunter  is  Super- 
intendent. The  Richards  Street  Methodist  Church,  an  offshoot  of  this,  was 
built  in  1877,  at  a  cost,  including  parsonage,  of  $5,500,  and  was  dedicated  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Caldwell.  Mr.  Otis  Hardy  bore  the  entire  expense  of  building  this 
church,  except  $500.  The  membership,  including  thp  Rolling  Mills  Mission, 
is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty.  It  has  a  flourishing  Sunday  school,  with  Miss 
Kate  Swarthouse  as  Superintendent.  The  Rolling  Mill  Chapel  was  built  in 
1874,  and  cost  about  $2,200.  Its  membership  is  included  in  the  Richards 
Street  Church.  It  has  a  large  Sunday  school,  and  Mr.  Webb  is  Superintend- 
ent. The  three  Methodist  Sunday  schools  have  a  regular  average  attendance 
of  about  four  hundred  children. 

St.  John's  Universalist  Church  was  organized  as  a  church  society  in  1836, 
by  Rev.  Aaron  Kinney.  Until  they  erected  a  church  they  used  the  Court 
House  for  a  time,  and  then  fitted  up  a  room  in  "  Merchants'  Row,"  on  Chicago 
street,  in  which  they  worshiped.  The  first  church  edifice  was  built  about 
1840,  and  dedicated  by  Rev.  W.  W.  Dean.  It  was  a  frame  building,  and  cost 
about  $1,800.  Their  present  elegant  stone  church  was  built  in  1856,  at  a  cost 
of  $20,000,  and  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  Henry  Walworth.  It  has  a  large  and 
increasing  membership,  and  is  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Laing.  Its 
Sunday  school  has  an  average  attendance  of  about  eighty  children,  is  in  a 
flourishing  state,  and  Mrs.  C.  A.  Dean  is  Superintendent. 

First  German  Evangelical  Lutheran,  of  Joliet  and  vicinity,  is  an  offshoot, 
or,  rather,  a  part  of  the  German  Evangelical  Church  on  the  West  Side,  of  which 
Rev.  Christian  Sans  became  the  Pastor  in  1860.  In  1871,  a  separation  took 
place,  and  the  more  liberal  of  .the  members,  with  Rev.  Mr.  Sans,  organized  a 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  305 

church  on  the  East  Side,  with  the  above  title.  They  have  erected  a  very 
elegant  church,  but  have  only  the  basement  completed,  owing  to  a  failure 
to  receive  money  subscribed  by  people  in  Chicago  just  before  the  great 
fire.  They  are  making  efforts,  however,  to  finish  it  off  by  next  June,  in  order 
to  have  it  dedicated  under  the  auspices  of  the  Wartburg  Evangelical  Synod,  of 
Central  and  Southern  Illinois,  to  the  jurisdiction  of  which  this  Church  belongs. 
So  far  the  building  has  cost  about  $6,000,  and  it  will  require  $2,500  more  to 
complete  it.  Rev.  Christian  Sans  is  still  Pastor  of  the  flock  he  has  so  faith- 
fully served  for  eighteen  years,  and  the  services  of  his  Church  are  conducted 
in  German.  He  is  also  .Superintendent  of  the  large  Sunday  school,  which  is 
attended  by  from  seventy-five  to  eighty  children.  A  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  a  Ladies'  Sewing  Society  have  been  organized  in  connection 
with  the  Church. 

The  first  religious  effort  of  the  Presbyterians  was  inaugurated  by  the  Rev. 
J.  H.  Prentiss,  in  the  Winter  of  1834-5.  Under  the  auspices  of  the  Ameri- 
can Home  Mission  Society,  he  visited  "  Juliet,"  and  "  finding  that  there  were 
even  then  heathen  enough  to  justify  the  step,"  says  Mr.  Woodruff  in  his  "  Forty 
Years  Ago,"  "came  on  the  next  Summer  with  his  family,  established  preaching, 
and  soon  after  organized  a  Presbyterian  Church,  sometime  in  1835."  He 
preached  in  a  little  stone  building  that  stood  on  Broadway  until  the  building 
of  the  first  school  house,  when  services  were  held  in  it.  This  Church  had  its 
ups  and  downs,  and  finally  died  out,  comparatively  speaking,  but  was  revived 
under  the  ministerial  labors  of  the  Revs.  Hiram  and  Lucius  Foote.  The 
remnants  of  Mr.  Prentiss'  old  church,  some  old  professors  and  new 
converts,  were  organized  into  a  Congregational  Church,  under  the  name  of 
the  "Union  Church,"  and  the  Rev.  Hiram  Foote  chosen  Pastor.  Some 
years  later,  when  it  had  again  become  somewhat  lukewarm,  there  came  a 
Second  Adventist,  who,  as  an  old  member  informed  us,  "  turned  things  topsy- 
turvy for  a  few  weeks."  John  M.  Wilson  (now  of  Chicago)  turned  preacher, 
and  proclaimed  "  the  end  at  hand "  to  his  excited  hearers,  who  were  so 
thoroughly  convinced  of  the  fact  as  to  have  their  "long  white  robes  in  readi- 
ness." C.  E.  Fellows,  a  popular  lawyer  of  the  time,  was  another  of  their  leaders 
and  preachers,  and  took  the  ground  that  whoever  provided  worldly  comforts  for 
the  future  would  certainly  be  lost,  and  so  would  only  buy  food  enough  for  one 
meal  at  a  time.  But  when  the  appointed  time  came,  and  this  rolling  world  con- 
tinued to  revolve  upon  its  axis  in  the  usual  way,  Fellows  became  disgusted,  and  for- 
swore belief  in  all  religious  sects,  "  and,"  says  the  old  member  referred  to,  "  went 
to  the  devil  as  fast  as  possible."  Indirectly,  from  this  old  original  Presbyterian 
Church  and  upon  the  remains  of  those  that  followed,  has  arisen  the  Central  Presby- 
terian Church  of  the  present  day.  As  such,  it  was  organized  in  1844,  by  Rev. 
Benj.  W.  Dwight,  with  twenty-two  members,  and  for  a  time  they  hired  a  room 
on  the  West  Side,  but  afterward  moved  across  the  river  and  occupied  the  Court 
House,  and  still  later,  the  Universalist  Church.  In  1852,  they  erected  their 


396  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

present  building,  at  a  cost  of  $3,000,  and,  in  1871,  enlarged  it  at  an  additional 
cost  of  $3,000.  It  is  a  frame  building  with  stone  basement,  and  was  dedicated 
by  Rev.  R.  W.  Patterson  and  Rev.  A.  H.  Dean,  Pastor  at  the  time.  It  has 
now  about  250  members.  A  Sunday  school  was  organized  cotemporaneously 
with  the  Church,  George  H.  Woodruff,  Superintendent.  E.  L.  Spangler  is  the 
present  Superintendent,  with  an  average  attendance  of  164  children.  The  fol- 
lowing are  the  names  of  the  Pastors  of  this  Church  since  organized  as  the  Cen- 
tral Presbyterian  :  Rev.  M.  Strong,  called  from  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  preached 
one  Sabbath  and  was  then  taken  sick  and  died.  The  next,  Rev.  B.  W.  Dwight, 
Rev.  R.  Reed,  Rev.  Mr.  De  Loss,  who  built  the  church,  Rev.  J.  Kidd,  Rev. 
Mr.  Hubbard,  Rev.  H.  D.  Jenkins  and  Rev.  A.  H.  Dean,  the  present  Pastor. 

The  First  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  August  3, 1866,  with  fourteen 
original  members.  The  church,  which  is  of  stone,  was  built  in  1867,  at  a  cost 
of  $9,000,  and  what  is  strangest  of  all  in  this  age  of  stupendous  church  debts, 
it  is  free  from  all  pecuniary  incumbrances.  It  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  0.  A. 
Kingsbury,  and  at  present  has  101  members.  The  following  are  the  Pastors 
from  its  organization  to  the  present  time :  Rev.  0.  A.  Kingsbury,  1866-1869  ; 
Rev.  C.  R.  Burdick,  1869-1873  ;  Rev.  James  McLeod,  1873-1876  ;  Rev.  Mr. 
Knott,  1876-1877  ;  Rev.  Thomas  M.  Gunn,  1877,  and  still  occupies  the  posi- 
tion. The  Sunday  school  was  organized  in  1863,  several  years  previous  to  the 
Church,  and  has  an  attendance  of  about  125,  under  the  superintendence  of  D. 
W.  Pond. 

The  Baptists  organized  a  society  as  early,  almost,  as  any  other  religious 
denomination.  Their  first  meetings  were  held  and  their  first  church  organized 
in  the  building  on  the  West  Side,  on  Broadway,  at  present  used  as  a  school 
house ;  and  one  of  the  first  Pastors  of  this  society  was  Rev.  S.  Knapp,  who  is  yet 
living  in  Jolie;.  This  Church  seems  to  have  become  for  a  while  extinct,  and 
that  the  present  one  on  the  East  Side  grew  out  of  it.  The  latter  was  fully  or- 
ganized February  16, 1853,  a  council  having  been  called  for  that  purpose,  which 
was  presided  over  by  Rev.  R.  B.  Ashley,  of  Plainfield.  The  following  are  the 
original  members :  Prudence  Burdick,  J.  B.  Wait,  Jesse  Kyrk,  Michael  Tate, 
Margaret  Tate,  Thos.Tate,  Eliza  Henry,  F.  Crouch,  Eliza  Crouch,  Henry  Watkins, 
J.  C.Williams  and  Sarah  Williams.  Their  meetings  were  held  in  the  Court  House 
and  other  places  until  July,  1858,  when  it  was  resolved  to  build  a  church,  not 
to  cost  more  than  $8,000.  This  section  of  the  country  being  poor,'  and  in  its 
infancy,  comparatively  speaking,  it  was  determined  to  send  a  representative 
East  to  solicit  aid,  and  accordingly  Mrs.  S.  F.  Savage  was  chosen.  She  was 
gone  six  months,  and  during  that  time  sent  to  the  Building  Society  an  average 
of  $500  per  month.  In  this  manner,  together  with  what  was  obtained  at  home, 
their  present  elegant  church  building  was  erected,  and  dedicated  to  God  in  1859. 
The  following  are  the  Pastors  of  this  Church  since  its  organization  :  Rev.  J. 
F.  Childs,  1853-1854  ;  Rev.  W.  J.  Clarke,  18C4-1856  ;  Rev.  A.  B.  Foskett, 
1856-1857;  Rev.  E.  P.  Savage,  1859  (supply);  Rev.  E.  Button,  1859-1862; 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  397 

Rev.  W.  P.  Patterson,  1862-1864 ;.  Rev.  C.  H.  Remington,  1864-1868  ;  Rev. 
A.  G.  Eberhart,  1868-1871 ;  Rev.  R.  Leslie,  1871-1874  :  Rev.  J.  P.  Phillips, 
1874-1877,  and  Rev.  A.  H.  Stote,  the  present  Pastor.  A  large  and  flourish- 
ing Sunday  school  is  carried  on  in*connection  with  this  Church. 

St.  Patrick's  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  one  of  the  oldest  Catholic  churches 
in  the  diocese  of  Chicago.*  The  Society  of  St.  Patrick  was  organized  in  1838, 
under  Rev.  Father  Plunkett,  who  commenced  the  building  of  the  church  that 
year,  and  continued  on  as  money  could  be  obtained  until  their  zeal  and  perse- 
verance have  resulted  in  the  magnificent  stone  church  on  Broadway,  which  has 
cost  altogether  over  thirty  thousand  dollars.  Between  two  hundred  and  three 
hundred  families  worship  at  this  sanctuary,  and  there  is  also  a  well-attended 
Sunday  school.  The  sad  death  of  Father  Plunkett  is  remembered  still  by  many 
of  the  old  members.  He  had  been  out  on  a  collecting  mission  for  his  church, 
and  was  returning  home  in  the  midst  of  a  March  snow-storm,  riding  very  fast 
against  the  wind,  with  his  head  bowed  low  to  protect  his  face  from  the  storm, 
when  his  head  struck  the  limb  of  a  tree  extended  over  the  road,  killing  him 
almost  instantly.  After  the  death  of  Father  Plunkett,  Rev.  Father  Du  Pout- 
davis,  a  Frenchman,  became  the  Pastor,  and  remained  about  four  years  and 
was  succeeded  by  Father  Ingoldsby.  He  remained  also  about  four  years, 
when  Father  Hamilton  took  charge,  remaining  about  four  years,  and  was 
followed  by  two  other  clergymen,  whose  names  are  forgotten,  neither  of  whom 
remained  long  Father  Farley  then  came  and  remained  in  charge  for  fourteen 
years,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Father  Power,  the  present  Pastor.  In  1868, 
the  parish  was  divided,  and  another  formed  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  known 
as  St.  Mary's  Parish. 

St.  Mary's  Catholic  Church,  of  Joliet,  was  separated  from  the  original 
parish  in  1868,  and  the  new  parish  formed  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  P.  W. 
Riordan,  now  Pastor  of  St.  James  Church,  Chicago.  He  had  been  preceded  by 
Rev.  Father  Flanagan,  who  remained  about  a  year,  and  built  a  small  wooden 
church  near  the  Alton  depot,  which  still  belongs  to  the  parish.  Father  Rior- 
dan remained  about  two  years  and  was  succeeded  by  Father  Mackin,  who  re- 
mained in  charge  for  five  years.  Father  Murphy  was  the  next  Pastor  and  in 
about  one  year  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Maurice  F.  Burke,  the  present  Pastor, 
who  took  charge  in  April,  1878.  The  corner  stone  of  the  present  magnificent 
church,  which,  when  completed  will  be  the  finest  church  edifice  in  the  city,  was 
laid  by  Father  Murphy  in  August,  1877,  and  the  work  pushed  forward  with 
so  much  rapidity  as  to  have  the  basement  ready  for  occupancy  in  one  year,  and 
on  the  llth  of  August,  1878,  it  was  dedicated  by  Bishop  Foley  and  Rev.  Dr. 
McMullin,  of  Chicago.  It  is  built  of  Joliet  limestone ;  is  70x132  feet,  and 
112  to  the  top  of  the  tower.  The  spire  will  extend  90  feet  above  the  tower, 
and  the  entire  structure,  when  completed,  will  cost  about  fifty-five  thousand 
dollars.  The  supervising  architect  is  P.  C.  Keeley,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  the 

Mr.  Keegan  informs  us  that  when  he  came  here,  in  1840,  there  was  bat  one  little  Catholic  Church  in  Chicago. 


398  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

stone  contractors,  Charles  and  William  Werner,  and  wood  contractor,  Francis 
Devine.  A  Sunday  school  is  connected  with  the  Church,  taught  by  the  ladies 
of  the  parish,  and  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Pastor. 

The  German  Catholic  Church  was  organized  in  1852,  on  the  West  Side, 
and  the  building  commenced  at  the  time  was  erected  of  stone,  at  a  cost  of 
about  twelve  thousand  dollars.  In  1866,  having  become  too  small  for  the  grow- 
ing society,  it  was  pulled  down  and  a  fine  stone  edifice  erected  upon  the  site, 
costing  nearly  fifty  thousand  dollars,  with  a  parsonage  in  connection,  also  of 
stone,  and  which  cost  between  three  and  four  thousand  dollars.  The  first  offi- 
ciating priest  was  Father  Regel,  a  Frenchman,  but  who  spoke  the  German 
language.  Since  then,  the  Church  has  been  supplied  as  follows  :  Father  Cas- 
par Mueller,  Father  Rauch,  Father  Charles  Kumin  ;  then  the  Benedictine 
Fathers  had  charge  of  it  about  one  year,  and  were  succeeded  by  Father  Algeir, 
and  he  by  Father  F.  X.  Nolte,  who  remained  for  nine  years.  In  1876,  the 
Franciscan  Monks,  with  Father  Gerard  Becher  as  Superior,  took  charge  of  it, 
and  still  continue  to  administer  its  affairs.  About  three  hundred  families  (all 
German)  worship  in  this  sanctuary. 

There  are  two  other  German  churches  in  the  city,  viz.:  the  Evangelical 
Church  and  the  German  Lutheran.  The  latter  is  located  on  the  West  Side, 
and  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Missouri  Synod,  and  is  the  Church  to  which 
Rev.  Christian  Sans  was  called  in  1860,  and  of  which  he  remained  the  Pastor 
until  1871,  when  a  separation  took  place,  as  narrated  elsewhere.  The  Evan- 
gelical Church  is  on  Herkimer  and  Cass  streets,  is  quite  a  handsome  frame  build- 
ing and  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

Having  given  the  first  settlement  of  Joliet,  and  traced  it  through  its  differ- 
ent sources  of  enterprise  to  its  present  commercial  importance,  we  return  to  its 
early  organization  as  a  village.  In  March,  1837,  a  meeting  of  the  legal  citizens 
of  the  village  of  "Juliet"  was  held,  pursuant  to  ten  days'  notice,  under  pro- 
vision of  the  General  Act  of  Incorporation.  Joel  A.  Matteson  was  President 
and  George  H.  Woodruff  Clerk  of  the  meeting.  The  question  voted  upon  was 
whether  the  village  should  be  incorporated,  and  was  decided  unanimously  by 
seventy-eight  votes  in  the  affirmative.  An  election  was  held  at  the  old  Ameri- 
can Hotel  on  the  31st  of  March  for  five  Trustees,  which  resulted  in  the  election 
of  Joel  A.  Matteson,  J.  J.  Garland,  Daniel  Reed,  Fenner  Aldrich  and  R.  C. 
Duncan.  On  the  4th  day  of  April,  1837,  the  Board  organized  for  business 
and  appointed  Dr.  William  Scolfield  Clerk,  and  thus  the  village  of  "  Juliet " 
was  duly  incorporated.  In  1841,  the  Trustees  resigned  on  account  of  the 
repeal  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Act  of  Incorporation,  and  from  that  time  until 
185*2  it  was  without  any  form  of  government  other  than  township  organization. 
In  these  early  days,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  rivalry  between  the  east  and 
west  sides  of  the  river,  in  illustration  of  which  we  make  the  following  extract 
from  "Forty  Years  Ago"  :  "  The  town  was  divided  into  two  wards  by  the 
river.  The  point  contested  was  to  get  the  odd  Trustee,  as  by  the  charter  each 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  399 

ward  had  two.  It  was  necessary  to  own  real  estate  in  the  town  to  be  a  voter. 
The  boys  on  each  side  counted  noses,  and  it  was  found  that  the  West  Ward  had 
a  small  majority.  There  were  some  then  on  the  East  Side  who  were  not  will- 
ing to  be  fairly  beaten.  A  plan  was  accordingly  devised  to  overcome  this 
majority.  There  happened  to  be  a  circus  in  town,  and  Charley  Sayre  executed 
to  thirty-six  of  the  circus  employes  a  deed  of  a  lot,  supposed  to  be  somewhere 
in  Bowen's  Addition,  and  they  were  allowed  to  swear  in  their  votes  !  This 
gave  the  victory  to  the  East  Side.  But  although  the  concocters  of  the  scheme 
were  so  elated  at  their  success  that  they  had  a  big  drunk  over  it,  I  don't  think 
they  ever  reaped  any  material  advantage  from  it.  One  good  thing,  however, 
came  out  of  the  affair.  Of  course  the  circus  boys  did  not  stay  to  look  after 
their  lot  and  pay  the  taxes,  and  Charley  Sayre  wouldn't,  so  our  worthy  citi- 
zen, N.  H.  Cutter,  bid  it  off  at  a  tax  sale  for  a  poor  widow,  Margaret  McGinnis, 
who  built  a  little  house  on  it,  and  so  got  a  home  very  cheap,  which  she  occupied 
many  years."  But  these  little  contests  are  long  past.  The  magnificent  bridges 
which  span  the  river  have  united  the  rival  sections,  and  no  cause  now  exists  for 
jealousy  or  ill-feeling.  In  1839,  during  the  great  financial  depression  which 
followed  the  crisis  of  1837,  work  was  suspended  on  the  canal,  and  from  that 
time  until  1841  the  town  experienced  hard  times,  as  did  all  other  cities,  towns 
and  villages.  Eggs  sold  in  Joliet  for  3  cents  a  dozen,  venison  for  1J  cents  a 
pound,  and  other  things  in  proportion.  But  with  the  resumption  of  work  on  the 
canal,  in  1845,  the  prosperity  of  the  place  revived  and  the  people  awoke  to 
renewed  life.  Since  then,  it  has  grown  and  developed  into  what  it  is  now — a 
prosperous  city. 

Joliet  was  incorporated  as  a  city  June  19, 1852,  and  laid  off  into  five  wards 
by  legislative  act.  The  following  officers  were  the  first  elected  under  city 
organization:  C.  C.  Van  Horn,  Mayor;  Aldermen — N.  H.  Cutter  and  D. 
Cassedy,  First  Ward  ;  Jacob  George  and  M.  Shields,  Second  Ward  ;  E.  Wilcox 
and  T.  J.  Kinney,  Third  Ward ;  E.  L.  Cagwin  and  S.  W.  Bowman,  Fourth 
Ward ;  P.  0' Conner  and  Uri  Osgood,  Fifth  Ward.  We  give  below  the  names 
of  Mayor  and  City  Clerk,  from  organization  down  to  the  present  time : 

Mayor.  City  Clerk.  Terms. 

C.  C.  Van  Horn S.  W.  Stone 1852 

«  1853 

J.  E.  Streeter « 1854 

W.  D.  Elwood.... "  1855 

"  Charles  Snoad  1856 

Firman  Mack S.  S.  Buffum 1857 

«  1858 

Frank  Goodspeed Samuel  D.  Smith 1859 

.<  1860 

S.  W.  Bowen «  1861 

.. 1862 

W.  A.  Strong,  Jr W.  H.  Zarley 1863 

Edwin  Porter <<  1864 

"  «  ...1865 


400  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Mayor.  City  Clerk.  Terms. 

S.  W.  Bowen W.  H.  Zarley 1866 

Elvis  Harwood " 1867 

"  1868 

W.  A.  Steel "  1869 

- "  1870 

Edwin  Porter W.  H.  Zarley 1871 

W.  A.  Steel "  1872 

W.  E.  Henry "  1873 

A.  Scheldt "  -....1874 

W.  A.  Steel "  1875 

R  E.  Barber "  1876 

Jas.  G.  Elwood "  1877 

William  Tonner 1878 

The  following  are  the  present  Board  of  Aldermen  :  M.  G.  Demmond  and  F. 

E.  Freeman,  First  Ward;  F.  W.  Woodruff  and  Wm.  Gleason,  Second  Ward; 

F.  Sehring  and  M.  Moran,   Third  Ward ;   T.  A.  Mason  and  H.  N.  Marsh, 
Fourth  Ward;  Peter  Collins  and  P.  C.  Haley,  Fifth  Ward;  H.  Fanning  and 
He*ry  Schoettes,   Sixth  Ward ;    Dorrence  Dibell  and  J.  P.  King,  Seventh 
Ward.     Other  city  officers  are :     Charles  Werner,  Collector ;   John   Gorges, 
Treasurer,  and  Thomas  O'Brien,  Chief  of  Police.     The  police  force  consists  of 
one  policeman  in  each  ward,  and  in  good  discipline  under  Chief    O'Brien. 
While  touching  upon  the  affairs  of  the  city  government,  we  notice  in  the 
highest  terms,  the  efficient  and  well-equipped  fire  department.     It  was  organ- 
ized on  its  present  basis  in  1877,  prior  to  which  time  it  was  a  voluntary  depart- 
ment.    The  department  consists  of  two  engines,  hook  and  ladder,  with  twenty- 
one  men — nine  men  to  each  engine,  and  three  to  the  hook  and  ladder,  all  under 
charge  of  J.  D.  Paige,  Chief  Engineer.    Recently,  the  new  fire  alarm  has  been 
introduced,  with  seven  boxes  and  two  16-inch  gongs,  one  in  each  engine  house. 
The  horses  belong  to  the  department,  are  well  trained,  and  the  engines  are  of 
the  very  best  in  use.     In  a  word,  the  department,  under  Chief  Paige,  is  as 
perfect  as  in  any  of  the  large  cities,  as  a  proof  of  which  is  the  fact  that  it 
captured  three  of  the  prizes  at  the  late  Firemen's  Tournament,  in  Chicago,  viz,: 
First  national  prize,  for  putting  out  fire,  $350,  gold,  and  a  silver  water  service 
valued  at  $160  ;  third  national  prize,  from  throwing  water  a  distance,  $100, 
gold ;  and  third  State  prize,  for  throwing  water  a  distance,  $75  in  greenbacks. 

In  the  older  countries  and  the  larger  cities  of  the  world,  there  is  usually 
some  peculiar  characteristic  to  be  observed,  either  in  the  style  of  architecture, 
the  grandeur  of  public  works  or  buildings,  of  magnificent  ruins,  manners  and 
customs,  etc.,  but  always  something  to  distinguish  each  city  or  people  from  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Hence,  Egypt  was  noted  for  its  colossal  pyramids ;  Pompeii 
is  still  famous  for  its  stupendous  ruins,  and  Jerusalem,  the  mighty  city  of  the 
plain  and  the  Mecca  of  the  Israelites,  is  famed  wherever  civilization  has  ex- 
tended, for  Solomon's  Temple,  the  glory  of  which  has  never  been  equaled  by 
man.  Coming  down  to  modern  times,  London  is  characterized  by  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  one  of  the  most  magnificent  churches  in  the  world,  and  Paris  is 


OF  F 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  403 

noted  for  the  Tuileries.  In  our  own  great  country,  New  York  has  her  Crystal 
Palace ;  Boston,  old  Faneuil ;  Philadelphia,  Independence  Hall,  and  Joliet — 
has  her  Court  House.  This  huge  pile  of  cream-colored  granite,  looming  up 
above  the  surrounding  buildings,  as  the  giant  oak  of  the  forest  towers  above  the 
insignificant  willow,  with  its  lofty  cupola  piercing  the  clouds,  surmounted  with 
an  illuminated  clock,  was  built  in  1846,  at  a  cost  of  SEVEN  THOUSAND  DOL- 
LARS (!).  and  is  a  building  of  which  any  city  might  feel  proud.  But  as  this 
magnificent  temple  of  justice  is  more  particularly  referred  to  in  the  general  his- 
tory, we  pass  it  with  this  merited  compliment.  It  is  an  old  historical  landmark 
and  should  be  highly  appreciated  by  the  citizens  of  Joliet. 

We  have  alluded  to  the  first  mills  of  Joliet  in  other  parts  of  this  history— 
of  McKee's,  the  Haven  Brothers,  and  of  Cagwin's  and  Clement  &  Clark's  saw- 
mills.    The  operations  of  these  primitive  establishments  have  ceased ;  the  days 
of  their  usefulness  have  long  passed,  and  more  pretentious  enterprises  of  like 
character  have  taken  their  place.    The  City  Mills  were  built  by  William  Adam, 
on  the  site  of  the  Havens'  Mills,  mentioned  elsewhere,  and  originally  had  five 
runs  of  buhrs.     They  were  remodeled  in  1867,  and  two  additional  runs  put  in, 
for  grinding  feed  principally.     This  is  the  oldest  water-power  on  the  river ;  the 
dam  used  was  built  before  the  State  dams  and  produces  a  200-horse  power, 
which  remains  about  the  same  during'  the  entire  year,  and  which  it  is  intended 
to  lease  olit  to  other  manufactories,  thus  making  this  a  manufacturing  district. 
These   mills    were   burned   July    22,    1877 — loss  about   $30,000 — and  have 
never  been  rebuilt ;  but  a  wire  fence  manufactory  has  been  erected  on  the  site, 
as  noticed  on  another  page.    Befqre  they  were  burned,  the  firm,  as  William 
Adam  &  Co.,  did  a  large  business  in  addition  to  milling,  in  meal,  feed,  etc., 
with  lumbermen,  and  their  trade  extended  up  among  the  pineries.      The  Joliet 
Mills  were  built  in  1856,  by  Houck  &  Preston,  near  the  upper  bridge,  cost  about 
$35,000,  and  have  six  runs  of  buhrs.      They  are  now  owned  by  Gr.  W.  Hyde, 
who,  in  1866,  built  a  grain  elevator  in  connection,  at  a  cost  of  $12,000,  with  a 
capacity  of  about  25,000  bushels.     The  Joliet  Woolen-Mills  were  quite  an  en- 
terprise in  their  day,  and  were  one  of  the  works  of  Hon.  J.  A.  Matteson,  who 
was  the  prime  mover  in  the  affair  of  their  erection.     The  building  was  45x100 
feet,  and  cost  about  $63,000.     After  running  about  two  years,  it  was  sold  to 
WoodruiF,  Aiken,  Hyde  and  others,  who  operated  it  two  years  longer,  when  it 
stopped  work  and  remained  idle  until  1873.    It  was  then  sold  to  W.  E.  Henry, 
but  for  several  years  has  not  been  running,  and  is  at  present  a  useless  enter- 
prise.    A  paper-mill  has  been  erected  near  where  the  City  Mills  were  burned. 
It  was  begun  in  July,  1877,  and  finished  and  commenced  to  work  about  the 
last  of  October  of  the  same  year.      The  mill  was  built  by  Young  &  Riebling, 
but  is  owned  by  F.  H.  Riebling,  operated  by  Riebling  &   Kramer  and  run  by 
the  power  of  the  Adam  Manufacturing  Co.      It  cost  about  $12,000,  and  has  a 
capacity  of  from  two  to  two  and  a  half  tons  a  day.      Rag  wrapping  and  hard- 
ware paper  are  specialties,  with  sometimes  small  lots  of  Manila  No.  2.       The 


404  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

mill  employs  usually  about  sixteen  hands,  and  has  its  largest  trade  in  Chicago,, 
which  is  mostly  wholesale  and  shipped  in  car-load  lots. 

The  Rolling  Mills  of  Joliet  are  among  the  largest  works  of  the  kind,  not 
only  in  the  United  States  but  in  the  world.  This  immense  concern,  known 
and  entitled  the  Joliet  Iron  and  Steel  Company,  is  located  on  the  Chicago, 
Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad,  just  north  of  the  city  limits  of  Joliet,  with  a 
switch  connecting  with  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad.  The 
corner  stone  of  the  Iron  Works  was  laid  in  March,  1870,  and  the  Steel  Works 
built  in  1873,  and  to  their  location  at  this  point  Joliet  owes  much  of  her  pres- 
ent prosperity.  To  give  a  full  and  complete  history  of  this  gigantic  establish- 
ment would  require  more  space  than  we  can  devote  to  the  subject  in  these 
pages.  A  few  points  will  be  given,  however,  showing  their  extent  and  capacity, 
labor  employed,  etc.,  from  information  received  from  H.  S.  Smith,  Esq.,  Gen- 
eral Superintendent.  The  Company's  works  comprise  100  acres  of  level 
ground  with  solid  rock  bottom  a  few  inches  below  the  surface,  upon  which  have 
been  erected  the  following  structures :  Two  blast  furnaces,  coke  and  coal  wash- 
ing works,  fire-brick  works,  the  Bessemer  works,  the  steel  rail  mills,  the  iron 
rail  mills,  the  puddle  mill,  the  shops  and  water  works.  The  walls  of  all  the 
buildings  are  of  Joliet  limestone,  which,  considering  its  cheapness  and 
the  size  and  shape  in  which  it  is  quarried,  renders  it  perhaps  the  best 
building  stone  in  the  world.  The  engine  and  train  foundations  are  of  dimen- 
sion stone  of  great  size  and  thickness,  laid  with  but  little  trimming,  yet  nearly 
with  the  accuracy  of  ashlar  work,  on  a  flat  rock,  the  upper  layei  of  which  is 
480  feet  thick.  The  character  of  the  masonry  and  the  size  of  the  stones  in 
the  buildings  are  first-class  throughout.  To  give  some  idea  of  these  vast 
works,  the  "blast  furnaces,"  with  the  different  buildings  pertaining  to  this 
department,  comprise  extreme  ground  dimensions  of  420x240  feet ;  the  extreme 
dimensions  of  the  Bessemer  works'  buildings  are  215x157  feet ;  the  new  steel 
rajl  mill  is  445x105  feet,  and  25  feet  high ;  the  iron  rail  mill  is  230x80  feet, 
and  20  feet  high ;  the  puddle  mill  building  is  190x75  feet ;  the  buildings  of 
the  fire  brick  works  are  400x50  feet.  The  shops  belonging  to  the  works  are  of 
themselves  no  inconsiderable  establishment.  The  machine  shop  is  120x70  feet, 
and  20  feet  high,  with  slate  roof;  the  foundry  is  100x60  feet,  25  feet 
high,  with  slate  roof;  the  smith  shop  is  70x60  feet,  18  feet  high;  the 
boiler  shop  is  a  wooden  extension  of  the  smith  shop  75x60  feet;  the  pat- 
tern and  carpenter  shop  is  a  2-story  building  70x38  feet,  with  slate  roof;  the 
office  and  drawing  room  is  a  2-story  stone  building  45x24  feet.  The  entire 
force  required  in  the  steel  works  when  running  at  full  capacity  is  about  800 
men,  and  400  for  a  "single  turn."  The  capacity  is  as  follows:  Bessemer 
plant,  ingots  per  week,  1,700  tons;  new  rail  mill,  rails  per  week,  1,400  tons. 
The  iron  and  puddle  mills  are  not  now  in  operation,  nor  have  they  been  for 
some  time,  but  other  departments  are  running  regularly.  That  these  improve- 
ments are  very  substantial,  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  eight  or  ten 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  405 

years  ago,  1,000  tons  a  month  was  the  maximum  capacity  of  the  best  Bessemer 
works  in  America,  and  that  the  average  production  of  the  best  English  works 
of  the  same  nominal  size,  five  years  ago,  was  1,600  tons  per  month.  At  pres- 
ent the  Joliet  Works  have  attained  a  capacity  of  from  6,500  to  7,000  tons  per 
month.  But  it  is  impossible  to  transfer  to  paper  in  our  limited  space,  the  full 
magnitude  of  these  works,  and  will  pass  the  subject  with  this  meager  notice. 

The  Solar  Stove  Works  are  located  but  a  short  distance  south  of  the  Roll- 
ing Mills.  They  were  established  in  1871,  by  the  late  Wm.  N.  Moore,  and  at 
his  death  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  present  proprietors,  known  as  the  Solar 
Stove  Works — A.  Cochran,  President;  F.  S.  Moore,  Treasurer,  and  I.  D. 
Stevens,  Secretary.  Since  the  first  organization  of  these  works,  they  have 
enjoyed  an  uninterrupted  prosperity.  They  employ  about  forty  men,  turning 
out  annually  some  3,000  cook  stoves  and  40,000  pieces  of  hollow-ware,  consum- 
ing 3,000  tons  of  the  best  pig  iron  in  their  production.  The  stoves  of  which 
they  make  a  specialty,  are  the  Commonwealth,  Interior,  Columbia,  Fidelity  and 
the  George  Washington.  They  also  manufacture  a  Cooper's  Barrel  Heater, 
which  has  been  sold  and  used  in  nearly  every  State  and  Territory  in  America. 
The  company  has  a  large  trade  and  are  shipping  quantities  of  stoves  through 
the  States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Nebraska  and  Minnesota,  and 
Dakota  Territory. 

As  a  manufacturing  city,  Joliet  has  considerable  prominence  among  the 
cities  of  Illinois,  and  its  location  is  favorably  adapted  to  this  kind  of  industry. 
With  such  a  net-work  of  railroads,  together  with  the  canal,  it  has  the  very  best 
shipping  facilities,  and  then  the  water-power  is  of  incalculable  value  to  the  manu- 
facturing interests,  and  should  the  whole  force  of  the  water-power  of  the  Des 
Planes  contiguous  to  Joliet  be  utilized,  her  citizens  will  be  convinced  of  the 
fact  that  "  there's  millions  in  it."  One  of  oldest  manufacturing  establishments 
now  in  operation  in  the  city  is  the  Joliet  Manufacturing  Company.  It  was 
originally  established  in  Plainfield,  under  the  firm  name  of  Dillman  &  Co.,  in 
1849,  as  a  foundry  and  a  machine  shop.  In  1863,  it  was  removed  to  Joliet, 
and  was  still  operated  by  the  old  firm  until  1867,  when  it  was  merged  into  a 
stock  company  with  the  above  title,  and  A.  H.  Shreffler,  President ;  L.  E.  Dill- 
man, Treasurer,  and  E.  C.  Dillman,  Secretary.  From  twenty-five  to  eighty 
men  are  employed,  and  a  specialty  is  made  of  corn  shellers  ;  but  reapers,  mowers 
and  plows  were  at  one  time  largely  manufactured  by  these  works.  Capital  stock 
is  about  $69,000,  and  the  factory  is  near  the  Michigan  Central  Depot.  R. 
Sandiford,  successor  to  the  firm  of  Sanger  &  Co.,  and  proprietor  of  the  Joliet 
Agricultural  Works,  located  near  the  Jeiferson  street  bridge.  These  works 
manufacture  land  rollers,  Champion  reapers  and  mowers,  horse-powers,  etc.,  and 
is  an  extensive  establishment  of  the  kind,  employing  usually  from  ten  to  fifteen 
hands.  It  furnishes  power  to  the  factory  of  the  Joliet  Wire  Fence  Company. 

The  Adam  Manufacturing  Company  was  organized  and  commenced  business 
in  April,  1877 — William  Adam,  President;  F.  G.  Stanley,  Vice  President, and 


406  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

W.  J.  Adam,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  with  $10,000  capital  stock.  The  Com 
pany  manufactures  barbed  fence  wire  and  staples  ;  from  two  to  two  and  a  half  tons 
of  the  former  per  day,  and  about  one  ton  of  staples,  is  the  capacity  of  the  works. 
From  twenty-five  to  thirty  hands  are  employed,  and  the  items  mentioned  are 
specialties,  though  other  work  is  done  to  some  extent.  The  water-power  of  the 
Company  is  excellent,  the  best  perhaps  on  the  river,  as  well  as  the  oldest,  and 
furnishes  power  to  the  paper  mill,  as  elsewhere  noticed.  The  Lock  Stitch  Fence 
Company,  manufacturers  of  barbed  wire  for  fence  purposes,  have  their  office  at 
the  Joliet  Manufacturing  Company,  and  their  factory  near  Hyde's  Mills  at  the 
upper  bridge.  This  Company  employ  about  fifteen  men,  and  their  capacity  is 
from  one  and  a  half  to  two  tons  per  day. 

The  Joliet  Wire  Fence  Company  has  a  factory  just  below  the  Jefferson 
street  bridge,  the  power  of  which  is  furnished  by  Sandiford's  Agricultural 
Works ;  it  also  has  a  factory  at  the  prison,  with  its  business  office  on  the 
west  side  of  the  public  square.  The  capacity  of  the  two  establishments  is  suf- 
ficient to  require  the  employment  of  about  seventy  men,  continually.  The 
Company  was  organized  October  1,  1866,  with  capital  stock  of  $65,000.  H. 
B.  Scutt,  President ;  W.  S.  Brooks,  Treasurer,  and  J.  R.  Ashley,  Secretary. 
This  is  the  pioneer  establishment,  and  succeeded  H.  B.  Scutt  &  Co.,  who  were 
the  first  parties  to  manufacture  barbed  wire  in  Will  County.  They  have  a  large 
and  growing  trade,  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  There  are,  we  believe,  some  other  factories 
of  this  branch  of  industry  about  to  begin  operations,  but  of  them  we  have  but 
little  information.  From  the  facts  given  it  will  be  seen  that  the  manufacture 
of  barbed  wire  for  fences  is  developing  into  quite  an  extensive  business. 

The  tannery  of  Houck  &  Brown  is  quite  a  large  establishment  of  the  kind, 
and  is  located  near  the  Rolling  Mills.  The  business  was  originally  begun  by 
Firman  Mack  &  E.  Cleghorn,  about  1854.  Mack  had  carried  on  the  business 
since  1850  on  a  small  scale.  The  business  passed  into  the  hands  of  M. 
Cleghorn  (after  the  death  of  Mack,  which  occurred  by  drowning),  who  built  the 
present  works  about  1863.  The  works  were  finally  sold,  and  bought  by  the 
present  firm,  who  have  conducted  the  business  on  a  much  larger  scale  than  here- 
tofore, and  operate  a  store  in  addition  to  their  tannery.  They  employ  twenty- 
one  men,  and  their  business  amounts  to  about  $80,000  annually. 

The  Wind-mill  Manufactory  of  L.  Leach  is  one  of  the  largest  of  the  kind  in 
the  West.  In  1871,  he  invented  "  Leach's  Wind-mill,"  and  began  the  manu- 
facture of  it,  and  does  a  very  large  business  in  wind-mills,  selling  in  nearly  every 
State  in  the  Union.  He  manufactures  only  his  own  inventions ;  and  to  wind- 
mills is  added  the  manufacture  of  earth  augers,  well-boring  machinery,  etc. 
There  are  several  other  wind-mills  represented  in  Joliet,  but  Leach's  is  the 
most  extensive. 

The  breweries  of  Joliet  are  quite  a  large  industry.  The  Eagle  Brewery  of 
E.  Porter,  is  one  of  the  largest  establishments  of  the  kind  in  the  State.  Mr. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  407 

Porter  erected  his  first  brewery  in  1858,  which  was  burned  down  ten  years 
later,  when  he  erected  his  present  massive  buildings  on  the  West  Side,  which 
are  80x100  feet,  and  three  stories  high.  An  artesian  well,  forty-five  feet  deep, 
affords  an  unfailing  supply  of  water  for  carrying  on  the  works.  The  goods 
manufactured  by  the  Eagle  Brewery  are  well  known  and  command  a  large  sale 
throughout  the  country.  The  Columbia  Brewery,  by  F.  Sehring,  is  another 
mammoth  establishment,  and  sells  a  large  amount  of  goods  annually.  Mr. 
Sehring  purchased  the  Columbia  in  1868,  and  has  since  remodeled  it,  putting 
in  steam  power  and  all  the  modern  improvements,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  best 
appointed  establishments  of  the  kind  outside  of  Chicago.  There  are  one  or  two 
other  breweries  in  the  city  which  manufacture  considerable  goods  ;  these  men- 
tioned, however,  are  much  the  largest,  and  have  most  of  the  trade. 

The  manufacture  of  sewer  pipe,  drain  tile,  fire  and  bath  brick  and  all  this 
class  of  goods  is  an  extensive  business  of  Joliet.  The  material  produced  in 
this  section  is  superior  to  that  of  any  part  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  clay 
is  peculiarly  adapted  to  drain  tile  and  sewer  pipe,  and  wherever  the  Joliet  tiles 
have  been  used,  their  reputation  is  good  and  their  merits  fully  appreciated. 
For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  this  line  of  industry  has  been  in  course 
of  operation  here,  and  increasing  with  the  lapse  of  years,  until  it  has  become 
one  of  the  most  extensive  branches  of  business.  Joliet  has  the  honor  of  being 
the  only  point  in  the  United  States  where  bath  brick  is  manufactured  and 
makes  a  large  quantity  of  them  annually,  while  the  amount  of  sewer  pipe, 
drain  tile,  of  every  size  in  use,  manufactured  each  year  is  simply  immense. 
Of  other  manufactures  of  Joliet,  in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned, 
such  as  brick-making,  lime  kilns,  sash,  door  and  blind  factories,  planing-mills, 
etc.,  etc.,  the  city  is  well  represented  in  all  these  lines  and  branches;  and  they 
are  rather  too  numerous  to  admit  of  particularization  in  our  limited  space. 
With  the  brief  mention  we  have  made  of  this  particular  source  of  enterprise, 
our  readers  cannot  fail  to  observe  the  importance  of  Joliet  and  its  advantages 
as  a  manufacturing  city. 

Banking  was  begun  in  a  small  way  by  private  individuals  in  Joliet  more 
than  thirty  years  ago.  The  first  regular  banking  institution  was  the  old 
"  Merchants'  and  Drovers'  Bank,"  of  which  Joel  A.  Matteson,  R.  E.  Goodell 
and  William  Smith  were,  we  believe,  the  principal  stockholders.  It  was  char- 
tered and  organized  as  a  bank  under  the  above  title  in  1850,  and  continued  as  such 
for  a  number  of  years.  There  were,  however,  banks  prior  to  this,  of  a  private 
character,  or  individuals  who  did  a  general  banking  business  in  a  private  way, 
of  Avhom  Uri  Osgood  was  one  of  the  first  in  this  business.  But,  as  stated,  the 
Merchants'  and  Drovers'  Bank  was  the  first  organized  effort.  In  those  days, 
the  banking  system  was  not  so  thorough  as  at  the  present  time,  and  "wild-cat" 
banks  were  as  common  and  as  popular  (?)  as  savings  banks  used  to  be  in  Chicago. 
Joliet  was  no  exception,  and  so  wild-cat  banks  existed  here,  as  well  as  several 
sound  institutions,  before  the  era  of  National  banks,  among  which  may  be  men- 


408  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

tioned  the  Will  County  Bank,  the  Joliet  City  Bank,  etc.  The  period  of 
National  banks  dates  back  to  1864,  and  the  first  one  organized  under  the 
National  bank  law  was  the  First  National  Bank  of  Joliet.  It  was  established 
September  4,  1864,  with  George  Woodruff,  President,  and  a  capital  stock  of 
$100,000.  Mr.  Woodruff  is  still  President,  and  F.  W.  Woodruff,  Cashier. 

The  Will  County  National  Bank  was  organized  October  10, 1871,  with  acapital 
stock  of  $100,000,  and  Henry  Fish,  President;  Calvin  Knowlton,  Vice  President, 
and  George  P.  Jones,  Cashier.  In  January,  1873,  Calvin  Knowlton  was  elected 
President;  J.  A.  Henry,  Vice  President,  and  Henry  Knowlton,  Cashier,  all  of 
whom  hold  these  positions  at  the  present  time.  The  Joliet  City  Bank  was  origin- 
ally established  in  1857-58,  by  the  Cagwins,  Woodruff  and  others.  It  is  still  one 
of  the  leading  banks  of  the  city,  and  is  ably  managed  by  Francis  L.  Cagwin, 
whose  credit  is  beyond  question,  and  who,  in  a  long  business  life,  has  always 
paid  100  cents  on  the  dollar.  The  Stone  City  Bank  was  organized  by  Henry 
Fish  in  1873,  the  first  President  of  the  Will  County  National  Bank.  He  is 
still  the  proprietor  of  it,  and  is  doing  a  large  and  safe  business.  Goodspeed's 
Bank  was  organized  in  1870,  by  Goodspeed  &  McGovney.  In  1872,  he  bought 
out  McGovney,  and  has  since  been  sole  proprietor.  Westphal  &  Lagger  or- 
ganized the  German  Loan  and  Savings  Bank  in  the  Fall  of  1875.  It  is  still- 
conducted  by  them  and  is  the  only  banking  institution  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river. 

Secret  societies  are  probably  coeval  with  man's  existence  in  organized  society, 
and  perhaps  will  continue  to  exist  until  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time.  We 
know  that  the  causes  which  actuate  them  are  beneficent  and  good,  because  the  re- 
sults achieved  are  so  grand  and  glorious.  Freemasonry  bears  an  early  date  in 
Joliet.  From  records  preserved  by  W.  W.  Stevens,  Esq.,  and  furnished  us  for 
perusal,  we  find  that  a  lodge  was  organized  as  early  as  1840,  under  a  dispensation 
from'the  Grand  Lodge  of  Kentucky,  before  Illinois  had  a  Grand  Lodge  of  her  own. 
The  dispensation  was  signed  by  Most  Worshipful  Abner  Cunningham,  Grand 
Master  of  Kentucky,  and  Right  Worshipful  Philip  Swigert,  Grand  Secretary, 
dated  November,  1840,  and  issued  to  Juliet  Lodge,  U.  D.,  Juliet,  Illinois. 
Right  Worshipful  C.  Jackson,  proxy  of  the  Grand  Master  of  Kentucky,  came 
all  the  way  from  that  Grand  Jurisdiction  to  institute  this  Lodge,  and  set  the 
brethren  to  work  upon  the  square.  It  continued  under  dispensation  until  Oc- 
tober, 1842,  when  it  was  chartered  by  the  same  august  body,  as  Juliet  Lodge 
Np.  10.  The  first  officers  under  the  charter  were  Jacob  Patrick,  Master;  Nor- 
man Hawley,  Senior  Warden ;  Aaron  Kinney,  Junior  Warden ;  Robert  G.  Cook,' 
Treasurer ;  Maurice  Murphy,  Secretary ;  Thomas  J.  Wade,  Senior  Deacon ; 
Fenner  Aldrich,  Junior  Deacon  ;  Thomas  J.  Kinney,  Tiler,  with  twenty-seven 
original  members,  besides  the  officers.  Among  them  will  be  recognized  the  names 
of  many  of  the  leading  citizens  of  that  day,  viz. :  Jared  Runyon,  Thomas  Will- 
iams, David  L.  Gregg,  Joel  A.  Matteson,  James  Brodie,  Henry  G.  Brown, 
Ethan  Wetherbee  and  Benjamin  Richardson,  all  of  whom,  with  three  exceptions, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  409 

joined  the  first  year.  This  was  the  first  Masonic  Lodge  in  Will  County,  and, 
from  the  number,  appears  to  have  been  the  tenth  in  the  State.  It  continued 
to  work  under  its  charter  until  1846,  when  some  dissensions  having  ariseii  in 
the  Lodge,  and  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois  in  the  mean  time  having  been  or- 
ganized, the  latter  Grand  Body  annulled  the  charter  of  Juliet  Lodge,  No.  10, 
and  afterward  issued  a  dispensation  to  establish  Mt.  Joliet  Lodge.  In  due  time 
it  was  chartered  as  Mt.  Joliet  Lodge,  No.  42,  by  Most  Worshipful  Nelson  D. 
Morse,  Grand  Master  of  Illinois,  and  under  which  name  and  number  it  still 
exists.  The  first  officers  of  the  new  Lodge  were  Wm.  C.  Little,  Master;  My- 
ron K.  Bronson,  Senior  Warden  ;  and  Joel  George,  Junior  Warden.  For  years, 
the  first  Lodge  (Juliet,  No.  10)  had  no  regular  place  of  meeting,  but  kept  their 
paraphernalia  in  a  chest,  and  met  on  the  "highest  hills,  or  in  the  lowest  vales," 
metaphorically  speaking,  but  usually  in  the  old  stone  block  on  the  West  Side. 
The  present  officers  of  Mt.  Joliet  Lodge  are  John  Gray,  Master ;  P.  B.  Ryan, 
Senior  Warden ;  J.  G.  Patterson,  Junior  Warden ;  and  John  S.  Millar,  Secre- 
tary, with  160  members  on  the  roll. 

Matteson  Lodge  was  organized  under  dispensation  in  1855,  by  Most  Wor- 
shipful James  L.  Anderson,  Grand  Master  of  Illinois.  In  October,  1856,  it 
was  chartered  as  Matteson  Lodge,  No.  175,  and  named  for  ex-Gov.  Matteson, 
one  of  the  influential  Masons  and  enterprising  business  men  of  the  town.  The 
first  officers  were:  William  Smith,  Master;  Nelson  B.  Elwood,  Senior  War- 
den ;  James  T.  McDougall,  Junior  Warden  ;  Abijah  Cagwin,  Treasurer  ;  John 
McGinnis,  Jr.,  Secretary ;  Benjamin  Richardson,  Senior  Deacon ;  W.  S. 
Brooks,  Junior  Deacon,  and  C.  H.  Swayne,  Tiler.  The  following  are  the  pres- 
ent officers :  W.  G.  Wilcox,  Master ;  J.  C.  Lang,  Senior  Warden ;  George  C. 
Raynor,  Junior  Warden,  and  J.  L.  Raynor  Secretary,  with  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  names  upon  the  roll  of  membership. 

Joliet  Chapter,  No.  27,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  was  chartered  in  November, 
1855,  by  Most  Excellent  Ira  A.  W.  Buck,  &rand  High  Priest  of  Chapter  Ma- 
sonry for  the  State.  The  first  officers  were :  William  Smith,  High  Priest ; 
Nelson  D.  Elwood,  King,  and  A.  S.  Jones,  Scribe.  It  is  in  a  most  flourishing 
state,  and  its  affairs  are  at  present  administered  by  the  following  worthy  com- 
panions :  David  Rosenheim,  High  Priest ;  C.  C.  Olney,  King ;  C.  Puffer, 
Scribe,  and  John  C.  Lang,  Secretary,  with  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
members. 

Knighthood,  the  highest  order  of  Freemasonry,  was  introduced  in  1858. 
A  Commandery  of  Knights  Templar  was  organized  in  the  Spring  of  this  year, 
under  dispensation,  and  in  October  following,  was  chartered  as  Joliet  Com- 
mandery, ]S[o.  4,  Knights  Templar,  by  Right  Eminent  Sir  J.  V.  Z.  Blaney, 
Grand  Commander  of  Illinois.  The  first  officers  under  the  charter  were :  Sir 
Nelson  D.  Elwood,  Eminent  Commander;  Sir  S.  S.  Brooks,  Generalissimo; 
Sir  H.  W.  Hubbard,  Captain  General.  It  is  at  present  officered  as  follows : 
Sir  John  S.  Millar,  Eminent  Commander :  Sir  E.  W.  .Willard,  Generalissimo ; 


410  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Sir  William  Dougall,  Captain  General;  Sir  J.  B.  Fithian,  Recorder,  and  the 
roster  shows  a  record  of  137  members.  Sir  J.  G.  Elwood,  a  member  of  this 
Commandery,  is  at  present  Grand  Junior  Warden  of  the  Grand  Commandery 
of  the  State.  The  Masonic  Hall,  in  which  all  the  bodies  held  their  meetings, 
was  burned  in  February,  1866,  with  a  loss  to  the  fraternity  of  about  $7,500, 
including  jewels,  paraphernalia,  the  private  uniforms  of  members,  etc.  No 
one  could  enter  the  hall,  and  hence,  nothing  was  saved.  The  insurance  was 
about  $4,000.  In  July,  1872,  they  were  again  burned  out,  this  time  at  a 
loss  of  $8,000,  with  an  insurance  of  about  $6,000.  They  have  elegant  rooms 
now  in  Masonic  Block,  but  do  not  own  the  building.  It  was,  however,  built 
specially  for  their  accommodation,  and  they  rent  the  upper  part  of  it. 

Odd  Fellowship  is  represented  by  two  Lodges  and  two  Encampments.  Pow- 
han  Lodge,  No.  29,  was  chartered  July  13,  1847.  Charter  members  were  :  J. 
T.  McDougall,  Abijah  Cagwin,  Phineas  Wheeler,  Mansfield  Wheeler,  S.  W. 
Bowen,  A.  Mclntosh,  Harvey  Wheeler  and  William  McDougall.  The  charter 
was  issued  by  W.  W.  N.  Parke,  Grand  Master,  and  S.  A.  Corneau,  Grand  Sec- 
retary. The  first  officers  were:  J.  T.  McDougall,  N.  G.;  Phineas  Wheeler, 
V.  G.;  S.  W.  Bowen,  R.  S.;  A.  Cagwin,  Tr.,  and  Wm.  McDougall,  P.  S.  The 
present  Noble  Grand  is  William  Hingston,  and  R.  Sandiford,  Secretary,  with 
sixty-five  members.  As  a  matter  of  interest,  we  would  state  here  that  S.  0. 
Simonds,  a  prominent  merchant  of  Joliet,  was  Treasurer  of  this  Lodge  for  nine- 
teen years,  without  interruption,  besides  holding  other  offices  of  distinction  in 
the  fraternity. 

William  Tell  Lodge,  No.  219,  was  chartered  October  13,  1857,  by  Augustus 
C.  Marsh,  Grand  Master,  and  Samuel  Willard,  Grand  Secretary.  The  charter 
members  were :  Leopold  Schwabacher,  Adam  Werner,  Sol.  Louer,  Gabriel 
Hauch,  J.  L.  Guirard  and-  Martin  Wagoner.  Joliet  Encampment,  No.  72,  was 
chartered  by  Charles  Parke,  Grand  Patriarch,  and  N.  C.  Mason,  Grand  Secre- 
tary, October  8,  1867,  and  the  following  were  charter  members :  Ed.  Cleghorn, 
A.  D.  Edgworth,  G.  H.  Uchlman,  Isaac  S.  Watson,  Jacob  Whitmore,  Gabriel 
Hauch,  Fred  Schring  and  C.  C.  Braun.  Eagle  Encampment,  No.  139,  re- 
ceived its  charter  from  A.  H.  Lichty,  G.  P.,  and  N.  C:  Mason,  Grand  Secre- 
tary, October  8,  1872.  The  charter  members  were :  A.  D.  Edgworth,  Frank- 
lin Haines,  James  McEvoy,  F.  J.  Richards,  John  Brown,  John  F.  Tarball  and 
George  S.  Kinney.  The  present  C.  P.  is  W.  L.  Green,  and  C.  B.  Brainard, 
Scribe.  Pocahontas  Lodge,  No.  59,  Daughters  of  Rebecca,  was  chartered  Oc- 
tober 14,  1873,  by  G.  Bross,  Grand  Master,  and  N.  C.  Mason,  Grand  Secre- 
tary; This  is  an  order  conferred  on  the  female  relatives  of  members  of  Odd 
Fellowship. 

By  far  the  most  important  item  in  the  welfare  of  a  city,  and  that  which  adds 
to  the  health  and  prosperity  of  its  citizens,  is  a  plentiful  supply  of  pure,  fresh 
water,  and  on  this  element,  in  a  measure,  its  safety  depends.  The  blessed, 
health- giving  water  !  No  poison  bubbles  on  its  brink  ;  its  foam  brings  not  mad- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  411 

ness  and  murder,  and  no  blood  stains  its  liquid  glass.  Pale  widows  and  starv- 
ing orphans  weep  not  burning  tears  in  its  depth,  but  health  and  life  sparkle 
upon  its  surface.  The  tomb  of  Moses  is  unknown,  but  the  weary  traveler  still 
slakes  his  thirst  at  the  well  of  Jacob.  The  lofty  columns  of  Persepolis  are 
moldering  into  dust,  but  its  cisterns  and  aqueducts  remain  to  challenge  our  ad- 
miration. The  "  Golden  House  "  is  a  mass  of  ruin,  but  its  Aqua  Claudia  still 
pours  into  Rome  its  liquid  stream.  The  temple  of  the  sun  of  Tadnor  in  the 
wilderness  has  fallen,  but  its  fountain  sparkles  as  freshly  in  his  rays,  as  when 
thousands  of  worshipers  thronged  its  gilded  colonnades.  It  may  be  that  Joliet 
will  share  the  fate  of  Babylon,  and  nothing  be  left  to  mark  its  site  but  piles  of 
crumbling  stone.  But  the  numberless  wells  of  pure  water  will  continue  to 
throw  their  liquid  columns  toward  heaven  as  they  do  now.  There  are  few  cities 
in  Illinois  that  can  favorably  compare  with  Joliet  in  its  supply  of  good  water, 
the  health-giving  element.  The  artesian  wells,  of  which  there  are  a  number  in 
the  city,  supply  an  abundance  of  water,  and  that  of  a  quality,  too,  unsurpassed 
by  any  city  or  country.  The  limestone  springs  of  Kentucky,  supposed  to  afford 
the  best  water  in  the  world,  scarcely  equal  that  of  the  artesian  wells  of  Joliet. 
These  wells,  with  their  inexhaustible  supply,  are  an  acquisition  to  the  city,  of 
which  the  people  should  be  justly  proud,  and  one,  too,  that  will  last  as  long  as 
their  own  granite  hills.  The  first  artesian  well  was  put  down  in  1866-7,  and 
since  that  time,  in  addition  to  three  public  wells,  a  dozen  or  more  have  been 
sunk  by  private  individuals.  The  well  at  the  corner  of  Chicago  and  Jefferson 
streets  is  455  feet  deep,  and  at  its  completion  raised  water  sixty  feet,  with 
thirty-one  pounds  pressure  to  the  square  inch,  and  with  a  daily  flow  of  about  fif- 
teen thousand  barrels.  Pipes  were  laid  on  Chicago  and  Jefferson  streets  from  this 
well,  but  owing  to  some  defect  it  does  not  at  present  supply  them.  Another  of 
the  city  wells  is  at  the  East  Side  public  school,  and  was  bored  about  one  thousand 
one  hundred  feet  deep.  The  other  public  well  is  on  the  West  Side.  These  wells,  to- 
gether with  the  number  of  private  ones  in  the  city,  afford  an  apparently  inexhausti- 
ble quantity  of  water  for  all  practical  purposes.  Before  the  era  of  artesian  wells 
the  city  was  supplied  by  the  ordinary  wells,  in  which  water  was  usually  obtained 
by  digging  down  to  the  gravel.  From  the  "  Geological  Survey  of  Illinois,''  it 
appears  there  are  two  strata  of  sand  rock  reached  in  boring  these  artesian 
wells,  one  at  a  depth  of  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  the  other  at  about 
one  thousand  two  hundred  feet  below  the  surface,  and  it  is  in  these  the  best 
water  is  obtained.  But  without  going  into  a  full  detail  of  this  feature,  the  reader 
is  referred  to  the  "  Geological  Survey,"  extracts  from  which  are  found  in  another 
department  of  this  work. 

Beyond  the  products  of  her  own  manufactories,  Joliet  makes  little  preten- 
sions toward  a  wholesale  trade.  Though  all  lines  of  merchandise  are  well 
represented  by  first-class,  enterprising  business  men,  they  do  not  aspire  to  any- 
thing further  than  a  good  retail  trade,  which  compares  favorably  with  that  of 
any  other  city  of  its  size  in  this  section  of  the  State.  The  close  proximity  of 


412  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Chicago  would  not  admit  of  successful  competition  in  a  wholesale  business ; 
there  are  a  few  firms,  however,  that,  when  occasion  offers,  wholesale  to  some 
extent,  but  make  no  special  exertions  that  way.  With  a  population  of  about 
twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  and  such  an  admirable  location,  easy  of  access,  rend- 
ers Jolieta  fine  trading  point,  and  we  can  safely  predict  for  it  a  prosperous  future. 
Its  citizens  are  intelligent  and  hospitable ;  its  merchants  and  business  men  are 
enterprising  and  energetic,  and  the  majority  of  its  business  houses  are  far 
superior  to  those  usually  to  be  seen  in  country  towns.  As  noticed  elsewhere, 
its  grain  trade  is  not  exceeded  in  volume  in  the  State,  except  in  Chicago,  and  its 
stone  quarries  are  unrivaled  almost  in  the  world.  Its  rolling  mills  and  other 
manufactories  are  of  the  very  best,  and  command  a  large  trade  throughout  the 
country.  All  these  interests,  centering  here,  conspire  to  render  this  city  sec- 
ond to  no  other  section  of  the  country  for  the  man  of  wealth  to  invest  his 
superfluous  capital.  We  have  said  that  the  business  houses  were  better 
than  in  a  majority  of  country  towns.  Indeed,  there  are  blocks  of  buildings 
in  Joliet  that  would  be  an  ornament  in  any  city — Munroe's  new  block, 
the  Centennial  Block,  Aiken's  Block,  the  Masonic  Block,  the  different  bank 
buildings,  the  post  office,  Robesson  Hall  and  the  Opera  House  and  many 
others. 

The  Opera  House  was  built  by  the  Joliet  Opera  House  Company,  and  is, 
perhaps,  the  best  appointed  building  of  the  kind  in  the  State  outside  of  Chicago. 
It  was  built  in  1873,  is  of  Joliet  limestone  from  the  quarries  of  William  David- 
son, and  cost  $60,000.  The  upper  part  is  used  for  an  opera  house,  and  the 
first  floors  for  stores.  Of  the  latter,  three  are  used  by  G.  Munroe  &  Son  and 
the  other  by  G.  L.  Vance.  This  building  was  erected  "by  a  company,  of  which 
the  following  are  some  of  the  principal  stockholders :  G.  Munroe  &  Son,  Wm. 
Davidson,  J.  A.  Henry,  James  Ducker,  James  B.  Speer,  Dr.  Williams,  Henry 
Fish,  Rodney  House,  R.  E.  Barber,  W.  A.  Steel,  F.  Zirkle,  J.  D.  Paige, 
Knowlton,  Higgenbotham  &  Co.,  D.  McDonald  and  William  Gleason,  with 
James  Ducker,  President;  George  H.  Munroe,  Treasurer,  and  C.  H.  Weeks, 
Secretary.  Robesson  Hall  was  built  in  1876  ;  is  a  handsome  stone  front;  the 
lower  part  business  houses,  and  the  upper  part  a  public  hall.  The  post  office 
building  is  an  elegant  stone  front  building,  and  was  erected  in  1877  by  James 
G.  Elwood,  present  Mayor  of  the  city,  specially  for  post  office  purposes,  and 
was  so  adapted  and  arranged.  The  lower  part  is  leased  to  the  Government  for 
ten  years,  at  $600  per  annum,  while  the  upper  part  of  the  building  is  the 
Mayor's  office,  Surveyor's  office,  etc. 

The  Joliet  Gaslight  Company  was  organized  in  1857,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$60,000  paid  up.  Hon.  E.  Wilcox  was  the  first  President,  and  superintended 
the  erection  of  the  Company's  works,  which  were  completed  and  the  city  lighted 
for  the  first  time  in  January,  1859.  The  works  are  located  on  North  Bluff  street, 
and  have  sufficient  capacity  to  supply  a  larger  city  than  Joliet.  They  have 
some  eight  or  ten  miles  of  pipe  now  laid,  and  two  gasometers — one  on  each  side 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  413 

of  the  river.  W.  A.  Strong,  an  enterprising  citizen  of  Joliet,  is  President  of 
the  company. 

The  Joliet  Public  Library  was  organized  and  opened  to  the  public  in  No- 
vember, 1875.  It  is  a  free  public  library,  and  is  kept  up  by  taxation.  A  well- 
stocked  reading  room  is  in  connection  with  the  Library,  where  all  the  period- 
icals and  leading  publications  of  the  day  are  kept  on  file  for  the  benefit  of  those 
who  feel  disposed  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  place.  The  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Library  Association  are :  G.  D.  A.  Parks,  Mrs.  H.  S.  Smith,  Dorrance  Di- 
bell,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Raynor,  Benjamin  Olin,  A.  W.  Heise,  Thomas  J.  Kelly, 
Edwin  Porter  and  George  Munroe.  G.  D.  A.  Parks  is  President;  Mrs.  H.  S. 
Smith,  Vice  President;  Dorrance  Dibell,  Clerk,  and  Mies  Charlotte  Aiken, 
Librarian.  This  association  bought  the  books  owned  by  the  old  Joliet  Histor- 
ical Society,  and  have  now  about  1,500  volumes,  and  are  adding  more  as  fast 
as  their  means  will  allow  them.  The  Joliet  Historical  Society  was  organized 
in  1867,  and  assumed  the  liabilities  of  the  old  Library ;  and  it,  in  its  turn,  was 
succeeded  by  the  present  Library.  Among  the  private  libraries  of  Joliet  is 
that  of  Hon.  W.  A.  Steel,  which  consists  of  several  thousand  volumes,  and  em- 
braces most  of  the  standard  works  of  the  day,  together  with  many  old  and  rare 
books  not  often  found  in  a 'private  library. 

Joliet  was  supplied  with  street  cars,  this  modern  addition  to  city  travel,  in 
1873.  Their  lines  encircle  the  city,  affording  cheap  transportation  within  its 
limits  to  all  who  desire  this  mode  of  transit  to  "Walker's  Express."  The  en- 
terprise of  a  street  railway  was  inaugurated  by  E.  T.  Chase  and  Norman  Carl. 
They  sold  it  to  a  man  named  Cooper ;  and  he,  after  operating  it  for  a  time,  sold 
it  to  the  present  owner  and  manager,  J.  A.  Henry.  While,  apparently,  not 
doing  a  very  extensive  business,  it  is  yet  paying  a  small  dividend  above  running 
expenses. 

Oakwood  Cemetery  was  laid  out  in  1854,  and  organized  under  act  of  the 
Legislature  in  1857,  receiving  its  charter  from  the  State.  It  is  beautifully  sit- 
uated on  a  gentle  eminence  on  the  north  bank  of  Hickory  Creek,  east  of  the 
city  limits,  and  reached  by  a  branch  of  the  City  Railway.  The  grounds  are 
handsomely  and  artistically  laid  out  with  serpentine  walks  and  drives,  well 
graded  and  graveled.  Cultivated  flowers,  ornamental  shrubbery  and  native 
forest  trees  add  their  beauty  to  the  place,  while  the  "  green  grass  grows  rank  in 
the  vapors  of  decaying  mortality."  The  beauty  and  care  bestowed  on  the 
grounds  show  a  kind  regard  for  the  "  loved  and  lost "  by  surviving  friends.  St. 
Patrick's  Cemetery  (Catholic)  is  a  beautiful  burying-ground,  and  kept  in  good 
order  by  the  Catholic  citizens  of  Joliet.  St.  John's  Cemetery  (German  Cath- 
olic) is  situated  northwest  of  the  city,  and  is  a  beautiful  and  well-kept  church- 
yard. 

The  professions,  both  legal  and  medical,  are  well  and  ably  represented  in  Joliet, 
and  combine  an  array  of  talent  that  will  compare  favorably  with  any  city  in  the 
State.  As  a  work  of  this  kind  is  not  devoted  to  eulogiums  or  fulsome  puffs  of 


414  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

any  one,  we  shall  not  attempt  to  particularize  the  professions  beyond  the  bestowal 
of  a  well-merited  testimonial  to  their  character  and  worth.  Joliet  has  also  pro- 
duced some  eminent  men — men  who  have  filled  high  positions  with  credit  to 
themselves  and  honor  to  their  conntry.  In  the  court,  the  camp,  upon  the  bench, 
and  at  the  holy  altar,  they  have  figured  with  distinction.  And  at  the  head  of 
the  State  Government,  in  the  halls  of  the  law-makers,  and  as  our  representa- 
tives abroad,  they  have  acquitted  themselves  with  honor  and  the  dignity  due 
their  exalted  stations.  As  the  "notables"  have  been  particularly  mentioned, 
however,  in  the  general  history,  we  will  leave  the  subject,  and  conclude  our 
history  of  Joliet  sans  ceremonie. 


LOCKPORT   TOWNSHIP. 

This  town  is  diversified  between  woodland  and  prairie,  and  is  divided  by  the 
Des  Planes  River  &  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  which  pass  through  it 
from  north  to  south.  Away  from  the  river-bottom,  the  elevation  rises  almost 
to  abrupt  bluffs,  beyond  which,  on  either  side,  are  beautiful  table-lands  or  broad 
rolling  prairies  of  the  most  productive  soil,  relieved  only  by  a  belt  of  timber  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Des  Planes,  mostly  in  Lockport,  but  extending  a  short  dis- 
tance into  Homer  Township.  A  peculiarity  of  this  section  of  the  country  is 
said  to  be  the  non-existence  of  timber  on  the  west  side  of  the  water-courses. 
Old  settlers  mention  this  fact  and  advance  their  theories  as  to  the  cause, 
some  of  which  are  vague  and  far-fetched ;  but  without  attempting  to  solve  the 
problem,  we  will  state  upon  the  authority  of  several  parties  of  this  vicinity, 
that  not  a  tree  stands  on  the  west  side  of  the  Des  Planes  but  such  as  have  been 
transplanted  by  the  white  people,  while  a  fine  forest  lined  its  eastern  shore  at 
the  time  of  the  early  settlement.  As  regarding  this  strange  freak  of  nature, 
we  will  pass  it  with  the  philosophical  reflection  of  the  schoolboy,  whose  theory 
as  to  the  cause  of  the  magnetic  needle  pointing  to  the  north  was  "that  it  is  a 
way  it  has."  As  a  civil*  township,  Lockport  is  described  as  Town  36  north, 
Range  KXeast  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  and  is  bounded  north  by  Dupage 
Township,  east  by  Homer,  south  by  Joliet,  west  by  Plainfield.  and  is  one  of  the 
wealthy  towns  of  Will  County. 

The  first  .permanent  settler  in  Lockport  Township  was  Armstead  Runyon, 
who  came  to  the  neighborhood  in  October,  1830.  He  was  born  in  Kentucky, 
but  removed  to  Ohio  when  but  15  years  old,  where  he  remained  until  1827, 
when  he  came  to  Danville,  111.  Here  he  remained  until  his  removal  to 
Lockport,  as  above  stated.  His  first  Winter  in  this  section  was  that  of  the 
"deep  snow,"  so  vividly  remembered  by  the  few  old  settlers  still  surviving,  and 
who  were  here  that  memorable  Winter.  Mr.  Runyon  had  a  large  amount  of 
stock,  most  of  which  he  left  at  Danville,  except  some  hogs  which  he  brought 
with  him,  thinking  they  would  winter  on  nuts  and  acorns,  but  they  all  perished 
during  the  deep  snow,  as  he  had  nothing  to  feed  them.  The  next  Spring,  as 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  415 

soon  as  the  snow  had  sufficiently  disappeared  to  allow  travel  with  safety,  he  took 
his  men  and  went  to  Danville  after  the  remainder  of  his  stock  and  for  provis- 
ions. The  high  waters,  consequent  on  the  melting  of  such  quantities  of 
snow,  detained  him  six  weeks  beyond  the  time  he  expected  to  be  gone,  and  his 
family  run  short  of  provisions  before  his  return.  Mrs.  Boyer,  of  Lockport,  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  Runyon's,  informed  us  that  for  several  weeks  before  he  returned 
they  had  nothing  to  live  on  but  salt  pork  and  corn  bread  made  of  meal  so 
musty  that  it  did  not  seem  fit  for  a  dog  to  eat.  She  remembers  but  two  fam- 
ilies then  living  in  what  is  now  Lockport  and  Homer  Townships  besides  her 
father's,  viz.,  Edward  Poor  and  a  man  named  Butler,  who  lived  where  Mr. 
Milne  now  lives.  Of  Butler  she  remembers  but  little  except  that  he  lived 
there ;  but  whence  he  came  or  whither  he  went  she  has  forgotten.  When  her 
father  decided  to  remove  to  this  section,  he  gathered  up,  brought  his  family  and 
hired  men  to  the  place  and  lived  in  a  tent  until  he  got  his  cabin  ready  to  move 
into.  Mrs.  Boyer  remembers  very  distinctly  how  the  prairie  wolves  used  to 
come  round  that  tent  and  render  the  night  hideous  with  their  blood-curdling 
howls.  When  the  news  came  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  that  the  savages 
were  moving  in  this  direction,  Mr.  Runyon  was  plowing  in  the  field,  which  he 
continued  -until  noon  notwithstanding  the  exciting  rumors.  He  then  gathered 
together  his  family  and  what  goods  he  designed  to  take,  and  moved  on  to  Hick- 
ory Creek,  where  the  settlers  were  to  rendezvous  preparatory  to  retreating 
toward  Danville.  But  upon  his  arrival  there  he  found  they  were  already  gone. 
His  company  consisted  of  his  own  family,  Edward  Poor's,  Holder  Sisson's  and 
Selah  Lanfear's.  Finding  that  the  Hickory  Creek  people  were  gone,  they  held 
a  council  of  war,  and,  at  Mr.  Runyon's  suggestion,  went  to  Chicago,  or  Fort 
Dearborn,  instead  of  Danville,  as  originally  intended.  He  was  also  the  first  to 
propose  to  come  out  from  Chicago  and  build  the  block  house  which  was  built  on 
Mr.  Sisson's  place,  as  noticed  further  on.  Indians  were  plenty  in  this  section 
when  they  first  settled  here,  but  of  the  friendly  Pottawatomies ;  and  Mrs.  Boyer 
remembers  an  encampment,  or  Indian  town,  on  both  sides  of  her  father's  place, 
and  their  trail  from  the  one  to  the  other  was  by  the  house.  They  used  nearly 
always  to  come  in  when  passing,  but  did  nothing  wrong  and  generally  behaved 
very  well.  While  Mr.  Runyon  was  gone  to  Danville,  and  detained  so  long,  it 
was  reported  that  the  small-pox  was  at  the  Indian  camps,  and  Mrs.  Runyon 
efused  to  let  any  of  them  come  into  her  house ;  when  they  were  seen  approach- 
ig,  the  proverbial  latch-string  was  drawn  in.  This  very  seriously  offended  the 
''noble  red  men,"  but  they  offered  no  molestation.  Mr.  Runyon  went  to  Cali- 
fornia in  1849,  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  September, 
1875.  His  daughter,  Mrs.  Boyer,  made  a  trip  there  to  see  him  the  Summer 
before  he  died.  Though  one  of  the  very  earliest  in  this  section,  he  had  been 
away  so  long  that  none  but  the  oldest  settlers  remember  him  personally. 

Many  of  the  early  settlements  of  Lockport  were  made  by  New  Yorkers — 
men  of  intelligence  and  enterprise — qualities  still  distinguishable  at  the  present 


416  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

day.  Among  these  early  pioneers,  we  may  mention  the  following  from  the  Empire 
State:  Holder  Sisson  and  his  brother-in-law  Cyrus  Bronson,  Selah  Lanfear, 
Lyman  Hawley,  and  his  son  Warren  Hawley,  Nathan  Hutchins,  William 
Thomas,  William  Gooding,  Isaac  Preston,  A.  J.  Mathewson,  David  C.  Baldwin, 
Edward  P.  Farley,  Col.  James  Wright,  James  S.  Baker,  Justin  Taylor,  Horace 
Morse,  Hiram  Norton,  Henry  Bush  and  perhaps  others.  Sisson  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  in  the  township,  and  located  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1831,  on  what  has  since  been  known  as  the  Hanford  place.  He  was  born 
in  Rhode  Island  in  1790,  and  died  in  April,  1878,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  88 
years.  Though  born  in  Rhode  Island,  most  of  his  life  had  been  spent  in  New 
York,  until  his  removal  to  the  West.  He  served  six  months  in  the  war  of  1812: 
was  Captain  of  a  company  during  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  built  a  fort  or 
blockhouse  on  his  place  near  the  village  of  Lockport,  in  the  Spring  of  1832. 
He  first  located  in  Indiana,  near  the  present  city  of  Evansville,  at  which  time 
the  country  was  new  and  very  sparsely  settled.  During  the  fifteen  years  he 
remained  there,  he  improved  five  farms,  and,  finding  no  market  there  for  his 
produce,  built  flatboats  and  carried  it  to  New  Orleans.  As  an  example  of  his 
indomitable  energy,  of  the  four  trips  he  made  to  the  Crescent  City,  he  returned 
from  two  of  them  on  foot.  From  this  Indiana  settlement  he  returned  to  New 
York,  but  did  not  remain  long,  until  he  again  removed  to  the  West,  as  already 
noticed,  in  October,  1831,  and  settled  in  this  township.  When  the  Black 
Hawk  war  broke  out,  the  families  of  the  few  settlers  were  removed  to  Fort 
Dearborn  (now  Chicago)  for  safety ;  they  made  the  trip  to  that  haven  of  peace 
in  ox-teams,  and  on  the  return  to  the  settlement  of  the  men,  Mr.  Sisson  was 
elected  Captain,  and  proceeded  at  once  to  build  a  blockhouse,  and  make  prepar- 
ations for  defense.  On  receiving  his  command,  he  was  ordered  by  Gen.  Scott 
to  proceed  with  his  company  to  Indian  Creek,  in  La  Salle  County,  and  bury  the 
unfortunate  whites  massacred  there  by  the  Indians.  In  November,  after  set- 
tling in  Lockport,  he  went  to  Michigan  where  he  had  sold  a  drove  of  cattle  "on 
time"  while  living  in  the  Wabash  country,  to  try  to  make  some  collections;  but 
the  trip  was  a  fruitless  one,  as  well  as  one  of  privation  both  to  him  and  his 
family  at  home,  which  at  that  time  consisted  of  a  wife  and  five  little  children. 
The  Winter  set  in,  and  he  was  detained  long  beyond  the  time  he  had  intended 
remaining ;  his  family  was  almost  without  provisions,  or  any  of  the  necessaries 
of  life.  During  his  absence  his  wife  had  to  go  out  and  cut  wood  in  the  forest 
and  carry  it  to  the  cabin  to  keep  her  children  from  freezing.  There  were  few 
neighbors,  and  they  were  at  a  distance ;  Indians  were  plenty,  but  mostly  of  the 
friendly  Pottawatomies,  and  under  these  circumstances,  the  heroic  woman 
endured  the  long  absence  of  her  husband  ignorant  of  his  fate,  and  hardly  daring 
to  hope  for  his  return,  owing  to  the  severity  with  which  the  Winter  had  set  in. 
His  sufferings  and  perils  were  great,  and  a  man  of  less  courage  and  energy 
would  have  sunk  beneath  them.  As  he  was  returning  from  this  fruitless  trip, 
while  crossing  Mud  Lake  with  his  Indian  pony,  the  ice  gave  way  and  pony  and 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  417 

rider  were  submerged ;  the  weather  was  piercing  cold  and  the  snow  nearly  two 
feet  deep.  It  was  night,  and  in  his  frozen  clothes  he  rode  on  to  his  home,  not 
knowing  whether  he  would  find  his  wife  and  children  alive  or  dead.  Upon  his 
arrival,  finding  them  all  well  and  comfortable  as  could  be  expected  under  the 
circumstances,  he  sat  down  and  wept  like  a  child.  But  we  draw  a  veil  over  the 
meeting,  and,  as  the  novelists  say,  leave  it  to  be  imagined ;  to  describe  it  is 
beyond  the  power  of  any  who  never  experienced  a  similar  meeting.  Soon 
after  the  close  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  he  sold  his  claim  to  Comstock  Hanford 
and  removed  to  the  west  side  of  the  Des  Planes,  on  the  bluff  where  George 
Wightman  (who  married  Mr.  Sisson's  youngest  daughter)  now  lives.  The 
second  night  after  his  removal  to  this  place,  a  prairie  fire,  one  of  those  terrors 
to  the  early  settlers,  came  well-nigh  ruining  him.  Sixty  tons  of  hay,  standing 
in  ricks,  were  burned,  and  to-day  handfuls  of  the  cinders  can  be  picked  up  on 
the  spot  where  the  ricks  stood.  Of  170  head  of  sheep,  they  were  all  burned  to 
death  or  injured  so  that  they  died  from  the  effects,  with  the  exception  of  six  or 
eight ;  and  of  forty  head  of  cattle,  many  died  from  the  scorching,  and  those  left 
he  was  obliged  to  sell  for  a  dollar  or  two  apiece  to  prevent  them  from  starving 
on  his  hands,  as  he  had  nothing  left  to  feed  them. 

Such  were  the  hardships  borne  by  the  pioneers  who  made  this  country  what 
it  is,  and  prepared  for  us  homes  which  cannot  be  surpassed  in  any  State,  or  in 
any  country.  And  yet  we  frequently  hear  people  complaining  of  hard  times. 
Hard  times !  Why,  the  present  generation  knows  no  more  of  hard  times  than, 
to  use  a  homely  phrase,  "a  hog  does  of  holiday."  The  few  survivors  who  set- 
tled here  forty  years  ago  or  more  can  bear  witness  to  the  fact  of  hard  times  now 
and  then.  Mr.  Sisson  was  elected  one  of  the  first  Commissioners  of  Cook 
County,  when  Will,  Du  Page  and  Lake  were  included  in  Cook ;  and  when  Will 
County  was  set  off,  was  one  of  its  first  Commissioners,  both  of  which  facts  stand 
as  evidence  of  his  integrity  and  ability.  At  the  time  of  sale  of  the  Govern- 
ment land,  he  was  selected  by  his  neighbors  to  look  after  their  claims  and  inter- 
ests, and  all  who  remember  the  period  of  "  claim  law,"  know  something  of  the 
importance  and  peril  attaching  to  his  position.  But  a  look  at  his  face,  or  his 
ringing  voice,  assured  all  that  with  him  it  was  not  safe  to  trifle.  When  Mr. 
Sisson  died,  the  Lockport  Standard  paid  an  eloquent  tribute  to  his  worth,  from 
which  we  make  the  following  extract :  "His  word  was  law,  his  courage  has  been 
for  nearly  two  generations  a  household  word;  no  taint  of  suspicion  mars  the 
soundness  of  his  private  and  public  character.  His  children  simply  worshiped 
him,  and  they  are  a  unit  in  the  expression  that  he  was  never  known  to  do  a 
mean  thing,  or  set  a  bad  example.  His  Avidow's  views  are  tersely  expressed 
in  these  few  words  to  the  writer,  that  he  was  the  most  upright  and  per- 
fect gentleman  she  ever  knew;  that  his  judgment  was  always  clear;  he  knew 
no  side  but  the  right.  Through  all  his  apparent  sternness,  he  was  exceedingly 
social,  and  in  many  directions  as  confiding  as  a  child,  as  loving  as  a  woman; 
and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  few  lives  are  so  complete  in  all  their  details 


418  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

and  leave  so  rich  a  legacy  to  those  that  live  after  it."  Cyrus  Bronson,  a 
brother-in-law  to  Sisson,  settled  on  Section  10,  on  west  side  of  the  river,  in  1834. 
He  was  born  in  the  land  of  wooden  nutmegs,  but  had  lived  some  time  in  New 
York  before  removing  to  Illinois.  He  was  killed  by  lightning  in  September, 
1857,  leaving  several  sons  to  perpetuate  his  name.  Cyrus  M.  Bronson  lives 
one  and  a  half  miles  from  where  his  father  settled  forty-four  years  ago ;  another 
son,  Montraville  Bronson,  lives  in  the  village  of  Lockport;  David  H.  Bronson 
lives  in  Me  Henry  County  and  Eliel  S.  Bronson  lives  in  Dupage  Township. 
The  widow  of  Mr.  Bronson  is  still  living  but  is  quite  old  and  rather  feeble. 
Cyrus  M.  Bronson,  one  of  the  sons  above  referred  to,  is  quite  a  remarkable 
man  and  has  a  most  tenacious  memory.  In  fact,  as  pertaining  to  early  events, 
and  dates  of  particular  occurrences,  he  is  a  walking  encyclopedia,  and  we  have 
drawn  on  him  extensively  for  information  contained  in  these  pages.  Nathan 
Hutchins  settled  under  the  bluff  on  the  place  where  Fitzpatrick  now  lives,  who 
bought  it  of  Hutchins.  The  latter's  father  came  with  him  to  this  country,  but 
did  not  live  long — was  a  very  oH  man  when  they  settled  here,  and  died  in  1835, 
one  of  the  first  deaths  which  occurred  in  the  town.  A  brother  of  Hutchins 
came  out  in  1834;  and  remained  two  years,  when  both  removed  to  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Rockford.  He  was  a  great  hunter  (the  brother)  and  had  but  one  eye, 
which  adapted  him  for  shooting  without  the  trouble  of  having  to  close  an  eye  to 
draw  a  bead.  A.  J.  Mathewson,  the  present  County  Surveyor,  came  West  in  1837, 
and  was  some  time  engaged  in  surveying  the  canal.  In  1865,  he  was  appointed 
by  the  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Chicago,  for  deepening  the  Canal,  and,  in 
1867,  was  engaged  to  make  a  survey  of  the  Illinois  River  from  La  Salle  to  its 
mouth.  He  still  resides  in  the  village  of  Lockport,  with  an  office  in  Joliet. 
William  Thomas,  General  Superintendent  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal, 
with  headquarters  at  Lockport,  settled  in  Michigan  in  1836,  but  after  a  time 
returned  to  New  York.  In  1871,  he  was  appointed  Superintendent  of  the  Canal 
which  position  he  still  holds.  D.  C.  Baldwin  settled  in  this  township  in  1834, 
where,  after  farming  a  number  of  years,  sold  out  and  removed  into  the  village, 
embarking  in  the  mercantile  trade,  which  he  still  pursues.  He  is  noted  for 
having  taught  the  first  school  in  Homer  Township.  Horace  Morse  came  about 

1835,  and  is  mentioned  as  the  first  tavern-keeper  of  the  township. 

William  Gooding,  together  with  the  family  of  his  father,  who  are  also  men- 
tioned in  the  history  of  Homer  Township,  came  to  Illinois  in  1833.  He  had 
been  prevented  from  coming  earlier  on  account  of  "  wars  and  the  rumors  of 
wars"  of  Black  Hawk.  He  and  his  wife  and  infant  son  were  the  first  passen- 
gers to  come  around  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  with  the  United  States  mail, 
and  arrived  in  Chicago  in  May  of  the  year  mentioned,  when  the  metropolis  of 
the  Great  Northwest  was  mighty  in  nothing  but  its  mud  and  mire,  and  con- 
tained but  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants  besides  the  garrison.  Three 
days  later,  they  arrived  in  Gooding's  Grove,  then  a  part  of  Cook  County.  In 

1836,  he  was  appointed   Chief  Engineer  of  the  Illinois   &   Michigan   Canal, 


•/  :v~ 

..  _     '.  .. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  421 

which  position  he  held  until  its  completion,  in  1848.     He  traveled  over  the 
first  completed  section  of  railway  in  the  United  States,  from  Albany  to  Sche- 
nectady,  N.  Y.     The  cars  were  something  like  old-style  stage-coaches,  and  were 
drawn  by  horses.      He  died  at  his  home  in  Lockport,  in  May,  1878.      E.  P. 
Farley  settled  in  this  township  in  1837,  but  of  him  not  much  could  be  ascer- 
tained.    The  Hawleys  settled  here  in  1835.     The  father,  Lyman  Hawley,  set- 
tled near  where  Warren  Hawley  now  lives,  and  at  the  time,  there  was  not  a 
house  or  cabin  between  bis  settlement  and  Plainfield.      The  elder  Hawley  is 
dead,  but  his  son,  Warren  Hawley,  is  still  alive,  and  one  of  the  thrifty  farmers 
of  the  country.     Isaac  Preston  came  to  the  settlement  in  1836.     He  was  born 
in  New  Jersey  in  1792,  and  had  lived  some  time  in  New  York  before  coming 
to  Illinois.     He  remembers  to  have  seen  his  father  with  crape  on  his  arm,  as 
mourning  for  Gen.  Washington,  when  the  "Father  of  his  Country"  laid  down 
his  earthly  life.      J.  B.  Preston,  a  son  of  Isaac  Preston,  was  a  man  of  much 
note,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  youngest  man  that  ever  received  the  office  of 
Surveyor  General.      Hiram  Norton  was  one  of  the  most  enterprising  men  the 
town  of  Lockport  has  known,  and  did  more  in  his  day,  perhaps,  for  the  build- 
ing-up of  the  place  than  any  other  man  ;  and  though  he  has  long  since  gone  to 
his  reward,  the  evidences  of  his  works  are  still  seen  and  felt  by  those  who  sur- 
vive him.     Col.  Wright  sprung  from  a  good  old  Revolutionary  stock,  his  father 
and  grandfather  both  having  served  in  the  great  struggle  for  independence,  and 
participated  in  many  of  its  battles.    He  came  from  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  to  Illinois, 
in  1833,  and  to  Lockport  Township  in  1837,  and  settled  in  the  present  village 
of  that  name,  on  the  identical  spot  where  he  now  lives.      He  was  bronght  up 
on  the  battle-ground  of  Stillwater,  where  Burgoyne  received  his  first  check,  and 
which  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  brilliant  engagements  that  resulted  finally  in 
the  surrender  of  the  British  General  and  his  proud  army  to  the  Continental 
forces  under  Gen.  Gates.      Col.  Wright's  father  owned  the  farm  upon  which 
stood  the  house  in  which  Gen.  Frazer  died.     All  readers  of  our  Revolutionary 
history  are  familiar  with  the  death  of  that  gallant  officer.     One  historian  thus 
describes  it,  in  the  battle  of  Stillwater :  "  Here  Arnold  did  an  act  unworthy  of 
the  glory  of  the  well-fought  battle.     He  ordered  up  twelve  of  his  best  riflemen, 
and  pointing  to  Frazer,  who,  on  horseback,  with  brandished  sword,  was  gal- 
lantly animating  his  men,  he  said  :  '  See  that  officer.     Himself  is  a  host.     Let 
mo  not  see  him  long.'     The  riflemen  flew  to  their  places,  and  in  a  few  moments 
the  hero  was  cut  down."     Col.  Wright  says  he  has  often  seen  the  blood-stain 
on  the  floor  of  this  house,  where  Frazer  was  laid,  just  under  the  window,  when 
brought  in  wounded,  and  where  he  breathed  his  last.     A  few  years  ago,  there 
was,  says  the  Colonel,  a  pot  of  gold  found  buried  in  the  barn  upon  this  same 
farm,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  buried  there  by  some  of  the  British  officers. 
Baker  settled  in  the  present  village  of  Lockport  in  1837,  where  he  has  ever 
since  resided.     He  is  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  has  always  followed  that  busi- 
ness, and  perhaps  has  left  his  mark  on  as  many  edifices  as  any  other  man  of  his 


422  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

age  in  Will  County.  There  are,  he  says,  but  three  men  living  now  in  the  vil- 
lage that  were  here  when  he  came,  viz.,  A.  J.  Matthewson,  D.  C.  Baldwin  and 
Joshua  Croneen.  The  village  proper  of  Lockport  was  laid  out,  but  there  were 
no  houses  except  the  Canal  office  and  perhaps  a  log  cabin  or  two.  In  one  of 
the  latter  a  man  had  lived  for  a  time,  named  Everdeen,  but  had  moved  to  Bach- 
elor's Grove.  There  are  some  who  accredit  the  man  Everdeen  as  the  first  set- 
tler in  Lockport  Township,  but  we  have  been  unable  to  learn  anything  very 
definite  concerning  him,  and,  from  information  received  from  other  sources,  are 
of  the  opinion  that  he  was  not  the  first  settler  in  the  town  at  all.  He  moved 
to  Bachelor's  Grove,  in  Cook  County,  but  what  further  became  of  him  we  do  not 
know.  Selah  Lanfear  settled  here  in  1832,  and  was  so  near  the  line  as  to  be  hard 
to  say  whether  he  was  in  Lockport  or  Homer  Township.  He  was  in  the  block- 
house during  the  Sac  war,  a  member  of  Capt.  Sisson's  company.  He  was  a 
brother  of  Deacon  Asa  Lanfear,  who  settled  in  Homer  a  few  years  later.  Jus- 
tin Taylor  settled  here  in  1834,  but  had  come  out  the  year  before,  on  a  tour  of 
inspection.  He  was  at  Chicago  at  the  Indian  treaty,  and  saw  several  hundred 
Indians  start  for  their  new  hunting-grounds  beyond  the  Father  of  Waters.  He 
died  in  1847.  His  widow  married  William  Sanborn,  and  is  still  living.  A 
coincidence  in  the  family  may  be  mentioned  in  the  fact  that  they  have  four  sons 
dead  and  four  living,  one  daughter  dead  and  one  living.  Alomon  Taylor,  a 
brother  of  his,  came  here  in  1835,  and  settled  on  the  farm  just  north  of  where 
Fitzpatrick  now  lives.  He  went  to  California  in  1850,  and  died  from  an  acci- 
dent received  there.  In  1852,  his  widow  married  Jacob  Smith,  and  at  present 
lives  about  a  mile  from  their  original  settlement.  Joseph  Heath  came  from 
Hartford,  Conn.,  about  1834,  and  settled  where  C.  S.  Allen  now  lives.  He 
was  a  young  man  then,  but  afterward  married  and  raised  a  large  family  of 
children,  who  have  gone  out  in  the  world  to  do  for  themselves,  and  he  has  re- 
moved to  Minooka,  where  he  now  lives,  enjoying  his  wealth,  gained  by  a  life  of 
honest  toil.  Thomas  Webb  also  came  from  Connecticut,  and  settled  where 
Stephen  Williams  now  lives,  in  August,  1833.  He  had  lived  for  a  time  in 
Ohio  before  coming  to  Illinois,  and  after  remaining  on  this  place  about  four 
years,  moved  just  over  the  line  in  Dupage,  where  he  died,  in  1840.  Michael 
Noel  was  a  son-in-law,  and  lived  on  the  place  for  some  time  after  Webb  moved 
away,  when  he  finally  sold  it  to  Williams,  who  now  occupies  it,  as  already 
stated.  William  Rogers  was  from  Ash  tabula  County,  Ohio,  and  settled  near  where 
Daggett's  mill  now  stands,  in  1832  or  1833.  Mrs.  John  Giffin,  a  daughter  of 
his,  is  living  about  one  mile  southwest  of  Lockport  village.  He  finally  moved 
up  on  the  bluff,  where  he  died,  some  years  later.  His  widow  afterward  mar- 
ried John  Mulligan,  a  man  of  Irish  extraction,  but  had  been  raised  mostly  in 
England,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  It  is  said  that  she  loved 
him  most  devotedly.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Pike's  Peak,  during  the  gold  ex- 
citement of  1869,  when  he  died,  and  she  had  him  brought  back  and  interred  at 
home.  She  then  rented  the  farm  and  went  to  live  with  her  children,  in  Livings- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  423 

ton  County,  where  she  died,  about  three  years  ago,  but  made  the  request  that 
he  should  be  disinterred  and  taken  to  that  locality  and  buried  before  her,  ^and 
she  then  laid  by  his  side.  Her  request  was  complied  with,  and  side  by  side 
they  sleep.  Harvey  and  Thomas  Reed  were  from  Kentucky  ;  the  latter  came 
in  1832,  and  the  former  in  1834  or  1835,  and  settled  where  William  Mauer  now 
lives.  He  went  to  California  during  the  gold  excitement  of  1849-50,  and  to 
Pike's  Peak  during  that  excitement,  in  neither  of  which  he  seems  to  have 
amassed  any  great  fortune,  thus  verifying  the  saying  that  "  a  rolling  stone  gath- 
ers no  moss."  Thomas  Reed  settled  where  D.  Mallon  now  lives,  on  the  West 
Side.  He  sold  out  about  1858  or  1860,  and  removed  to  Iowa,  where  he  died,  a  few 
years  ago,  more  than  90  years  of  age.  He  was  a  warm-hearted  Kentuckian, 
fond  of  his  bitters,  good-natured  and  jolly,  but  whole-souled,  and  generous 
to  a  fault. 

James  B.  Marvin  settled  in  this  township  in  1834,  about  one  mile  east  of 
the  village,  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred  a  few  years  ago.  He, 
with  Mr.  Mason,  mentioned  more  particularly  in  the  history  of  Homer  Town- 
ship, made  the  trip  to  California,  overland,  during  the  gold  fever  in  1849  and 
1850.  They  were  in  Sacramento  City  when  it  was  burned  as  a  huge  bonfire 
on  the  election  of  Gen.  Pierce  as  President  of  the  United  States.  A  son  of 
Marvin  now  lives  on  the  homestead,  and  the  place  has  never  been  out  of  pos- 
session of  the  family  since  its  entry  in  1834.  Hale  S.  Mason  first  settled  in 
Homer  Township,  where  his  history  is  more  fully  given,  but  has  lived  in  Lock- 
port  since  1846.  B.  B.  Clarke,  whose  father  settled  in  Plainfield,  and  lived 
for  years  in  Dupage  Township,  where  their  history  is  given,  is  now  a  prosper- 
ous merchant  in  the  village  of  Lockport.  Gen.  James  Turney  was  from  Ten- 
nessee and  John  W.  Paddock  from  New  York,  the  first  representatives  of  the 
legal  profession,  and  came  about  1836  or  1837.  Luther  C.  Chamberlain  came 
from  New  York,  but  settled  first  in  Homer  Township.  Dr.  Chancy  White  was 
an  early  settler,  and  one  of  the  first  physicians.  Joseph  Haight  was  from  the 
Nutmeg  .State,  and  settled  in  1834.  Patrick  Fitzpatrick  is  a  son  of  "  Ould 
Erin,"  but  had  resided  in  Canada  from  early  youth  until  he  came  to  Illinois. 
His  first  visit  was  in  1832,  but  owing  to  the  Sac  war  then  going  on,  he  returned 
to  Canada  where  he  remained  a  year  and  a  half,  and  came  back  to  this  section. 
He  bought  the  claim  of  Nathan  Hutchins,  and  settled  on  the  bluff  west  of  the 
village  of  Lockport,  where  he  still  lives.  He  is  one  of  the  few  old  landmarks 
still  left  in  the  country.  When  he  settled  here,  he  says  there  was  not  a  cabin 
from  his  place  to  Plainfield,  and  Will  County  was  a  part  of  Cook.  He  voted 
at  the  first  election  held  in  Will  County,  but  has  forsworn  politics  since  the 
defeat  of  Van  Buren  in  1840. 

Dr.  John  F.  Daggett,  who  has  practiced  medicine  in  Lockport  and  the  sur- 
rounding country  for  forty  years,  is  a  native  of  the  Green  Mountains  of  Vermont, 
and  carne  to  this  neighborhood  in  1838.  He  entered  the  medical  college  at 
Woodstock,  Vt.,  when  but  19  years  of  age,  and  taught  school  through  the 


424  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Winter  to  pay  his  course  through  college,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1836. 
He  married  Angelina  Talcott,  of  New  York,  a  sister  of  the  late  Mancel  Talcott, 
of  Chicago,  and  of  Edward  B.  Talcott,  one  of  the  engineers  who  surveyed  and 
laid  out  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal.  He  still  lives  in  Lockport,  and  looks 
as  if  he  was  good  to  practice  his  profession  forty  years  longer.  John  Bovee 
came  from  Ohio  in  1837  and  settled  in  this  township,  but  has  been  dead  many 
years.  Hon.  Charles  E.  Boyer  came  from  Reading,  Penn.,  and  first  located  in 
Chicago,  where  he  embarked  in  the  mercantile  business.  In  1839,  he  came  to 
Lockport  and  opened  a  store,  but  closed  it  out  in  a  short  time  and  took  a  con- 
tract on  the  Canal.  He  went  to  California  in  1850,  and  contracted  to  build 
Bear  River  Canal.  He  served  a  term  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  was  a  can- 
didate for  the  State  Senate  when  he  died  in  September,  1868.  Robert  Milne 
came  from  the  "banks  and  braes"  of  Scotland  in  1836,  and  stopped  first  in 
Chicago,  where  he  bought  out  the  first  lumber  merchant  of  the  Garden  City 
and  engaged  in  that  branch  of  trade.  Although  pretty  well  off  in  regard  to 
worldly  wealth,  it  would  probably  take  a  longer  purse  than  his  to  buy  the  lumber 
trade  of  Chicago  to-day.  In  1840,  he  engaged  in  contracting  on  the  Illinios  & 
Michigan  Canal,  and  built  five  of  the  locks.  He  settled  in  the  village  in  1846, 
owns  an  excellent  farm  adjacent,  and  devotes  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  raising 
blooded  cattle,  and  has  imported  some  very  fine  animals  from  the  old  country. 
John  Griswold  came  from  Vermont,  and  settled  here  about  1834  or  1835, 
where  he  still  lives,  a  prosperous  farmer.  Benjamin  Butterfield  is  an  early 
settler,  one  of  the  very  early  ones,  and  is  said  by  some  to  have  built  the  first 
log  cabin  in  the  township ;  but  we  are  unable  to  vouch  for  the  truth  of  this 
statement.  He  was  in  the  block  house  built  by  Sisson  in  the  time  of  the  Sac 
war,  and  went  to  Iowa.  He  is  said  by  some  to  have  been  in  Homer  Township, 
but  he  has  been  away  so  long  that  few  can  tell  much  about  him  now.  Judge 
Blackstone,  First  Lieutenant  of  Sisson's  company  while  in  the  blockhouse, 
was  also  a  very  early  settler,  but  there  is  some  discrepancy  as  to  his  settlement, 
whether  it  was  originally  in  Homer  or  Lockport.  This  embraces  many  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Lockport  Township  up  to  the  time  when  the  influx  became  too 
great  to  keep  pace  with  the  arrivals.  It  may  be  that  there  are  omissions  of  the 
names  of  many  who  should  be  mentioned  as  pioneers,  but  if  so  we  have  been 
unable  to  learn  anything  in  regard  to  them.  Many  of  thetn  have  gone  to  their 
account,  and  others  have  moved  away  and  all  trace  of  them  lost. 

As  already  stated,  there  were  plenty  of  Indians  here  when  the  white  people 
began  to  settle  in  the  vicinity,  but  they  were  friendly,  lazy,  and  not  at  all  times 
disposed  to  heed  that  commandment  forbidding  us  to  steal.  Says  the  "Will 
County  Gazetteer,"  of  1860  :  "From  the  observations  of  the  first  white  settlers 
in  this  vicinity,  it  is  evident  that  what  is  now  Lockport  had  long  been  a  favor- 
ite resort  of  the  Indian  tribes  which  had  occupied  this  section  of  the  country. 
The  spreading  oaks,  the  clear  running  brooks,  the  rapid  river,  all  made  this  one 
of  the  brightest  spots  in  this  paradise  of  the  red  man.  Here  their  graves  are 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  425 

found,  their  caches,  or  places  for  hiding  their  corn,  etc.,  and  arrow-heads,  stone 
hatchets  and  other  evidences  of  their  having  lived  and  died  here.  Even  after 
the  settlements  by  the  whites  commenced,  the  Indians  often  came  here  to  spend 
the  hunting  and  fishing  season.  Another  reason  why  this  became  an  important 
stopping-place  for  them  was,  that  here  was  the  best  ford  across  the  Des  Planes 
River,  and  a  crossing  could  be  effected  here  in  consequence  of  the  rapid  fall  and 
numerous  channels  into  which  the  river  was  divided  in  extreme  high  water, 
when  it  could  nowhere  else."  But  the  time  came  when,  "Lo!  the  poor  Indian," 
with  the  star  of  empire,  had  to  wend  his  way  westward.  Their  old  hunting- 
grounds  have  changed  into  broad,  cultivated  fields,  and  herds  of  domestic  ani- 
mals now  graze  where  they  once  chased  the  wild  deer.  Their  war-whoop  is  no 
longer  heard,  their  council-fires  have  gone  out  in  the  forests  and  few  now  living 
remember  them  from  personal  knowledge.  Mrs.  Wightman  says  she  very  well 
remembers  the  last  Indians  she  saw  in  this  settlement.  She  and  others  of  her 
father's  children  were  sitting  on  the  fence  eating  butter  and  bread,  when  two 
Indians  came  along  on  their  ponies,  and  snatched  the  butter  and  bread  from 
their  hands.  Mr.  Rogers,  who  lived  in  the  neighborhood,  had  called  for  some- 
thing and  witnessed  their  act  to  the  children,  became  incensed,  and  seizing  Mr. 
Sisson's  horse-whip  rode  after  the  Indians  and  whipped  them  every  jump  for  a 
mile  or  more.  She  was  a  small  child  at  the  time,  but  remembers  the  occurrence 
and  that  they  were  the  last  she  ever  saw  in  the  country.  Mr.  Bronson  says 
that  when  they  took  up  their  line  of  march  for  their  new  hunting-grounds 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  they  presented  a  rather  sad  and  mournful  spectacle,  as 
they  trudged  along  on  foot  in  true  Indian  file,  with  heads  bowed  down  and  a 
melancholy  and  dejected  cast  of  countenance,  that  might  well  have  become  the 
bard  of  Bonny  Doon,  when  he  wrote 

"Farewell  my  friend.-',  farewell  my  foes, 
My  peace  with  these,  my  love  with  those." 

The  first  white  child  born  in  Lockport  Township,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
Orrin  Runyon,  who  was  born  on  the  27th  of  May,  1833.  He  lives  now  in  Cal- 
ifornia. This  is  doubtless  correct,  as  at  that  time  there  were  but  a  few  families  in  the 
town.  The  first  birth  on  the  west  side  of  the  Des  Planes  River,  in  the  present  limits 
of  Lockport,  was  Eliel  S.  Bronson,  a  son  of  Cyrus  Bronson,  born  April  23, 
1835.  The  first  marriage  was  that  of  Louisa  Webb  and  Michael  Noel,  and  the 
matrimonial  knot  was  tied  by  C.  C.  Van  Home,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  from  the 
Hickory  Creek  settlement.  C.  M.  Bronson  says  that  upon  its  being  reported 
that  the  wedding  was  to  take  place,  and  no  invitations  having  been  received  by  any 
of  the  neighbors,  he,  but  a  boy  at  the  time,  was  dispatched  to  Webb's  to  reconnoiter, 
but  ostensibly  to  borrow  something,  as  borrowing  was  an  every-day  occurrence 
at  that  period  of  the  country's  settlement.  Upon  presenting  himself  as  an 
Electoral  Commission  of  one,  he  found  the  old  gentleman  sitting  on  a  three- 
legged  stool,  eating  a  piece  of  the  wedding  cake,  Van  Home  riding  away  from 
the  place  and  the  new  bride  and  bridegroom  sitting  on  the  bed  looking  very 


426  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

sweet  at  each  other,  all  of  which  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  deed  was  done, 
which  proved  to  be  correct,  for  on  entering  the  house  he  was  introduced  to  the 
bride,  and  offered  a  "hunk"  of  the  wedding  cake.  The  Webbs  were  from 
Ohio,  and  Noel,  it  seems,  had  been  the  girl's  lover  before  the  family  came  West, 
and  for  two  years  after  their  removal  to  Illinois  she  neither  saw  nor  heard  from 
him,  when  finally  he  decided  to  pay  her  a  visit,  which  culminated  in  a  mar- 
riage, the  first  of  which  we  have  any  record  in  Lockport  Township.  The  first 
death  was  that  of  a  maiden  lady — a  Miss  Miner,  and  a  sister  of  Dr.  Miner,  who 
lived  on  a  part  of  Armstead  Runyon's  land.  She  died  in  the  Summer  of  1834, 
of  consumption,  and  was  buried  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Hanford  Place. 
Another  of  the  early  deaths  was  that  of  the  father  of  Nathan  Hutchins,  who 
lived  with  his  son  on  the  west  side  of  the  Des  Planes,  and  died  in  1835.  A 
custom  prevailed  in  that  early  day  of  carrying  all  dead  people  to  the  grave, 
which  seemed  to  the  simple-minded  settlers  to  show  more  affection  for  the 
departed  than  hauling  them  in  a  hearse  or  wagon.  The  Fall  Mr.  Hutchins 
died  was  one  of  almost  unprecedented  ague,  even  in  this  ague  climate,  and  it 
was  hard  to  find,  says  Mr.  Bronson,  four  men  to  carry  him  to  the  grave  who 
were  not  shaking  with  the  ague.  There  were  no  grave-yards  or  cemeteries  laid 
off  at  that  time,  and  they  carried  him  up  on  the  bluff  and  buried  him  near  where 
Fitzpatrick's  barn  now  stands.  As  nearly  as  the  spot  can  be  designated,  it  is 
directly  in  front  of  the  barn-door,  where  every  time  Fitz  steps  out  he  treads 
upon  the  sod  that  covers  the  old  pioneer ;  and  it  would  not  be  in  the  least  sur- 
prising should  his  troubled  ghost  rise  up  sometime  and  confront  Fitz  for  this 
apparent  desecration  of  his  lowly  resting-place.  The  following  circumstance  is, 
perhaps,  not  out  of  place  in  this  connection.  A  son  of  Nathan  Hutchins  went 
to  Chicago  with  a  wagon  and  team.  He  carried  a  load  of  produce  to  be  exchanged 
for  groceries  and  such  goods  as  were  needed  at  home.  They  were  then  living 
near  Rockford,  having  moved  to  that  section  in  1836.  The  young  man's  team 
was  found  stabled  by  some  one  who  recognized  it,  and  word  sent  to  Hutchins, 
who  came  and  took  it  home.  It  had  been  there  several  days,  the  proprietor  of 
the  stable  feeding  and  caring  for  it  without  knowing  to  whom  it  belonged.  From 
that  day  to  this,  the  young  man  has  not  been  heard  of.  It  is  said  that  he  had 
a  little  money,  and  whether  he  ran  away  or  was  murdered  is,  and  will  perhaps 
remain  forever,  one  of  the  unrevealed  mysteries. 

The  first  practicing  physician  in  Lockport  Township  was  a  Dr.  Miner,  who 
came  to  the  settlement  in  the  Winter  of  1833-34,  and  Jived  on  Mr.  Runyon's 
place  for  a  year  or  two.  He  was  an  Eastern  man,  but  from  what  State  could 
not  be  ascertained.  He  was  a  bachelor  or  widower,  and  a  maiden  sister  lived 
with  him  and  acted  as  housekeeper,  and  is  mentioned  elsewhere  as  the  first 
death  in  the  township.  Mrs.  Boyer  remembers  both  him  and  his  sister  well, 
though  but  a  child  at  the  time,  but  does  not  know  what  finally  became  of  him. 
Dr.  Bronson  was,  perhaps,  the  next  physician,  and  removed  to  Joliet.  Dr. 
Chancy  White  came  in  1836,  and  was  from  New  York,  and  now  lives  in  Gales- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  427 

turg,  111.  Dr.  Daggett  was,  perhaps,  the  next,  and  has  been  administering  to 
.the  afflicted  of  the  community  since  1838.  The  lawyers,  stores  and  post  office 
of  the  township  are  more  intimately  connected  with  the  village  of  Lockport, 
and  will  be  given  in  that  chapter.  The  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  was  .Tared 
Runyon,  and  was  acting  in  that  capacity  as  far  back  as  1836  or  1837,  though  no 
one  can  now  tell  with  certainty  just  when  he  received  the  appointment.  One  of 
the  first  roads  in  the  town,  other  than  the  Indian  trails,  was  near  where  the 
canal  is  located,  and  extended  from  Lockport  to  Joliet.  In  1838,  the  Canal 
Commissioners  cut  a  road  direct  to  Chicago,  which  bears  off  to  the  right  of  the 
Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad,  and,  in  1839,  the  road  was  opened  through  from 
Chicago  to  Ottawa,  on  the  west  bluff,  and  which  afterward  became  quite  famous 
as  a  stage  route.  It  used  to  be  a  great  thoroughfare  of  travel,  when  stage- 
coaches were  the  common  mode  of  transit.  The  first  mill  in  Lockport  Town- 
ship, or  in  Northern  Illinois,  of  any  consequence,  was  built  in  what  is  termed 
West  Lockport,  by  William  Gooding,  Eli  S.  Prescott,  William  Rogers  and 
Lyman  Hawley.  Rogers  had  pre-empted  the  land  on  which  the  mill  was  built, 
and  the  names  given  above  were  the  original  proprietors.  It  was  begun  in 
1836,  and  completed  in  1838  ;  was  built  of  stone,  and  cost  $30,000  ;  with  four 
runs  of  buhrs,  and  is  still  in  operation.  Dr.  Daggett  bought  it  entire  in  1855 
but  had  owned  an  interest  in  it  for  several  years  previous.  Other  mill  and 
grain  interests  will  be  mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  village. 

The  first  minister  of  the  Gospel  in  this  section  of  the  country  was  a  young 
man  from  Massachusetts,  of  the  name  of  Greenwood,  sent  out  by  the  Home 
Mission  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  who  preached  for  a  year  and  a  half  at 
the  house  of  the  elder  Bronson,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Des  Planes  River. 
After  leaving  his  labors  in  this  town,  he  went  to  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin,  and 
once  got  lost  in  what  was  well  known  in  an  early  day  as  the  "Big  Swamp"  of 
the  Badger  State,  and  came  very  near  starving  to  death  before  he  found  his 
way  out.  He  had  some  property,  and  when  believing  he  was  doomed  to  perish 
in  the  dismal  swamp,  sat  down  and  wrote  his  will,  threw  it  on  the  ground  and 
lay  down  by  it  to  die.  But  reviving  somewhat  after  a  while,  got  up  and  pur- 
sued his  way  in  a  kind  of  listless  manner,  until  the  crowing  of  a  cock  infused 
new  life  into  him  and  assured  him  that  relief  was  at  hand.  He  found  the  cabin 
of  a  settler,  who  took  him  in,  gave  him  food,  and  where  he  remained  until  his 
exhausted  energies  were  fully  restored.  The  next  preachers  to  proclaim  salva- 
tion in  this  township  were  the  Methodist  itinerants,  Revs.  Blackburn  and 
Beggs,  the  latter  now  living  in  Plainfield,  resting  from  a  long  life  of  labor  in 
the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.  Another  of  the  early  preachers  of  that  day  was  a 
Congregational  minister  of  the  name  of  Foster,  who  used  to  preach  at  the 
schoolhouse,  long  before  there  was  a  church  edifice  in  the  town.  The  old  fel- 
low had  a  way  of  wiping  his  nose  on  his  coat-tail,  when  preaching,  a  perform- 
ance not  altogether  agreeable  to  his  hearers;  and  so  Dr.  Daggett,  with  some 
others,  raised  a  contribution  and  bought  the  good  old  preacher  a  beautiful  red 


428  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

bandana,  which,  with  due  solemnity,  they  presented  to  him.  The  elder  Mr. 
Bronson  was  in  Chicago  one  day  with  his  team,  and  when  about  starting  home 
was  accosted  by  a  very  polite,  courteous  gentleman,  with  a  slight  foreign  accent, 
who  asked  to  ride  out  with  him.  He  brought  him  out  in  his  wagon,  found  him 
very  intelligent,  and  was  well  pleased  with  him.  Acting  upon  the  injunction 
to  be  kind  to  the  wayfaring  man,  for  many  have  so  entertained  angels  unawares, 
he  kept  him  over  night,  and  in  the  morning  sent  him  on  to  Joliet.  A  few  days 
later,  Mr.  Bronson  was  in  Joliet,  when  the  same  gentleman  came  up  and  spoke 
to  him,  apparently  very  glad  to  see  him.  He  then  learned  that  it  was  Father 
Plunkett,  sent  to  Joliet  to  take  charge  of  the  Catholic  Church  there,  and  whose 
melancholy  death  is  noted  in  the  history  of  that  city. 

Education  received  attention  at  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  Lock- 
port.  The  first  school  of  which  we  have  any  account  was  taught  in  1835,  by  a 
young  lady  from  Joliet,  whose  name  is  now  forgotten.  She  afterward  married 
a  man  named  Eastman,  and  removed  to  Chicago.  The  next  was  taught  by  a 
Miss  Royce,  of  Dupage  Township.  Both  of  these  schools  were  before  the 
day  of  schoolhouses,  and  were  taught  in  a  little  room  built  by  Capt.  lesson  as  an 
addition  to  his  dwelling  and  intended  for  a  kitchen,  but  surrendered  it  for  school 
purposes.  The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  by  the  neighbors  en  masse,  and  was 
a  small  log  cabin.  The  work  and  material  were  donated — one  man  giving  logs 
enough,  delivered  on  the  spot,  for  a  side  and  an  end,  and  another  for  a  side, 
etc.,  while  another  cut  down  a  tree,  sawed  it  up  and  made  "  shakes,"  or  boards, 
to  cover  it.  A  log  was  cut  out  for  a  window,  a  large  fire-place  with  a  stick 
chimney,  and  benches  made  by  splitting  open  a  small  tree,  boring  auger-holes 
and  putting  in  legs,  is  a  pen  photograph  of  this  primitive  schoolhouse.  There 
are  some  who  assert  that  the  first  school  was  taught  by  a  Miss  Warren,  of  War- 
renville,  Du  Page  County,  as  early  as  1834,  just  in  the  edge  of  Lockport,  near 
what  was  known  as  the  Barnett  Place.  But  of  this  school  we  are  unable  to 
learn  anything  very  definite.  The  schools  of  Lockport  have  expanded  some- 
what since  that  day.  In  1872,  we  find  there  were  10  school  districts,  1,244 
pupils  enrolled,  1  graded  school,  and  15  teachers  employed.  There  were 
10  schoolhouses,  4  districts  having  libraries,  with  an  aggregate  of  320  vol- 
lumes,  and  the  amount  paid  to  teachers  was  $6,490.  The  special  tax  levied  for 
school  purposes  was  $8,574.60  ;  total  expenditures  for  the  year,  $9,839.81 — 
leaving  a  balance  of  $1,068.36  in  the  treasury.  Further  mention  is  made  of 
the  schools  and  churches  in  the  history  of  Lockport  Village. 

At  the  land  sale  which  took  place  in  Chicago,  for  the  land  embraced  in 
Lockport  Township,  the  people  had  organized  a  kind  of  protective  society 
against  speculators,  and  appointed  one  of  their  number  to  look  after  their  inter- 
ests. That  man  was  Holder  Sisson ;  and  faithfully  he  performed  the  duty.  As 
the  numbers  of  the  claims  were  called,  while  Sisson  bid  on  it  for  them,  they 
would  stand  around  and  watch  to  see  if  a  speculator  bid,  and  if  so,  unless  he 
took  it  back  very  suddenly,  they  put  him  in  the  river  until  he  did.  The  auc- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUI1TY.  429 

tioneer  favored  the  settlers,  and  as  soon  as  the  Government  price  was  reached, 
it  was  with  him  "going,  going,  GONE."  Finally,  a  compromise  was  effected, 
whereby  the  speculator  paid  for  all  the  land  and  gave  the  the  squatter  -half. 
This  enabled  many  to  procure  homes  who  did  not  have  money  to  even  pay  the 
Government  price  for  a  "forty"  or  an  "eighty."  As  the  country  settled  up, 
old  settlers  say  it  seemed  rather  hard  that  they  could  not  let  their  stock  run  at 
large,  and  cut  their  wild  hay  where  they  pleased.  When  the  first  settlers  came 
in,  everything  was  free,  the  country  wild,  and  every  man,  for  scores  of  miles, 
neighbors.  As  it  settled  up,  these  things  changed,  and  people  became  more  and 
more  selfish,  until  it  seems,  at  the  present  day,  that  it  is  every  man  for  himself, 

and  the take  the  hindermost.    Then  a  man  would  loan  another  a  horse  or  an 

ox,  or  anything  else  that  he  had,  except  his  wife  and  babies,  though  he  had 
never  seen  him  before.  But  now  such  confidence  would,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  be  abused.  These  somber  reflections  are  not  those  of  the  historian,  but  the 
echo  of  some  of  the  old  settlers  who  have  seen  the  country  grow  up,  and  have 
marked  these  changes  in  the  people  and  in  their  manners  and  feelings  toward 
one  another. 

C.  M.  Bronson  remembers  two  species  of  birds  quite  common  here  when 
his  father  removed  to  this  section,  in  1834,  but  which  have  long  since  disap- 
peared. One  of  them  was  about  the  size  and  very  similar  to  the  English  cur- 
lew. It  had  a  bill  about  seven  or  eight  inches  long,  and  when  disturbed  would 
rise  in  the  air,  and,  circling  overhead,  pronounce  very  distinctly  the  word 
chelee.  The  other  was  somewhat  smaller  in  size,  but  similar  in  appearance,  and 
could  say  very  plainly,  "go  to  work."  But  as  the  English  and  Irish  came  in, 
who  are  fond  of  birds  as  food,  and  took  to  shooting  them,  they  soon  disappeared. 
Mr.  Bronson  informed  us  that  he  was  once  bitten  on  the  great  toe  of  his  right 
foot  by  a  massasauga,  or  prairie  rattlesnake,  and  for  eight  years  was  unable  to 
do  any  work.  He  was  finally  cured  by  a  severe  attack  of  fevers,  in  which  he 
came  near  dying,  but  which  had  the  effect  of  driving  the  poison  from  his  sys- 
tem, and  when  he  recovered  from  it  was  free  from  the  other  also.  He  describes 
a  sickly  season  when  500  canal  men  died  and  were  buried,  and  upon  the  graves 
of  whom  not  a  drop  of  rain  had  fallen  from  the  burial  of  the  first  to  that  of  the 
last.  They  had  come  from  a  country  of  a  different  climate,  were  little  used  to 
eating  meat,  and  here  they  had  plenty  of  it,  and  working  hard  in  the  hot  sun, 
would  sicken  and  die  by  scores.  When  one  "shuffled  off  the  mortal  coil,"  the 
others  would  hold  a  "wake;"  no  matter  how  pressing  work  might  be,  every- 
thing was  "dropped;"  and  if  the  departed  had  any^of  the  world's  wealth,  not  a 
lick  of  work  would  the  others  do  while  it  lasted,  but  drink  and  fight,  and  some- 
times, in  their  drunken  orgies,  prepare  the  material  for  another  wake.  A 
grave-yard  was  laid  out  and  consecrated  for  their  special  benefit,  as  the  Catholic 
Church  never  bury  their  members  except  in  holy  ground.  The  following  anec- 
dote, by  a  correspondent  of  the  local  press,  writing  under  the  nom  de  plume  of 
"Styx,"  will  serve  to  illustrate  somewhat  the  Irish  character  as  represented 


430  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

here  during  the  building  of  the  Canal.  Writing  of  some  of  their  little  frays, 
the  correspondent  says:  "Representatives  from  different  parts  of  Ireland  gath- 
ered into'  separate  settlements,  and  raising  the  old  songs  and  war-cries  that 
have  so  often  torn  'the  Harp  of  Erin'  to  tatters,  they  have  re-enacted  the 
refreshing  dramas  of  'Donny  Brook  Fair'  and  the  'Kilkenny  Cats,"  in  which 
every  sprig  of  shillalah  was  rampant  and  restless.  Funerals  and  'wakes' 
followed  on  the  heels  of  each  other — the  'wakes'  being  productive  of  more 
funerals,  and  the  funerals  of  more  'wakes!'  The  writer  remembers  seeing  a 
funeral  cortege  that  started  from  the  flat,  near  where  the  prison  now  stands, 
consisting  of  a  dirt-cart  with  the  coffin  and  mourning  occupants,  and  preceded 
by  the  carriage  of  the  priest,  who  led  the  way  to  the  Lockport  bury  ing-ground. 
Wrapt  in  that  kind  of  dreamy  forgetfulness  that  was  introduced  by  the  exciting 
watches  of  the  previous  night,  the  occupants  did  not  notice  how  the  hind-end- 
board  of  the  wagon  had  jolted  out,  nor  did  they  notice,  while  climbing  the  hill 
at  the  old  prison  quarry,  the  coffin  had  taken  a  notion  to  slip  out  after  the  end- 
board,  but  went  on  to  the  grave-yard  full  of  grief  and  lamentations.  '  Begorra, 
Jamie's  gone!'  was  the  startling  remark  of  the  sexton  as  he  reached  after  the 
missing  casket." 

The  Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  passes  through  Lockport  Town- 
ship from  north  to  south,  and  was  built  through  in  1856.  But  as  a  full  and 
complete  history  of  this  great  road  is  given  elsewhere  in  this  work,  we  deem  it 
unnecessary  to  recapitulate  here.  The  same  applies  to  the  Illinois  & 
Michigan  Canal,  which  also  passes  through  the  town  from  north  to  south,  and 
the  history  of  which  is  fully  given  in  another  page.  There  is  a  point  or  two, 
however,  upon  which  we  may  touch  in  regard  to  it.  That  it  is  designed  to 
become,  at  no  very  distant  day,  a  ship-canal,  upon  which  will  float  thousands  of 
crafts  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  since  a  few 
shovelfuls  of  dirt  have  been  judiciously  removed  from  the  low  divide  between ' 
the  Chicago  and  Des  Planes  Rivers,  permanently  uniting  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  Father  of  Waters.  With  this  few  miles  of  canal  widened  and  deepened  for 
ships  to  pass  through,  it  would  be  of  untold  advantage  to  the  whole  country. 
There  are  those  living  to-day  who  will  yet  see  mighty  steamers  unloading  cotton 
and  sugar  at  the  piers  of  Chicago,  and  taking  in  the  grain  of  the  prairies  and 
the  minerals  of  the  Superior  country,  steam  away  to  the  Crescent  City  of  the 
South.  As  pertinent  to  the  subject,  the  following  extract  is  from  a  speech 
delivered  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  Hon.  Carter  Harrison,  on 
this  very  enterprise':  u  Fifty  years  ago,  only  a  prophet  could  have  seen  at 
Fort  Dearborn  the  site  of  a  mighty  city.  But  his  mantle  of  prophecy  need 
not  have  been  heaven-born.  It  was  only  necessary  that  its  woof,  and  fabric 
should  be  woven  of  commercial  and  engineering  sagacity,  united  to  close  obser- 
vation of  the  little  bayous  and  the  low  divide  separating  its  waters  from  those 
of  the  Des  Planes  River  close  by.  That  divide  was  only  a  few  inches  above 
the  average  surface  of  the  lake,  and  in  high  water  the  birchen  canoe  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  431 

savage  passed  freely  from  one  to  the  other.  Ages  ago, 

the  prairie  States  of  the  Northwest  were  a  vast  inland,  shallow  sea.  Its  deep 
pools  were  the  beds  of  the  present  lakes.  When  'the  bottom  of  that  sea  was 
upheaved  and  the  barriers  to  the  east  and  south  were  broken  down,  the  waters 
of  Lake  Michigan  flowed  through  a  long  cycle  of  centuries,  through  the  Des 
Planes  River  to  the  Mississippi.  As  the  prairies  to  the  south  were  gradually 
lifted,  and  the  outlets  to  the  east  were  deepened,  the  southern  outlet  became 
nearly  closed.  Nature  thus  wrote  on  that  low  divide  the  first  engineer's  report 
in  favor  of  a  ship-canal  to  unite  the  Mississippi  and  the  Lakes.  She  traced 
along  that  flat  marsh  in  the  dark  waters  of  that  little  bayou  the  plan  for  tying 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  A  gentle  breeze  parted 
sister-waters  in  that  sullen  creek  and  carried  them  to  far-distant  oceans,  where 
one  would  be  caught  in  the  grasp  of  the  stream  coming  down  from  Labrador, 
the  other  to  be  wooed  by  the  warm  embrace  of  the  Gulf-stream,  again  to  be 
re-united  in  mid-ocean."  With  all  its  natural  advantages,  it  does  seem  that 
the  making  of  this  a  ship-canal  would  be  one  of  the  grandest  improvements  of 
the  age,  and  we  have  no  doubt  but  that  a  few  more  years  will  witness  the 
inauguration  of  such  a  movement. 

Politically,  Lockport  Township  is  Democratic.  In  the  days  of  building  the 
Canal,  whereon  were  employed  so  many  sons  of  the  "  old  sod,"  it  polled  up 
sometimes  rather  huge  Democratic  majorities,  as  the  first  thought  of  the  Irish- 
man when  he  arrives  in  this  country  is  the  right  of  franchise,  and  hundreds 
of  them  had  been  freshly  imported  for  canal  purposes. 

"Young  Barney  O'Toole  was  a  broth  of  a  boy, 
Who  crossed  over  the  sea  with  bold  Pat  Malloy. 
They  landed  at  night — it  was  rainy  withal — 
And  the  next  day  got  work  on  the  raging  •  canawl,'  " 

It  is  stated,  and  very  reliably,  too,  that  at  the  Presidential  election  of  1840, 
some  of  the  "  Canalers  "  voted  not  less  than  twenty  times  apiece ;  and  it  is 
estimated  that  along  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal  there  were  probably  5,000 
illegal  votes  polled  for  Van  Buren.  But  with  the  completion  of  the  Canal  and 
the  exit  of  the  "Irish  Brigade,"  it  has  toned  down,  and  the  two  great  parties 
are  more  evenly  divided,  though  the  Democrats  still  have  the  majority.  The 
name  of  Lockport  was  given  to  the  village  by  Arm  stead  Runyon,  and  the  town- 
ship named  for  it.  The  name  originated  from  the  first  lock  on  the  Canal 
between  Chicago  and  Lockport  being  at  the  latter  place,  and  hence,  was  deemed 
an  appropriate  name. 

THE    VILLAGE    OF    LOCKPORT. 

Lockport  village  is  situated  on  the  Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Railroad 
and  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  about  thirty-three  miles  southeast  of  Chicago 
and  four  miles  north  of  Joliet.  The  town  site  for  Lockport  was  chosen  by  the 
Canal  Commissioners,  and  the  village  laid  out  by  them.  It  was  selected  with 
a  view  of  making  it  their  headquarters,  and  soon  after  its  selection,  they  erected 


432  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

their  Canal  office  here,  which  has  ever  since,  with  some  improvements,  been 
used  for  that  purpose.  The  village  was  laid  out  under  the  supervision  of  Will- 
iam B.  Archer,  by  a  surveyor  named  Wampler,  and  the  first  sale  of  lots  took 
place  on  the  22d  day  of  November,  1837,  and  lots  sold  to  the  amount  of  $6,000. 
The  Canal  office  was  the  first  building  of  any  importance  erected  in  the  town, 
and  doubtless  had  considerable  influence  in  inducing  the  first  settlers  of  the  vil- 
lage to  come  to  the  place.  The  Canal  Commissioners,  as  well  as  many  other 
persons  of  intelligence,  probably  over-rated  the  advantages  of  this  locality  for 
a  commercial  and  manufacturing  town.  Joliet,  only  four  miles  south  of  the  site 
selected  for  Lockport,  had  at  that  time  been  laid  out  and  established  as  the 
county  seat,  and  the  natural  advantages  of  its  position,  with  the  agricultural 
and  mineral  wealth  surrounding  it,  would  preclude  the  existence  of  other  towns 
in  such  close  proximity.  Lockport,  with  all  her  wealth,  must  eventually  become 
a  part  of  Joliet.  It  was  laid  out  with  much  care,  and  fine  taste  exercised,  as 
will  be  seen  from  its  broad  and  regular  streets.  The  residences  are  built  with 
regard  to  beauty  as  well  as  utility,  many  of  them  being  surrounded  with  taste- 
fully laid  out  and  highly  ornamented  grounds.  With  its  eligible  location  and 
romantic  site  on  a  sloping  hillside,  and  withal  its  healthy  condition,  it  is  very  favor- 
ably adapted  for,  as  it  no  doubt  will  some  day  be,  a  suburban  retreat  of  Chi- 
cago. 

The  first  store  was  established  in  Runyontown  town  (now  North  Lockport) 
by  a  man  named  Kellogg,  and  was  but  a  sort  of  grocery  store,  a  rather  small  affair. 
Goss  &  Parks  kept  the  first  dry  goods  store  at  the  same  place,  and  at  the  laying- 
out  of  Lockport  proper,  removed  within  its  limits,  Goss  and  Stephen  Gooding 
opening  a  store  in  partnership,  and  Parks  likewise  opening  one  on  his  own 
hook.  After  the  retirement  of  Stephen  Gooding,  Oliver  P.  Gooding  took 
charge  of  this,  and  soon  other  mercantile  establishments  were  opened,  and  Lock- 
port  grew  rapidly.  The  first  building  of  any  pretensions  erected,  was  the 
Canal  office,  as  already  stated.  There  were,  however,  several  cabins  and 
huts  put  up  within  the  present  limits  of  the  village,  by  the  early  settlers,  long 
before  it  was  laid  out  as  a  village.  The  first  tavern  was  built  by  Horace  Morse, 
but  Mr.  Runyon,  we  believe,  kept  travelers  before  this  tavern  was  built,  though 
he  did  not  pretend  to  keep  a  regular  hotel.  The  first  post  office  was  established 
in  1836,  over  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  at  the  stone  mill,  and  Edward  P. 
Bush  was  the  first  Postmaster.  The  office  remained  at  the  mill  until  1839, 
when  it  was  removed  across  the  river  to  the  East  Side,  where  it  has  ever  since 
remained.  While  at  the  mill,  the  mail  came  once  a  week,  and  was  brought  on 
horseback.  In  1839,  coaches  were  put  on  the  Chicago  and  Ottawa  route,  and 
the  mail  then  came  that  way,  which  was  considered,  in  that  early  day,  quite  an 
improvement,  and  a  considerable  advance  toward  civilization.  The  first  repre- 
sentatives of  the  legal  profession  were  Gen.  James  Turney  and  John  W.  Pad- 
dock, both  long  since  dead.  At  present  Messrs.  L.  S.  Parker  and  W.  S.  Myers, 
men  of  ability,  constitute  the  "learned  in  the  law"  of  Lockport.  The  first 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  433 

village  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1839;  a  small  frame  building,  about  18x32 
feet,  and  cost  perhaps  $200.  It  was  used  for  schools,  -religious  services,  town- 
hall,  and  anything  else  that  happened  to  come  along.  The  present  handsome 
stone  building,  with  its  fine  clock,  was  erected  a  few  years  ago  at  a  cost  of 
$30,000 — quite  a  contrast  to  the  little  shanty  built  for  school  purposes  forty 
years  ago.  The  present  building  would  be  an  ornament  to  any  town.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  record  of  the  school  for  the  present  year:  Prof.  D.  H.  Darling 
Principal ;  Misses  Paxson,  Gooding,  Devine,  Parker  and  Herron,  Teachers. 

Before  Lockport  proper  was  laid  out,  and  as  early  as  1836,  Armstead  Run- 
yon  laid  out  North  Lockport,  or  what  was  long  known  as  Runyontown,  but  now 
called  Runyon's  Addition  to  Lockport.  West  Lockport  was  laid  out  by  William 
Gooding,  Lyman  Hawley,  William  Rogers  and  Eli  Prescott,  the  parties  that 
built  the  stone  mill.  At  one  time  this  was  the  most  flourishing  part  of  Lock- 
port,  but  both  it  and  Runyontown  have  been  merged  into  the  village  proper. 
Lockport  was  incorporated  under  especial  act  of  the  Legislature,  approved  Feb- 
ruary 12,  1853,  and  signed  by  J.  A.  Matteson,  Governor.  At  the  election  for 
adopting  the  village  charter,  the  vote  was  86  in  favor  of  and  55  against 
the  charter.  The  first  Board  of  Trustees  elected  were  Isaac  H.  Steward,  Henry 
Torrey,  S.  S.  Chamberlain,  D.  C.  Baldwin  and  Chauncy  Doud.  Henry  Torrey 
was  chosen  President  of  the  Board,  I.  H.  Stewart  appointed  Secretary,  and 
Chauncy  Doud,  Treasurer.  The  following  is  the  present  Board :  David  C. 
Baldwin,  William  Shields,  Samuel  Matthews,  John  Ryan  and  Jacob  Lotz.  D. 
C.  Baldwin  is  President  of  the  Board  ;  William  Shields,  Clerk  ;  F.  F.  Stowe, 
Police  Magistrate ;  William  A.  Johnson,  Police  Constable,  and  James  Wright, 
Jr.,  Street  Commissioner. 

Lockport  has  always  been  the  headquarters  of  the  Canal  Commissioners,  and 
the  General  Superintendent,  Mr.  Thomas,  has  his  office  here  at  this  time. 
Without  going  into  a  detailed  history  of  the  Canal,  which  has  been  thoroughly 
given  in  another  department  of  this  work,  we  will  mention  one  little  anecdote 
especially  pertaining  to  this  section  and  to  Lockport.  The  first  boat  that  passed 
through  the  entire  length  of  the  Canal  after  its  completion,  was  the  "  General 
Thornton,"  and  made  the  passage  in  April,  1848.  But  the  first  that  floated 
on  its  Bridgeport-tainted  waters  was  the  "  General  Fry,"  named  for  one  of  the 
Canal  Commissioners.  It  was  built  near  where  the  depot  now  stands,  and  as  it 
was  an  event  of  importance,  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  Lockport,  every- 
body went  down  to  see  it  launched.  As  it  gently  "  slided  "  from  the  stocks 
into  the  "  raging  canawl,"  Dr.  Daggett  rode  in  on  it,  and  the  boat,  seemingly 
conscious  that  it  carried  more  than  Caesar  and  his  fortunes,  acquitted  itself 
handsomely,  by  dropping  into  the  water  "right  side  up."  When  the  Canal  was 
completed  and  opened  to  Chicago,  in  March,  1848,  this  boat  was  the  first  to 
make  the  trip  to  that  city.  It  was  the  occasion  of  a  grand  excursion  for  the 
purpose  of  celebrating  an  event  of  great  national  importance.  A  magnificent 
reception  was  given  the  excursion,  as  Chicago,  even  then,  knew  how  to  entertain 


434  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

her  country  cousins.  The  boat  was  met  at  Bridgeport  by  a  propeller  and  a 
large  number  of  citizens,  who  took  the  excursionists  on  through  the  river,  and 
for  a  lide  out  on  the  lake.  The  river  was  lined  with  people  on  both  sides,  to 
see  the  first  excursion  that  had  come  through  the  Canal.  They  were  taken  in 
and  "dined  and  wined,"  and  a  general  good  time  had  all  round.  There  are 
those  (Blue  or  Red  Ribbonists,  perhaps)  who  remarked  with  some  emphasis,  that 
the  entire  excursion  got  gloriously  drunk.  But  doubtless  this  is  a  sort  of 
"  stretch  of  conjecture,"  and  should  be  taken  with  all  due  allowance  for  ill- 
natured  remarks. 

Lockport  is  a  grain  market  of  considerable  importance.  Trade  in  grain 
began  here  on  the  opening  of  the  Canal  in  1848.  Hira,m  Norton,  the  father  of 
the  present  grain  dealer,  J.  L.  Norton,  John  Milks,  Jenkins,  and  Geo.  Gay- 
lord,  were  the  first  who  entered  the  business.  Gay  lord  &  Co.,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  from  1852  to  1863,  have  been  in  the  trade  ever  since,  and  handle 
annually  from  300,000  to  400,000  bushels  of  corn  and  oats  exclusively,  all  of 
which  is  shipped  by  the  canal.  Gaylord  was  the  first  man  to  buy  grain  at 
legal  weights,  and  had  a  hard  fight  with  the  other  dealers  to  maintain  it,  but 
eventually  carried  the  day.  Since  buying  the  Martin  property,  Gaylord  &  Co. 
have  storage  and  cribbing  capacity  for  more  than  200,000  bushels  of  grain. 
Their  elevators  have  improved  steam-power,  and  are  provided  with  grain-dumps 
and  all  modern  conveniences  for  handling  grain.  Norton  &  Co.  are  the  only 
other  firm  in  the  grain  business  here  at  present.  They  handle,  including  the 
wheat  used  in  the  mill,  perhaps  between  800,000  and  900,000  bushels  annually. 
With  an  extensive  and  well-appointed  warehouse  and  steam  elevator  of  large 
capacity,  they  are  well  prepared  for  the  grain  business  in  any  form  or  shape. 
George  B.  Martin,  at  one  time,  was  a  heavy  grain  dealer  at  this  place — too 
heavy  for  the  financial  benefit  of  many  of  his  patrons.  He  commenced  busi- 
ness here  in  1849—50,  without  capital  it  is  supposed,  and  by  dint  of  energy 
and  good  business  ability  worked  up  an  immense  trade,  gaining  the  fullest  con- 
fidence of  the  entire  community.  There  are,  perhaps,  few  cases  on  record 
of  a  more  complete  betrayal  of  confidence.  Many  hard-working  people  had 
deposited  their  savings  with  him,  and  it  is  even  said  that  washerwomen  had 
money  deposited  in  his  hands,  when,  without  warning  he  failed  most  dis- 
astrously, to  the  amount  of  $200,000,  a  failure  aggravated  in  its  nature  and 
sad  in  its  results ;  scarcely  equaled  in  the  distress  it  wrought  among  the  work- 
ing people,  by  Spencer's  State  Savings  failure  or  Myer's  "busted"  Beehive,  of 
Chicago.  He  is  said  to  have  been  of  most  excellent  family,  was  not  a  fast  man 
nor  high  liver,  but  is  supposed  to  have  managed  badly,  paid  too  much  interest, 
and  traded  too  high  on  borrowed  capital.  One  bad  move  he  made  was  in 
establishing  a  grain  point  at  Romeo,  a  few  miles  north  of  Lockport,  which  took 
considerable  trade  from  him,  which,  otherwise,  he  would  have  secured  at  this 
place.  William  Shields  and  Anderson  are  now  buying  grain  at  Romeo  for 
Norton  &  Co.,  and  do  quite  a  large  business  for  a  country  station. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  435 

The  first  Fourth  of  July  celebration  in  Lockport  was  an  old-fashioned  bar- 
becue, which  was  gotten  up  in  1839.  Whole  animals,  such  as  muttons,  pigs 
and  poultry  were  roasted,  and  the  primitive  board  groaned  under  the  bountiful 
supply  of  eatables.  Hiram  Norton  was  President  of  the  celebration ;  Gen. 
James  Turney,  a  lawyer  of  considerable  ability,  was  the  orator  of  the  occasion  ; 
Edward  B.  Talcott  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  Dr.  Daggett 
marshaled  the  grand  procession.  It  was  a  general  good  time — a  day  of 
rejoicing — and  everybody  enjoyed  it  to  the  utmost,  winding  up  in  the  evening 
with  a  grand  ball  at  the  Canal  office,  then  the  most  capacious  building  in  the 
place,  which  had  been  put  in  "apple-pie  order"  for  the  occasion.  Fiddlers 
were  rather  a  scarce  article  in  the  country  at  that  time,  and  the  only  one  of 
any  note  was  living  at  St.  Charles,  Kane  Co.  Dr.  Daggett  was  appointed  a 
committee  of  one  to  procure  his  services.  Of  course  about  the  "Fourth,"  the 
old  fellow's  musical  accomplishments  were  in  demand ;  Daggett  found  him  with 
several  propositions  before  him  for  consideration,  and  the  only  means  of  secur- 
ing him  was  to  outbid  all  others.  He  offered  him  $60,  and  being  the  longest 
pole,  it  "knocked  the  persimmon."  Daggett  brought  him  over  to  the  scene  of 
action,  but  as  he  was  extremely  fond  of  the  "wine  when  it  is  red,"  before  mid- 
night he  was  blind  drunk.  So  went  their  $60,  and  they  were  forced  to  find 
some  one  who  could  make  a  noise  on  the  catguts,  about  as  harmonious  as  the 
filing  of  an  old  saw,  in  order  that  the  dance  might  go  on  as  laid  down  in  the 
programme.  , 

One  of  the  most  important  features  in  the  business  of  Lockport  is  the 
industries  of  Norton  &  Co.,  who  employ  a  large  number  of  men  in  the  several 
departments  of  their  business.  Their  flour-mills  on  the  west  side  of  the  Canal 
are  the  largest  in  the  State,  having  the  very  best  and  most  improved  machinery, 
with  twenty-eight  runs  of  buhrs,  under  the  superintendence  of  Robert  Whit- 
ley,  an  experienced  miller,  and  when  employed  at  full  capacity,  will  turn  out 
from  seven  to  eight  hundred  barrels  of  flour  per  day.  The  Winter  wheat  used 
at  these  mills  is  brought  from  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  while  the  Spring 
wheat  is  from  the  West.  In  connection  is  a  cooper-shop,  in  charge  of  Henry 
Ripsom,  who  employs,  usually,  about  thirty  hands,  making  the  barrels  used  at  the 
mills.  On  the  east  side  of  the  Canal,  at  the  large  warehouse  and  elevator,  is  the 
corn-mill,  having  five  runs  of  buhrs,  and  used  wholly  for  corn  and  for  grinding 
wheat  for  their  home  customers.  Albert  Deeming  is  Superintendent  of  the 
store,  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  mills  and  grain  warehouse,  and  Jacob 
Lotz  is  the  general  shipping  clerk  and  manager  of 'the  warehouse.  The  paper 
mills  of  this  firm,  known  as  the  Lockport  Paper  Company,  are  an  extensive 
establishment.  About  thirty  men  find  employment  in  them,  and  they  run  day  and 
night.  The  mills  were  built  in  the  Fall  of  1872,  and  make  a  specialty  of 
board  paper,  which  is  manufactured  from  straw,  using  daily  about  six  and  a 
half  tons — one  and  a  half  tons  of  straw  to  a  ton  of  paper.  To  the  efficient  man- 
ager of  the  mills,  Samuel  Wilniot,  we  were  indebted  for  a  visit  through  the 


436  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

* 

large  establishment,  and  many  items  of  interest  as  to  its  workings  and  capacity. 

The  stone  quarries  in  and  around  Lockport  are  quite  an  important  branch 
of  the  business  of  the  place,  though  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  village 
the  stone  does  not  compare  in  quality  with  the  quarries  of  Joliet  and  Lemont. 
J.  A.  Boyer  opened  a  quarry  here  in  1869,  but  the  quality  of  stone  taken  from 
it  did  not  warrant  the  working  of  it,  and  it  was  soon  abandoned.  Mr.  Boyer's 
quarries  at  Lemont  are  among  the  most  extensive,  and  produce  as  superior  a 
quality  of  stone  as  any  quarry  in  this  section  of  the  State.  He  furnished 
from  these  quarries  much  of  the  material  in  the  beautiful  stone-front  buildings 
recently  erected  on  the  West  Side  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  He,  also,  has 
furnished  the  stone  for  the  new  Catholic  Church  in  Lockport,  by  far  the  hand- 
somest church  edifice  in  the  village.  Though  these  quarries  are  not  in  this  town- 
ship, nor  in  Will  County,  yet  their  proprietor,  Mr.  Boyer,  was  born  and  reared  in 
Lockport,  where  he  still  lives,  and  to  omit  mention  of  them  here  would  be  to 
leave  out  an  important  part  of  its  history.  He  employs  from  one  hundred  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  has  all  the  improved  machinery  and  the  best 
of  shipping  facilities — both  on  the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  and  the  Canal. 

Oak  Hill  Quarry,  now  owned  by  Isaac  Nobes,  is  one  of  the  best  in  this  sec- 
tion. Just  south  of  Lockport  village,  conveniently  located  to  both  railroad  and 
canal,  has  fine  facilities  for  shipping.  This  quarry  was  opened  by  G.  A.  Cous- 
ens  &  Co.,  afterward  passed  into  the  hands  of  George  Gaylord,  and,  in  1868, 
Mr.  Nobes  came  into  possession  of  it  and  has  since  worked  it.  He  works  about 
thirty-five  men,  and  is  supplied  with  all  the  modern  machinery  for  working  quarries 
and  handling  stone.  He  has  one  of  the  finest  residences  in  the  State,  outside 
of  the  large  cities.  It  is  built  of  stone,  and  presents  a  very  fine  appearance. 
The  large  quarries  of  W.  A.  Steel  are  in  Lockport  Township,  but  were  men- 
tioned in  the  history  of  Joliet,  where  the  owner  of  them  lives.  The  first  quar- 
ries worked  in  this  section  of  the  country,  however,  were  opened  by  Dr.  Dag- 
gett  on  the  west  side  of  the  Canal,  a  little  south  of  Lockport,  and  nearly  oppo- 
site Nobes'  quarry.  He  sold  $30,000  worth  of  stone  the  first  year  he  opened 
them,  and  that  of  an  excellent  quality.  But  he  is  not  operating  them  at  pres- 
ent, owing  to  the  fact,  perhaps,  of  there  being  so  many  others  in  the  business 
that  it  does  not  pay  as  well  as  it  did  years  ago.  It  is  wonderful  to  contemplate 
the  inexhaustible  supply  of  stone  in  the  hills  and  bluffs  of  the  Des  Planes 
Valley.  And  the  quality,  too,  the  convenient  ledges  and  layers  in  which  it  is 
found,  and  the  easy  access  to  it,  is  not  the  least  wonderful  item  in  regard  to 
these  vast  quarries.  It  almost  seems  that  the  layers  of  stone  had  been  pur- 
posely arranged  for  the  convenience  and  benefit  of  man. 

The  history  of  the  press  dates  back  to  quite  a  remote  period  in  the  history 
of  Lockport.  The  first  newspaper  was  established  by  one  H.  M.  Fuller,  in 
1848,  and  was  called  the  Will  County-  Telegraph.  During  the  year  1849, 
Judge  Parks  (now  of  Joliet)  became  the  leading  editor,  while  Fuller  remained 
the  publisher,  until  the  Moon  arose  on  the  23d  of  January,  1850,  when  it 


(DECEASED) 
JOLICf. 


THE  LS88A8Y 
OF  THE 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  439 

passed  into  the  control  and  management  of  John  M.  Moon,  who  continued  to 
edit  and  publish  it  for  a  few  months.  The  business  men  of  the  town,  it  seems, 
owned  the  paper,  while  Moon  was  only  editor  and  publisher,  and  his  political 
views  not  altogether  coinciding  with  those  of  his  readers,  he  was  forced  to  resign 
his  position.  The  paper  was  somewhat  tinged  with  Free-soilism,  and  he,  it  ap- 
pears was  a  red-hot  Democrat,  and  if  one  may  be  allowed  to  judge  from  the  fol- 
lowing extract  taken  from  his  valedictory,  this  Moon  set  ingloriously  in  a  cloud- 
bank  :  "  He  pledged  himself  at  the  outset  to  keep  the  avowal  of  its  proud  motto 
intact ;  at  the  same  time  that  he  also  declared  his  sympathy  with  the  party 
named,*  in  its  present  sentiments,  and  in  regard  to  its  peculiar  objects.  Not 
unmindful  that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  mortals  to  command  success,  he  regis- 
tered his  stern  determination  to  deserve  respect,  by  resigning  his  post  as  soon 
as  it  might  seem  that  the  assertion  of  those  sentiments  would  be  incompatible 
with  the  feelings  of  subscribers  and  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  That  time 
has  fully  come.  From  several  quarters  he  has  received  intimations  to  this  effect, 
and  they  had  recently  become  so  plain  and  so  numerous  that  he  could  no  longer, 
with  consistency,  overlook  them.  His  retirement  follows  in  mere  consistency." 
He  closes  his  valedictory  with  a  grandiloquent  Micawberistic  flourish  as  follows : 
"  He  has  carried  his  colors  high  and  fearlessly  against  the  extension  of  it 
(slavery)  in  the  free  portions  of  this  country  upon  any  pretense  or  construction 
whatever;  and  he  wraps  these  colors  around  him,  now  that  he  can  no  longer 
combat  as  a  testimony  of  the  principles  for  which  he  fought,  and  in  defense  of 
which  he  fell."  Dr.  Daggett  succeeded  him  in  the  editorial  management  of  the 
paper  April  10,  1850,  and  follows  his  high-strung  valedictory  with  a  modest 
salutatory,  in  which  he  acknowledges  his  ignorance  of  the  newspaper  business 
and  cares  of  the  editor,  and  ventures  to  hope  that  he  will  give  satisfaction  to 
his  readers,  and  as  a  means  to  that  end  declares  his  intention  to  please  himself. 
When  Daggett  sat  down  in  the  editorial  chair,  the  name  of  the  paper  was 
changed  to  Lockport  Telegraph.  He  remained  the  editor  until  1857,  and  for 
a  few  months  had  for  assistant  editor — or  editress — a  Mrs.  P.  W.  B.  Corothers, 
a  lady  of  considerable  literary  merit,  and  whom  many  of  our  readers  will  re- 
member as  quite  a  pleasing  writer.  The  paper  underwent  several  changes  in 
proprietors,  viz.,  Plumb  &  Holcomb,  Daggett  &  Holcomb,  Charles  D.  Holcomb 
and  we  know  not  what  others,  until  it  finally  became  extinct,  and  the  Phoenix 
"  rose  from  its  ashes."  The  Lockport  Phoenix  was  established  in  1875,  and  the 
other  branches  were  added  to  it  the  following  year,  as  noticed  in  the  history  of 
Joliet.  The  plan  of  publication  of  each  office  is  to  set  its  ratio  of  type,  which 
is  sent  to  the  central  office,  and  there  put  in  the  form  of  general  local  and  read- 
ing matter,  while  the  advertisements  for  each  locality  are  inserted  at  rates  cor- 
responding to  the  amount  of  circulation.  The  papers  are  devoted  especially  to 
local  and  county  news,  and  are  intended  to  go  with  Chicago  and  other  outside 
journals,  so  that  subscribers  ordering  one  of  them  with  a  Phoenix  can  obtain  a 

*  The  Free-soil  Party. 


440  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

complete  assortment  of  reading  matter  at  the  usual  cost  of  one  country  paper. 
The  Phoenix  is  under  the  control  of  J.  S.  McDonald,  a  veteran  editor  and  live 
newspaper  man.  The  Will  County  Commercial  Advertiser,  a  live  and  sprightly 
paper,  published  by  Hawley  &  Curren,  is  the  Lockport  Standard  in  a  new 
form  and  character.  It  is  devoted  to  home  interests  and  is  quite  a  readable 
sheet. 

The  people  of  Lockport,  with  their  ten  churches  in  their  midst,  have* 
no  lack  of  Gospel  influences  surrounding  them.  Religious  services  were 
first  held  in  Lockport  under  the  auspices  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in 
1834,  Rev.  Isaac  W.  Hallum,  of  St.  James'  Church,  Chicago,  occasion- 
ally visiting  it  and  administering  to  the  welfare  of  the  people.  The  first 
Rector  was  Rev.  Andrew  W.  Cornish,  at  the  time  Rector  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  of  Joliet,  where  he  resided,  preaching  at  the  two  places  alternately. 
From  his  day  to  the  present  time,  the  following  ministers  have  officiated : 
Rev.  William  Bostwick,  1842-45.  During  his  administration,  the  parish  was 
duly  organized  by  Rt.  Rev.  P.  Chase,  D.  D.,  and  the  first  church  was  built  in. 
1844.  Rev.  Charles  F.  Todd,  1845-46  ;  Rev.  D.  E.  Brown,  1847-51 ;  Rev. 
S.  D.  Pulford,  1852-55.  In  his  time,  the  present  parsonage  was  secured  to  the 
parish.  Rev.  S.  L.  Bostwick,  1857  ;  Rev.  Samuel  Cowell,  1858-62  ;  Rev.  C. 
A.  Gilbert,  1862-66 ;  Rev.  W.  H.  Cooper,  1868-70 ;  Rev.  William  Turner, 
was  next,  under  whose  ministry  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  stone  church  was 
laid.  After  the  Rev.  Mr.  Turner,  Rev.  Mr.  Cowell  again  took  charge  for 
three  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Mr.  Philips,  and  in  the  Summer  of 
1878,  Rev.  John  McKim  became  Rector.  The  church  cost  about  six  thousand 
dollars,  was  finished  in  1 874,  and  is  at  present  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr. 
McKim.  The  membership  is  small,  but  is  flourishing,  with  an  interesting 
Sunday  school,  of  which  the  Rector  is  Superintendent.  The  corner-stone  of 
the  church  was  laid  September  20,  1870,  as  above  stated,  by  Bishop  White- 
house,  assisted  by  several  local  clergymen.  It  has  been  completed  in  excellent 
style,  and  is  one  of  the  handsomest  churches  in  the  village. 

The  Methodist  Church  was  organized  in  Lockport  at  an  early  day.  In 
1838,  this  was  included  in  Joliet  Circuit,  with  Rev.  William  Crissey,  Pastor, 
and  Rev.  John  Clarke,  Presiding  Elder.  In  the  Winter  of  1838,  Rev.  Mr. 
Crissey  formed  the  first  class  in  Lockport,  consisting  of  G.  L.  Works,  class- 
leader,  his  wife,  D.  Breesee  and  wife,  M.  Brooks,  R.  Lowrie,  Polly  McMillen, 
Dira  Manning,  A.  Heath  and  Julia  Reed.  In  the  Spring  of  1842,  Col.  Joel 
Manning  joined  on  probation,  and  was  appointed  class-leader,  a  position  he 
held  for  fifteen  years.  In  1852,  Lockport  was  made  a  station,  and,  in  1854,  it 
and  Plainfield  were  united.  In  1854-55,  during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Reed,  the  present  fine  stone  church  was  built,  at  a  cost  of  $7,000;  and,  in  1867y 
a  second  parsonage  was  built,  costing  about  $3,000,  on  a  beautitiful  lot  opposite 
the  church.  The  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  Mr.  Strout,  with  a  large  membership 
and  a  flourishing  Sunday  school,  of  which  Arthur  Deeming  is  Superintendent. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  441 

The  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  1844,  by  Rev.  Solomon  Knapp,  with 
twenty-one  members.  Some  years  later,  their  church  was  built,  a  neat  little 
frame  building,  which  cost  about  $1,500.  The  Church  ig  now  under  charge  of 
Rev.  Robert  C.  Ray,  and  has  about  seventy-six  members.  A  Sunday  school  is 
maintained,  with  an  average  attendance  of  eighty  children,  of  which  Frank 
Hopkins  is  Superintendent. 

The  Congregational  Church  was  organized  in  1838,  with  nine  members, 
viz. :  Erastus  Newton  and  wife,  John  Gooding  and  wife,  Harvey  Raymond, 
Dr.  Chauncy  White  and  wife,  and  William  B.  Newton  and  wife.  The  church 
was  built  in  1839,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000.  The  first  minister  was  Rev.  Isaac 
Foster,  and  following  him  in  the  order  given  were  Rev.  Jonathan  Porter,  Rev. 
Alanson  Porter,  Rev.  Joel  Grant,  Rev.  Mr.  Whiting,  Rev.  George  Slosser, 
Rev.  Alfred  L.  Riggs,  Rev.  H.  C.  Abernethy,  Rev.  Mr.  Post,  Rev.  A.  B. 
Brown,  Rev.  J.  E.  Storm.  The  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  S.  I.  McKee,  with  a 
membership  of  fifty.  Sunday  school  established  in  1841,  Eli  Eddy,  Superin- 
tendent, with  an  attendance  at  present  of  about  two  hundred  children,  and 
Prof.  D.  H.  Darling,  Superintendent. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Society  was  organized  here  at  the  commencement  of 
the  building  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  and  was  at  first  attended  by  the 
priests  in  charge  of  the  Joliet  Mission.  The  first  resident  priest  at  Lockport 
was  Father  Dennis  Ryan,  and  the  first  church  was  a  small  frame  shanty, 
moved  from  Lemont,  which,  with  some  improvements,  has  been  their  house  of 
worship  ever  since.  In  1877,  the  elegant  stone  church  was  begun  which  is 
not  yet  completed.  When  finished,  this  will  be  the  finest  church  in  the  vil- 
lage, and  a  handsome  ornament  to  the  place,  and  will  cost  about  $25,000. 
The  architects  are  Egan  &  Hill,  of  Chicago,  and  the  stone  is  furnished 
by  J.  A.  Boyer,  of  Lockport.  Father  Dorney  is  the  priest  in  charge,  and  to 
his  energetic  efforts  is  the  parish  indebted  for  this  magnificent  church.  A  well- 
attended  Sunday  school  is  maintained  in  connection  with  the  Church.  The 
German  Catholics  also  have  an  elegant  stone  church,  a  comfortable  parsonage, 
and  fine  grounds.  A  large  membership  worship  at  this  church,  made  up  of  the 
German  citizens  of  Lockport  and  the  surrounding  country.  There  are  in  the 
village,  in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned,  three  other  German  churches 
and  one  Swede  church.  Of  these,  however,  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn 
much  beyond  the  fact  that  they  are  occupied  regularly,  with  the  usual  church 
and  Sunday  school  services. 

Freemasonry  and  Odd  Fellowship  are  represented  in  Lockport  by  flourish- 
ing lodges.  Des  Plaines  Lodge,  No.  23,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  is  one  of  the  oldest 
Lodges  of  this  Order  in  Northern  Illinois,  and  was  chartered  January  12, 1847, 
by  Stephen  S.  Jones,  Grand  Master,  and  J.  F.  Ruhci,  Grand  Secretary.  The 
charter  members  were  John  Blackstone,  Harvey  Mosier,  William  P.  Whittle, 
John  W.  Paddock  and  B.  C.  Waterman,  not  one  of  whom  are  now  living. 
John  Blackstone  was  the  first  Noble  Grand.  The  present  elective  officers  are : 


442  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

J.  H.  Weeks,  Noble  Grand;  John  Pitts,  Jr.,  Vice  Grand;  W.  J.  Deeming, 
Secretary  ;  John  Geddes,  Treasurer — with  a  membership  of  thirty-five.  The 
removal  of  members  and  the  formation  of  new  lodges  in  the  vicinity  have  kept 
the  membership  down  at  a  small  number.  Lockport  Lodge,  No.  538,  A.,  F.  & 
A.  M.,  was  chartered  October  1,  1867,  A.  L.  5867,  by  Most  Worshipful 
Jerome  R.  Gorin,  Grand  Master,  and  H.  G.  Reynolds,  Grand  Secretary.  The 
first  officers  were :  C.  H.  Bacon,  Worshipful  Master ;  John  C.  Backus,  Senior 
Warden ;  and  William  J.  Denton,  Junior  Warden.  It  is  officered  at  present  as 
follows  :  F.  F.  Stowe,  Worshipful  Master ;  H.  M.  Starrin,  Senior  Warden  ; 
W.  C.  Fisher,  Junior  Warden  ;  and  H.  R.  Wells,  Secretary ;  with  about  sev- 
enty-five members  on  the  Lodge  records. 

The  medical  faculty  of  Lockport  comprises  some  able  physicians,  viz.,  Drs. 
Daggett,  Bacon,  Lamed  and  Schoop.  Dr.  Daggett  has  been  a  practicing 
physician  in  this  section  since  1838,  a  period  of  forty  years ;  and  as  a  success- 
ful practitioner  has  few  equals.  Dr.  C.  H.  Bacon  came  from  New  York,  and 
first  settled  in  Mokena,  but  soon  removed  to  Lockport.  He  was  appointed 
Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Volunteer  Corps,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  but 
was  promoted  to  full  Surgeon  in  August,  1863,  which  he  held  until  November, 
1865  ;  was  appointed  Post  Surgeon  at  Johnsonville,  Tenn.  In  1869,  he 
received  the  appointment  of  Physician  and  Surgeon  at  the  State  Prison  at 
Joliet,  which  he  held  until  July,  1874,  since  which  time  he  has  practiced  in 
Lockport.  Dr.  Lamed  is  a  well-read  physician,  and  Dr.  Schoop  is  a  young 
physician  of  promise.  Writing  of  doctors  and  medicine  naturally  brings  to 
mind  grave-yards  and  burying-grounds.  It  is  with  no  disparagement  or  disre- 
spect to  the  medical  fraternity  that  we  make  the  observation,  but  the  grave-yard 
is  the  final  abode  of  man  after  he  passes  beyond  the  doctor's  wisdom ;  and  in 
this  connection  we  would  say  a  word  or  two  in  admiration  of  Lockport's  little 
city  of  the  dead.  Located  on  the  summit  of  the  east  bluff,  overlooking  the 
village  and  the  valley  of  the  Des  Planes,  a  more  lovely  and  appropriate  spot 
could  not  have  been  selected.  It  is  well  laid  out  and  tastefully  arranged, 
shaded  with  a  few  grand  old  forest-trees  and  plenty  of  ornamental  shrub- 
bery, interspersed  with  flowers — fit  emblems  to  the  memory  of  the  loved 
and  lost. 

The  organ  factory  of  William  Evans  is  a  Lockport  enterprise ;  and  while  it 
is  not  an  extensive  establishment,  it  is  of  some  importance  as  a  manufactory. 
Organs,  from  the  largest  to  the  smallest,  together  with  melodeons,  are  made  to  , 
order,  and  of  an  excellent  quality.  Another  factory — if  a  tannery  can  be 
called  a  factory — is  the  tannery  of  John  Marks,  and  which  does  quite  an 
enterprising  business  and  adds  something  to  the  importance  of  Lock- 
port.  The  mercantile  business  is  confined  entirely  to  a  retail  trade,  which 
is  well  represented  by  courteous  and  energetic  business  men  in  all  its 
branches. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  443 

WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 

The  ancient  philosophers  recognized  in  nature  four  primary  elements — water, 
earth,  air  and  fire.  This  was  quite  a  natural  classification,  as  from  these,  they 
readily  perceived,  came  all  of  their  comforts.  From  the  first  two  came  food 
and  drink,  and  from  the  last  two  they  derived  health  and  heat.  Modern  scien- 
tists have  changed  and  modified  the  arrangement  of  the  ancient  alchemist,  so 
that  the  earlier  classification  is  now  known  only  in  history.  And  yet  these 
four  items,  just  as  the  ancients  understood  them,  are  the  great  essentials  of  life, 
and  to  them  we  turn  for  all  of  our  needs  and  all  of  our  luxuries.  A  locality 
that  furnishes  all  of  these  in  abundance  and  of  a  good  quality  is  a  locality 
blessed  by  nature  with  all  that  is  desirable.  These  four  items  entered  into  the 
argument  which  induced  the  settlement,  not  only  of  this  but  of  every  country 
in  the  world  ;  and,  in  whatever  locality  one  or  more  seemed  deficient,  a  corre- 
sponding tardiness  in  occupying  the  country  is  observed.  Thus,  the  prairies  of 
the  West,  though  favored  with  a  soil  scarcely  equaled,  and  possessed  of  climate 
and  water  unsurpassed,  yet  apparently  lacking  in  the  means  of  producing 
warmth,  were  slow  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  speculator  or  the  emigrant ; 
while  the  eastern  portions  of  the  United  States,  though  not  favored  with  such 
a  good  soil,  settled  two  hundred  years  earlier.  When  Illinois  finally  began  to 
fill,  we  find  its  first  occupants  steering  immediately  for  the  streams  of  water, 
where  they  rightly  concluded  lay,  with  a  productive  soil,  also  plenty  of  fuel  and 
water.  Certainly  but  few  portions  of  the  State  have  been  more  highly  favored 
with  these  natural  advantages  than  that  of  which  we  write.  With  a  good  soil, 
with  water  privileges  and  water-power  in  great  abundance,  with  timber  for  fuel 
and  with  a  salubrious  climate,  it  is  not  strange  that  this  section  had  attractions 
for  the  early  emigrant.  Nature  seems  to  have  overexerted  herself,  in  this 
instance,  in  producing  a  locality  which  is  at  once  beautiful,  healthy  and  pro- 
ductive. 

The  Kankakee  River  at  this  place  is  one  of  the  finest  streams  in  the  State 
or  in  the  whole  West.  The  water,  pure  and  clear,  flows  over  a  solid  limestone 
bed,  and  this,  with  a  rapid  descent,  tends  to  purify  the  stream  and  the  air,  and 
render  the  surrounding  country  healthy  in  an  eminent  degree.  Even  the 
Indians,  who  preceded  the  white  people,  realized  fully  the  advantages  of  this 
neighborhood,  and  the  relics  of  these  original  owners  of  the  soil  are  found  here 
in  abundance.  Arrow  and  spear  heads,  stone  axes,  rude  pottery  and  other 
articles  found  upon  the  banks  of  the  Kankakee,  in  this  township,  attest  that 
this  must  have  been  a  favorite  dwelling-place  as  well  as  hunting-ground.  Not 
only  so,  but  the  fortifications,  constructed  of  earth,  on  which  now  grow  trees 
more  than  two  hundred  years  old,  and  of  which  the  later  race  of  Indians  have 
not  a  tradition,  points  to  an  earlier  race  of  human  beings,  who  not  only  made 
this  their  home,  but  defended  it  with  all  the  skill  and  power  at  their  command 
Doubtless,  prior  to  1836,  white  men  lived  in  the  township  of  Wilmington. 


444  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Even  before  the  the  Black  Hawk  war,  some  hunters  may  have  made  the  banks 
of  the  Kankakee  their  headquarters.  If  such  there  were,  their  stay  was  but 
temporary,  those  inhabiting  the  section  before  1832  retiring,  on  the  rising  of 
Black  Hawk  and  his  allies,  to  safer  localities,  and  those  coming  in  immediately 
after  peace  was  restored  making  their  stay  so  short  as  not  to  entitle  them  to  the 
credit  of  permanent  settlers. 

To  Thomas  Cox  is  justly  due  the  honor  of  being  the  first  permanent  settler 
of  this  vicinity.  In  1836,  he  laid  claim  to  all  of  the  land  on  which  the  city  of 
Wilmington  now  stands,  laid  out  the  town,  calling  it  Winchester,  erected  the 
first  saw-mill,  built  a  house  and  disposed  of  a  few  town  lots.  He  followed  these 
improvements  soon  after  with  the  addition  of  a  corn-cracker  to  his  saw-mill, 
and  still  a  little  later  by  the  erection  at  the  upper  end  of  the  race,  near  where 
Whitten's  flour-mill  now  stands,  of  a  grist-mill  and  carding  machine.  These 
improvements  gave  the  town  a  wide  reputation,  and  Cox's  mills  were  patronized 
by  many  who  lived  more  than  fifty  miles  distant.  The  old  pioneers  of  Kanka- 
kee, Grundy,  Livingston  and  other  counties  are  wont  to  tell  how  they  took  their 
corn  and  wheat  to  the  mill  at  Wilmington,  consuming,  often,  nearly  a  week  in 
the  trip.  Having  such  a  long  distance  to  go,  it  became  necessary  to  wait  for 
the  grinding  of  the  grain  before  their  return ;  and,  as  the  mill  was  frequently 
crowded,  they  were  often  necessarily  detained  several  days.  The  first  mill  was 
built  without  any  bolting  machinery ;  but,  after  a  time,  a  bolt,  made  to  turn  by 
hand,  was  constructed,  and  through  this  the  patrons  of  the  mill  were  allowed  to 
sift  their  own  flour.  Prior  to  the  erection  of  the  mill,  tradition  says  there  was 
an  oak  stump  that  stood  near  the  site  of  Stewart  &  Henderson's  store,  which 
was  slightly  hollowed  out  in  the  top.  A  spring-pole  was  fixed  in  a  suitable  posi- 
tion, and  to  the  end  of  the  pole  was  tied  a  bar,  into  the  end  of  which  was 
fastened  an  iron  wedge,  constituting  a  heavy  pestle.  The  stump  was  the  mortar, 
into  which  was  cast  a  small  quantity  of  corn  to  be  pounded  and  cracked  for 
bread  and  mush.  While  undergoing  the  pounding  process,  hot  water  was  some- 
times poured  on,  and  while  this  prevented  the  mashing  of  the  grains,  it  facili- 
tated the  removal  of  the  husk  or  bran,  and  a  good  article  of  hominy  was  thereby 
provided.  This  primitive  machine  is  said  to  have  been  well  patronized,  and 
furnished  food  for  the  early  pionee  rs. 

Fearing  that  our  younger  readers  may  associate  Cox's  carding  machine  with 
a  printing  press  designed  to  turn  out  the  little  bits  of  paper  with  which  they  are 
wont  to  amuse  themselves  on  an  idle  evening,  and  which  gamblers  put  to  the 
more  base  purpose  of  deluding  their  simpler-minded  companions,  thereby  gain- 
ing a  livelihood,  we  will  say  that  it  was  a  machine  used  to  straighten  the  wool 
of  the  sheep's  fleece,  and  cut  it  into  rolls  or  cards  preparatory  to  spinning  and 
weaving  into  cloth.  In  the  early  times,  all  these  processes  were  common  to  the 
farmhouse  ;  and  our  grandmothers  not  only  made  the  clothing  for  the  family 
but  spun  the  yarn  and  wove  the  cloth  of  which  it  was  made.  Times  have 
changed  wonderfully  in  this  regard.  The  carding  machine,  though  a  wonder- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  445 

fully  ingenious  invention,  is  a  thing  of  the  past ;  the  spinning-wheel,  found  in 
a  few  of  the  oldest  settlers'  garrets,  has  ceased  its  merry  hum,  and  the  loom,  if 
one  still  exists,  is  known  as  a  loom  in  an  entirely  different  sense — an  heir-loom. 
The  saw-mill,  too,  which  prepared  the  most  of  the  lumber  for  the  first  houses  of 
Wilmington  and  vicinity,  passed  gently  down  the  river  years  ago. 

Perhaps  the  man  who  has  left  a  deeper,  broader,  longer  and  brighter  mark 
on  this  part  of  the  county  than  any  other,  was  Peter  Stewart.  While  some  may 
have  outranked  him  in  education,  and  while  others  may  have  had  the  gift  of 
oratory  in  a  higher  degree,  his  impress  was  doubtless  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
make  him  the  acknowledged  mark  of  manly  character  and  of  all  that  makes  up 
the  respected  citizen. 

Peter  Stewart  was  a  native  of  Scotland.  When  but  a  boy  he  left  his  home 
to  seek  employment  and  an  independence  in  a  distant  portion  of  the  country. 
Without  education,  and  with  scarcely  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage to  make  his  wants  known,  he  went  to  England  and  succeeded  in  obtaining 
work  in  Lord  Anglesea's  garden,  as  a  common  laborer.  He  was,  however, 
under  the  superintendence  of  a  scientific  gardener,  who  was  at  the  same  time  a 
practical  civil  engineer,  and  from  him  he  acquired  a  thorough  knowledge  of  both 
•branches  by  hard  study  after  the  day's  work  was  over.  He,  at  the  same  time, 
became  greatly  interested  in  the  study  of  botany,  and  finally  became  thoroughly 
versed  in  the  science.  By  industry  and  economy  he  saved  sufficient  to  pay  his 
passage  to  America.  At  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  this  country,  the  Erie  Canal 
was  being  constructed,  and  this  proved  to  be  a  favorable  opening.  His  knowl- 
edge of  engineering  soon  gave  him  a  paying  position  on  these  works,  and  when 
the  excavation  of  his  part  of  the  canal  was  done,  he  built  the  very  first  lock  on 
the  whole  canal.  He  afterward  obtained  a  number  of  large  contracts  for  build- 
ing public  works  of  various  kinds,  among  which  were  the  grading  of  the  Sche- 
nectady  &  Utica  Railroad  and  the  building  of  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard.  Dur- 
ing this  time  he  was  not  unmindful  of  his  less  fortunate  relatives,  whom  he  had 
left  in  the  old  country  ;  and  when  he  had  accumulated  means  sufficient  to  war- 
rant, went  back  and  brought  over  to  the  United  States  the  balance  of  his  father's 
family. 

In  1835,  partially  to  prospect  in  the  interest  of  the  Michigan  &  Illinois 
Canal  enterprise,  which  was  then  receiving  attention  from  both  the  State  and 
General  Government,  and  partially  to  look  at  the  land  in  its  proposed  vicinity, 
he  came  to  this  neighborhood,  selected  a  piece  of  land  and  returned  to  Amster- 
dam, N.  Y.,  which  had  been  his  home,  and  the  next  Spring  emigrated  to  this 
place.  Already  he  had  performed  the  work  of  an  ordinary  life-time,  but  he  was 
still  a  young  man  and  his  activity  continued  till  his  death  ;  and  to  name  all  of  the 
enterprises  both  benevolent  and  business  in  which  he  had  been  engaged,  would 
be  to' consume  more  space  that  the  design  of  this  work  will  permit.  One  of 
his  first  works,  after  coming,  was  that  of  inspector  of  masonry  of  the  Michigan 
&  Illinois  Canal.  He  was  a  stanch  Presbyterian,  and  contributed  his  means 


446  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

and  influence  to  building  up  the  society  here,  without  stint.  When  a  building 
for  the  use  of  that  denomination  was  to  be  erected,  the  people  contributed  as 
they  were  able,  and  Peter  Stewart  gave  the  balance.  He  was  an  Abolitionist 
of  the  most  ultra  kind,  and  yet,  always  reasonable  in  his  views  and  demands, 
commanded  the  respect  of  even  those  of  contrary  opinions.  At  one  time,  a  com- 
pany of  men  from  the  South  visited  Wilmington,  in  pursuit  of  a  fugitive  slave. 
When  their  business  became  known,  they  were  at  once  surrounded  by  a  mob  of 
citizens,  at  whose  hands  they  could  not  but  expect  violence.  Having  heard 
that  Peter  Stewart  was  a  man  of  influence  in  the  town,  they  sent  for  him  to 
intercede  for  them.  When  Stewart  arrived  on  the  ground,  the  would-be  slave- 
catchers  implored  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  people  for  their  release,  and 
were  astounded  to  find  that  he  was  the  leader  of  the  Antislavery  movement  in  this 
neighborhood.  But,  after  learning  that  they  would  be  only  too  glad  to  return 
to  St.  Louis,  Stewart  counseled  the  citizens  to  set  them  at  liberty,  with  an  in- 
junction not  to  delay  their  return  to  their  homes,  which  advice  was  duly  heeded. 
Mr.  Stewart  took  great  interest  in  the  organization  of  the  township  into  a  sep- 
arate precinct,  arid  of  the  organization  of  the  town  of  Wilmington  and  in  what- 
ever would  tend  to  their  prosperity.  The  history  of  his  expressive  title — 
Colonel — which  he  wore  with  good  grace,  was  conferred  on  him  by  common 
consent.  On  another  page,  is  mentioned  a  little  "unpleasantness"  that  took 
place  at  Lockport  many  years  ago.  The  mutineers  or  rioters  had  been  notified 
of  the  approach  of  a  posse,  commanded  by  the  Sheriff  of  the  county,  but  had 
stood  resolute  until  their  appearance  on  the  hill.  Then  they  began  to  waver  a 
little ;  but  when  the  Sheriff  delegated  to  Peter  Stewart  authority  to  go  down  alone 
and  treat  with  the  belligerents,  many  feared  that  he  would  be  roughly  received. 
But  Stewart,  who  was  the  man  for  the  occasion,  went  boldly  forward  and  com- 
manded them  to  surrender,  which  they  did  unconditionally. 

Peter  Stewart  passed  on  to  a  better  land  several  years  ago.  His  funeral 
was  more  largely  attended  than  that  of  any  other  person  who  had  preceded 
him  in  this  city.  He  left  a  large,  wealthy  and  influential  family,  notice  of  sev- 
eral of  whom  appears  in  the  biographical  portion  of  this  work.  The  advent  of 
•  Cox  and  Stewart  was  nearly  coincident.  Following  shortly  after,  at  close 
intervals,  were  the  members  of  Cox's  family — a  son  Joseph,  and  five  sons-in- 
law,  Henry  and  Elias  Brown,  Peter  Polly,  John  T.  Basye  and  Peter  Marlatte. 
Henry  Brown  built  the  first  hotel,  in  1838,  and  called  it  the  "Eagle."  He 
did  not,  however,  occupy  the  house,  but  rented*  it  to  other  parties,  himself 
engaging  in  merchandise.  His  store  was  located  on  the  site  now  occupied  by 
Willard's  drug  store,  and  was  the  first  business  house  on  the  south  side  of 
Crooked  Creek,  and  the  second  in  the  town.  Basye  bought  and  operated  for  a 
time  the  saw-mill  which  had  been  erected  by  his  father-in-law. 

The  whole  family — Cox  and  son  and  sons-in-law — sold  out  their  interests 
here  and  removed  to  Salem,  Oregon,  in  1847.  A  year  after  Peter  Stewart 
came,  his  brother  Daniel  arrived  in  the  neighborhood.  •  He  settled  shortly  in 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  447 

what  is  now  Florence  Township,  in  the  history  of  which  he  receives  further 
notice. 

James  L.  Young,  familiarly  called  the  "  Senator,"  came  to  the  township  in 
1837  and  settled  near  the  junction  of  the  Kankakee  and  Des  Planes  Rivers, 
but  subsequently  removed  to  the  village.  He  was  a  blacksmith,  and  swung  the 
sledge  until,  like  Cincinnatus,  he  was  called  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  take  a 
more  responsible  position.  He  has  held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace 
almost  continuously  since  the  organization  of  the  township.  At  the  organization 
of  the  village  he  was  elected  first  Clerk.  Some  years  ago,  when  he  held  his  office 
in  the  upper  story  of  the  post  office  building,  the  boys  gave  his  office  the  name 
of  the  "upper  house,"  and  styled  the  post  office  the  "lower  house;"  and,  as 
Mr.  Young  occupied  the  "  upper  house,"  quite  naturally  was  conferred  upon 
him  the  title  of  "  Senator,"  which  has  tenaciously  stuck  to  him  ever  since. 
Certainly,  this  distinction  could  not  rest  on  more  worthy  shoulders. 

Hon.  Archibald  Mclntyre  was  the  first  merchant  in  this  vicinity.  His  store 
was  located  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek,  in  Stewart's  Addition.  He  was  a 
most  successful  business  man,  and  accumulated  a  large  property.  As  indicated 
by  his  title,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  as  representative  from  this 
district.  He  was  a  brother  of  the  Mclntyre  of  the  celebrated  lottery  firm  of 
Yates  &  Mclntyre,  of  Philadelphia.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred 
a  few  years  ago,  he  was  President  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  this  city.  He 
was  a  native  of  New  York,  and  came  to  this  place  in  1837. 

Dr.  A.  W.  Bowen,  though  not  one  of  the  very  earliest  inhabitants  of  this 
place,  deserves  mention  here,  as  he  was  interested  here  as  early  as  1838.  The 
Doctor  had  been  living  in  Joliet  for  four  years  when,  at  the  date  named,  he  pur- 
chased of  Cox  a  half  interest  in  the  site  of  Wilmington  ;  and  soon  after,  by  a 
division  of  interests,  became  sole  proprietor  of  the  north  part  of  the  original 
town.  Perhaps  it  may  interest  some  of  our  readers,  who  are  in  any  way  con- 
cerned in  the  real  estate,  to  follow  for  a  little  way  the  title  of  the  land  on  which 
the  city  is  built. 

As  previously  stated,  Thomas  Cox  pre-empted  and  entered  all  of  the  land, 
including  the  island,  which  he  afterward  laid  out  and  called  Winchester.*  A 
short  time  before  his  departure  to  Oregon,  he  conveyed  the  remainder  of  hi& 
landed  property  to  James  F.  Alden,  of  Maine,  who  had  recently  come  to  the 
place.  After  this,  Alden  conveyed  what  he  had  not  already  disposed  of  to  his 
brother,  H.  0.  Alden ;  and  from  him,  the  larger  portion  of  the  upper  town, 
including  the  island,  was  bought  by  the  Kankakee  Company.  This  short 
abstract  will  explain  how  some  of  the  earliest  deeds  run  from  Cox,  why  some 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  city  are  traceable  to  Bowen,  and  why  some  of  the 
later  primary  titles  run  from  the  Aldens.  As  stated,  prior  to  the  selection  ot 
this  locality  as  a  town  site,  Dr.  Bowen  lived  at  Joliet.  That  village,  now  a 
city  of  large  proportions,  was  then  an  insignificant  village.  At  the  time  of  his 

*  A  short  time  after,  it  having  been  ascertained  that  there  was  already  one  town  of  that  name  in  the  State,  it 
was  changed  to  Wilmington. 


448  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

arrival  at  Joliet,  in  1834,  the  territory  now  constituting  Will  and  some  other 
counties  was  embraced  in  Cook ;  and,  though  some  thought  had  been  given  to 
formation  of  a  new  county  here,  nothing  positive  had  been  dono.  Dr.  Bowen 
took  hold  of  the  matter,  and  circulated  a  petition,  which  soon  received  500 
signatures,  praying  the  Legislature  to  form  a  new  county  out  of  what  is  now 
Will  and  all  of  that  part  of  Kankakee  County  which  lies  north  of  the  Kanka- 
kee  River.  This  was  at  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  held  at  Vandalia, 
in  1835-6.  The  Doctor  was  in  attendance  at  the  session,  and  brought  such 
influences  to  bear  that  the  petition  was  granted,  in  exact  accordance  with  the 
wish  of  the  signers.  In  the  petition  was  a  clause  locating  the  county  seat  at 
Joliet.  In  1849,  Dr.  Bowen  moved  to  Wilmington  to  engage  in  business.  He 
practiced  his  profession,  established  a  store,  built  what  has  been  known  as  the 
lower  mill,  and  took  a  lively  interest  in  whatever  tended  to  build  up  and  pros- 
per the  town.  The  venerable  Doctor  and  his  wife  still  reside  at  Wilmington, 
and  to  their  kindness  much  of  what  is  valuable  in  this  work  is  due.  In  1837, 
Abner  Wright,  father,  mother,  brother  and  two  sisters  came  from  New  York  to 
reside  at  this  point.  The  father,  mother  and  brother  are  all  dead,  while  he  and 
the  two  sisters  still  remain.  In  the  year  last  named,  Daniel  Mclntosh,  a 
Scotchman,  who  had  for  a  few  years  resided  at  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.,  immigrated  to 
this  part  of  the  county.  Mclntosh  had  been  employed  on  the  Erie  Canal 
Works,  and  was  Superintendent  of  a  division,  while  Seymour  was  one  of  the 
danal  Commissioners.  He  was  a  man  of  extensive  business  qualifications,  and 
died  leaving  a  large  estate.  In  1839,  soon  after  Dr.  Bowen  had  built  the 
lower  mill,  John  Fisher,  who  was  a  practical  miller,  came  on  from  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  to  work  in  the  mill.  He  died  a  few  years  later  and  left  two  sons,  John 
and  Bryan,  who  have  carried  on  the  business  ever  since,  more  recently  not  only 
as  operators  but  as  proprietors.  At  present,  the  mill  is  owned  and  operated  by 
Fisher  &  Pennington,  who  came  into  possession  in  1859.  One  of  the  old 
stones,  on  which  some  of  the  first  grists  of  corn  were  cracked,  is  still  in 
use  in  this  mill,  though  the  old  Bowen  mill  is  now  idle,  except  as  a  store- 
house. 

Andrew  Whitten  came  to  this  vicinity  in  1840  from  Canada,  and  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  trade.  He  has  been  very  successful  in  business,  accumulating  a 
fortune.  His  sons  are  in  the  banking  business,  and  own  large  interests  in  the 
mill  and  other  enterprises. 

Franklin  Mitchell  is  a  native  of  Vermont,  where  he  lived  until  1836,  when 
he  came  to  Chicago.  He  stayed  in  Chicago  a  few  months,  when  he  removed  to 
Joliet  and  resided  four  years.  In  1840,  he  came  to  Wilmington  to  take  charge 
of  the  Eagle  Hotel,  then  the  only  one  in  the  village.  After  remaining  in  charge 
of  the  house  three  years,  he  began  the  erection  of  the  "Exchange,"  which  he 
completed  and  occupied  the  next  year.  Mitchell,  as  a  landlord,  was  a  great  suc- 
cess, and  during  his  occupancy  of  the  house,  a  space  of  twenty-one  years,  the 
Exchange  was  counted  one  of  the  best  hotels  in  the  State. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  449 

In  1854,  Peter  Stewart  built  the  hotel  which  bears  his  name,  and  a  few 
years  subsequently,  the  Exchange  was  converted  into  store-rooms,  and  for  that 
purpose  it  is  still  used. 

By  the  year  1846 — the  closing  of  the  first  decade  of  the  existence  of  the 
settlement,  and  which  period  may  properly  be  termed  the  pioneer  period — quite 
a  number  of  persons  had  selected  this  township  and  village  as  a  place  of  resi- 
dence. Among  the  number  are  remembered  S.  C.  and  J.  C.  Thompson,  James 
Johnson,  John  L.  Wilson,  Henry  and  Robert  Northam,  John  R.  Jones,  Henry 
Bowen,  John  and  Robert  Lyon,  John  G.  Putman,  Jonathan  Barnatt  and  Peter 
Mclntosh.  The  two  Thompsons  were  brothers,  and  were  natives  of  Scotland. 
S.  C.  was  a  good  blacksmith,  and  quite  a  successful  man  in  business.  During 
the  gold  excitement  which  followed  the  acquisition  by  the  United  States  of 
the  Pacific  Coast,  he  went  to  California  and  stayed  a  couple  of  years.  Soon  after 
his  return  from  the  gold-fields  to  this  his  adopted  home,  he  died.  J.  C.  is  still 
a  resident  of  the  city. 

James  Johnson  was  from  Erie,  Penn.  He  was  a  very  successful  physician, 
but  the  injunction,  "  Physician,  heal  thyself,"  was  by  him  unheeded,  and  he 
passed  away  about  1849. 

John  L.  Wilson  came  from  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  engaged  for  a  time  in  the 
mercantile  trade.  He  left  here  in  1850,  and  removed  to  Chicago,  where  he  now 
resides.  He  is  a  brother  of  Charles  L.  Wilson  of  the  Chicago  Journal,  and 
until  recently  has  been  connected  with  that  paper. 

John  R.  Jones  was  a  native  of  Wales,  and  had  been  living  at  Detroit  on  the 
farm  of  Gen.  Cass.  He  died  a  few  years  ago. 

Henry  Bowen  is  a  brother  of  the  Doctor.  He  was  a  blacksmith,  but  lat- 
terly laid  aside  the  anvil  and  hammer,  took  up  the  plow  and  hoe,  and  became  a 
farmer.  Some  years  ago  he  removed  to  Kansas,  where  he  now  resides. 

The  Lyon  brothers  had  charge  of  the  carding  machine,  but  subsequently 
removed  to  California. 

In  1848,  came  one  of  Wilmington's  most  solid  men.  J.  D.  Henderson,  a 
native  of  New  York,  had  been  employed  in  the  construction  of  the  upper  dam 
at  Joliet.  He  came  to  Wilmington  in  the  year  named,  to  open  a  store  with 
Dr.  Bowen.  With  him  he  continued  in  partnership  nine  years,  when  George 
T.  Stewart  bought  the  interest  of  Bowen,  and  the  firm  of  Henderson  & 
Stewart  has  existed  without  change  ever  since.  His  fellow-citizens  have  shown 
their  appreciation  of  him  by  frequently  electing  him  to  the  highest  office  within 
the  municipality.  In  1849,  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Illinois  passed  an 
act  authorizing  counties  to  change  their  organization  to  what  is  known  as  town- 
ship organization.  The  county  of  Will  was  one  of  the  first  to  adopt  the  system, 
and  Wilmington  Township  was  one  of  the  first  to  accept  the  new  arrangement. 
The  order  for  election  was  made  and  a  preliminary  was  held  March  1,  1850. 
By  the  order  of  the  Commissioners,  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  dividing  the 
county  into  townships,  the  township  of  Wilmington  consisted  of  the  Congres- 


450  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

sional  Towns  33  north,  Ranges  9  and  10  east,  and  that  part  of  32  north,  9  and 
10,  lying  north  of  the  Kankakee  River  (this  territory  now  constitutes  the 
townships  of  Wilmington,  Florence  and  Wesley).  The  boundaries  of  the 
township  were  given  as  Channahon  and  Jackson  on  the  north,  Wilton  and 
Rockville  on  the  east,  Grundy  County  on  the  west,  and  the  Kankakee  River 
and  Clinton  on  the  south.  By  a  glance  at  the  map,  it  will  be  seen  that  Clinton 
must  have  been  what  is  now  known  as  Reed  Township.  The  first  election  for 
township  officers  was  held  at  the  "  Exchange,"  April  2,  of  the  year  named. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Don  A.  Watson ;  Peter  Stewart  was  chosen 
Moderator,  and  S.  W.  Stone,  Clerk. 

John  Frazier  was  elected  Supervisor ;  John  R.  Bickerton,  Clerk ;  Daniel 
Stewart,  Assessor;  F.  D.  S.  Stewart,  Collector;  Elias  Freer,  Wm.  Van  De 
Bogart  and  William  P.  Hewit,  Commissioners  of  Highways ;  Archibald  Mcln- 
tyre  and  David  Willard,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  F.  D.  S.  Stewart  and  Daniel 
Ferris,  Constables  ;  and  Adam  White,  Overseer  of  the  Poor.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  a  number  of  these  names  appear  for  the  first  time  in  this  narrative.  Some 
of  them  have  come  in  since  1846,  some  are  citizens  of  what  are  now  Florence 
and  Wesley  Townships,  and  will  probably  receive  further  mention  in  the  history 
of  those  localities.  At  this  election,  210  votes  were  cast,  most  of  which  were 
from  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Wilmington.  Even  at  that  date,  but  few  settle- 
ments had  been  made,  except  very  near  the  river.  In  1851,  the  townships  of 
Wesley  and  Florence  were  organized  as  separate  precincts,  and,  from  that  date, 
Wilmington  Township  voted  and  transacted  business  alone.  Franklin  Mitchell 
was  elected  first  Supervisor  of  Wilmington  Township,  as  it  now  exists.  His 
successors  have  been  as  follows :  1852,  A.  J.  Mclntyre ;  1853,  H.  R.  Whip- 
pie;  1856,  John  J.  Camp;  1858,  R.  S.  Noble;  1859,  John  D.  Henderson; 
1861,  D.  W.  Cobb ;  1863,  A.  J.  Mclntyre ;  1865,  Franklin  Mitchell ;  1866, 
E.  R.  Willard ;  1867,  John  H.  Daniels  ;  1871,  S.  C.  Camp ;  1874,  Robert  C. 
Thompson ;  1877,  Samuel  Sillman.  A  full  list  of  the  present  officers  is  as  fol- 
lows: Samuel  Sillman,  Supervisor;  L.  L.  Stephenson,  Clerk;  W.  J.  Carter, 
Assessor ;  Martin  Carroll,  Collector ;  Joseph  Martin,  James  Dunn  and  E.  P. 
Smith,  Commissioners  of  Highways ;  Le  Roy  Baker  and  S.  D.  B.  Lines,  Con- 
stables ;  James  L.  Young  and  J.  P.  Ransom,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

The  township  of  Wilmington  was  one  of  the  most  active  in  the  effort  to 
suppress  the  great  rebellion.  Besides  several  whole  companies  of  the  Thirty- 
ninth  and  One  Hundredth  Regiments,  very  many  enlisted  in  various  other  regi- 
ments, in  this  and  other  counties.  Quite  a  number  of  the  best  and  bravest 
officers  of  the  regiments  named  were  from  this  vicinity.  S.  W.  Munn  was 
Major  of  the  Thirty-ninth.  He  is  now  a  successful  lawyer  of  Joliet.  L.  A. 
Baker  was  Captain  of  a  company  in  the  same  regiment,  and  lost  a  leg  in  the 
service.  He  was  afterward  Postmaster  of  Wilmington.  The  present  Post- 
master, R.  S.  Camp,  was  also  Captain  of  a  company.  Capt.  R.  S.  Bowen, 
who  raised  Company  A  of  the  One  Hundredth  Regiment,  was  also  of  this  place. 


HISTORY  OP  WILL  COUNTY.  451 

He  was  afterward  promoted  to  Major;  was  wounded  at  Franklin  and  carried  to 
Nashville,  where  he  died.  Capt.  M.  McN.  Stewart  of  the  One  Hundredth 
Regiment,  was  hit  on  the  side  of  the  head  by  a  cannon  ball.  Ordinarily  a 
man's  biography  stops  at  this  point;  but,  only  for  a  few  minutes,  Stewart 
believed  himself  dead.  He  still  lives  and  performs  the  duties  of  teller  in  the 
First  National  Bank. 

L.  D.  B.  Lines  went  out  in  the  One  Hundredth  and  was  promoted  to  a  Cap- 
taincy. Capt.  Hezekiah  Gardner  of  the  One  Hundredth  Regiment  was 
wounded  at  Missionary  Ridge,  and  had  a  leg  amputated  to  prove  his  valor.  He 
was  afterward  promoted  to  Major  of  an  invalid  corps,  and  is  now  on  the  retired 
list,  residing  in  New  York.  Several  hundred  other  brave  men  who  left  their 
homes,  families  and  property,  deserve  honorable  mention  here,  but  space  for- 
bids even  a  mention  of  their  names.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  township  of 
Wilmington,  of  which  the  soldiers  were  a  large  part,  did  its  duty  well  in  that 
most  trying  period.  The  township  never  submitted  to  a  draft,  a  sufficient  num- 
ber having  volunteered,  so  as  not  to  necessitate  such  demand. 

The  people  of  Will  County  have  honored  this  township,  by  the  selection  of 
several  of  its  citizens  to  fill  positions  of  honor  and  trust.  George  Strathde  and 
Warren  S.  Noble  have  both  been  called  to,  and  served  the  county  in  the  capac- 
ity of  Sheriff.  John  H.  Daniels  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  as  was  also 
Archibald  Mclntyre.  Mrs.  Sarah  Mclntosh  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Super- 
intendent of  Schools,  and  held  the  office  four  years,  filling  the  position  and  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  the  same  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner.  Franklin 
Mitchell,  before  the  county  adopted  the  township  organization  act,  was  for  sev- 
eral years,  one  of  the  three  Cdunty  Commissioners. 

The  subject  of  education  received  attention  in  this  vicinity  at  a  very  early 
date.  As  early  as  1838,  a  small  private  school  was  kept  at  Wilmington  ;  but 
in  the  year  1841,  a  small  building  having  been  erected,  a  public  school  was 
established.  This  first  schoolhouse  was  a  verv  modest  affair,  indeed.  It  was  a 

w 

small  frame  building,  and  stood  on  the  site  of  Mrs.  Rogers'  residence.  The 
ancient  academy,  college,  institute,  or  whatever  it  may  have  been  called,  is  still 
in  existence,  forming  a  portion  of  a  dwelling  in  which  John  Patterson  now 
resides.  The  first  term  of  public  school  taught  in  this  institute  or  seminary 
was  by  George  Bristol.  The  term  consisted  of  forty-two  days,  for  which  Prof. 
Bristol  was  to  receive  $31.  Perhaps  he  did  receive  it,  but  the  books  of  the 
Treasurer  do  not  indicate  the  fact.  There  were  in  attendance  at  the  school, 
during  the  session,  fifty-three  scholars.  Authority  was  conferred  by  the  County 
Commissioners,  October  20,  1841,  on  Peter  Stewart,  Thomas  Cox  and  Daniel 
Mclntosh  to  organize  a  school  district,  within  the  bounds  of  Town  33  north, 
Range  9,  and  they  accordingly  met  at  Cox's  house  and  made  the  whole  town 
one  district,  appointing  Jonathan  Barnatt,  Treasurer,  and  John  G.  Putman, 
Samuel  C.  Thompson  and  Abner  Wright,  School  Directors.  At  the  next  sub- 
sequent meeting  of  the  Trustees,  the  Treasurer  reported  that  he  had  taken  a 


452  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

census  of  all  the  children  in  the  district,  and  found  117  entitled  to  public 
school  privileges.  He  had  also  received  from  the  School  Commissioner  $22.22, 
with  which  to  sustain  school  the  coming  year.  Previous  to  this,  the  town  of 
Florence,  or  Town  33,  Range  10,  had  not  been  sufficiently  settled  to  support  a 
school ;  and,  at  the  meeting  last  named,  some  of  the  citizens  of  that  locality 
appeared,  desiring  to  be  attached  to  the  Wilmington  District  for  school  pur- 
poses, which  request  was  granted,  and  thus  the  district  consisted  of  two  full 
townships.  The  next  Winter,  Sarah  Fisher  taught  a  half-dozen  scholars  in 
that  part  of  the  district  known  as  Reed's  Grove.  In  1845,  the  whole  district, 
consisting  of  the  two  towns,  contained  214  persons  under  20  years  of  age,  of 
whom  190  were  in  Wilmington  and  24  in  Reed's  Grove.  In  1848,  Reed's 
Grove  was  cut  off  as  a  separate  district,  and,  a  short  time  thereafter,  a  new 
school  town  was  formed  from  Town  33,  Range  10,  and  Wilmington  again 
became  independent.  The  township  has  gradually  grown  in  population  and 
strength,  until  there  are  now  seven  school  districts,  each  with  a  convenient 
house,  in  which  schools  are  sustained  every  year.  The  number  of  persons  of 
school  age  is  just  about  one  thousand.  The  total  expense  of  supporting  the 
public  schools  of  this  township  averages,  for  the  last  ten  years,  a  little  over 
$5,000  per  annum.  In  1851,  D.  U.  Cobb  was  appointed  Treasurer  of  Schools, 
and  has  held  the  office  continuously  ever  since. 

Wilmington  Township  is  a  full  Congressional  town,  consisting  of  thirty-six 
whole  sections,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Channahon,  on  the  east  by  Flor- 
ence, on  the  south  by  Reed,  Ouster  and  Wesley,  and  on  the  west  by  Grundy 
County.  The  surface  is  gently  undulating,  and  is  covered  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  river  with  timber.  Some  of  the  timber  along  the  bank  is  of  a  good  quality 
and  heavy  growth,  but  at  a  distance  from  the  stream  it  consists  of  small  and 
seemingly  stunted  oak,  unfit  for  much  else  than  railroad  ties  and  firewood.  The 
township  is  crossed  from  southeast  to  northwest  by  the  Kankakee,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  streams  of  water  to  be  found  in  the  State.  The  descent  through 
this  section,  though  not  so  rapid  as  to  require  a  broken  and  barren  district  for 
its  bed,  as  is  the  case  with  many  streams  affording  water-power,  has  sufficient 
fall  and  sufficient  volume  of  water  to  run  more  than  a  hundred  mills.  Besides 
the  Kankakee,  two  fine  little  creeks,  the  Prairie  and  Crooked,  empty  into  the 
Kankakee  in  the  township.  The  former  flows  from  the  township  of  Florence, 
entering  Wilmington  on  Section  12  and  dropping  into  the  Kankakee  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Section  15  ;  and  the  latter  enters  the  township  and  empties 
into  the  same  stream  at  the  city  of  Wilmington.  Stone  of  an  excellent  quality 
is  found  two  and  a  half  miles  below  Wilmington,  near  the  mouth  of  Prairie 
Creek.  Some  of  this  stone,  used  in  the  construction  of  the  first  houses 
built  in  the  city,  is  as  clear  and  white  as  when  dressed,  and  seemingly 
almost  as  hard  as  granite.  In  the  southwestern  part  appear  the  croppings 
of  the  great  Wilmington  coal-fields.  The  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
coal  deposits  is  of  an  inferior  quality.  The  soil  is  quite  thin,  and  the  sub- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  453 

soil,  being  of  a  kind  of  quicksand,  renders  successful  cultivation  rather  uncer- 
tain. 

CITY    OF   WILMINGTON. 

The  village  of  Wilmington  was  laid  out  in  1836,  and  as  this  and  its  imme- 
diate vicinity  was  the  objective  point  toward  which  the  early  settlers  naturally 
cast  their  eyes,  the  early  history  is  necessarily  embraced  in  that  of  the  town- 
ship. However,  in  1854,  having  attained  a  population  required  by  law,  it  was 
deemed  best  by  most  of  the  leading  citizens  to  organize  the  village  as  a  separate 
corporation.  It  was  argued  that  this  would  give  the  village  authority  to  build 
sidewalks,  abate  nuisances,  control  the  liquor  traffic,  and,  perhaps,  obtain  some 
revenue  from  the  trade  in  the  way  of  license,  and  numerous  other  advantages 
not  enjoyed  while  merely  constituting  a  portion  of  the  township.  Therefore,  a 
notice,  signed  by  "  Many  Citizens,"  requesting  the  residents  and  freeholders  to 
meet  at  the  schoolhouse  on  Saturday,  the  24th  day  of  June,  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  incorporation  of  the  town,  was  posted  in  various  public  places 
by  S.  W.  Munn  ten  days  before  the  date  specified  in  the  notice.  At  the  meet- 
ing, Peter  Stewart  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  James  F.  Alden  was  selected  as 
Clerk.  The  advantages  of  incorporation  were  then  argued  pro  and  con. 
(mostly  pro),  after  which  a  vote  was  taken,  resulting  in  favor  of  organization 
12  to  1.  A  day  was  then  appointed  for  the  election  of  a  town  board, 
and  on  the  3d  day  of  July  the  election  took  place.  Of  the  election,  Peter 
Stewart  and  James  F.  Allen  occupied  the  position  designated  at  the  primary 
meeting.  Sixty-three  votes  were  cast,  and  D.  W.  Smead,  J.  D.  Henderson, 
Samuel  C.  Thompson,  J.  A.  Seebor  and  James  F.  Alden  were  elected  Trustees  ; 
James  L.  Young  was  chosen  Clerk  ;  Anthony  Riker,  Street  Commissioner,  and 
Fred.  Walrath,  Constable.  Thus  was  the  incorporation  of  the  village  fully 
accomplished,  and  under  this  organization  it  continued  eleven  years.  D.  W. 
Smead  was  chosen  first  President.  His  successors  were  as  follows :  1855,  H. 
Warner ;  1857,  Anson  Packard ;  1858,  Israel  Massey ;  1859,  S.  W.  Munn  ; 
1860,  William  Harbottle;  1861,  John  D.  White ;  1862,  John  S.  Jessup  ;  1864 
E.  H.  Jessup. 

About  the  date  last  named,  the  question  of  changing  the  charter  of  the 
town,  so  as  to  give  the  incorporation  some  additional  powers  and  a  more  genteel 
title,  began  to  be  agitated,  and  resulted  in  obtaining  from  the  Legislature  a 
charter,  February  15,  1865,  "  constituting  the  inhabitants  of  said  town  a  body 
corporate,  by  the  name  and  style  of  city  of  Wilmington."  Under  this  char- 
ter, the  first  election  was  held  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  March  of  the  year 
named. 

John  H.  Daniels  received  the  most  votes  for  Mayor,  and  Edward  Alden, 
R.  P.  Morgan,  Jr.,  William  H.  Vaughan,  M.  F.  Blish,  V.  Banyard  and  J.  B. 
Johnson  were  elected  Aldermen.  The  succeeding  Mayors  have  been  J.  D. 
Henderson,  W.  H.  Odell,  J.  H.  Daniels,  D.  U.  Cobb  and  the  present  efficient 
officer,  S.  E.  Trott. 


454  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

The  Board  of  Aldermen,  as  now  constituted,  consists  of  Howard  Johnson, 
John  Whitten,  Edward  Donahoe,  Edmund  Gushing  and  Joseph  Burton. 

The  early  settlers  of  Wilmington,  unlike  the  pioneers  of  most  other  locali- 
ties, were  religious  people,  and  they  had  but  constructed  a  habitation,  which 
barely  sheltered  them  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather,  before  they  began 
to  take  measures  for  the  establishing  of  a  house  for  the  Lord.  Like  the  ancient 
Israelites,  they  experienced  no  trouble  in  worshiping  God,  even  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  Peter  Stewart's  barn  answered  the  purpose  of  a  tabernacle.  In  this 
barn,  services  were  held,  and,  in  1838,  two  years  after  the  first  settler  made  his 
appearance  in  the  vicinity,  in  it  was  organized  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The 
organization  was  effected  by  J.  (jr.  Porter,  now  a  venerable  servant  of  the  Mas- 
ter, and  resident  of  Naperville.  Among  the  original  members  were  the  two 
Stewart  brothers  and  Daniel  Mclntosh  with,  their  wives.  Rev.  Mr.  Porter  con- 
tinued to  preach  for  the  little  society  once  a  month  for  a  year  or  two,  holding 
the  services  sometimes  in  the  barn  and  afterward  in  the  little  frame  schoolhouse 
erected  about  this  time.  Afterward  he  was  called  to  the  Church,  regularly  in- 
stalled, and  served  the  Church  as  Pastor  for  twelve  years.  A  part  of  the  pres- 
ent building  was  erected  in  1840,  at  a  cost  of  $1,400.  Since  then  some  addi- 
tions have  been  made  which  make  it  quite  a  commodious  and  comfortable  house. 
The  present  minister  is  Rev.  R.  K.  Wharton.  In  connection  with  the  Church 
is  a  prosperous  Sunday  school,  of  which  H.  L.  Cady  is  Superintendent.  The 
membership  of  the  Church  is  121,  and  of  the  Sunday  school  about  150. 

At  about  the  same  date  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized,  the 
Methodists  began  to  hold  religious  services  here,  and  a  class  was  formed,  though 
the  society  was  not  organized  as  a  separate  charge  until  1868.  In  1840,  a 
small  building,  now  used  as  a  parsonage,  was  erected,  and  in  this  services  were 
held  until  1857,  when  their  present  fine  edifice  was  built.  The  building  is  a 
large,  solid,  stone  structure,  with  basement,  forty-five  feet  in  width  and  ninety 
in  length,  and  cost  $15,000. 

The  society  has  been  quite  prosperous,  and  numbers  at  present  180  mem- 
bers. Rev.  E.  W.  Drew  is  the  present  Pastor.  Prof.  H.  R.  Beggs  is  Super- 
intendent of  the  Sunday  school.  The  Episcopal  Church  was  organized  in  1857, 
and  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Rev.  Charles  B.  Stout.  In  1857,  a  small  church 
building  was  erected  on  the  site  of  John  Fisher's  residence.  Previous  to  this, 
the  society  had  worshiped  in  one  of  the  public  halls  of  the  city.  In  1867-68, 
their  present  tasty  house  was  put  up,  at  a  cost  of  $7,000.  The  present  mem- 
bership of  the  Church  is  thirty-five.  Rev.  W.  H.  Hopkins  is  Pastor  and  Super- 
intendent of  the  Sunday  school. 

The  Catholics  established  a  society  at  Wilmington  in  1855,  and  built  a  small 
house  of  worship  at  the  date  named.  This  society  has  been  a  most  flourishing 
one,  and  has  grown  to  large  proportions.  In  1865,  having  entirely  outgrown 
their  first  church  accommodations,  they  built,  at  a  cost  of  $12,000,  their  present 
large  brick  edifice,  capable  of  seating  500  persons.  The  membership,  including 


{DECEASED, 

J  O  L  I  E  T. 


HE  iiS 
OF  m 
If  fLUNQlS 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  457 

all  baptized  persons,  is  nearly  1,000,  650  of  whom  are  communicants, 
representing  over  200  families.  A  small  parsonage  was  erected  some  years 
ago,  which  was  burned  in  1875.  The  next  year  a  very  fine  building  of 
this  character,  containing  library,  drawing-rooms  and  every  modern  convenience, 
took  the  place  of  the  burnt  one.  This  building  cost  the  society  $6,000.  The 
first  priest  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Enthout.  The  present  priest,  the  Rev.  Hugh 
O'Garra  McShane. 

Besides  the  churches  already  named,   the  Swedenborgians  have  a    small 
house  of  worship,  though  services  are  not  now  held. 

Religion  and  education  usually  go  hand  in  hand ;  and  as  the  first  settlers 
were  religious  people,  they  also  interested  themselves  in  the  subject  of  educa- 
tion, and  the  people  of  Wilmington  have  ever  been  on  the  alert  to  adopt  what- 
ever measures  would  tend  to  improve  the  morals  and  enlighten  the  minds  of 
the  youth.     The  little  frame  schoolhouse  already  alluded  to  had  outlived  its  use- 
fulness by  1849,  and  a  more  commodious  building  was  demanded  and  erected 
on  the  site  of  the  present  fine  structure.     A  two-story  brick,  capable  of  accom- 
modating 200  pupils,  was  built.     For  its  day,  it  was  considered  a  very  hand- 
some and  convenient  affair,  and  by  mdsy  supposed  to  be  ample  for  all  time  to 
come.     A  curious  and  amusing  incident  is  remembered  in  connection  with  the 
construction  of  this  schoolhouse.       When  the  building  was  almost  ready  for 
occupancy,  and  but  little  time  for  its  completion  remained,  it  was  found  that 
there  was  not  a  pint  of  oil  in  the  whole  town  with  which  to  mix  the  putty  for 
glazing  the  windows.     It  must  be  remembered  that  an  order  could  not  then  be 
sent  to  Chicago  in  the  evening,  with  a  certainty  of  its  being  filled  and  delivered 
the  next  morning — the  railroad  made  its  appearance  five  years  later.     How- 
ever, unlike  the  five  foolish  virgins  of  Scripture  reputation,  an  inventive  genius 
was  on  hand,  and  suggested  the  substitution  of  lard  which  could  be  had  in 
abundance  (if  only  the  virgins  had  thought  about  that,  how  much  mortification 
they  might  have  saved  themselves).     The  suggestion  was  adopted,  and  the 
whiting  and  the  lard  mixed  made  a  very  fair  looking  article.     The  windows 
were  accordingly  glazed,  and  a  good  job  it  seemed  to  be.     But  some  time  after 
school  had  opened  there  came  a  warm  day,  and  suddenly,  crash  !  a  pane  of 
glass  slipped  from  its  place  and  disturbed  the  quiet  of  the  school.     Directly 
another  and  then  another,  until  more  than  half  the  glazing  on  the  south  side 
was  worse  than  a  wreck.     Then  it  was  discovered  that  lard  was  worse  than  no 
grease  for  glazing  purposes,  and  the  balance  of  the  panes  were  removed  before 
the  temperature  had  caused  additional  havoc.     In  1869,  the  "  brick  school- 
house  "  was  found  to  be  entirely  too  small  for  its  purposes,  and  other  rooms 
had  to  be  leased  temporarily  to  accommodate  all  who  desired  to  attend.     The 
division  of  the  school  in  this  manner  was  attended  with  numerous  disadvantages 
which  the  saving  of  money  could  not  compensate,  and  so   it  was  concluded 
that  economy  indicated  the  erection  of  a  new  and  still  more  spacious  build- 
ing. 


458  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Therefore,  in  the  year  last  named,  the  City  Council  passed  an  ordinance, 
appropriating  $30,000  for  the  erection  and  furnishing  of  the  present  temple  of 
learning.  If  not  the  finest  and  most  convenient  school-building  in  the  county, 
it  certainly  is  one  of  that  description.  It  is  a  large  brick  three-stories  high, 
besides  basement,  and  will  accommodate  700  pupils.  It  is  located  on  what  was 
originally  designed  for  a  park,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  sites  in  the  city.  This 
is  a  wonderful  improvement  over  the  little  frame  structure  of  forty  years  ago, 
and  indeed  over  its  successor  of  1849.  The  schools  of  Wilmington  have  cer- 
tainly kept  pace  with  the  other  institutions  of  this  vicinity,  and  the  citizens  of 
Wilmington  have  good  reason  to  feel  proud  of  their  excellence.  Besides  the 
graded  system  at  the  schoolhouse  just  described,  the  authorities  have  also  estab- 
lished a  primary  school,  and  erected  a  building  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  to 
accommodate  the  dwellers  in  that  quarter  of  the  city.  The  school  system  of 
this  city  is  peculiar,  being  an  adjunct  of  the  city  corporation,  and  immediately 
under  the  control  of  the  City  Council.  To  a  Board  of  Inspectors  elected  by 
the  people,  is  delegated  the  immediate  duty  of  looking  after  the  interests  of  the 
schools.  A  little  "special  legislation,"  while  the  proposition  to  build  the 
$30,000  schoolhouse  was  under  consideration,  helped  the  friends  of  the  enter- 
prise out  of  a  difficulty.  As  stated,  the  ordinance  appropriating  $30,000  was 
passed  July  27,  1869.  The  Board  of  Inspectors,  who  had  been  elected  for  the 
purpose  of  disposing  of  this  anticipated  fund,  had  been  elected  on  the  16th  of 
March,  and  had  performed  several  important  acts,  looking  toward  the  erection 
of  the  house,  when  it  was  suddenly  discovered  that  the  election  of  the  Inspect- 
ors, though  subsequent  to  the  passage  of  the  bill  authorizing  their  election,  was 
prior  to  its  approval,  and  that  their  acts  were  at  least  of  doubtful  validity.  As 
soon  as  this  fact  became  known,  a  deputation  was  hurried  off  to  Springfield,  the 
Legislature  being  still  in  session,  and  an  amendment  legalizing  the  election  of 
the  Board  obtained. 

Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  was  authorized  by  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  October  7,  1856.  This  is  comparatively  one  of 
the  "  ancient"  lodges,  as  the  number  of  lodges  in  the  State  at  present  is  nearly 
eight  hundred.  The  charter  members  were  Joseph  Shirk,  Cyrus  Stowe,  Heze- 
kiah  Warner,  Franklin  Mitchell,  George  E.  Cavanaugh,  William  G.  Cutshaw 
and  William  A.  Tinsler,  the  first  three  of  whom  were  respectively  Worshipful 
Master,  Senior  and  Junior  Wardens.  The  officers  in  charge  at  present  are:  J. 
B.  Johnson,  W.  M.;  H.  W.  Blood,  S.  W.;  John  P.  Ransom,  J.  W.;  I.  Cra- 
craft,  Treaa.;  0.  D.  Row,  Sec.;  Austin  Smith,  S.  D.;  W.  H.  Mitchell,  J.  D.; 
S.  D.  B.  Lines,  Tiler,  and  William  Hart,  Chaplain.  Meetings  are  held  on  the 
first  and  third  Wednesdays  of  each  month. 

This  Order,  in  1870,  obtained  from  the  Grand  Chapter  a  charter  for  estab- 
lishing a  subordinate  chapter  at  this  place.  The  charter  was  granted  October  7, 
and  designated  this  as  Wilmington  Chapter,  No.  142,  and  constituted  William 
H.  Odell  as  High  Priest,  Franklin  Mitchell,  King,  and  Alexander  Mclntosh, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  459 

Scribe.  The  balance  of  the  original  members  were  H.  Jones,  L.  A.  Baker,  F. 
L.  Quigley,  C.  J.  Jukes  and  S.  D.  B.  Lines.  The  regular  meetings  are  held  on 
the  first  and  third  Fridays  of  each  month.  The  two  societies  occupy  a  large 
room  in  the  third  story  of  Empire  Block,  which  they  have  fitted  up  for  their 
mysterious  purposes  in  a  very  tasty  and  elegant  manner. 

The  present  officers  of  the  Chapter  are  W.  H.  Odell,  H.  P.;  Franklin 
Mitchell,  King;  William  Hart,  Scribe;  E.  W.  Willard,  R.  A.  Captain  ;  H.  W. 
Blood,  Prin.  Soj.;  F.  Lamed,  Captain  of  Host;  Vincent  Banyard,  Treasurer; 
L.  A.  Baker,  Secretary,  and  S.  D.  B.  Lines,  Sentinel. 

The  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  organized  a  lodge  of  that  character 
March  26,  1872,  the  original  members  of  which  were :  H.  H.  Wise,  William 
Harbottle,  F.  Vitenhoff,  L.  I.  Gildersleeve  and  L.  Lorch.  From  this  original 
hive  have  swarmed  the  lodges  at  Braidwood,  Elwood  and  Wilton  Center.  A 
remarkable  fact  in  the  history  of  this  Lodge,  is  that  in  all  of  its  existence  of  six- 
teen years,  but  one  death  has  occurred.  M.  P.  Kilbourn  is  present  Representa- 
tive ;  John  R.  Babcock,  N.  G. ;  T.  W.  Kahler,  V.  G. ;  J.  P.  Ransom,  Sec.  ; 
T.  S.  Mclntosh,  Treas.  The  Lodge  is  styled  Will  Lodge,  301,  and  meets  every 
Monday  in  Empire  Block.  The  present  membership  is  forty-seven,  though,  at 
times,  it  has  been  greatly  in  excess  of  that  number. 

One  of  the  most  important  interests,  and  doubtless  destined  to  be  the  great- 
est in  this  section,  is  that  developed  by  the  vast  water-power  supplied  by  the 
Kankakee  River ;  and,  but  for  some  unfortunate  circumstances,  would  ere  this 
have  been  more  fully  utilized.  The  improvement  of  the  river  in  some  of  its  feat- 
ures dates  back  many  years.  In  1835-36,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  Legislature 
of  the  State,  authorizing  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal.  The  project  had 
been  agitated  for  a  number  of  years  by  both  the  State  and  General  Govern- 
ment— by  the  former  as  a  commercial  enterprise,  and  by  the  latter  as  both  a 
commercial  and  military  necessity.  The  war  of  1812  had  shown  the  necessity 
of  a  work  of  this  kind,  for  the  purpose  of  transmitting  supplies  for  the 
army,  should  a  foe  ever  ascend  the  Mississippi  River  above  the  mouth  of 
the  Ohio,  and  Government  accordingly  donated  a  large  amount  of  the 
public  lands  in  aid  of  its  construction.  Work  was  begun  on  the  Canal  the  year 
following  the  passage  of  the  Canal  act  by  the  State  Legislature,  and 
was  completed  in  1848.  The  original  idea  was  to  make  it  a  ship-canal, 
but  a  very  inferior  work  was  the  one  completed  at  the  date  named.  How- 
ever, this  has  been  deepened,  widened  and  otherwise  so  improved  that 
small  steamboats  now  make  trips,  not  only  the  entire  length  of  the 
Canal,  but  from  the  city  of  Chicago  to  St.  Louis.  When  the  Canal  was  ready 
for  use,  it  was  found  that  at  the  lower  end  there  was  a  lack  of  water,  and  that 
an  extra  feeder  was  necessary  for  its  supply.  It  was  therefore  decided  to  con- 
struct a  dam  across  the  Kankakee  at  a  point  which,  allowing  for  sufficient  fall, 
would  meet  the  extra  demand.  The  dam  was  built  at  a  point  in  the  Kankakee 
River,  near  the  center  of  Wilmington  Township. 


460  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

From  this  point  a  canal  was  constructed,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river, 
crossing  the  Des.  Planes  River  by  aqueduct  near  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
township.  The  dam  alluded  to  created  slack  water  to  the  city  of  Wilmington, 
and  below  the  dam,  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  it  was  already  navigable.  This, 
however,  lacked  a  means  of  raising  boats  to  the  level  of  the  water  above  the 
dam.  In  1870,  a  company  of  gentlemen  from  Boston,  perceiving  the  great 
advantages  which  must  necessarily  result  from  a  further  improvement  of  the 
river,  formed  a  gigantic  stock  company  for  the  purpose,  prominent  among 
whom  were  Gov.  William  Claflin,  E.  P.  Carpenter  and  Joel  Hills,  who  were 
respectively  President,  Managing  Director  and  Treasurer.  Work  was  begun, 
and  nearly  a  half-million  dollars  were  expended.  The  improvements  made  to 
this  date  consist  of  the  raising  of  the  State  dam,  to  which  allusion  has  been 
made,  two  feet,  thus  creating  navigation  to  Wilmington ;  the  construction  of  a 
tight  earth  dam  at  the  city,  fourteen  feet  in  height;  the  building  of  an  overflow 
dam  at  the  head  of  the  island,  five  and  a  half  feet  high ;  and  the  construction 
of  a  monster  dam,  sixteen  feet  in  height,  a  mile  above  the  city.  At  each  of 
these  dams  are  locks  of  the  most  substantial  character,  and  of  a  size  to  admit 
boats  eighteen  feet  in  width  and  one  hundred  in  length,  and  carrying  one  hun- 
dred thousand  feet  of  lumber  or  six  thousand  bushels  of  grain.  These  works 
make  the  Kankakee  navigable  for  the  boats  described,  a  distance  of  twenty-one 
miles,  and  make  an  outlet  for  this  region,  by  water,  to  Chicago  and  St.  Louis. 
Boats  are  run  regularly  from  the  mouth  of  Horse  Creek  to  Chicago  every  week 
by  E.  D.  Small  &  Co.,  of  Wilmington,  and  Stephen  Hanford  &  Bro.,  of  Reed 
Township.  The  original  design  was  to  extend  the  line  of  dams  and  locks  to 
the  Indiana  line,  to  tap  the  bog-iron  fields,  and  to  construct  a  canal  to 
the  Braidwood  coalfields,  thus  not  only  bringing  the  two  materials  in 
contact,  but  also  making  a  water  outlet  for  the  vast  fuel  product.  Not 
only  have  these  works  made  all  this  possible,  but  the  fall  of  nearly  fifty 
feet  of  this  large  volume  of  water  makes  a  water-power  variously  esti- 
mated at  the  driest  season  at  from  four  thousand  to  eight  thousand  horse- 
power. But  a  comparatively  small  portion  of  this  has  yet  been  utilized.  The 
flour-mill,  already  alluded  to  and  operated  by  Messrs.  Fisher  &  Pennington,  is 
situated  at  the  lower  end  of  the  race.  This  mill  contains  six  rung  of  stone,  and 
has  a  capacity  of  five  hundred  barrels  daily.  Messrs.  Mclntyre  &  Co.  (or 
Mclntyre  &  Whitten)  built  near  the  bridge,  at  about  the  time  the  water-works 
were  begun,  a  fine  flour-mill  of  about  the  same  capacity  as  the  lower  mill.  At 
about  the  same  date,  Messrs.  Chapman  &  Jukes  erected,  at  the  upper  end  of 
the  island,  a  building  designed  for  a  bolt  and  nut  factory ;  but,  owing  to  the 
financial  crisis  which  swept  over  the  country  in  1872,  the  enterprise  failed. 
The  building  was  bought  a  few  years  ago  by  Dr.  S.  E.  Trott,  who  turned  it 
into  a  paper-mill.  M.  D.  Keeney  put  in  the  necessary  machinery,  and  the 
mill  is  now  in  successful  operation.  Straw-board  of  a  good  quality  is  manufact- 
ured from  rye  and  oat  straw,  at  the  rate  of  seven  tons  per  day.  Some  years 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  461 

ago,  a  distillery  was  started  in  a  brick  building  erected  near  the  bridge,  but  the 
parties  interested  failed,  and  the  high  waters  subsequently  damaged  the  build- 
ing so  that  for  many  years  it  stood  idle.  This  Dr.  Trott  also  reconstructed  and 
has  introduced  into  it  a  planing-mill,  turning-lathe  and  other  machinery.  The 
system  of  water-works  for  the  use  of  the  city  in  case  of  fire  was  introduced  last 
year,  and  connected  with  machinery  at  Whitten's  flour-mill  and  Trott's  planing 
machine.  Hydrants,  to  which  pipes  are  laid,  connecting  them  with  the  pumps 
at  the  mills,  are  placed  at  convenient  points  in  the  city,  so  that  all  of  the  busi- 
ness portion  and  part  of  the  residence  property  is  fully  protected.  A  fire  com- 
pany, of  which  C.  W.  Barnhart  is  Chief  Engineer,  has  been  organized,  and 
this  system,  in  connection  with  a  hook-and-ladder  company,  which  is 
organized  on  an  independent  basis,  gives  the  city  ample  protection.  At 
a  moment's  warning,  the  power  of  either  mill  can  be  transferred  to  the 
pumps,  and  in  an  instant  two  streams  of  water,  each  two  inches  in  diameter, 
from  any  hydrant,  can  be  made  to  play  on  a  burning  building.  The  whole 
system,  consisting  of  the  Holly  pumps,  pipes,  hose  and  hydrants,  has  cost  about 
$1,500. 

The  river,  on  several  occasions,  has  been  the  cause  of  much  anxiety  to  the 
citizens  of  Wilmington,  and  the  cause  of  no  small  amount  of  damage  to  property 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  its  banks.  On  the  14th  day  of  February,  1867, 
the  floating  ice  gorged  at  the  lower  dam — then  the  only  one — and  in  a  few 
hours  all  of  the  business  part  of  the  city  was  under  water.  The  main  business 
street  afforded  navigation  for  boats  of  good  size.  A  considerable  amount  of 
goods  was  damaged  in  the  stores,  and  business  was  entirely  suspended  for  some 
days.  The  bridges,  including  the  railroad  bridge,  were  swept  away,  and  some 
buildings  near  the  bank  of  the  river  were  somewhat  injured  by  floating  ice.  It 
is  thought  that  the  building  of  the  other  dams  will  hereafter  prevent  any  such 
mischief. 

An  industry,  which  bids  fair  to  develop  into  large  proportions,  is  that  of 
the  manufacture  of  butter  and  cheese.  Indeed,  though  but  in  its  incipiency, 
the  business  has  already  become  one  of  considerable  importance.  In  1844,  E. 
Allen  of  this  place,  commenced  buying  butter  and  grading  the  same,  for  the  St. 
Louis  market.  So  careful  was  he  in  his  selections  that  Wilmington  butter 
soon  attained  an  enviable  reputation,  so  much  so  that  Mr.  Allen  could  not 
supply  the  demand,  even  at  a  higher  price  than  was  usually  obtained  for  other 
brands.  He  continued  in  the  butter  trade  until  a  few  years  ago,  when  he 
resolved  to  erect  a  creamery.  In  1875,  he  built  his  cheese  and  butter  factory, 
at  an  expense  of  about  $6,000,  and  began  buying  milk  and  manufacturing  but- 
ter, paying  for  the  milk  70  cents  per  hundred  pounds.  The  enterprise  proved 
quite  successful,  and  last  year  he  began  the  manufacture  of  cheese.  He  is 
making  at  present  about  75,000  pounds  of  butter,  and  365,000  pounds  of 
cheese  per  year.  The  average  price  received  for  butter  is  33  cents,  and  that 
for  cheese  9  cents.  Much  of  the  cheese  manufactured  finds  a  market  in 


462  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Europe.  The  Wilmington  Dairy  Association  was  incorporated  June  21,  1877, 
•with  William  Burke,  Joseph  Shirk  and  John  Bovee  as  its  officers.  Buildings 
costing  $6,000  were  erected,  and  the  manufacture  of  butter  and  cheese  begun. 
At  the  rate  at  which  they  are  now  manufacturing,  they  will  turn  out  42,000 
pounds  of  butter  and  600,000  pounds  of  cheese  per  year,  the  receipts  for  the 
former  averaging  30  cents,  and  the  latter  8|  cents  per  pound.  They  consume 
at  present  15,000  pounds  of  milk  per  day,  and  have  a  capacity  of  40,000. 
The  present  officers  are  Lawrence  Tinsler,  President ;  William  Burke,  Secre- 
tary, and  William  Martin,  Treasurer. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  in  the  history  of  this  part  of  the  State, 
was  the  construction  of  the  Chicago  &  Mississippi  Railroad,  now  known  as  the 
Chicago  &  St.  Louis.  The  road  was  completed  through  this  section  in  1  ^54, 
and  the  first  train  of  cars  passed  through  Wilmington  on  the  4th  of  July 
of  that  year.  From  that  date  the  real  prosperity  of  the  country,  within  a 
breadth  of  fifteen  to  twenty-five  miles  on  either  side  of  the  road,  began. 
Farming  lands,  which  had  previously  been  held  at  from  $2  to  $5  per  acre, 
immediately  went  up  to  three  times  these  prices.  Towns  and  villages  already 
established  grew  as  they  had  not  grown  before.  New  towns  sprang  up  all 
along  the  line.  Land,  which  the  Government  had  been  offering  for  sale  for 
twenty  years,  was  snatched  at  by  immigrants  and  speculators.  Thus,  in  a  few 
years  alter  the  completion  of  the  road,  though  its  management  was  at  first 
comparatively  poor,  the  population  doubled.  Farms  were  opened,  stores  estab- 
lished, shops  built  and  life  and  animation  took  the  place  of  that  state 
of  lethargy  and  dullness  which  had  heretofore  prevailed.  The  road  has 
continued  to  increase  in  efficiency  and  capacity,  and  has  come  to-  be 
looked  upon  as  necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  the  country  through  which 
it  passes. 

Probably  no  event  has  had  such  a  depressing  influence  on  this  community 
as  the  failure,  in  1873,  of  J.  H.  Daniels,  banker  and  speculator,  of  this  city. 
Daniels  had  come  to  the  place  in  1855,  and  was  the  first  to  establish  a  bank. 
His  career  here  was  one  of  exceeding  brilliancy ;  and  to  say  that  the  people 
honored  him  with  their  confidence  and  credit,  is  but  to  state  the  feeling  of  the 
people  for  him  in  mild  terms.  Their  confidence  in  his  integrity  was  unbounded, 
and  as  a  proof  of  the  same,  they  deposited  their  substance  with  him  for  safe  (?) 
keeping,  in  preference  to  investing  in  enterprises  designed  to  build  up  and 
develop  the  city,  to  the  extent  of  almost  the  last  penny.  When,  seemingly, 
the  last  dollar  had  been  deposited,  the  ears  of  the  populace  were  scarcely  able 
to  believe  themselves,  when  it  was  suddenly  announced  that  it  was  necessary 
for  the  bank  to  suspend  for  a  short  time ;  but  when  afterward  it  was  learned 
that  the  concern  was  hopelessly  involved,  and  would  paj>  but  eight  cents  on  the 
dollar,  the  depositors  went  home  and  read  the  first  three  verses  of  the  fifth 
chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  of  James,  and  other  similar  passages,  and  pondered 
long  and  deeply. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  463 

The  following  history  of  the  press  of  Wilmington  has  been  kindly  furn- 
ished by  E.  D.  Conley,  Esq.,  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Wilmington  Advo- 
cate : 

Wilmington's  first  newspaper,  the  Wilmington  Herald,  was  established  in 
this  place  in  1854  by  D.  H.  Berdine.  Whether  misfortunes  never  come  singly 
or  not,  that  year  marked  the  advent  of  the  cholera  in  our  midst,  also.  The 
Herald  was  a  joint  stock  institution,  gotten  up  by  a  number  of  citizens ;  and 
the  setting-up  of  the  press  and  material  was  literally  a  nine-days  wonder  in  the 
eyes  of  many  villagers.  Cholera  swept  off  one  of  the  printers — John  J.  Post — 
and  sickness  and  disaster  threatened  the  Herald's  success.  In  less  than  a  year 
afterward,  R.  W.  Waterman,  a  large  stockholder,  obtained  control  of  the  office 
and  placed  it  in  charge  of  William  H.  Clark,  of  Michigan,  who  was  to  edit  and 
publish  the  sheet  (a  six  or  seven  column  folio),  at  a  salary  of  $15  per  week. 
Clark  watched  his  opportunity.  The  stock  gradually  merged  in  the  hands  of  a 
few,  and  that  few  mortgaged"  it ;  a  snide  "  mortgage  sale,"  made  in  the  presence 
of  a  chosen  few,  was  had,  and  the  Herald  passed  into  the  hands  of  Clark,  the 
consideration  being  $7.00  !  .  It  run  along  three  or  four  years,  when  Joseph 
Braden,  of  the  Joliet  True  Democrat,  came  down  to  Wilmington  with  an  old 
Ramage  press  to  trade  for  the  Herald  press — a  Foster;  but  the  citizens  got 
wind  of  it  and  mobbed  the  office.  How  the  aggrieved  and  swindled  original 
stockholders  settled  the  matter,  the  writer  does  not  remember;  but  it  was  patched 
up  somehow  and  security  given.  In  1856,  or  thereabout,  Clark  removed  from 
this  place — office  and  all — to  Kendall  County,  where  he  established  the  Ken- 
dall County  Clarion,  The  present  publisher  of  the  Advocate  was  chief  " devil " 
of  the  Herald  office  for  some  time,  while  J.  H.  Reubenau,  now  a  C.  &  A. 
express-train  conductor,  was  the  principal  typo  when  not  engaged  in  stealing 
Waterman's  dry  wood. 

W.  R.  Steel,  Esq.,  established  the  Wilmington  Independent  here  in  1861  ; 
so,  if  the  Herald's  coming  brought  with  it  cholera,  the  Independent,  not  to  be 
outdone,  brought  the  pomp  and  circumstances  of  war.  The  Independent 
became  Republican  in  politics,  and  had  quite  a  good  circulation  in  the  Kankakee 
Valley.  It  was  purchased  by  Alexander  Mclntosh  in  1861.  It  was  run  along 
until  the  Fall  election  in  1872,  when  it  suspended  publication  and  was  sold 
under  a  mortgage.  H.  H.  Parkinson,  under  a  lease,  run  it  a  year  longer,  when 
the  paper  died,  and  the  material  was  sold  to  parties  abroad.  In  the  meantime, 
June,  1870,  the  People 's  Advocate  was  started  by  Jacob  H.  Warner,  at  the 
instance  of  many  who,  in  political  issues,  opposed  the  policy  of  the  Independ- 
ent. When  the  Advocate  was  35  weeks  old — February  18,  1871 — E.  D.  Conley, 
Esq.,  purchased  a  half  interest  and  became  its  chief  editor.  But  partnership 
proved  a  bad  horse  to  ride,  and  dissolution  in  ownership  followed.  In  May, 
1872,  Mr.  Conley  bought  the  office  for  $2,000  cash,  and  from  that  date  to  this 
the  Wilmington  Advocate  has  been  issued  regularly,  and  is  generally  recognized 
as  a  fixed  and  solid  institution. 


464  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Another  Wilmington  Herald  and  a  paper  known  as  the  Wilmington  Free 
Press  have,  within  a  few  years,  been  issued  in  this  city ;  but  both  proved  short 
lived. 

At  the  present  writing — September  20,  1878 — the  Wilmington  PTicenix  is 
published  in  this  city,  though  principally  edited  and  printed  in  Joliet. 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 

This  is  now  the  smallest  township  in  the  county,  containing  only  the  west 
half  of  Congressional  Town  32,  Range  9  east  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian. 
For  the  fifteen  years  ending  1875,  it  was  the  largest,  embracing  within  its 
limits  all  of  that  territory  now  constituting  Ouster.  As  now  laid  out,  it  con- 
tains eighteen  sections,  and  is  bounded  as  follows  :  On  the  north  by  Wilming- 
ton, on  the  east  by  Ouster,  on  the  south  by  Kankakee  County  and  on  the  west 
by  Grundy.  The  first  name  given  to  the  township,  by  the  Commissioners,  was 
Clinton,  which,  however,  was  changed,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Supervisors,  to  Reid,  in  honor  of  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this  section.  On  the 
first  maps  and  in  the  first  reports,  the  orthography  of  the  name  is  found  as 
here  indicated ;  but  on  the  later  maps  and  reports  it  is  spelled  as  indicated  at 
the  head  of  this  article.  For  what  reason  this  change  has  been  made,  or  if 
made  by  common  consent  or  practice — the  later  method  being  the  more  natu- 
ral way — we  are  unable  to  inform  our  readers. 

The  land,  for  the  most  part,  is  a  level  plain  or  prairie.  In  some  portions, 
more  especially  in  the  southern,  it  is  covered  with  timber  of  a  small  growth.  In 
this  portion  the  surface  is  more  broken,  but  cannot  be  considered  hilly.  It  is 
not  crossed  by  any  stream  of  water,  but  all  of  that  supply  is  obtained  from 
wells.  Good  water  abounds  at  a  depth  of  from  twenty  to  forty  feet.  The 
land  is  of  a  poor  quality  for  agricultural  purposes,  the  soil  being  quite  thin, 
with  a  species  of  quicksand  underlying. 

In  his  history  of  New  York,  Washington  Irving  begins  with  the  creation  of 
the  world,  citing  as  a  reason  that  as  the  first  occupants  of  that  island,  the  Knick- 
erbockers, were  not  only  descendants  of  Noah,  but  also  of  Adam,  therefore, 
the  history  could  not  be  complete  without  an  allusion  to  that  primary  event. 
So,  in  the  history  of  Reed  Township,  we  are  forcibly  reminded  of  a  declaration 
of  the  Almighty,  when  he  had  completed  the  creation,  that  it  was  "  all  very 
good."  Various  constructions  and  explanations  have  been  put  upon  this  aver- 
ment of  the  Lord,  seeing  that  so  much  of  the  world  is  evil,  and  that  even  Nature 
— especially  to  the  uneducated — seems  to  be  in  many  respects  deficient  in  her 
purposes.  No  more  striking  illustration  of  this  idea  can  be  found  than  in  the 
apparent  waste  of  forces  in  the  creation  of  the  "  dry  land  "  spoken  of  in  the 
tenth  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Especially  is  this  notable  in  a 
locality  deficient  in  productiveness,  which  is,  at  the  same  time,  surrounded  by 
territory  of  a  most  prolific  character.  And  here,  again,  in  this  township,  we 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  465 

observe  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator,  and  the  verification  of  that  declaration  of 
His,  that*it  is  "  all  good,"  while  the  ignorance  of  man  would  condemn  it.  The 
surface  of  the  township  of  Reed,  to  look  upon,  like  the  apples  of  Sodom,  is  all 
that  is  desirable ;  but  like  that  deceptive  fruit  to  the  agriculturist,  it  is  only  a 
source  of  sorrow.  For  a  number  of  years  after  the  first  settlement  was  made,  and 
the  first  attempt  made  to  induce  the  soil  of  Reed  to  return  to  the  toiling  laborer 
a  compensation  for  his  expenditure  of  strength  and  time,  it  was  believed  that 
this  section  was  a  failure,  and  numerous  tracts  were  sold  for  taxes  from  year 
to  year,  and  the  epithet  "land  poor"  seemed  to  apply  with  propriety  to  its 
owners.  But  behold  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator  !  In  this  region,  which  man  so 
irreverently  denounced,  was  stored  by  Him,  for  many  thousand  years,  an  article 
for  the  use  of  man's  extremity,  which  renders  this  one  of  the  most  valuable 
tracts  in  the  State.  All  hoarded  up,  eighty  feet  under  the  ground,  and  con- 
densed into  a  small  space,  is  suddenly  found  the  fuel  with  which  to  supply  the 
deficiency  that  had  always  been  felt  existed  in  the  prairie  country ;  and,  all  at 
once,  the  land  which  could  have  been  bought  "for  a  song  "  jumps  to  $100  per 
acre,  and,  within  the  space  of  ten  years,  a  city  of  five  thousand  inhabitants  buds 
and  blossoms,  as  it  were,  by  magic. 

Owing  to  a  scarcity  of  timber  and  a  want  of  water,  the  township  was  one 
of  the  latest  in  the  county  to  settle.  Twenty  years  before,  settlements  had 
been  made  along  the  Des  Planes  and  Kankakee.  Not  until  the  opening-up  of 
the  railroad  could  an  emigrant  be  induced  to  lose  sight  of  the  belt  of  timber 
lying  along  the  banks  of  the  streams  of  water.  When  that  event  transpired, 
and  fuel  and  other  commodities  were  transported  to  a  distance  from  their  place 
of  growth  or  manufacture,  a  life  on  the  prairie  began  to  appear  possible,  and 
this  section  began  to  develop.  Prior  to  1854,  the  date  of  the  event  named, 
probably  not  more  than  four  or  five  families  had  shown  the  hardihood  to 
venture  so  far  from  the  original  settlements.  William  Higgins,  who  came  to- 
this  vicinity  (being  just  a  few  rods  west  of  the  township  line,  in  Grundy 
County)  in  1850,  says  that  when  he  arrived  here,  James  Curmea  had  been 
living  on  Section  6  about  six  months.  Curmea  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  had 
been  peddling  through  the  country,  and,  becoming  tired  of  the  business,  settled 
at  the  point  mentioned.  He  entered  all  of  the  section,  and,  though  a  large 
land-owner  as  regards  real  estate,  he  was  poor,  the  soil  proving  to  be  of  a  very 
unfruitful  nature.  He  lived  on  his  land  until  1865,  when  thexdiscovery  of  coal 
in  this  section  suddenly  made  him  a  rich  man.  His  farm,  which  had  cost  him 
$1.25  per  acre,  and  which,  a  few  weeks  before,  could  have  been  bought  for  $10, 
was  considered  worth  $100 ;  and  shortly  after,  he  actually  sold  it  for  the  last 
price  named.  The  tract  now  belongs  to  the  Wilmington  Company.  Curmea 
took  his  money,  removed  to  Morris  and  started  a  bank,  in  which  business  he  is 
still  engaged.  P.  Kilgore  was  "squatting"  on  Section  4.  He  was  also  from 
the  Emerald  Isle.  In  1855,  he  sold  out  to  Frank  and  Thomas  O'Reilley, 
and  removed  to  Kankakee.  The  O'Reilleys  were  also  from  Ireland.  They 


466  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

still  reside  in  the  township.  William  Smith  was  a  Yankee,  from  the  hills  of 
Vermont.  He  could  scarcely  be  called  a  "  settler,"  as  his  business  was  that 
of  hunting,  and  his  home  was  wherever  his  dog  and  gun  could  be  found.  His 
range  was  from  the  head  of  the  Kankakee  to  its  mouth,  but  his  headquarters 
were  in  this  township.  The  report  of  his  rifle  years  ago  ceased  to  be  beard, 
and  then  it  was  known  that  "Smith  the  hunter"  Was  gone  to  a  "  happier  hunt- 
ing-ground." Patrick  and  James  Dwyer  came  in  1850.  They  are  still  here. 
William  Sterrett  and  Timothy  Keane  are  also  old  settlers,  and  still  reside  in 
the  township.  Dennis  Glenny  was  a  stone-cutter  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal.  He  is  another  native  of  Erin.  He  came  to  the  township  in  1856,  and 
still  resides  here.  Besides  those  already  named,  there  were  but  few  who  could 
lay  claim  to  being  permanent  settlers  ;  and  neither  were  there  any  additional 
settlements  until  the  discovery  of  coal.  Even  now,  there  are,  perhaps,  not 
more  than  twenty  families  outside  of  the  city  limits. 

Though  Reed  Township  was  organized  in  1850,  the  portion  now  embraced 
in  Ouster  contained,  until  1865,  nearly  all  the  inhabitants;  and,  though  Ouster 
is  but  three  years  old  in  name,  it,  and  not  Reed,  is  the  original  township;  so 
that  in  reality,  what  is  now  called  by  the  name  of  Reed,  is  a  new  town  with  the 
old  name.  The  division  occurred  three  years  ago,  on  the  petition  of  citizens  of 
the  eastern  portion  of  the  township.  As  now  constituted,  the  west  eighteen  sec- 
tions were  organized  April,  1875. 

The  present  officers  of  the  township  are:  John  Young,  Supervisor;  John 
Bamrick,  Clerk ;  Dennis  Downey,  Assessor ;  David  Francis,  Collector ;  Barney 
Higgins,  Dennis  La  Hynes  and  Henry  Roc,  Commissioners  of  Highways; 
Nathan  Goldfinger,  Henry  Hillman  and  Edwin  Wakefield,  Justices  of  the  Peace ; 
William  J.  Stewart,  John  Gaddis  and  J.  Randick,  Constables,  and  James 
Powers,  School  Treasurer. 

CITY   OF    BRAIDWOOD. 

In  many  respects,  this  city  is  peculiar,  and  in  its  growth  certainly  is  a  won- 
der; and,  to  any  but  inhabitants  of  the  West,  who  are  somewhat  used  to  such 
phenomena  as  a  large  city  springing  from  the  ground  in  a  decade,  it  would  be 
considered  a  marvel.  In  1865,  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Braidwood,  with 
its  five  thousand  inhabitants,  its  seven  churches,  its  three  schools  and  its  gigan- 
tic systems  of  mining  machinery,  was  simply  nothing  but  a  sea  of  tall  grass,  or 
in  the  Winter  a  boundless  field  of  snow,  reaching  out  to  meet  the  horizon,  with 
scarcely  a  cabin  intervening.  As  before  stated,  this  locality  was  considered 
almost  worthless,  with  only  a  few  unthrifty  farmers  scattered  through  the  neigh- 
borhood. In  1864,  William  Henneberry,  while  digging  a  well  discovered  the 
first  coal.  He  had  already  sunk  the  well  to  a  reasonable  depth,  but  had  failed 
to  find  water.  Procuring  a  drill  he  continued  his  search,  by  boring  to  a  greater 
depth.  When  about  eighty  feet  below  the  surface,  he  came  upon  what  proved 
to  be  a  fine  vein  of  coal.  As  soon  as  the  fact  became  known,  great  excitement 
prevailed,  and  a  shaft  was  sunk  at  a  point  known  as  Keeversville.  This  shaft 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  467 

fully  realized  the  expectations  of  its  projectors,  and  but  a  short  time  intervened 
before  works  of  simple  character  were  erected  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the 
product. 

Individual  and  small  company  enterprises  were  thenceforward  organized 
with  varying  success.  The  parties  originating  the  same  usually  having  more 
enthusiasm  than  capital,  their  efforts  generally  proved  comparative  failures. 

In  1865-66,  J.  D.  Bennet,  M.  B.  Killbourn,  C.  L.  Whitcomb,  Seth 
Turner  and  C.  D.  Wilbur  leased  some  land,  proposing  to  operate  for  coal. 
Wilbur  was  the  State  Geologist,  and  was  a  great  enthusiast  on  the  subject  of 
coal  desposits. 

Their  work  was,  however,  but  scarcely  begun,  when  a  company  of  gentle- 
man from  Boston  completed  an  organization  for  the  same  purpose,  and  Bennet 
and  his  company  sold  out  to  them.  The  Boston  organization  was  what  is  now 
known  as  the  Wilmington  &  Vermilion*  Coal  Company,  J.  M.  Walker  being 
President,  and  A.  T.  Hall,  Treasurer.  With  ample  means  at  their  command, 
the  success  of  the  work  was  fully  assured,  and  the  Company  has  continued  in 
successful  operation  ever  since  Though  the  demand  for  the  product  is  not  so 
great  as  formerly,  700  men  are  in  the  employ  of  the  Company  at  Braidwood. 
Of  these,  about  one-half  are  colored.  The  colored  portion  of  the  miners  work 
almost  exclusively  in  a  mine  by  themselves.  In  the  Summer  season,  when  the 
demand  for  coal  is  comparatively  limited,  the  workmen  are  employed  only  about 
one-half  the  time.  They  receive  in  Summer,  85  cents  per  ton,  and  in  the 
Winter,  90  cents.  The  average  work  of  a  day,  per  miner,  is  two  and  a  half 
tons.  Two  shafts  are  operated  by  the  Braidwood  detachment,  at  which  about 
10,000  tons  each  are  raised,  the  capacity  of  both  shafts  being  about  30,000 
tons  per  month.  In  addition  to  shafts,  engines  and  other  machinery,  the  Com- 
pany own  300  cars  with  which  they  transport  the  products  of  the  mines  to 
Chicago  and  other  markets.  They  also  run  two  general  stores,  at  which  the 
miners  obtain  most  of  the  necessary  articles  of  food  and  clothing.  One  of  these 
stores  is  located  near  the  offices  of  the  Company,  and  the  other  in  the  central 
part  of  the  business  portion  of  the  city.  The  managers  of  the  Wilmington 
Company's  works  at  this  place  are :  Esaias  Hall,  Superintendent,  and  H.  0. 
Alden  and  B.  F.  Washburn,  Clerks. 

The  Eureka  Mining  Company  commenced  operations  in  1865.  At  first  the 
enterprise  was  known  as  the  Rhodes  Coal  Company,  with  D.  P.  Rhodes  as 
President  or  Manager ;  but  subsequently  a  new  organization  was  formed  by  A. 
B.  Meeker,  D.  P.  Rhodes,  W.  L.  Brown,  C.  B.  Brown,  George  L.  Dunlap 
and  Perry  H.  Smith.  Of  these,  Meeker  was  President,  and  W.  L.  Brown  was 
Secretary  and  Treasurer.  With  the  exception  of  C.  B.  Brown,  withdrawn,  and 
H.  Pratt,  who  has  been  introduced  as  Secretary,  the  primary  organization 
remains  intact.  William  Maltaby,  the  present  Superintendent  of  the  mines,  has 
performed  the  duties  of  that  position  since  the  organization  of  the  Company. 

*The  Company  also  operate  mines  at  Streator,  on  the  Vermilion  River. 


468  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

The  Company  employ,  at  their  two  shafts,  425  men,  about  300  of  whom  are 
at  work  all  of  the  time,  the  remainder  waiting  their  turn  for  employment, 
which  is  given  to  all  from  two  to  four  days  each  week.  About  130,000 
tons  of  coal  are  raised  per  year,  the  capacity  of  the  shafts  being  over  200,000. 
The  total  expenses  of  the  Company  amount  to  about  $18,000  per  month.  Not 
only  are  the  minutiae  of  the  operations  of  the  two  companies  about  the  same, 
but  they,  with  the  companies  in  adjacent  townships,  unite  their  interests,  divid- 
ing profits  after  all  necessary  expenses  are  paid. 

James  Braidwood  has,  perhaps,  done  more  than  any  single  individual  to 
develop  the  coal  industry  in  this  region  than  any  other  man ;  especially  was 
this  the  case  in  its  early  history.  He  came  from  Scotland  to  America,  in  1863, 
and  to  this  vicinity,  in  1865,  and  assisted  in  sinking  most  of  the  early  shafts. 
In  1872,  he,  in  company  with  some  others,  sunk  the  Braidwood  shaft.  Sub- 
sequently, the  works  were  burned,  and,  in  1876.  he  started,  on  his  own 
resources,  the  shaft  now  known  as  the  Braidwood  shaft.  He  is  not  connected 
with  the  pool,  but  employs  his  men  and  sells  his  coal  at  prices  independent  of 
all  corporations,  most  of  his  product  being  disposed  of  to  the  Bridgeport  Rolling 
Mills  at  Chicago.  He  employs  about  eighty  men,  who  receive  85  cents  per 
ton  for  mining.  The  amount  of  coal  raised  at  this  shaft  is  130  tons  per  day. 
The  capital  invested  is  $20,000. 

The  appearance  of  the  city  is  remarkable  in  some  respects.  The  companies 
who  own  the  land  have  always  sold  lots  with  a  clause  in  the  deed,  reserving  the 
right  to  mine  the  coal  that  lay  beneath.  In  consequence,  we  find  a  whole  city, 
built  entirely  of  wood.  With  the  exception  of  a  small  brick  schoolhouse,  which 
antedates  the  coal  discovery,  and  a  bakery  rebuilt  a  year  or  two  ago  on  land 
which  had  already  been  undermined  and  had  settled,  there  are  no  stone  or  brick 
buildings ;  but  the  light  balloon  frames,  which  a  settling  of  the  earth  would  not 
injure,  are  universal.  The  vein  of  coal  here  is  from  three  to  three  and  a  half 
feet  in  thickness ;  and,  after  a  lead  has  been  worked  and  abandoned,  the  roof 
falls  in,  and  a  corresponding  depression  soon  after  makes  its  appearance  on  the 
surface  of  the  ground.  The  settling  is  quite  gradual,  and  is  usually  completed 
within  a  year.  In  time,  doubtless,  the  site  of  the  city  will  all  have  been  worked 
over ;  and,  after  some  sweeping  fire  which  sooner  or  later  comes  to  every  wooden 
town,  a  more  substantial  class  of  buildings  will  take  the  place  of  the  frame  struct- 
ures, and  the  city  will  put  on  a  more  presentable  appearance.  During  the  first 
year  or  two,  people  came  in  and  retired  so  rapidly  that  it  is  hard  to  say  who 
were  here  first.  Many  who  came  in  to  work  in  the  mines  left  as  suddenly  as 
they  came,  and  not  even  their  names  are  remembered.  Some  who  came  to  carry 
on  trade  made  their  stay  quite  brief,  and  are  not  entitled  to  notice  as  permanent 
settlers  of  the  town.  Others  who  worked  here  for  some  years,  yet  having  fam- 
ilies, relatives  or  friends  at  other  points,  never  considered  this  their  home. 
Among  those  who  came  to  the  place,  at  the  beginning,  was  William  Maltaby, 
Superintendent  of  Mines  for  the  Eureka  Company.  Mr.  Maltaby  is  a  native  of 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  469 

England,  where  he  worked  at  mining  before  coming  to  this  country.  In  1863. 
he  came  to  this  vicinity  on  a  kind  of  prospecting  expedition,  and  moved  to  the 
place  in  1866,  to  superintend  the  Company's  works.  He  has  been  in  their  em- 
ploy ever  since.  John  Young  is  a  Scotchman.  He  came  to  the  neighborhood 
in  1867,  and  worked  at  the  mines.  He  has,  by  industry  and  economy,  accumu- 
lated considerable  means,  and  is  now  engaged  in  merchandise.  His  residence 
in  this  city,  and  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-citizens,  have  made  him  quite 
popular.  He  is  the  present  Supervisor  of  Reed  Township.  Daniel  McLaugh- 
lin  came  in  1869.  He  was  also  a  native  of  Scotland,  and  a  miner.  He  is 
present  Mayor  of  the  city,  having  been  elected  to  that  office  in  1877.  Hon.  L. 
H.  Goodrich  was  the  first  Mayor  of  the  city,  being  elected  in  1873. 
Mr.  Goodrich  was  formerly  from  New  York  City,  but  had  lived, 
before  his  removal  to  this  place,  a  number  of  years  in  Gardner. 
From  the  latter  place,  he  was  elected  as  Representative  to  the  Twenty- 
ninth  General  Assembly  of  the  State,  and  re-elected  to  the  Thir- 
tieth. He  was  also,  for  six  successive  years,  chosen  from  that  township  as 
Supervisor,  and,  for  eight  years,  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He  is  at  present  in  the 
mercantile  trade.  Esaias  Hall  is  from  Vermont,  and  removed  to  this  place  in 
1866,  to  superintend  the  mines  of  the  Wilmington  Company.  He  is  still  in 
their  employ  in  the  same  capacity.  Robert  Huston  is  from  New  York  City. 
He  came  to  this  place  in  1870,  and  engaged  in  the  mercantile  trade.  John  H. 
Ward  is  a  native  of  Ireland.  He  came  to  Wilmington  and  resided  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  In  1866,  he  removed  to  this- locality,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
Within  five  years  of  the  laying-out  of  the  town,  which  occurred  in  1865, 
among  those  who  have  become  permanent  residents  and  at  the  same  time 
are  recognized  as  leading  citizens,  are  E.  W.  Felton,  David  Paden,  William 
Jack,  B.  F.  Sweet,  John  Broadbent,  Edward  Davidson,  Duncan,  Rankin, 
John  James,  William  Chalmers,  John  Barnett,  John  Cox,  B.  W.  Reese, 
W.  H.  McFarlane,  Meshach  Dando  and  Robert  Paden.  The  first  house 
within  what  is  now  the  site  of  Braidwood  was  the  little  brick  schoolhouse, 
already  referred  to. 

The  first  dwelling  erected  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  Paddy  Nary,  a 
miner  in  the  employ  of  one  of  the  first  mining  companies.  Daniel  Small  built 
the  first  house  designed  to  be  used  as  a  store,  and  J.  D.  Bennet  put  in  the  first 
stock  of  merchandise.  The  store-building  has  since  served  the  purpose  of 
schoolhouse  and  church.  Andrew  Benney  is  credited  with  the  building  of  the 
first  hotel.  Benney  was  a  miner,  and  built  the  hotel  for  the  accommodation, 
more  especially,  of  employes  of  the  mines.  He  is  now  a  resident  of  Missouri. 
Dwellings,  shops  and  stores  followed  so  fast  and  in  such  numbers  that  to  name 
them  or  their  projectors  and  builders  would  require  more  space  than  the  design 
of  this  work  would  permit.  Many  of  the  miners  have  bought  lots,  which  usually 
consist  of  a  half  and  in  some  cases  an  acre  or  more  of  ground,  and  built  them 
comfortable  little  homes. 


470  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

In  1873,  Braidwood  presented  the  unusual  example  of  a  community  organ- 
izing a  city  government  without  previously  having  incorporated  as  a  village.  In 
1872,  the  State  Legislature  passed  a  general  act  for  the  government  of  all 
towns  having  a  population  of  2,000  and  upward,  and  conferring  upon  them  the 
style  and  charters  of  rities.  Upon  this  basis,  it  was  found  that  Braidwood  had 
already  attained  that  number,  and  steps  were  accordingly  taken  to  carry  into 
effect  the  provisions  of  the  law.  A  primary  meeting  was  held,  and,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  sentiments  there  expressed,  an  election  was  decided  upon  to  take 
place  the  21st  of  April,  1873.  The  result  was  the  election  of  E.  W.  Felton, 
David  Paden,  William  Jack,  B.  F.  Sweet,  John  Cox  and  B.  W.  Reese,  as 
Aldermen ;  L.  H.  Goodrich,  Mayor ;  William  Chalmers,  City  Clerk ;  John 
Barnett,  Street  Commissioner ;  William  H.  McFarlane,  Police  Magistrate,  and 
Robert  Paden,  Marshal. 

In  1877,  Daniel  McLaughlin  succeeded  L.  H.  Goodrich  as  Mayor. 

The  present  officers  of  the  city  are :  John  Mclntyre,  John  Cox,  Frank 
Lofty,  John  Crelly,  Richard  Mulrooney,  Nicholas  Keon,  Richard  Phillips  and 
John  Broadbent,  Aldermen  ;  Daniel  McLaughlin,  Mayor ;  William  H.  Steen, 
Clerk ;  John  S.  Keir,  Treasurer ;  Patrick  Muldowney,  Marshal ;  William 
Mooney,  Attorney  ;  and  Meshach  Dando,  Police  Magistrate.  Of  the  Aldermen 
chosen  at  the  first  election  in  1873,  John  Cox  has  retained  his  place  in  the 
Council  ever  since.  The  voting  population  of  the  city  is  fully  1,000,  though 
940  votes  is  the  highest  number  yet  polled  at  any  election. 

Society  in  most  mining  districts  is  usually  considered  below  par,  but  not 
only  does  present  observation  prove  quite  contrary,  but  the  history  of  the  town 
and  its  benevolent,  Christian  and  educational  institutions  show  conclusively 
that,  in  this  instance,  the  moral  and  religious  features  compare  very  favorably 
with  other  towns  of  like  age  and  size. 

Braidwood  has  five  churches — the  Presbyterian,  Methodist  Episcopal,  Cath- 
olic, Congregational  and  Primitive  Methodist  — all  occupying  good  comfortable 
buildings,  besides  which  the  Mormons,  the  Colored  Methodists  and  Colored 
Baptists  hold  religious  services  and  contemplate  the  erection  of  houses  of  wor- 
ship. 

The  M.  E.  Church  held  religious  services  here  as  early  as  1867.  Rev.  A. 
C.  Price  was  the  first  preacher,  and  ministered  to  the  congregation  at  the  date 
named.  The  first  services  were  held  in  the  old  schoolhouse,  and  a  class  was 
formed  with  William  Anderson  and  wife,  William  Davids  and  father  and  mother, 
Samuel  Bales  and  wife  and  John  Runsey  and  wife  ;  and  these,  with  a  few  others, 
soon  after  organized  the  Church.  About  two  years  later,  the  society,  having 
increased  in  numbers  and  wealth,  built  their  present  house  of  worship.  It  is  a 
frame  building,  capable  of  seating  two  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  and  cost  the 
society  $2,000.  The  Church  has  been  quite  prosperous,  and  the  membership 
at  this  date  is  150,  of  which  the  Rev.  John  Rogers  is  Pastor.  In  connection 
with  the  Church  is  a  flourishing  Sunday  school  of  150  members,  under  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  471 

superintendence  of  L.  H.  Goodrich.  In  1871-72,  Rev.  R.  Davis,  a  missionary 
in  connection  with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  was  preaching  through  this  part  of 
the  State,  and,  amongst  the  points  visited  by  him,  was  this,  at  which  he  stopped 
and  preached  ;  and  it  was  through  his  influence  that  an  organization  of  this 
denomination  was  effected.  As  often  happens,  the  organization  of  the  Sunday 
school,  in  the  early  Spring  of  1872,  was  the  primary  move,  in  this  instance,  of 
the  more  decisive  measures  adopted  soon  after.  In  June,  of  the  year  mentioned, 
the  persons  of  that  persuasion  met  to  take  into  consideration  the  propriety  of 
establishing  a  church  of  this  denomination.  Among  the  original  members  were 
David  Paden,  John  James,  Duncan  Rankin,  William  Chalmers  and  E.  A.  Beadle, 
with  other  members  of  their  families.  At  this  time  they  held  meetings  in  what  is 
known  as  the  Grove  Schoolhouse.  Rev.  William  Penhalagan  was  the  first  reg- 
ular preacher  after  organization.  Rev.  Thomas  M.  Gunn,  now  of  the  First 
Church  of  Joliet,  was  subsequently  called  and  installed  Pastor  of  this  Church. 
He  resigned  in  1877,  to  take  charge  of  the  Joliet  congregation,  as  stated.  In 
1873,  the  society  began  the  erection  of  a  house  of  worship,  which,  though  still 
unfinished,  affords  for  them  comfortable  accommodations.  The  building  thus 
far  has  cost  about  $5,000,  and  is  40  feet  in  width  and  60  in  length.  The 
present  membership  is  130,  of  which  the  Rev.  John  Currier  is  the  stated  sup- 
ply. The  Sunday  school,  in  connection  with  this  Church,  is  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Duncan  Rankin,  and  numbers  about  one  hundred  and  forty. 

The  Catholic  organization  was  formed  by  Dr.  John  McMullin,  while  Pastor 
of  the  Wilmington  Church.  When  Dr.  McMullin  was  promoted  to  the  higher 
office  of  Vicar  General,  Father  Daniel  Riordan  succeeded  him  as  Pastor  of  this 
Church.  Afterward,  Father  Riordan  was  also  promoted  to  Secretary  and 
Chancellor  of  the  Diocese,  and  the.  vacancy  thus  occurring  was  filled  by  Father 
Thomas  O'Garra,  who  was  also  promoted,  being  called  to  serve  in  the  temple 
on  high.  Succeeding  Father  O'Garra  is  the  present  Pastor,  Rev.  R.  H. 
McGuire.  During  the  period  of  Dr.  McMullin's  administration,  the  original 
building  was  erected.  In  this  the  congregation  worshiped  until  1875,  when  the 
additions  of  the  front  and  back  were  made.  In  the  same  year,  the  parsonage 
was  built.  The  value  of  the  church  property  is  put  down  at  about  $10,000. 
About  two  hundred  and  fifty  families  worship  here.  The  strike  which  occurred 
in  1877  severely  affected  the  strength  of  the  Church.  Prior  to  this,  the  mem- 
bership was  nearly  twice  the  number  stated. 

The  Congregationalists  erected,  in  1873,  a  neat  little  building  for  church 
purposes.  It  is  about  28x32  feet,  and  cost  $800.  The  membership  at  present 
is  twenty-five,  all  of  Welsh  nativity,  and  services  are  conducted  in  that  language. 
Rev.  Griffith  Evans,  of  Braceville,  is  Pastor,  and  William  Davis  is  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Sunday  school.  The  Primitive  Methodists  have  a  small  house 
of  worship,  neatly  furnished.  Rev.  Julius  Marks  is  Pastor,  and  Thomas  Davy 
is  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school.  Besides  the  buildings  already 
named,  a  small  church-house  was  erected  some  years  ago  by  the  Welsh  Baptists, 


472  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

but  this  is  now  vacant.  The  Mormons,  to  whom  allusion  has  been  made,  are  of 
the  persuasion  who  cleave  to  Joseph  Smith,  and  disclaim  any  affiliation  with  the 
Salt  Lake  Mormons,  or  sympathy  with  their  peculiar  beliefs  and  practices. 
These  accept  the  Book  of  Mormon  as  an  additional  divine  revelation,  but  in 
other  respects  are  not  different  from  some  of  the  evangelical  Christians. 

The  strike  of  1877  had  the  effect  of  bringing  to  this  place  several  hundred 
colored  people,  who,  if  not  universally  known  to  be  practically  pious,  are  noted 
as  a  peculiarly  religious  people.  Though  very  poor,  and  mostly  ignorant,  they 
yet  hold  religious  services,  and  contemplate  the  erection  of  a  house  of  worship. 

The  Odd  Fellows  organized  a  lodge  of  that  Order  here  September  16,  1872, 
of  the  name  and.  number  of  Banner  Lodge,  No.  495.  Duncan  Rankin  was  the 
first  N.  G.;  Robert  Paden,  V.  G.;  John  Skinner,  Secretary;  and  William 
Neath,  Treasurer.  Duncan  Rankin  was  the  first  Representative  to  the  Grand 
Lodge,  and  continued  to  represent  the  Lodge  for  four  years.  The  present 
membership  of  the  Lodge  is  160.  John  Bark  ell  is  present  N.  G.;  James 
Fairley,  V.  G.;  James  Sims,  Treasurer ;  W.  H.  Steen,  Secretary ;  and  W.  W. 
Gallagher,  Representative.  Meetings  are  held  every  Wednesday  evening. 

A  year  and  a  half  later,  Diamond  Encampment,  No.  152,  was  established, 
with  John  Brown  as  C.  P.;  Robert  Meredeth,  S.  W.;  John  Peart,  J.  W.; 
Nicholas  Hoffman,  Treasurer;  William  Gallagher,  Scribe;  and  Thomas  Dur- 
ham, H.  P.  John  Stephenson,  William  Neath,  Theodore  Green  and  John 
Skinner  were  also  original  members.  The  present  officers  are :  Peter  Barr,  C.  P.; 
James  Hunter,  S.  W.;  J.  Jafrey,  H.  P.;  William  Rixon,  J.  W.;  John  Ste- 
phenson, Scribe;  and  Peter  Harwood,  Treasurer. 

The  Ancient,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  began  "work"  here  October  8, 
1873,  with  Alexander  Patterson  as  first  W.  M.;  Ira  R.  Marsh,  S.  W.;  Egbert 
W.  Felton,  J.  W.;  Robert  Dunlap,  Isaac  and  C.  Zeigler,  William  Campbell, 
John  Broadbent,  John  B.  Barnett,  E.  Davison,  W.  H.  Watson,  Thomas  Fergu- 
son, John  and  David  Skinner,  William  Chalmers,  Robert  Harrop  and  William 
White  were  also  charter  members.  They  now  have  a  membership  of  seventy. 
Their  hall,  recently  fitted  up,  is  a  model  of  neatness  and  taste.  Meetings  are 
held  on  the  first  and  third  Thursdays  of  each  month.  John  Broadbent  is 
present  Master;  F.  Packard,  S.  W.;  James  W.  Patterson,  J.  W.;  F.  M.  Salla- 
day,  Secretary;  J.  B.  Backus,  Treasurer;  E.  Davison,  S.  D.;  Winfield  Blood, 
J.  D.;  and  Peter  Abrams,  Tiler. 

The  educational  facilities  provided  by  the  inhabitants  of  Braidwood  consist 
of  three  large  two-story  buildings.  One  of  these  is  located  in  the  old  part  of 
the  town,  one  near  the  depot,  and  the  other  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Eureka  shaft. 
These,  like  all  other  buildings  of  the  city,  are  constructed  of  wood.  They 
afford  accommodation  for  at  least  one  thousand  pupils. 

One  of  the  efficient  adjuncts  to  the  means  of  educating  the  youth  and  the 
public  generally  is  the  public  library.  In  1876,  through  the  efforts  of  William 
Maltaby,  Superintendent  of  the  Eureka  Coal  Company,  $1,500  were  subscribed 


(DECEASED) 
JOLICT 


•  •< 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  475 

and  a  library  of  1,400  volumes  was  established.  The  enterprise,  though  only 
a  nucleus  of  what  it  is  designed  to  be,  is  duly  appreciated  by  the  reading  pub- 
lic, and  is  proving  a  real  blessing  to  the  community.  The  rooms  of  the  asso- 
ciation are  kept  open  all  of  the  time,  and  all  who  have  leisure  have  the  privilege 
of  visiting  the  place  and  consulting  the  volumes  to  be  found  there.  Mr.  Malt- 
aby  was  elected  first  President  of  the  association,  and  still  remains  such  officer. 
M.  Dando  is  the  present  Secretary.  The  most  effectual  means  of  disseminating 
general  information,  and  consequently  one  of  the  most  potential  for  general  and 
practical  education,  is  the  newspaper.  In  this  regard  Braidwood  is  fortunate 
in  having  established  the  only  daily  in  the  county  outside  of  Joliet.  The  his- 
tory of  the  press  in  this  city,  though  short,  has  been  varied  and,  until  lately, 
quite  precarious.  Several  attempts  were  made  to  established  a  paper  at  this 
point,  but  either  through  lack  of  fitness  on  the  part  of  the  publishers  or  of  ap- 
preciation on  the  part  of  the  public,  each  proved  a  failure.  Jacob  Warner  was 
the  first  to  embark  in  the  business,  and  started  the  News.  He  was  followed  by 
Thomas  Simonton  with  the  Journal.  Then  Fred  Dalton,  former  publisher  of 
the  Streator  Monitor,  began  the  publication  of  the  Republican.  The  first  num- 
ber appeared  June  17,  1875,  and  the  prospect  for  a  live  paper  appeared  fair. 
In  a  short  time,  however,  the  concern  became  so  involved  that  it  was  impossible 
to  proceed.  At  this  point,  Henry  H.  Parkinson,  of  Bloomington,  took  hold 
of  the  work,  and  through  his  untiring  efforts,  and  in  spite  of  discouragement, 
that  would  have  broken  down  many  men,  the  paper  has  not  only  lived,  but  has 
increased  in  circulation  and  popularity,  and  a  year  ago  bloomed  into  a  daily. 
Mr.  Parkinson,  prior  to  his  coming  to  this  place,  was  publishing  at  Blooming- 
ton  the  Anti-Monopolist.  The  undertaking  proved  to  be  a  failure,  and  absorbed 
all  of  the  means  at  his  command  ;  therefore,  when  he  arrived  at  Braidwood, 
he  was  in  such  an  embarrassed  condition  that  the  prospect  seemed  anything  but 
flattering.  However,  by  the  Summer  of  1877,  the  paper  had  gained  the  confi- 
dence and  support  of  the  people,  and  was  in  a  fair  way  to  permanent  success. 
Then  the  strike  took  place,  and  again  the  establishment  was  flat,  so  much  so 
that  its  proprietor  had  to  borrow  a  few  quires  of  paper,  and  with  this  the  lit- 
tle daily  was  started.  From  that  time  the  enterprise  has  been  prosper- 
ous, and  its  success  is  now  assured.  Mr.  Parkinson  has  his  office  all 
paid  for,  owns  the  building  in  which  it  is  kept,  and  the  paper  has  a  circulation 
of  over  five  hundred.  In  the  mean  time  two  other  attempts  have  been  made  to 
establish  papers  here.  Jacob  Warner  published  the  Braidwood  Herald  during 
the  political  canvass  of  the  Fall  of  1876.  In  1877,  R.  W.  Nelson  began  the 
publication  of  the  Daily  Phoenix  and  issued  a  few  numbers.  Since  the  panic 
of  1872—73,  many  of  the  capitalists  all  over  the  country  have  withdrawn  their 
means  from  manufactures  and  other  enterprises,  which  formerly  gave  employ- 
ment to  those,  who,  though  not  lacking  in  muscle,  brain  or  will  to  continue  the 
business,  were  yet  without  money  or  credit.  Thus  thousands  of  men  and 
women  all  over  the  country  were  without  the  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood. 


476  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

As  a  consequence,  a  competition  amongst  laborers  reduced  wages,  and  still 
many,  who  would  gladly  have  worked  for  smaller  hire,  had  nothing  to  do. 
Labor  arrayed  itself  against  capital  and  manufacturers  continued  to  withdraw 
their  means  and  invest  in  bonds  and  mortgages  which  were  not  threatened,  and 
which,  therefore,  they  considered  safer,  though  not  affording  as  great  profits. 
This  apparent  conflict  has  kept  increasing  until  absolute  necessity  on  the  one 
hand  and  safety  on  the  other  have  led  to  the  organization  of  opposite  parties. 
In  1877,  this  general  strife  culminated  in  a  strike  on  the  part  of  employes  in 
all  departments  requiring  labor.  Mechanics,  miners,  railroad  men  and  com- 
mon workmen  were  infected  with  a  premature  desire  to  suddenly  right  their 
fancied  or  real  wrongs.  Trains  were  stopped,  shops  were  closed  and  machinery 
of  all  kinds  stood  idle.  This  was  the  state  of  affairs  in  July,  1877.  On  the 
1st  of  April,  of  the  year  mentioned,  the  coal  companies  of  Braidwood  had 
asked  of  their  employes  a  reduction  of  15  cents  for  Summer  and  25  cents  for 
Winter  on  each  ton  of  coal  mined,  the  reduction  to  take  effect  at  once.  The 
men  would  not  accede  to  the  terms  proposed,  and  at  once  they  stopped  work, 
arguing  that  an  unfair  advantage  was  being  taken  of  them  in  that  many  of 
them  had  bought  lots  of  the  companies  and  had  improved  the  same,  making  it 
impossible  lor  them  to  remove  without  serious  loss.  The  companies  were  deter- 
mined, however,  and  to  keep  their  works  in  operation  brought  in  miners  from 
other  localities,  whom  they  employed  by  the  day.  After  a  month,  .several 
hundred  colored  miners  were  brought,  who  went  to  work  for  the'  companies  at 
the  reduction  formerly  proposed.  Though  deep  mutterings  were  heard  on  all 
sides  and  some  threats  were  made,  nothing  serious  took  place  and  hopes  were 
entertained  that  the  threatened  trouble  would  finally  blow  over.  But  toward 
the  last  of  July,  the  general  strikes  occurring,  and  riots  becoming  common  in 
many  places  throughout  the  land,  the  spirit  of  defiance  took  possession  of  the 
strikers,  and  they  determined  to  drive  out  the  "blacklegs,"  who,  upon, 
being  apprised  of  the  intention  of  the  strikers,  though  promised  protec- 
tion by  their  employers  and  the  county  authorities,  fled  from  the  city.  Some 
went  to  Wilmington,  some  to  Morris,  and  others,  who  could  obtain  no  means 
of  conveyance  for  themselves  and  families,  camped  on  the  prairie.  At  this 
juncture,  the  Sheriff  despairing  of  preserving  order,  the  Governor  was  called 
on  to  furnish  soldiers  to  quell  the  hourly- expected  outbreak.  Accordingly, 
Gov.  Cullom  ordered  1,300  soldiers  to  the  scene  of  the  trouble,  200  of  whom 
occupied  the  city  about  three  weeks,  the  others  returning  to  their  homes  in  a 
few  days.  On  the  appearance  of  the  soldiery,  the  "  blacklegs  "  returned  to  the 
city  and  resumed  work.  At  the  end  of  the  three  weeks  alluded  to,  the  excite- 
ment attending  the  riot,  as  well  as  the  disturbances  themselves,  ceased,  railroads 
were  in  operation,  factories  were  opened,  and  business  generally  was  as  brisk  as 
before,  and  this  community  partaking  of  the  modified  sentiment  prevailing  in 
other  parts,  the  trouble  which  had  for  some  weeks  threatened  bloodshed  was  at 
an  end.  Many  of  the  strikers  have  taken  their  former  places  in  the  mines, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  477 

and  some,  with  some  of  the  "blacklegs,"  have  departed  to  other  fields  of  labor. 
Peace  and  good  feeling  is  so  far  restored  that  the  visitor  sees  no  trace  of  the 
once  threatened  rebellion.  While  the  excitement  was  at  its  highest  pitch,  Gov. 
Cullom  visited  the  city  and  spoke  to  the  people,  counseling  peace  and  good 
order,  and  promising  protection  to  the  laborers  to  the  extent  of  the  full  power 
of  the  State  or  of  the  United  States  army.  The  soil  of  the  surrounding  country, 
though  but  poorly  adapted  to  agricultural  pursuits,  is  yet  quite  well  adapted  to 
grazing  and  the  dairy  business,  and  this  latter  industry  is  just  now  receiving 
attention.  A  creamery  or  cheese  factory,  now  in  successful  operation,  was 
established  here  last  Spring.  A  company  was  formed,  with  Duncan  Rankin  as 
President.  Buildings  were  erected  at  a  cost,  including  machinery,  of  $2,000. 
The  establishment,  though  in  its  infancy,  manufactures  150  pounds  of  butter 
and  900  pounds  of  cheese  per  day,  consuming,  for  the  purpose,  9,000  pounds 
of  milk.  The  product  is  shipped — the  cheese  to  Chicago  and  the  butter  to  St. 
Louis,  the  former  article  bringing  6J  cents  and  the  latter  25  cents  per  pound. 
The  principal  business  street  of  Braidwood,  extending  from  the  depot  to  the 
works  of  the  Eureka  Company,  is  built  up  on  both  sides  with  unbroken  lines  of 
stores,  shops  and  offices,  with  scarcely  a  vacancy,  except  the  narrow  cross, 
streets,  for  more  than  a  mile.  The  observer  can  but  imagine  what  a  blaze  will 
occur  here  some  time ;  and  it  can  only  be  a  matter  of  time,  the  greatest  wonder 
being  that  the  time  has  not  already  come.  There  will  then  be  active  work  for 
the  fire  company.  Realizing  this  state  of  affairs,  a  company  for  the  purpose  of 
controlling  the  fiery  element  was  organized  June.  1877,  with  James  S.  Patterson 
as  Fire  Marshal,  and  H.  H.  Parkinson,  Secretary.  The  implements  of  the 
company  consist  of  hooks,  ladders  and  trucks  usually  belonging  to  such  organ- 
izations. The  company  is  independent,  though  the  city  furnishes  all  apparatus 
necessary  for  use  in  their  duties.  The  balance  of  the  city,  though  built  of  the 
same  combustible  material,  yet  being  so  sparsely  built  and  occupying  so  much 
space,  is  less  likely  to  experience  a  general  conflagration.  The  space  occupied 
by  the  city  is  fully  two  square  miles. 

PLAINFIELD  TOWNSHIP. 

Plainfield  lays  claim  to  the  honor  of  the  first  settlement  in  Will  County. 
The  first  settlement  made  in  Walker's  Grove,  a  body  of  timber  just  south  of 
the  present  village  of  Plainfield,  dates  back  half  a  century  or  more.  Look  at 
the  figures,  1826 — 1878 !  Fifty-two  years  are  between  these  milestones. 
Thirty  years  are  the  average  of  a  generation's  life-time,  and  hence  the  earthly 
span  of  almost  two  generations  has  run  out  since  the  "pale  face  "  missionary 
pitched  his  tent  by  the  "side  of  the  river  of  waters,"  or  to  use  more  homely 
language,  since  the  old  soldier  of  the  cross,  Rev.  Jesse  Walker,  established  an 
Indian  mission  on  the  banks  of  the  Du  Page.  The  years  have  rolled  by, 
decades  have  faded  into  a  half-century,  since  white  people  began  to  exercise 


478  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

dominion  in  this  section — the  very  paradise  of  Will  County.  The  Indians  long 
ago,  the  lords  of  the  domain,  roaming  at  will  through  the  lofty  forests  and  over 
the  flower-decked  prairies,  live  now  only  in  fireside  legends,  and  this  beautiful 
region,  once  their  own  undisputed  hunting-grounds,  has  become  the  abode  of  the 
superior  race — the  white  man.  Cities,  towns  and  villages  have  taken  the  place 
of  the  red  man's  lodge  and  wigwam,  and  their  hunting-grounds  are  productive 
farms. 

It.  may  be  a  matter  of  question  as  to  whether  an  itinerant  preacher  of  the 
Methodist  Church  can  justly  be  termed  a  settler.  Their  home  is  where  duty 
and  the  work  of  the  Master  calls  them,  and,  like  Him  who  said,  "the  foxes 
have  holes,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  Man  hath  not 
where  to  lay  his  head,"  they  often,  and  in  those  early  days  on  the  wild  front- 
ier, were  forced  to  make  a  bed  of  the  green  earth,  with  the  blue  sky  to  serve  as 
drapery  for  their  couch.  Father  Walker  was  born  in  the  Old  Dominion,  in 
1766  ;  a  hundred  and  twelve  years  before  the  writing  of  these  pages,  and 
entered  the  ministry  on  probation  in  1804.  He  made  a  trip  to  Illinois,  a  kind 
of  tour  of  inspection,  in  1806,  in  company  with  William  McKendree  (after- 
ward Bishop  McKendree)  to  look  at  the  country.  Illinois  was  then  a  part  of 
Indiana,  and  being  highly  pleased  with  the  section  they  visited,  were,  aj  the 
next  meeting  of  Conference,  transferred  to  circuits  within  its  bounds.  The  fol- 
lowing extract  from  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  written  by  Hon.  George  H.  Woodruff, 
of  Joliet,  is  appropriate  here,  and  is  a  well-deserved  tribute  to  the  good  old 
preacher :  "  Walker  returned  from  this  Conference  to  his  family,  arriving  about 
noon — commenced  immediately  to  prepare  for  the  journey,  and  by  10  o'clock 
the  next  day,  he  and  his  family  were  on  the  way.  The  journey  had  to  be  made 
on  horseback,  and  four  horses  were  required — one  for  himself,  one  for  his  wife 
and  youngest  daughter,  and  one  for  his  oldest  daughter,  a  girl  of  sixteen,  while 
the  fourth  carried  the  stock  of  books,  which  was  part  of  the  outfit  of  a  Meth- 
odist preacher,  the  sale  of  which  aided  in  eking  out  their  scanty  salary. 
*  *  *  Jesse  Walker  became  an  able  and  efficient  preacher  of  Meth- 
odist Christianity  in  Illinois,  although  he  had  received  but  a  very  limited  educa- 
tion. In  1821,  we  find  him  reporting  to  Conference  in  respect  to  his  labors  as 
a  missionary  among  the  Indians,  and  it  was  in  this  capacity  he  came  to  Plain- 
field  in  1826,  -where  there  was  then,  and  for  several  years  subsequently,  an 
Indian  village.  In  1827,  he  was  Superintendent  of  Fox  River  Mission.  He 
is  said  to  have  held  the  first  camp  meeting  in  the  State,  and  the  first  quarterly 
meeting  in  Chicago,  and  also  to  have  preached  the  first  Protestant  sermon  in  St. 
Louis.  In  1829,  he  had  charge  of  the  Des  Planes  Mission,  and  formed  the 
first  class  at  Walker's  Grove."  His  son-in-law,  James  Walker,  accompanied  him 
to  Plainfield,  or  Walker's  Grove,  as  the  beautiful  grove  a  little  south  of  the  vil- 
lage was  then  called,  and  may  probably  be  termed  the  first  actual  settler  in 
Plainfield  Township,  if  not  in  Will  County.  His  claim  was  made,  we  believe, 
in  1828,  and  his  first  cabin  erected  in  1829.  James  Walker  was  from  Tennes- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  479 

see,  but  had  first  located  at  Ottawa,  and  was  a  prominent  man  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  county,  and  one  of  its  first  representatives  in  the  State  Legislature. 
He  brought  with  him  from  Ottawa  a  horse-power  mill,  which  he  set  up  and  at 
once  proceeded  to  business.  This  mill,  however,  will  be  referred  to  again,  fur- 
ther on.  Mr.  Walker,  together  with  Dr.  Bowen — so  often  mentioned  in  the 
history  of  Joliet — was  the  principal  lobbyist  in  engineering  the  act  through 
the  Legislature  for  the  formation  of  Will  County ;  and  after  its  organization  as 
a  county,  he  was  one  of  the  first  Commissioners,  Holder  Sisson  and  Thomas 
Durham  being  his  colleagues  in  that  capacity.  He  was  also  commandant  of 
"FortBeggs"  during  the  Sac  war,  which  is  more  fully  noticed  in  another 

page- 
Perhaps  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  give  the  following  extract  from  a  work  by 
Rev.  S.  R.  Beggs,  entitled  "Pages  from  the  Early  History  of  the  West  and 
Northwest,"  referring  to  Father  Jesse  Walker,  before  passing  to  the  further 
settlement  of  Plainfield.  In  speaking  of  the  first  session  of  the  Methodist 
Conference  held  at  Plainfield,  the  author  says:  "It  was  at  this  Conference  that 
we  resolved  to  remove  the  remains  of  Jesse  Walker  from  their  obscure  resting- 
place,  one  mile  south  of  our  cemetery.  I  think  it  was  in  the  Fall  of  1834  that 
I  performed  the  marriage  ceremony  which  united  him  to  his  second  wife.  He 
had  then  served  two  years  in  the  Chicago  Mission  station,  after  which  he  sus- 
tained a  superannuated  relation,  and  settled  on  a  small  farm  about  twelve  miles  west 
of  Chicago,  on  the  Des  Planes  River,  and  there  he  remained  until  he  changed  the 
cross  for  the  crown,  on  the  5th  of  October,  1835.  He  was  buried  in  Plain- 
field,  and  there  rested  until  his  sons  in  the  Gospel  resolved  to  remove  his 
remains  to  their  present  resting-place.  When  the  hour  arrived  for  the  inter- 
ment, the  Conference  adjourned  and  marched  in  solemn  procession  to  the  grave. 
The  remains  of  his  first  wife  had  been  disinterred,  and  brought  to  be  buried 
with  him.  In  one  large  coffin  the  bones  were  placed,  and  laid  as  nearly  in 
their  natural  order  as  possible.  It  was  a  season  of  great  solemnity,  both  to  our 
village  and  to  the  Conference.  It  had  been  arranged  that  there  should  be  several 
speakers  to  bear  testimony  to  the  zeal  of  this  untiring  servant  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord  before  the  coffin  was  concealed  from  our  sight.  As  I  had  known  him 
personally  longer  than  any  one  present,  I  was  to  lead  in  the  remarks.  After 
singing  and  prayer,  I  proceeded  to  give  a  concise  history  of  his  arrival  in  this 
State,  as  a  missionary,  in  the  Fall  of  1806,  his  extensive  and  different  fields  of 
labor,  and  especially  our  labors  in  the  Central  and  Rock  River  Conferences. 
Rev.  J.  Scarritt,  who  followed,  was  very  happy  in  his  remarks  in  portraying 
the  untiring  labors,  great  usefulness  and  happy  death  of  this  unexcelled  mis- 
sionary." This  seems  but  a  fitting  tribute  to  the  faithful  old  servant  of  the 
Lord,  and  who  is  generally  termed  the  first  white  settler,  not  only  of  Plainfield 
Township,  but  of  Will  County. 

Rev.  S.  R.  Beggs,  another  veteran  Methodist  preacher,  is  an  early  settler 
at  Plainfield,  and  the  oldest  settler  of  the  place  now  living.      He  settled  here 


480  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

in  the  Summer  of  1831,  near  where  he  still  lives.  Father  Beggs  was  born  in 
Rockingham  County,  Va.,  in  1801,  and  when  4  years  old  his  father  removed 
to  Kentucky,  where  he  remained  two  years,  and  then  settled  in  Clarke  County, 
Ind.,  on  the  Ohio  River,  seventeen  miles  above  the  falls.  Here  the  family 
were  subjected  to  all  the  privations  incident  to  a  new  home  in  a  great  wilder- 
ness, that  of  chills  and  fever  being  included.  As  an  illustration  of  the  times, 
Mr.  Beggs  says  he  was  7  years  old  before  he  ever  possessed  the  luxury  of  a 
pair  of  shoes.  At  an  early  age  he  entered  the  ministry,  and  became  an  itiner- 
ant Methodist  preacher,  laboring  in  Indiana,  Missouri  and  Illinois,  settling,  as 
above  stated,  at  Plainfield  in  1831.  To  show  the  hardships  those  early  preach- 
ers underwent  to  plant  the  Gospel  in  the  wilderness,  we  again  quote  from  Father 
Beggs'  book.  Referring  to  his  year's  labor,  he  says ;  "  My  quarterage  this 
year  was  $23  ;  my  clothing,  that  I  had  brought  from  home,  was  by  this  time  so 
nearly  worn  out  that  it  was  necessary  to  replace  it  with  new.  Some  of  the 
sisters  spun  wool  and  made  me  a.  coat  of  blue  and  white  cotton,  a  pair  of  white 
cotton  pants  and  one  of  mixed.  One  of  the  brothers  gave  me  his  old  hat, 
which  I  got  pressed,  and  then  I  was  fitted  out  for  Conference."  Think  of  this, 
ye  high-salaried,  stall-fed  pastors,  who  proclaim  the  Word  from  marble  desks, 
in  gilded  temples,  resplendent  in  your  broadcloth  and  white  cravats!  Think 
ye,  will  not  these  self-denying  men  of  God,  who  braved  danger,  hunger  and 
cold  to  spread  the  Gospel,  receive  the  brighter  crown  when  they  arrive  in  the 
Kingdom  ?  We  are  not  writing  a  religious  history  of  the  country,  but  the  long 
associations  and  administrations  of  Fathers  Beggs  and  Walker  in  this  particu- 
lar portion  of  Will  County,  are  so  interwoven  and  connected  with  its  history  that 
to  omit  it  would  be  to  leave  out  the  most  important  part  of  it.  In  1836,  Mr. 
Beggs  was  appointed  to  the  Joliet  Circuit,  and  commenced  the  work  of  build- 
ing the  first  Methodist  Church,  also  the  first  church  edifice  in  Joliet,  as  noticed 
in  the  first  part  of  our  work.  During  the  Sac  war,  his  house,  then  considered 
the  strongest  building  in  the  Plainfield  settlement,  was  constructed  into  a  fort. 
Two  log  pens  which  he  had  built  for  a  barn  and  shed,  were  torn  down  and  made 
into  fortifications  around  his  house,  into  which  the  settlers  all  crowded.  But 
Indian  outrages  growing  more  alarming  every  day,  it  was  finally  decided  to 
risk  trying  to  get  to  Chicago.  The  settlers  were  formed  into  a  company,  and 
James  Walker  elected  Captain.  Being  only  teams  enough  to  carry  the  people, 
their  effects  were  left  behind,  many  of  which  were  taken  or  destroyed  by  the 
Indians  before  the  whites  were  permitted  to  return.  But  the  cloud  of  war 
rolled  away  before  Scott's  legions,  and  the  people  could  finally  return  in  safety 
to  their  homes. 

In  1829,  a  Frenchman  of  the  name  of  Vetel  Vermette  settled  at  Plainfield. 
He  did  not  remain  very  long  in  the  settlement,  however,  but  sold  his  claim  to 
Jedediah  Woolley,  Sr.,  and  left  for  some  other  land.  Of  him  very  little  is 
known,  as  few  are  living  who  remember  him.  In  the  Summer  of  1830,  Reuben 
Flagg,  from  Vermont,  came  to  Plainfield  with  his  family.  He  was  two  months 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  481 

on  the  road,  and  arrived  in  the  settlement  on  the  9th  of  July.  Chicago  at  the 
time  consisted  of  about  a  dozen  houses,  mostly  the  huts  of  Indian  traders  and 
half-breeds.  From  Detroit,  Flagg  was  accompanied  by  Woolley,  noticed  as 
buying  out  the  Frenchman  Vermette.  In  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Flagg  to 
H.  N.  Marsh,  in  1851,  he  stated  that  when  he  settled  at  Plainfield,  there  were, 
besides  Walker  and  Vermette,  Timothy  B.  Clarke  and  Thomas  Covel,  and  that 
he  knew  of  no  others  then  in  the  county,  except  three  families  on  Hickory 
Creek,  viz.,  a  Mr.  Rice,  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  Kercheval,  and  the  nearest  white 
settler  on  the  west  was  at  Dixon's  Ferry.  He  is  said  to  have  hauled  the  lum- 
ber to  Chicago  to  build  the  first  frame  house  erected  in  that  city,  and  which  was 
sawed  in  James  Walker's  saw-mill,  on  the  Du  Page,  near  Plainfield. 

Timothy  B.  Clarke,  from  Trumbull  County,  Ohio,  came  to  Plainfield  in  1830. 
He  emigrated  to  Illinois  in  1820,  and  settled  in  Tazewell  County  when  that 
part  of  the  State  was  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness.  He  remained  there  about 
«ight  years,  when  he  removed  to  Fort  Clarke  (now  Peoria),  remaining  there  a 
year  or  two,  and  moved  up  and  made  a  claim  within  seven  miles  of  Ottawa. 
This  claim  he  afterward  sold  to  Green,  who  built  a  mill  on  it,  so  extensively 
patronized  by  the  early  settlers  of  Northern  Illinois,  many  coming  to  it  from  a 
distance  of  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  miles.  From  this  place,  Mr.  Clarke 
removed  to  the  Plainfield  settlement,  as  already  noted,  in  1830.  This  was  before 
the  Sac  war,  and  the  Indians,  who  were  quite  plenty  in  the  neighborhood,  were 
friendly  disposed,  but  exceedingly  troublesome.  They  would  go  into  the  fields 
and  help  themselves  gratuitously  to  corn,  potatoes  and  anything  else  they  wanted, 
without  so  much  as  "By  your  leave,  sir."  He  could  not  stay  there  in  peace, 
and  so,  in  1834,  moved  up  into  Dupage  Township,  near  Barber's  Corners.  He 
had  several  sons,  one  of  whom,  B.  B.  Clarke,  is  a  prosperous  merchant  in 
Lockport,  where  he  has  been  since  1868.  The  elder  Clarke  was  a  carpenter 
and  builder,  and  erected  the  first  frame  house  in  Chicago,  then  a  little  suburban 
village  in  this  section  of  the  country.  In  that  house  the  Indians  were  paid  off 
before  leaving  for  their  new  hunting-grounds  toward  the  setting  sun.  He 
removed  to  Missouri  in  1835,  and  from  there  to  Iowa  in  1847,  but  returned  to 
Dupage,  and  died  at  his  son's  in  1848.  B.  B.  Clarke  was  16  years  old  when 
his  father  removed  to  Plainfield,  in  1830,  and  remembers  distinctly  the  Indian 
troubles  of  that  rather  stormy  period.  He  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war,  first 
in  Walker's  company,  which  soon  disbanded,  however,  and  afterward  enlisted  in 
Capt.  Sisson's  company.  During  the  most  perilous  times,  he  went  from  Plain- 
field  to  Ottawa  with  a  team  after  provisions,  with  a  guard  of  only  four  men. 
They  made  the  trip  in  safety,  though  several  hats  were  found  along  the  trail 
pierced  by  bullets,  whose  wearers  had  been  murdered  by  the  Indians.  Mr. 
Clarke  says  that  when  his  father  first  removed  to  Plainfield,  the  nearest  mill  was 
in  the  vicinity  of  Peoria,  distant  130  miles.  His  father  went  there  once  to  mill 
— bought  grain  there  to  save  hauling  it  both  ways — and  the  "  rainy  season  " 
setting  in,  the  waters  arose  (there  were  no  bridges)  and  as  a  consequence,  he 


482  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

was  gone  six  weeks.  His  family,  in  the  meantime,  had  to  live  on  potatoes,  and 
by  pounding  corn  in  a  kind  of  mortar,  which  was  sifted  and  the  finest  of  it  was 
made  into  bread,  and  the  coarse  into  hominy.  The  elder  Clarke  was  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1812,  and  had  a  soldier's  claim  to  land  in  the  Military  District 
lying  between  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers,  and  had  bought  the  claims  of 
other  soldiers  to  lands  there.  He  sold  a  quarter- section  of  land  in  this  military 
territory  for  $75,  and  took  pay  in  augers,  which,  next  to  the  ax,  was  the  prin- 
cipal implement  used  by  the  pioneer.  He  also  had  a  claim  to  canal  lands  in 
Dupage  Township,  a  part  of  which  is  now  owned  by  his  son,  B.  B.  Clarke. 
The  latter  went  to  California  in  1850,  overland  with  teams,  and  was  five  months 
on  the  way.  He  remained  about  two  years  in  the  Golden  State,  and  then 
returned  to  the  old  home.  A  brother,  Hiram  Clarke,  went  out  in  1849,  when  the 
goldfever  first  broke  out,  and  William,  another  brother,  went  with  his  brother  B.  B.r 
in  1850.  At  this  latter  period,  so  many  had  crossed  the  plains  with  teams  that 
the  grass  had  been  devoured  by  their  stock  for  a  space  of  two  miles  on  both  sides 
of  the  trail,  and  they  would  take  their  teams  in  the  evening  to  the  grazing  and 
remain  by  them  during  the  night  to  prevent  their  being  stolen.  William  and 
Hiram  Clarke  still  live  in  California.  Mr.  Clarke  tells  the  following  incident 
of  the  early  times :  He  and  one  of  his  brothers  took  a  lot  of  ponies  to  Chi- 
cago, for  the  purpose  of  selling  them  to  the  Indians  when  they  received  their 
stipendiary  remuneration,  as  Wilkins  Micawber  would  put  it,  and  stable  accom- 
modations being  more  meager  then  than  now  in  the  Garden  City,  could  find  no 
barn  in  which  to  put  their  stock,  were  forced  to  turn  them  loose  in  a  lot.  Hear- 
ing a  racket  among  them  during  the  night,  his  brother  went  out  to  learn  the 
cause,  when  he  found  an  Indian  trying  to  get  them  out.  Without  a  word,  he 
fell  upon  the  savage  with  his  big  horse- whip,  and  the  faster  he  ran  the  faster  he 
rained  the  blows  upon  him,  the  Indian  indulging  in  the  guttural  Ugh  !  Ugh ! 
every  jump.  Arriving  at  the  fence,  he  made  no  effort  to  climb  it  in  the  ordi- 
nary way,  but  scrambled  to  the  top  and  fell  over  on  the  opposite  side.  This 
caused  them  some  alarm,  lest  he  should  return  with  assistance,  but  the  night 
passed  without  further  molestation. 

Another  of  the  very  first  in  this  settlement  was  Thomas  Covel.  He  came 
from  Ohio  in  1830,  made  a  claim  near  Plainfield  village  where  he  remained  for 
a  time,  then  sold  out  and  moved  up  on  Salt  Creek,  where,  some  years  later,  he 
died.  Though  one  among  the  very  first  settlers,  beyond  this  no  information  of 
him  could  be  obtained.  John  Cooper,  a  brother-in-law  of  Clarke's,  came  from 
Ohio  in  1830.  After  remaining  in  this  place  a  few  years,  removed  to  Iowa, 
and  from  Iowa  to  California  in  1852,  and  resided  there  until  his  death,  in  1872. 
James  Gilson  was  another  of  the  early  ones  whofeettled  herein  1830.  He  came 
from  Tennessee,  and  lived  near  the  village,  and  kept  a  shop  on  his  farm  and 
did  quite  a  business  in  repairing  guns.  He  was  a  pioneer  by  nature,  and  when 
the  country  began  to  settle  up  around  him,  he  "  moved  on  "  to  Iowa  in  search 
of  a  location  more  congenial  to  his  tastes,  and  there  died.  From  New  York,  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  483 

settlement  of  Plainfield  received  John  and  Benjamin  Shutliff  and  Jedediah 
Woolley,  Sr.  John  Shutliff  and  Woolley  came  in  1832,  and  the  former,  after 
a  few  years,  sold  out  and  moved  away,  but  where  we  could  not  learn.  Woolley 
bought  out  Vermette  the  Frenchman,  then  sold  the  claim  to  Rev.  Beggs  and 
improved  another  farm  on  the  east  side  of  the  grove,  on  which  he  lived  several 
years,  sold  it  and  removed  into  Troy  Township,  about  eight  miles  from  Plain- 
field.  Beniamin  Richarddoh  was  from  the  East.,  but  what  State  could  not  learn. 

•        *  A 

He  settled  here  in  1834,  and  in  a  year  or  two  moved  to  Joliet,  where  he  is  no- 
ticed further.  Benjamin  Shutliff  settled  in  this  town  in  1834,  and  was  a  brother 
of  John  Shutliff.  In  a  few  years,  he  moved  "  West  to  grow  up  with  the  country." 
Jonathan  Hagar  was  born  in  the  city  of  Quebec,  C.  E.,  and,  when  10  years  of 
age,  removed  with  his  parents  to  Vermont,  where  he  resided  until  1829,  when 
he  came  West  and  settled  in  Michigan,  and  five  years  later  removed  to  Ohio. 
In  1835,  he  came  to  Plainfield,  making  the  journey  from  Cleveland  to  Detroit 
by  steamer,  and  from  thence  to  Chicago  by  stage.  The  village  had  been  laid 
out  the  year  before  (1834)  by  Chester  Ingersoll,  as  elsewhere  stated,  and  con- 
tained, on  Mr.  Hagar's  arrival,  a  blacksmith-shop,  tailor-shop,  a  wagon-shop, 
two  taverns,  and  perhaps  one  or  two  other  houses,  of  which  a  man  named  Royce 
owned  a  shop,  in  which  he  manufactured  fanning-mills.  James  Gilson  had  a 
shop  on  his  farm,  and  being  quite  a  genius,  did  an  extensive  business  in  repair- 
ing guns.  Robert  Chapman  lived  near  the  village,  and  now  lives  in  Elwood.  Mr. 
Hagar  was  one  of  the  first  merchants  of  Plainfield,  and  has  always  been  one  of 
its  active  and  enterprising  business  men.  He  remembers  when  he  could 
stand  in  his  store  door  of  mornings  and  see  the  wolves  scampering  across 
the  open  common  of  the  village.  Jason  Flanders  came  from  New  Hampshire 
in  1834,  and  settled  in  Plainfield  Township.  He  came  overland  in  wagons  to 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  thence  by  water  to  Detroit,  and  the  remainder  of  the  way  by  land, 
arriving  at  his  destination  in  June.  He  had  six  children,  one  of  whom  is  the 
present  State's  Attorney  of  Will  County,  Hon.  James  R.  Flanders,  of  Joliet. 
A  few  years  after  his  settlement  in  Plainfield,  Mr.  Flanders  built  a  house  of 
hewn  logs,  "  sided  "  it  with  walnut,  finished  it  inside  with  walnut,  upper  story 
walls,  floor  and  ceiling  finished  in  walnut,  neatly  "  planed,"  and  after  it  was  all 
finished  in  fine  style,  had  it  immediately  whitewashed,  showing  how  much  a  fine 
walnut  finish  was  appreciated  in  those  days.  He  and  his  neighbors  used  to  cut 
timber  in  the  Plainfield  woods,  have  it  sawed  into  boards,  and  then  haul  them  to 
Chicago  to  build  some  of  the  first  frame  houses  put  up  in  that  city.  He  used  to 
tell  a  story  of  a  man  that  accompanied  him  on  one  of  these  trips,  who  had  a  fine  In- 
dian pony,  and  was  bantered  to  trade  by  a  stranger,  who  offered  him  forty  acres 
of  land  in  Chicago.  Completing  the  trade  and  making  out  the  papers,  they  started 
the  next  morning  to  look  up  the  land.  After  proceeding  a  short  distance,  they 
had  to  take  a  boat  and  rowing  out  a  little  way,  "  There,"  said  the  man,  "your 
land  is  rightabout  here,  under  this  water."  The  purchaser  considered  himself 
"  sold,"  but  wisely  determined  to  hold  the  land — probably  because  he  could 


484  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

not  sell  it — and  years  afterward  sold  it  for  $80,000.  Another  man  offered  to 
trade  Mr.  Flanders  a  tract  of  land  that  was  "  in  sight "  for  one  of  his  horses, 
but  he  declined  it.  Had  he  made  the  trade,  and  held  the  land  until  the  proper 
time,  it  would  have  made  him  a  millionaire.  He  lived  a  highly  respected  citi- 
zen of  Plainfield,  and  died  a  few  years  ago  at  a  ripe  old  age. 

The  Green  Mountain  State  furnished  the  settlement  Lorin  Burdick,  S.  S. 
Pratt,  Oliver  Goss,  Thomas  Rickey,  Deacon  Goodhue  and  Hardy  Metcalf. 
Burdick  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Plainfield — a  man  of  exalted  charity 
and  benevolence  and  an  enterprising  citizen.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of 
1812,  and  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  battle  of  Plattsburg;  had  one  son  in  the 
Mexican  war,  and  three  in  the  late  war ;  and  a  brother,  Timothy  Burdick,  also 
a  soldier  of  1812,  died  of  sickness  in  the  army  in  Mexico  during  that  war. 
We  extract  the  following  from  the  Plainfield  correspondence  of  the  Commercial 
Advertiser.  Speaking  of  Mr.  Burdick,  it  says  :  *  *  "  He  hauled  the  first 
lumber  from  Chicago  used  in  building  the  Court  House  in  Joliet ;  hewed  the 
timber  used  in  building  the  first  bridge  across  the  Du  Page  at  Plainfield,  and 
assisted  in  building  the  first  saw-mill  in  this  section  of  the  country,  located  on 
the  Du  Page ;  also  in  erecting  the  first  church,  the  first  schoolhouse  in  Plain- 
field,  and  the  first  hotel  in  Lockport.  He  donated  liberally  in  money  toward 
purchasing  the  land  for  the  first  burying-ground,  and  assisted  in  laying  it  out, 
and  is  one  of  the  early  settlers  to  whom  Plainfield  owes  her  existence.  His  sud- 
den illness,  resulting  in  death  August  3,  1878,  was  caused  by  taking  Paris  green 
through  mistake  for  sulphur,  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  using.  Deacon 
Goodhue  settled  here  in  1832.  He  entered  land  about  a  mile  northeast  of 
Plainfield  village,  on  ihe  Chicago  road,  and  when  he  died  in  1856,  still  lived  on 
his  original  claim  where  he  settled  forty -six  years  ago.  Goss  came  to  the  set- 
tlement in  1834,  and  made  a  claim  just  south  of  the  village,  where  he  died  in 
1842.  Metcalf  came  in  1834  or  1835,  made  a  claim,  sold  out  and  moved  away 
many  years  ago — where,  no  one  now  remembers.  Pratt  settled  in  the  township 
in  1835,  where  he  still  lives.  Rickey  settled  here  in  1834,  and  died  more  than 
thirty  years  ago. 

William  Bradford,  Daniel,  Chester  and  Enoch  Smith,  Chester  Ingersoll, 
John  Bill  and  J.  E.  Matthews  came  from  the  old  Bay  State — the  home  of 
Charles  Francis  Adams  and  Ben  Butler.  The  Smiths  settled  in  the  town 
in  1832.  David  sold  out  and  died  soon  after ;  Chester  went  to  Wisconsin  in 
1833,  and  what  became  of  Enoch  no  one  now  remembers.  Chester  Ingersoll 
was  here  during  the  Sac  war,  and  has  a  son  now  living  in  Homer  Township. 
He  laid  out  the  south  part  of  the  village  of  Plainfield,  sold  out  his  lots  and 
entered  other  lands  three  miles  northeast  of  the  village  ;  improved  a  large  farm, 
sold  it  ultimately,  and,  in  1849,  went  to  California,  where  he  died  some  years 
later.  Bradford  settled  here  in  1834.  He  entered  land  below  the  village  of 
Plainfield,  on  which  he  died  the  year  following.  John  Bill  was  a  wagon-maker 
by  trade,  the  first  mechanic  of  that  "stripe"  in  the  settlement,  and  located 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  485 

here  in  1834.  He  entered  land  and  made  a  claim  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  the  village,  where  he  lived  until  about  two  years  ago,  when  he  removed  to 
Maryland,  and  died  soon  after.  Matthews  came  to  the  settlement  in  1831,  and 
made  a  claim  on  the  river  just  above  the  present  village  of  Plainfield.  In  1835, 
he  built  a  mill  here  which,  with  some  additions  and  improvements,  is  still  doing 
service  in  that  line.  B.  B.  Clarke  says  he  helped  to  raise  it,  and  very  distinctly 
remembers  of  some  rather  heavy  lifting  at  the  green  timbers.  Matthews  went 
to  Oregon  when  people  first  began  to  emigrate  to  that  magnificent  country. 
Another  early  settler  of  Plainfield  was  John  Fish,  who  came  to  the  place  as 
early  as  1833.  He  was  from  Indiana,  and  in  a  short  time  moved  up  on  Salt 
Creek,  fourteen  miles  west  of  Chicago,  where  he  died.  Edmund  Reed  came 
from  Kentucky  in  1833-34,  and  finally  moved  up  near  Racine,  and  whether  he 
is  yet  alive  could  not  be  learned.  W.  W.  Wattles  also  settled  here  in  1833. 
He  came  here  from  Chieago,  but  his  native  place  could  not  be  ascertained.  He 
bought  out  Timothy  B.  Clarke,  finally  sold  out  himself,  and  moved  up  north  of 
Chicago.  Robert  Chapman,  Scofield  and  a  few  other  early  settlers  located  about 
Plainfield  and  Walker's  Grove,  concerning  some  of  whom  but  little  informa- 
tion could  be  obtained. 

This  includes  the  early  settlers  of  Walker's  Grove,  as  Plainfield  was  called, 
up  to  1834  or  1835,  or  at  least  all  of  whom  we  have  been  able  to  learn  anything 
definite.  Since  that  date,  the  town  has  settled  up  and  increased  in  population 
until,  from  the  few  names  here  given,  it  had  at  the  last  census,  in  1870,  about 
eighteen  hundred  inhabitants,  with  as  handsome  a  little  village  as  may  be  found 
in  Will  County.  As  a  township,  Plainfield  is  described  as  Town  36  north, 
Range  9  east,  and  lies  in  the  western  tier  of  towns,  with  Wheatland  on  the 
north,  Lockport  on  the  east,  Troy  on  the  south,  and  Kendall  County  on  the 
west.  The  Du  Page  River  flows  through  the  town  from  north  to  south,  thor- 
oughly watering  and  draining  the  country  along  its  course.  A  peculiarity  of 
the  stream  in  this  section  is  displayed  by  the  two  Lilly-Caches,  a  couple  of  little 
brooks  that  have  their  source  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  each  other,  one  flow- 
ing very  nearly  south  into  the  Du  Page,  the  other  due  west  into  the  Des  Planes 
— one  dull,  dark  and  sluggish,  the  other  clear,  bright  and  pure  as  crystal  drops. 
Plainfield  is  mostly  high,  rolling  prairie,  except  the  grove  of  timber  that  lined 
the  Du  Page  River,  and  as  farming  lands,  is  not  excelled  in  the  county,  nor 
perhaps  in  the  State.  No  railroads  pass  through  it,  but  it  is  devoted  almost 
wholly  to  agriculture.  The  old  Indian  boundary,  mentioned  in  the  general 
history,  crosses  diagonally  the  northwest  corner,  and  the  plankroad  from 
Joliet  to  Plainfield,  one  of  the  first  regularly  laid  out  roads  in  the  county,  is 
still  a  great  thoroughfare  of  travel,  though  the  "  plank  "  does  not  make  much 
show. 

The  first  white  child  born  in  Plainfield  Township,  of  whom  there  is  any 
definite  information  to  be  had,  was  Samantha  E.  Flagg,  a  daughter  of  Reuben 
Flagg,  and  was  born  September  9,  1830.  This  is  also  supposed  to  have  been 


486  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

the  first  birth  among  the  whites  in  "Will  County.  The  first  death  was  that  of 
Albert  Clarke,  in  1831,  a  son  of  Timothy  B.  Clarke,  mentioned  among  the 
first  settlers  of  Walker's  Grove.  The  first  marriage  remembered  was  James 
Turner  to  a  Miss  Watkins,  in  1831  or  1832,  and  were  married  by  Rev.  Mr.  Beggs. 
The  first  physician  who  ever  practiced  medicine  in  this  neighborhood  was  Dr. 
E.  G.  Wight.  He  came  from  Massachusetts  and  settled  in  Naperville  in  1831, 
and  the  circle  of  his  practice  was  bounded  by  Chicago,  Mineral  Point,  Ottawa 
and  Bourbonnais  Grove,  and  was  more  than  a  hundred  miles  across  either  way. 
He  built  the  first  frame  house  in  Naperville,  and  removed  to  Plainfield  in  1847, 
but  had  been  practicing  here  since  1831.  He  died  in  1865.  He  became  blind 
when  scarcely  past  middle  life,  and  for  eight  years  his  son,  R.  B.  Wight,  went 
with  him  on  his  professional  visits  and  led  his  horse.  He  finally  went  to  an 
oculist  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  who  partially  restored  his  sight,  and  for  fifteen 
years  before  his  death  he  could  see  to  get  about  with  comparative  ease  and 
safety.  The  experiences  of  this  pioneer  physician  would  fill  a  volume  Per- 
haps the  first  resident  physician  was  Dr.  Charles  V.  Dyer,  who  came  to  the 
settlement  in  the  Fall  of  1835,  and  practiced  medicine  during  the  Winter.  But 
the  settlement  being  small,  the  next  Spring  he  concluded  to  risk  his  fortune  in 
the  then  unpromising  marshes  of  Chicago.  The  subsequent  greatness  of  that 
city  and  the  prominence  of  the  Doctor  there  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  prove 
the  wisdom  of  his  decision,  and  illustrate  the  mutability  of  human  conditions 
in  the  careers  of  both  individuals  and  cities.  The  first  blacksmith  in  the  town 
was  one  of  the  Shutliffs,  who  opened  a  shop  in  1833-34,  and  did  the  light  work 
the  settlement  needed.  The  first  bridge  in  the  township  was  built  across  the 
Du  Page  at  Plainfield,  and  was  a  rough  wooden  structure.  The  timbers  were 
hewed  by  Lorin  Burdick,  as  noticed  in  the  sketch  given  of  him  elsewhere.  The 
rude  affair  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the  excellent  stone  and  iron  bridges 
at  present  spanning  the  Du  Page  and  Lilly-Cache. 

The  first  mill  built  in  Plainfield  Township,  or  Walker's  Grove,  was  by  James 
Walker.  It  was  a  horse-power  mill,  which  he  brought  with  him  from  Ottawa, 
and  at  once  set  to  work.  But  he  built  without  delay  both  a  saw  and  grist  mill 
on  the  Du  Page,  which  was  swept  away  by  a  flood  in  1838.  At  this  mill  was 
sawed  the  lumber  of  which  a  man  named  Peck  built  the  first  frame  house  erected 
in  Chicago,  and  which  stood  on  the  corner  of  La  Salle  and  South  Water  streets. 
Reuben  Flagg,  a?  elsewhere  noted,  hauled  the  lumber  to  Chicago,  and  with  an 
ox-team  at  that.  Matthews,  as  mentioned  in  another  page,  built  a  mill  north 
of  the  village  of  Plainfield  which,  with  some  additions  and  improvements,  is 
still  in  operation.  It  is  owned  by  Noah  Sunderland,  but  is  run  by  M.  H. 
Avery,  who  is  doing  quite  a  lively  business  with  it.  It  has  three  runs  of  stones, 
with  all  the  modern  attachments.  Quite  an  item  in  the  history  of  Plainfield 
Township  is  Clarke  &  Co.'s  cheese  factory,  erected  last  Spring,  just  outside  of 
the  limits  of  the  village  of  Plainfield.  It  is  a  frame  building  with  stone  base- 
ment, and  has  a  sufficient  capacity  to  consume  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  milk 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  487 

per  day.  Cheese  is  the  principal  product  of  the  factory,  and  they  turn  out 
about  sixty  cheeses  a  week,  of  fifty-two  pounds  weight  each,  besides  making  a 
small  quantity  of  butter. 

The  first  school  in  Plainfield  Township  was  taught  by  a  man,  whose  name 
is  now  forgotten,  in  the  Winter  of  1833-34,  and  the  first  regular  schoolhouse 
was  built  in  1833  of  rough  logs  with  a  stick  chimney,  the  exact  type  and  coun- 
terpart of  many  others  described  in  these  pages.  But  the  schools  have  kept 
pace  with  the  other  improvements,  and,  in  1872,  we  find  there  were  eleven 
school  districts,  five  hundred  pupils  enrolled,  twenty-two  teachers  employed,  two 
graded  schools  and  a  comfortable  schoolhouse  in  each  district.  The  amount  paid 
teachers  was  $3,026.38;  total  expenditure  for  the  year,  §4,597.90,  leaving  a 
balance  in  the  treasury  of  $1,381.05.  The  schools  of  Plainfield  at  the  present 
time  are  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  will  compare  with  those  of  any  town  in 
the  county.  The  first  Supervisor  of  Plainfield  after  township  organization, 
was  L.  Hamlin  for  the  year  1850.  Since  then,  the  following  gentlemen 
have  served  in  the  Board  of  Supervisors  for  the  years  as  given  with  their  names  : 
J.  Ballard,  1851 ;  A.  Culver,  1852 ;  L.  Hamlin,  1853 ;  Cyrus  Ashley,  1854 ; 
W;  Wright,  1855-56 ;  A.  Culver,  1857 ;  D.  Van  Dersoll,  1858 ;  A.  Culver, 
1859;  W.  Wright,  1860 ;  W.  C.  Caton,  1861-68  ;  A.  McClaskey,  1869-76 ; 
H.  Strattan,  1877-78.  Other  township  officers  are  J.  D.  Foster  and 
E.  Corlin,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  H.  R.  Frazer,  Town  Clerk,  and  George 
N.  Chittenden,  School  Treasurer.  The  township  is  Republican  in  politiss, 
giving  from  one  to  two  hundred  Republican  majorities  in  all  important 
elections.  Having  thus  followed  the  history  of  Plainfield  from  the  first  settle- 
ment at  Walker's  Grove  to  the  present  flourishing  period  of  its  existence,  we 
will  now  take  a  brief  glance  at  the 

VILLAGE    OF   PLAINFIELD. 

Plainfield  is  beautifully  located  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Du  Page  River,  about 
one  mile  north  of  the  center  of  the  township  of  Plainfield,  and  is  nine  miles  north- 
west  of  Joliet.  Chester  Ingersoll  is  accredited  with  laying  out  the  village  proper, 
which  is  sometimes  termed  South  Plainfield,  while  the  north  division  was  laid  out 
by  'Squire  Arnold.  He  was  a  New  Yorker,  and  came  here  in  1834;  laid  out 
the  village  that  year,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  keep  a  tavern  in  the  place. 
Being  a  little  at  "  loggerheads  "  with  Ingersoll,  as  our  informant  expressed  it, 
his  addition  was  laid  off  a  little  "  catering."  The  meaning  of  the  latter  word  was 
gathered  while  taking  a  stroll  through  the  village,  when  we  found  the  streets  of 
the  two  sections  coming  together  at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees.  But 
even  with  this  defect,  it  is  a  very  pretty  little  village  and  claims  from  one 
thousand  to  twelve  hundred  inhabitants.  James  Walker  put  up  the  first  dwell- 
ing within  the  present  limits  long  before  it  was  laid  out  as  a  village.  It  was  a 
small  log  house,  and  was  occupied  by  Walker  some  time  as  a  residence.  Inger- 
soll built  the  next  house,  which  was  soon  after  the  one  above-mentioned.  Arnold 


488  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

put  up  the  first  house  occupied  purposely  as  a  tavern,  though  Walker  had  kept 
a  house  of  entertainment  previously.  "  Uncle  Fen  "  Aldrich  also  kept  a  tavern 
here.  This  was  one  of  the  stopping-places  on  the  stage-route  between  Chicago 
and  Ottawa,  and  the  half-way  point  between  the  two  places,  hence,  it  was  a  good 
place  for  hotels.  Jonathan  Hagar  and  Samuel  Sargent  opened  the  first  store  in 
the  upper  story  of  John  Bill's  wagon-shop.  The  next  year,  they  put  up  a 
storehouse,  which  has  since  been  converted  into  the  Congregational  parsonage. 
Mr.  Hagar  continued  in  business  here  until  1861,  when  he  retired,  and  is  one 
of  the  wealthy  men  of  the  place.  He  tells  the  following  anecdote  as  an  exam- 
ple of  the  pernicious  effects  of  sowing  "  tares  :"  An  old  lady,  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  the  village,  brought  with  her  from  the  East  a  quantity  of  burdock- 
seed,  declaring  it  to  be  "  such  an  excellent  yarb,"  that  she  was  bound  to  have  a 
crop  growing.  She  accordingly  sowed  it  in  every  available  spot.  That  the 
crop  did  grow,  the  citizens  of  the  village  can  bear  witness,  notwithstanding 
their  utmost  efforts  to  the  contrary. 

The  village  was  incorporated  under  special  act  of  the  Legislature  February 
23,  1861.  This  embraced  North  Plainfield  only,  we  believe.  In  April,  1869, 
it  was  again  incorporated  by  special  act,  including  both  the  north  and  south 
divisions  of  the  place,  and  June  30,  1877,  it  was  incorporated  under  the  general 
law  of  the  State.  The  first  Board  of  Village  Trustees  were  as  follows :  J. 
McAllister,  George  N.  Chittenden,  Robert  Webb,  Jonathan  Hagar  and  John 
D.  Shreffler.  The  Board  organized  for  business  by  making  J.  McAllister 
President,  and  George  N.  Chittenden,  Clerk.  The  present  "  City  Fathers  " 
are:  Alexander  McClaskey,  President;  A.  J.  Perkins,  C.  E.  Fraser,  Joseph 
McCreery,  George  W.  Flagg,  P.  Y.  Dundore,  and  H.  A.  Tounshendeau,  Clerk ; 
Ira  Vanolinda,  Police  Magistrate.  The  business  of  Plainfield  presents  the  fol- 
lowing outlook :  Two  general  dry  goods  and  grocery  stores,  two  grocery  and 
hardware  stores,  two  drug  stores,  one  book  and  stationery  store,  one  furniture 
store,  one  hotel,  one  restaurant,  two  livery  stables,  five  blacksmith-shops,  three 
wagon-shops,  four  practicing  physicians,  two  cider-mills  ;  with  barber-shops, 
meat-markets,  harness-shops,  tailor-shops,  paint-shops,  millinery-shops,  etc.; 
but  neither  saloons  nor  lawyers.  It  has,  however,  a  Red  Ribbon  Club  of  382 
members — John  D.  Shreffler,  President,  and  H.  A.  Tounshendeau,  Secretary. 

The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  in  North  Plainfield  in  1837,  and  was  rather, 
a  small  affair.  It  was  burned  in  1846  or  1847,  and  the  present  two-story 
frame  building  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $1,500.  Prof.  Giden  Bartholf  is  Princi- 
pal, and  Miss  Amanda  Dillman,  teacher  of  the  Primary  Department.  In  1851 
the  village  was  divided  into  two  districts,  and  a  good  two-story  frame  house 
erected  in  the  lower  district,  or  South  Plainfield,  at  a  cost  of  $1,200.  Prof- 
John  H.  Stepman  is  Principal,  and  Mrs.  M.  C.  Dresser,  teacher  of  the  Primary 
Department.  The  first  post  office  was  established  in  Plainfield  in  1833,  and 
James  Walker  was  the  first  Postmaster.  This  was  one  of  the  points  on  the 
stage  route  between  Chicago  and  Ottawa,  and,  after  coaches  were  put  on  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  489 

mail  was  brought  to  Plainfield  over  this  route.  The  benighted  citizens  of  Joliet 
used  to  come  here  for  their  mail,  as  opportunity  occurred.  This  was  in  the 
good  old  times  when  Dr.  Bowen  was  Postmaster  there,  and  he  would  frequently 
carry  the  entire  mail  for  Joliet  in  his  hat.  It  would  take  several  hats  to  con- 
tain the  Joliet  post  office  now,  or  even  that  of  Plainfield.  The  present  Post- 
master of  Plainfield  is  John  Sennitt,  who  has  been  in  the  service  of  Uncle  Sam 
in  this  department  for  the  past  ten  years. 

Plainfield  is  sometimes  called  the  "Village  of  Churches,'  and,  for  a  place 
of  its  size,  is  well  supplied  with  temples,  of  worship.  This  is  one  of  the  first  spots 
in  Will  County  where  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  was  heard.  Here,  Father  Walker 
established  an  Indian  Mission,  it  is  said,  in  1826,  and  here,  in  1829,  he  formed  a 
class  composed  of  the  following  members:  Jesse  Walker  and  wife,  James 
Walker  and  wife,  Mr.  Fish  and  wife,  Timothy  B.  Claike  and  wife,  and  Mr. 
Weed  and  wife.  Father  Beggs,  in  his  book,  several  times  referred  to  in 
this  work,  and  from  which  this  information  is  taken,  thinks  that  this  was  the 
first  class  formed  within  the  bounds  of  the  Rock  River  Conference,  and  states, 
further,  that  when  the  Mission*  was  abandoned  the  class  was  given  up.  In 
the  Fall  of  1832,  Rev.  Mr.  Beggs  succeeded  to  the  charge  here,  with 
Father  Walker  as  Presiding  Elder.  The  first  church  edifice  built  at  Plainfield 
was  by  the  Methodists,  and  was  erected  in  1836.  It  was  a  rather  small,  plain 
affair,  compared  to  the  elegant  stone  church  of  the  present  time.  In  1854, 
Lockport  and  Plainfield  were  united,  and  so  remained  for  a  number  of  years, 
until  the  strength  of  each  church  became  sufficient  to  admit  of  their  being 
formed  into  stations.  The  fine  stone  church  of  the  Methodists  was  erected  in 
1868,  and  dedicated  by  Bishop  Simpson.  It  is  built  of  Plainfield  stone,  and 
cost  about  $22,000.  The  Church  numbers  upon  her  records  more  than^three 
hundred  members,  with  Rev.  J.  A.  Phelps  as  Pastor,  and  John  D.  Shreffler, 
Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school. 

The  Baptist  society  was  organized  October  16,  1834,  on  the  principle  of 
total  abstinence,  and  Rev.  J.  E.  Ambrose  was  the  first  Pastor.  The  original 
members  were :  Leonard  Moore,  Elizabeth  Moore,  Rebecca  Carmon,  Thomas 
Rickey,  Jane  Rickey  and  Alfred  B.  Hubbard,  six  in  all.  It  was  one  of  the 
four  churches  that  entered  into  what  was  called  the  Northern  Baptist  Associa- 
tion. The  Church  at  Plainfield  is  the  only  one  of  these  that  has  not  changed 
its  place  of  meeting.  In  the  Fall  of  1836,  the  first  church-house  was  built,  at 
a  cost  of  $2,500  ;  was  26x36  feet,  and  is  now  used  as  a  blacksmith-shop.  In 
giving  place  to  the  following  anecdote,  in  this  connection,  we  intend  no  sacri- 
lege or  disrespect  toward  this  venerable  Church :  Soon  after  the  completion  of 
their  church-building,  a  Baptist  minister  of  the  name  of  Edwards  made  his 
appearance  in  the  village  and  announced  his  purpose  of  holding  revival  meet- 
ings. The  new  church  was  accordingly  placed  at  his  disposal,  and  he  entered 
upon  his  work.  For  an  entire  week  did  he  labor  with  that  "wicked  and 

*  The  Des  Planes  Mission. 


490  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

rebellious  people."  Day  after  day,  he  went  about  among  them  praying  and 
exhorting ;  night  after  night,  he  held  up  to  them  the  joy  of  the  redeemed,  or 
portrayed  in  glowing  words  the  anguish  of  the  lost.  But  neither  the  gentle 
voice  of  persuasion  nor  the  terrible  thunders  of  Sinai  had  the  desired  effect,  and 
on  the  last  night  of  his  labors,  after  an  impassioned  appeal,  in  which  he  vainly 
implored  them  to  "flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,"  he  declared  that  they  had 
"  sinned  away  the  day  of  grace;"  that  "  Ephraim  was  joined  to  his  idols," 
and  that  all  that  remained  for  him  was  to  "  shake  off  the  dust  from  off  his  feet." 
Taking  his  handkerchief  from  his  pocket,  he  proceeded  to  literally  carry  out  the 
Scripture  injunction  by  wiping  the  dust  from  his  feet  in  their  presence,  strode 
out  of  the  house,  and  was  seen  no  more  in  that  neighborhood.  The  present 
church  edifice  was  erected  in  1857,  and  cost  between  $4,500  and  $5,000 ; 
dedicated  by  Rev.  Charles  Button.  Rev.  A.  D.  Freeman  was  the  first  Pastor, 
now  residing  at  Downer's  Grove.  The  present  membership  is  131,  and  Rev. 
H.  C.  First  is  Pastor,  a  position  he  has  held  for  the  past  four  years.  Mrs.  H. 
C.  First  is  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  which  has  an  average  attend- 
ance of  seventy  children.  There  have  been  536  admissions  to  the  Church,  by 
baptism  and  otherwise,  since  its  organization. 

The  Congregational  Church  was  organized  in  September,  1834,  by  Rev.  N. 
C.  Clarke,  who  had  been  preaching  in  the  vicinity  as  early  as  1832  and  1833. 
The  original  members  were  James  Mathers  and  wife,  Deacon  Ezra  Goodhue 
and  wife,  Andrew  Carrier  and  wife,  and  Oliver  Goss  and  wife.  The  first 
regular  Pastor  of  the  Church,  was  Rev.  Alfred  Greenwood,  mentioned  elsewhere 
as  the  first  preacher  in  Lockport  Township.  He  remained  with  the  Church  but 
a  year  or  two.  A  resolution  appears  upon  the  Church  records  at  an  early  date, 
requiring  members  "to  abstain  from  drinking  ardent  spirits,  manufacturing, 
trafficking  in  it,  or  otherwise  using  it,  except  for  medicine."  The  first  case  of 
discipline  was  that  of  a  brother,  reported  as  having  sold  whisky  to  the  Indians. 
During  the  first  two  years  the  Church  did  little  more  than  maintain  its  existence. 
It  suffered  much  from  trouble  among  its  members,  growing  out  of  land  claims. 
A  council  was  finally  called  to  aid  in  settling  the  difficulties.  As  the  course 
most  likely  to  bring  peace  and  harmony,  and  agreeably  to  the  advice  of  the 
council,  the  Church  disbanded,  and  out  of  its  elements  a  Presbyterian  Church 
was  formed  in  1836,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Gould.  This  organization  continued  about 
seven  years,  when  the  form  of  government  was  changed,  and  it  again  became  a 
Congregational  Church,  with  Rev.  E.  W.  Champlin,  Pastor.  The  Rev.  Daniel 
Chapman  succeeded  him,  and  through  his  energetic  efforts  the  present  church 
edifice  was  erected  in  1850,  at  a  cost  of  $2,200,  exclusive  of  the  foundation,  and 
was  dedicated  in  June,  1851.  The  present  membership  of  the  Church  is  near 
eighty,  and  since  August,  1878,  at  which  time  the  Rev.  Mr.  Ebbs  closed  his 
pastoral  labors,  it  has  been  without  a  regular  minister.  The  Sunday  school  was 
organized  about  1843,  with  Jonathan  Hagar  as  Superintendent.  About  sixty 
scholars  are  in  attendance,  and  Mr.  Hagar  is  still  Superintendent. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  493 

The  Universalist  Church  was  built  in  1868,  at  a  cost  of  $6,000,  and  is  one  of 
the  handsomest  church -buildings  in  the  village.  It  was  dedicated  by  Rev.  W. 
S.  Balch,  of  Galesburg,  and  the  first  regular  Pastor  was  Rev.  Mr.  Howland. 
The  present  membership  of  this  Church  is  small,  but  flourishing  for  a  small 
village  like  this.  Rev.  Mr.  Tibbitts  was  their  Pastor  until  within  the  past  few 
months,  when  he  resigned,  since  which  time  they  have  been  without  one.  The 
Sunday  school  was  organized  in  1868,  and  has  a  large  attendance. 

The  Evangelical  Church  was  built  in  1855,  and  cost  about  $3,000.  It  was 
dedicated  by  Rev.  Mr.  Tobias,  Presiding  Elder,  and  the  first  Pastor  was  Rev. 
John  Kramer,  now  of  Watertown,  Iowa.  The  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  Henry 
Messner,  with  a  membership  of  113.  The  Sunday  school  was  organized  cotem- 
poraneously  with  the  Church,  and  the  first  Superintendent  was  David  Shreifler. 
The  average  attendance  is  about  ninety-seven,  and  P.  Y.  Dundore  is  the  Super- 
intendent. The  Northwestern  College  was  located  here  in  1851,  under  the 
auspices  of  this  Church.  The  building  was  a  stone  basement,  with  a  frame,  two 
stories  high,  46x66  feet  in  size,  and  cost  $10,000.  The  founder  and  originator 
of  the  school  was  Bishop  Esher,  and  its  first  President  A.  A.  Smith,  with  a 
general  average  attendance  of  180  students.  The  College  was  destroyed  by 
fire  in  1873.  Until  the  year  1869,  it  was  under  the  patronage  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Church,  as  above  stated.  In  that  year  it  was  removed  to  Naperville, 
and  the  building  in  Plainfield  lay  idle  until  1871,  when  it  was  re-opened,  and 
changed  to  the  Fox  River  Union  College,  and  was  under  the  direction  of  the 
Congregational  Church.  In  March,  1872,  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  individ- 
uals, with  Mrs.  J.  D.  Field  as  Principal,  under  the  name  of  Plainfield  Academy, 
under  which  organization  it  remained  until  destroyed  by  fire. 

The  Plainfield  Echo  was  established  in  1876,  by  H.  A.  Tounshendeau,  as  a 
family  newspaper,  and  was  an  excellent  little  paper  during  its  brief  existence. 
It  was  one  of  the  half-dozen  newspapers  embraced  in  the  Phoenix  confederation, 
as  noted  in  the  history  of  Joliet.  The  former  editor  of  the  Echo  is  now  the 
Plainfield  correspondent  of  the  Lockport  Commercial  Advertiser  and  has  charge 
of  the  Plainfield  department  of  that  paper.  Plainfield  Lodge,  No.  536,  A.,  F. 
&  A.  M.,  is  located  in  the  village,  but  we  have  received  no  information  in 
regard  to  its  organization.  The  stone  quarries  of  Plainfield  are  of  con- 
siderable importance.  While  not  comparing  with  those  of  Joliet,  Lock- 
port  and  Lemont,  either  in  quality  or  quantity,  yet  they  furnish  a  very  fair  build- 
ing stone,  which  is  being  much  used  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  But  without 
facilities  for  shipping,  there  is  no  demand  for  it  beyond  home  supply.  A  rail- 
road would  make  Plainfield,  in  a  little  while,  quite  a  business  town,  and  a  fine 
grain  point.  Why  the  Michigan  Central  does  not  extend  her  "  cut-off"  railroad 
through  to  Aurora,  via  Plainfield,  is  a  conundrum,  and  we  give  it  up.  Such  a 
movement  would  prove  a  paying  enterprise  beyond  any  shadow  of  doubt. 

Plainfield  Cemetery  is  a  beautiful  spot,  and  is  eligibly  located  about  half  a 
mile  southeast  of  the  village.  Much  care  has  been  exercised  in  laying  out 


494  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

and  beautifying  the  grounds.  They  are  inclosed  by  a  substantial  fence,  and 
many  fine  monuments  and  marble  slabs,  with  flowers  and  shrubbery,  testify  the 
affection  of  surviving  friends  for  their  beloved  dead.  It  is  a  beautiful  spot,  and 
the  care  taken  of  it  by  the  citizens,  is  an  honor  to  them,  and  to  their  pretty 
little  village. 

NEW  LENOX  TOWNSHIP. 

In  New  Lenox  Township  was  embraced  the  larger  portion  of  Avhat,  in  the 
early  times,  was  termed  the  Hickory  Creek  Settlement — a  neighborhood  cele- 
brated for  its  hospitality,  and  for  more  pretty  girls,  perhaps,  than  any  section 
of  the  county,  unless  we  except  Homer's  famous  Yankee  Settlement,  and  with 
it,  Hickory  Creek  was,  in  this  respect,  a  foeman  worthy  of  its  steel.  There 
are  many  old  grizzled  fellows  still  to  be  found  whose  countenances  become 
animated,  and  whose  eyes  kindle  with  pleasure,  as  they  recall  the  pleasant 
reminiscences  of  Hickory  Creek  Settlement — of  the  quilting  parties,  "kissing- 
bees  "  and  miscellaneous  gatherings  of  young  and  old.  How,  at  those  little 
parties  and  upon  those  interesting  occasions,  they  followed  the  poet's  advice, 
"  We  won't  go  home  till  morning, 
Till  daylight  doth  appear," 

and  throughout  the  long  Winter  night  kept  up  the  fun,  untrammeled  by  society 
rules  or  modern  etiquette.  A  newspaper  correspondent,  writing  under  the 
name  of  "  Styx,"  describes  a  "  kissing-bee"  he  attended  there  in  the  good  old 
days  of  the  long  ago.  With  such  interesting  and  innocent  little  plays  as  "  Old 
Sister  Phoebe,"  "Green  Grow  the  Willow  Tree,"  "Johnny  B/own  "  and  all 
others  of  like  character,  laid  down  in  the  programme,  the  night  waned,  and  as 
the  first  faint  streaks  of  dawn  began  to  gild  the  eastern  horizon,  they  decided 
to  wind  up  the  affair  with  one  grand  kiss  all  around.  The  girls  were  placed  in 
line,  and  the  boys  were  each  to  begin  at  the  head  of  the  line  and  kiss  all  the 
girls.  As  the  business  proceeded,  one  little  dark-eyed  lass,  who  stood  at  the 
foot  of  the  line,  exclaimed,  impatiently,  "  Why  don't  you  kiss  at  both  ends  of  the 
line,  and  get  through  quicker."  This  remark  brought  the  performance  to  a  close 
rather  abruptly,  by  some  one  remarking  at  the  moment,  that  it  was  "  broad  day- 
light and  time  to  be  off  home." 

New  Lenox  is  known  as  Township  35  north,  Range  11  east  of  the  Third 
Principal  Meridian,  and  is  well  drained  and  watered  by  Hickory  Creek  and  its 
North  Fork.  These  streams,  at  the  time  of  early  settlement,  were  lined  with 
fine  forests,  much  of  the  timber  of  which  has  since  been  cut  away.  Perhaps 
one-fourth  of  the  town  was  timbered,  while  the  remainder  is  prairie,  much  of  it 
rolling,  while  some  of  it  is  so  uneven  as  to  be  termed  knolly.  It  is  intersected 
by  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad,  and  the  Joliet  Cut-Off  of  the 
Michigan  Central,  the  history  of  which  is  given  in  another  department  of  this 
work.  The  township  is  devoted  almost  entirely  to  farming  and  stock-raising. 
Corn  and  oats  are  the  principal  crops  and  are  grown  in  abundance,  while  much 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  495 

attention  is  devoted  to  raising  and  feeding  stock,  of  which  large  quantities  are 
shipped  from  this  section  annually.  Taken  altogether,  New  Lenox  is  one  of 
the  wealthy  towns  of  Will  County.  Its  population,  in  1870,  was  about  1,120 
inhabitants. 

The  first  whites  to  erect  cabins  in  the  Hickory  Creek  timber,  were,  prob- 
ably, two  men  named,  respectively,  Joseph  Brown  and  Aaron  Friend,  but  of 
them  very  little  is  known.  They  were  here  as  early  as  1829,  and  Friend  was 
a  kind  of  Indian  trader.  He  always  had  a  rather  rough  set  of  French  half- 
breeds  and  Indians  around  him,  and  when  the  latter  moved  West  to  grow  up 
with  the  country,  he  followed  them.  Chicagoans  used  to  come  down,  and  they 
would  get  up  a  ball  at  Friend's ;  and  once  upon  a  time,  some  young  fellows  from 
Chicago  had  their  horses'  tails  shaved  there.  He  went  to  Iowa  after  the  retreat- 
ing Indians,  and  died  there,  when  his  wife  came  back  to  Illinois,  and  went  to 
live  with  her  daughter,  on  what  was  then  called  Horse  Creek.  Of  Brown,  still 
less  is  known  beyond  the  fact  that  he  died  here  in  the  Fall  of  1830.  In  1830, 
the  Summer  and  Fall  preceding  the  deep  snow,  several  new-comers  settled  on 
Hickory  Creek.  Of  these,  perhaps,  the  Rices  were  the  first,  and  came  earlv 
in  1830.  They  were  from  Indiana,  and  consisted  of  William  Rice,  Sr.,  his  son 
William,  and  their  families.  They  laid  claim  to  the  place  where  William 
Gougar  afterward  settled,  and  where  his  son  John  Gougar  now  lives.  They 
built  a  log  cabin  on  this  place  and  had  broken  five  acres  of  prairie,  when  John 
Gougar  came  on  in  the  Fall  of  1830  and  bought  them  out.  After  selling  out 
to  Gougar,  they  made  a  claim  where  the  village  of  New  Lenox  now  stands,  put 
up  a  shanty,  and,  after  a  few  years,  moved  out  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  town  of  Crete,  where  some  of  the  family  are  still  living.  In  September, 
1830,  John  Gougar  came  from  Indiana  and,  as  stated  above,  bought  Rice's 
claim.  A  man  named  Grover  had  been  hired  by  the  elder  Gougar  to  come  out 
with  his  son  and  assist  in  preparing  quarters  for  the  family,  who  moved  out  the 
next  June.  William  Gougar,  Sr.,  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  but  moved  to 
Ohio  in  1818,  and,  in  1822,  to  Indiana,  where  he  resided  until  his  removal  to 
Illinois,  and  to  this  township,  in  the  Summer  of  1831.  As  already  noted,  he 
settled  on  the  place  where  his  son,  John  Gougar,  now  lives.  William  Gougar, 
Jr.,  another  son  lives  within  a  mile  of  the  village  of  New  Lenox.  He  went  to 
California  during  the  gold  fever  of  1849-50,  and  remained  about  three  years 
and  a  half,  during  which  time  he  did  reasonably  well  in  the  land  of  gold.  The 
elder  Gougar  died  in  1861.  John  Grover,  who,  as  stated,  had  been  hired  by 
Mr.  Gougar  to  come  out  with  his  son  in  1830,  brought  his  family  with  him  and 
remained  with  the  Gougars  a  year  or  two.  He  then  made  a  claim  in  the 
Haven  neighborhood,  where  he  lived  four  or  five  years,  then  sold  out  and 
moved  down  near  the  present  Will  County  Fair  Grounds.  Here  he  made  a 
claim  upon  which  he  lived  several  years,  when  he  finally  sold  out  and  removed 
to  Iowa,  where  he  died.  Mrs.  Stevens,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Kercheval,  men- 
tioned below,  remembers  Grover  and  of  his  being  out  on  the  prairie  one  cold 


496  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

day  when  the  piercing  wind  caused  his  eyes  to  water,  which  froze  on  the  lashes, 
until  he  became  totally  blind  for  the  time,  causing  him  to  lose  his  way,  and  to 
nearly  freeze  to  death  before  he  succeeded  in  reaching  home. 

Lewis  Kercheval  came  from  Ohio  and  settled  in  this  township,  arriving  on 
the  19th  day  of  October,  1830.  His  wagon  was  the  second  that  crossed  the 
prairies  south  of  this  section  of  the  country.  In  his  trip  to  the  new  country, 
in  which  he  designed  making  his  future  home,  he  had  no  way-marks  across  the 
trackless  prairies  but  his  own  natural  judgment  as  to  the  direction  of  this 
promised  land.  The  compass,  then  unknown,  except  to  a  favored  few,  he  did 
not  have,  and  thus  was  forced  much  of  the  time  to  travel  by  guess.  Upon  his 
arrival  here,  he  erected  a  tent  in  which  to  shelter  his  family  until  he  could  build 
a  house,  or  cabin,  as  the  habitations  of  the  early  settlers  were  usually  called. 
This  tent  was  simply  four  posts  driven  in  the  ground,  with  slabs  or  puncheons 
laid  across  for  a  covering,  and  quilts  hung  around  the  sides.  He  cut  logs  in  a 
short  time,  and  raised  a  cabin  when  his  wife  and  daughters,  who  were  anxious 
for  a  more  substantial  house  than  the  tent,  "pitched  in"  and  assisted  the  hus- 
band and  father  to  "chink  and  daub"  this  primitive  palace.  Perhaps  it  did 
not  deserve  the  name  of  palace,  but  it  was  their  home  in  the  wilderness,  and  as 
such  a  palace  to  them.  In  two  weeks  from  the  time  of  their  arrival,  their 
house  was  ready  and  they  moved  into  it.  Mr.  Kercheval  seems  to  have  been  a 
man  of  the  strongest  sympathies  and  the  most  tender  heart.  Mrs.  Robert 
Stevens,  a  daughter  of  his,  now  living  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city  of  Joliet,  and 
from  whom  we  received  much  of  the  information  pertaining  to  the  early  settle- 
ment of  her  father  in  this  section,  says  she  has  often  seen  him  shed  tears  over 
the  hardships  his  wife  and  little  ones  were  forced  to  undergo  in  these  early 
times.  His  first  Winter  in  the  settlement  was  that  of  the  "deep  snow,"  the 
epoch  from  which  the  few  survivors  who  remember  it,  date  all  important  events. 
During  the  time  this  great  fall  of  snow  remained  on  the  ground,  and  which  was 
four  feet  deep  on  a  level,  he  used  to  cut  down  trees,  that  his  horses  and  cows 
might  "browse"  upon  the  tender  twigs.  With  little  else  to  feed  his  stock, 
from  sleek,  fat  animals  in  the  Fall  of  the  year,  they  came  forth  in  the  Spring — 
those  that  survived  the  Winter — nothing  but  "skin  and  bones."  He  would  sit 
down  and  weep  at  the  suiferings  of  the  poor  dumb  beasts,  and  his  inability  to 
render  them  material  aid  in  the  way  of  nourishing  food.  But  it  used  to  exhaust 
his  wits  to  provide  food  for  his  family  at  all  times  during  that  first  Winter. 
Once  they  run  out  of  meal,  and  though  he  had  sent  to  Chicago  for  a  barrel  of 
flour  (the  mode  of  communication  with  Chicago  not  then  being  equal  to  what  it 
is  at  the  present  day),  it  was  long  in  coming;  and  before  its  arrival  the  larder 
had  got  down  to  a  few  biscuits,  laid  aside  for  the  smallest  children.  Mrs.  Ste- 
vens says  her  father  declared  if  the  flour  did  not  come  he  would  take  as  many 
of  his  children  as  he  could  carry  on  his  back,  and  attempt  to  make  the  settle- 
ments, but  good  luck  or  Providence  was  on  his  side,  and  the  barrel  of  flour  came 
before  they  were  reduced  to  this  extremity. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  497 

A  sad  story  was  told  us  by  Mrs.  Stevens,  who,  though  but  a  little  girl  of 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age  at  the  time,  remembers  the  occurrence  distinctly. 
It  was  of  a  family  who  had  settled  near  the  present  village  of  Blue  Island^  and 
during  this  deep  snow  their  store  of  provisions  became  exhausted,  and  the  hus- 
band and  father  started  for  the  settlements  to  procure  fresh  supplies.  Being 
unavoidably  detained  by  the  snow,  the  last  crumb  disappeared,  and  the  mother, 
in  the  very  face  of  starvation,  started  for  Chicago,  as  is  supposed,  to  get  food 
for  her  children,  and  got  lost  on  the  prairie  and  was  either  frozen  to  death  or 
killed  by  wolves.  The  former  supposition  is  probably  the  correct  one,  and  after 
freezing  was  devoured  by  wolves,  as  nothing  was  ever  found  but  her  bones, 
which  were  recognized  by  her  shoes.  Her  children  were  discovered  by  some 
chance  passer-by  when  almost  starved  to  death,  and  were  taken  and  cared  for 
by  the  few  kind-hearted  people  in  the  country  at  the  time.  The  husband's 
return  was  a  sad  one.  His  wife  dead  and  eaten  by  wolves,  and  his  children 
cared  for  by  strangers,  it  would  almost  seem  that  he  had  little  left  to  live  or  care 
for.  The  reader  will  pardon  this  digression,  but  it  is  given  in  illustration  of  the 
privations  experienced  by  the  few  settlers  in  the  country  during  the  time  of  the 
deep  snow ;  and  to  return  to  the  original  subject,  Mr.  Kercheval,  we  are  informed, 
hauled  most  of  the  provisions  consumed  by  his  family  during  the  first  year,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  from  the  Indiana  settlements.  He  died  in  February, 
1873,  a  man  honored  in  the  community  where  he  lived,  and  a  much-respected 
citizen. 

Samuel  Russell  came  from  the  Nutmeg  State  among  the  very  early  settlers, 
and  bought  land  of  Gurdon  S.  Hubbard,  of  Chicago.  He  settled  in  this  town- 
ship and  lived  here  for  a  number  of  years.  Judge  John  I.  Davidson  came  out 
in  the  Fall  of  1830,  and  bought  Friend's  claim.  He  was  originally  from  New 
Jersey,  but  had  lived  some  time  in  Indiana,  and  after  purchasing  the  claim  of 
Friend,  returned  to  Indiana,  and  removed  his  family  to  the  settlement  in  the 
Spring  of  1831.  He  had  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  married  a  Mr.  Thompson, 
and  still  lives  in  the  township,  while  the  other  married. a  man  named  Higgin- 
botham,  of  Field  &  Leiter's,  Chicago,  and  is  living  in  that  city.  Joseph  Norman 
was  from  Indiana,  and  settled  here  in  1830,  before  John  Gougar,  of  whom  much 
of  this  information  is  obtained,  came  to  the  settlement.  He  eventually  re- 
turned to  Indiana,  and  died  there  a  number  of  years  ago.  A  man  named 
Emmett  was  here  during  the  Winter  of  1830-31,  but  where  he  came  from,  we 
do  not  know.  He  went  off  with  the  Mormon  Prophets  and  Elders,  and  perhaps 
became  one  of  their  "big  guns."  A  man  of  the  name  of  Buck  also  spent  that 
Winter  here,  and  he,  too,  turned  Mormon,  and  followed  the  elect  to  Nauvoo. 
The  Winter  that  Buck  spent  in  this  settlement,  which  was  that  of  the  deep 
snow,  he  had  nothing  in  the  way  of  bread  during  the  entire  Winter  except  that 
made  from  two  bushels  of  meal,  and  yet  he  had  a  wife  and  three  children.  He 
had  two  cows,  one  of  which  he  killed  for  beef,  hung  her  to  the  limb  of  a  tree, 
and  when  he  wanted  meat,  would  take  an  ax  and  chop  off  a  piece  of  the  frozen 


498  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

cow.  John  Gougar  gave  him  half  a  bushel  of  corn,  which,  with  his  two  bushels 
of  meal  and  cow,  was  all  that  he  is  known  to  have  had  to  keep  his  family  during 
the  \Yinter.  Gougar  once  found  him  during  the  Spring  in  the  Woods  gather- 
ing what  he  called  "  greens,"  and  asked  him  if  he  was  not  afraid  of  being  poi- 
soned. He  replied  that  one  would  act  as  an  antidote  to  another.  John  Stitt 
was  another  Indianian,  and  settled  here  in  1831  or  1832.  He  moved  to  Missouri, 
where  he  died  a  few  years  ago.  Col.  Sayre  settled  here  probably  about  1829, 
as  he  was  here  when  John  Gougar  came,  in  1830.  He  lived  alone,  was  either 
a  bachelor  or  widower,  and  as  he  had  few  associations,  living  a  kind  of  hermit- 
life,  little  was  known  about  him.  He  built  a  saw-mill  near  where  the  Red  Mills 
now  stand  in  Joliet  Township,  though  he  lived  in  New  Lenox  Township. 
Mansfield  Wheeler,  who  settled  on  Hickory  Creek  in  1833,  went  into  partner- 
ship with  him  in  this  mill. 

Cornelius  C.  Van  Home  came  from  New  York,  and  settled  in  this  township 
in  1832.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  prominence  and  intelligence,  and  is 
noticed  elsewhere  as  holding  many  positions  of  importance.  He  died  in  Joliet 
several  years  age.  The  following  incident  is  given  in  "  Forty  Years  Ago  "  as 
illustrative  of  Van  Home's  bold,  outspoken  way  of -giving  vent  to  his  honest 
convictions.  In  1840,  an  old  man,  over  six  feet  high,  came  through  the  settle- 
ment, making  his  way  to  his  former  home  in  Pennsylvania,  on  foot.  He  was 
troubled  with  some  kind  of  nervous  affliction  which  often  ended  in  fits  of  a  rather 
serious  character,  rendering  him  entirely  helpless  and  at  the  mercy  of  whoever 
might  find  him.  He  was  found  in  a  fit  in  an  old  blacksmith-shop  near  where 
Samuel  Haven  lived,  when  it  was  discovered  that  he  had  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  upon  his  person,  and  he  was  taken  to  the  house  of  one  McLaughlin. 
After  recovering  partially,  he  went  on  his  way,  and  nothing  more  was  heard 
until  he  was  found  in  another  fit,  near  "  Skunk's  Grove,"  and  in  his  mutterings 
were  something  of  having  been  robbed,  and  search  revealed  the  fact  that  his 
money  was  all  gone.  In  a  few  days  he  died  and  was  buried  by  charity.  Sus- 
picions rested  upon  McLaughlin  as  having  robbed  the  old  man.  Van  Home 
was  outspoken  and^made  no  hesitation  in  avowing  his  belief  as  to  McLaughlin's 
guilt.  The  matter  was  taken  up  by  the  grand  jury  and  a  bill  found  against  old 
McLaughlin's  son,  principally  through  the  instrumentality  of  Van  Home.  The 
young  man  gave  bail  for  his  appearance  at  court,  and  when  the  term  came  on 
he  started  on  foot  for  the  town,  as  he  gave'out,  but  he  never  made  his  appearance 
at  the  Court  House.  The  Van  Home  party  said  he  had  run  away  to  avoid 
trial — the  McLaughlins  alleged  that  he  had  been  foully  dealt  with,  and  charged 
it  upon  the  Van  Homes,  whom  they  charged  as  being  the  real  robbers  of  the 
old  man,  and  were  afraid  to  have  young  McLaughlin's  case  tried,  lest  the  truth 
should  come  out.  The  excitement  run  high.  Old  McLaughlin  spent  days  in 
traveling  up  and  down  the  creek  and  searching  in  the  woods,  ostensibly  for  his 
lost  son,  while  others,  feeling  some  sympathy  for  him,  assisted  in  the  search. 
In  the  old  mill-pond,  just  above  where  the  Rock  Island  Railroad  crosses  Hickory 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  499 

Creek,  was  discovered  a  wagon-track  running  by  a  blind  road  from  one  of  the 
Van  Home's,  and  from  where  the  wagon  track  terminated  a  wheelbarrow  track 
to  the  mill-pond.  The  wheelbarrow  was  found  in  the  mill  and  upon  it  some 
hair.  The  pond  was  dragged  and  the  body  of  a  man  considerably  decayed  was 
found.  Old  McLaughlin  was  told  of  the  discovery,  and  he  said  that  if  it  was 
his  son  certain  teeth  would  be  missing.  The  body  was  examined  and  found 
to  correspond  with  the  old  man's  description.  The  excitement  was  intense  and 
public  opinion  divided.  The  Coroner  held  an  inquest,  which  resulted  about  as 
satisfactorily  as  such  things  generally  do.  Old  McLaughlin  and  his  wife  swore 
positively  that  they  believed  the  body  was  that  of  their  son,  while  many  others 
believed  it  too  tall,  aged  and  too  much  decayed.  But  notwithstanding  these 
discrepancies,  the  Coroner's  jury  found  it  to  be  the  body  of  young  McLaughlin, 
and  while  they  did  not  bring  a  charge  against  any  one,  old  McLaughlin  swore 
out  a  warrant  and  had  Van  Home  arrested.  And  in  the  excitement  and  divis- 
ion of  sentiment,  many  were  ready  to  hang  Van  Home  without  judge  or  jury. 
It  became  an  object  to  those  who  sided  with  Van  Home,  and  who  did  not  believe 
the  body  "sat  on  "  by  the  Coroner  to  be  that  of  young  McLaughlin,  to  find 
out  whose  it  was.  At  length,  some  one  thought  of  the  grave  of  the  old  man 
who  had  been  robbed,  and  a  delegation  was  sent  to  examine,  when  it  was  found  to 
have  been  recently  disturbed,  and  when  the  coffin  was  opened,  it  was  tenant- 
less.  In  the  mean  time,  a  surveillance  had  been  put  upon  the  post  office,  and 
a  letter  having  come  for  old  McLaughlin,  mailed  somewhere  in  Pennsylvania, 
it  was  opened  by  consent  of  the  Postmaster  and  found  to  be  from  the  missing 
son.  The  tide  of  public  opinion  had  changed  when  the  discovery  was  made  at  the 
grave,  and  now  those  who  had  been  so  eager  to  hang  Van  Home  were  still  more 
•eager  to  hang  McLaughlin  and  his  wife..  The  development  of  the  matter  shows 
that  old  McLaughlin,  his  wife  and  son  had  conspired  to  ruin  Van  Home,  and 
that  they  had  dug  up  the  body  of  the  old  man,  taken  it  to  the  mill-pond — a 
distance  of  two  miles — examined  it  closely  enough  to  detect  the  missing  teeth,  or 
•extracted  them  on  purpose  to  make  it  correspond  with  the  son,  and  then  depos- 
ited it  in  the  water.  They  had  taken  the  wagon  of  Van  Home  and  drawn  it 
to  the  creek  and  back  to  turn  suspicion  on  him.  The  old  man  got  wind  of  the 
turn  affairs  had  taken  upon  the  opening  of  the  letter,  and  made  his  escape  before 
the  infuriated  people  could  get  hold  of  him,  or  perhaps  the  historian  would  have 
the  melancholy  duty  to  perform  of  chronicling  a  sure-enough  murder  story, 
instead  of  one  with  the  murder  left  out. 

Samuel  Haven  was  also  a  New  Yorker,  and  settled  in  this  township  in 
1835  or  1836.  He  had  four  sons,  viz.,  Dwight,  Carlos,  Rush  and  Alvin.  Rush 
Haven  is  a  physician,  and  lives  in  Chicago ;  Carlos  died  here,  and  was  buried 
in  the  little  cemetery  of  New  Lenox  village ;  and  Dwight  and  Alvin  are  still 
living  in  the  township.  Joseph  S.  Reynolds  was  from  Ohio,  and  settled  in  the 
town  in  1833.  He  had  lived  some  time  at  Ottawa  before  coming  to  this  settle- 
ment. He  died  some  twenty-five  years  ago,  but  has  sons  still  living  in  the 


500  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

township,  who  are  honored  and  respected  citizens.  Jason  Rugg  and  David 
Hartshorn  came  from  Vermont  in  1836,  and  settled  near  where  the  village  of 
New  Lenox  now  stands.  They  had  made  arrangements  for  removing  here  in 
1832,  but  rumors  of  the  Indian  war  going  on  at  that  time  deterred  them,  and 
their  coming  was  postponed  until  the  date  given  above.  They  have  both  been 
dead  several  years,  and  both  sleep  in  the  pretty  little  village  cemetery.  James 
C.  Kercheval  was  a  son  of  Lewis  Kercheval,  mentioned  in  an  earlier  part  of 
this  chapter.  Though  but  a  boy,  he  took  part  in  the  Black  Hawk  war  until 
the  settlers  were  forced  to  flee  to  the  older  settlements  for  safety.  He  died  in 
1873,  and  his  widow  is  still  living  in  the  town. 

The  Francises  came  from  Ohio,  but  were  originally  from  England.  John 
Francis,  an  Englishman,  removed  from  England  to  Ireland  in  the  year  1690, 
settled  in  the  county  of  Cavan,  and  married  Jane  McGregory,  a  Scotch  lady, 
whose  father  fled  from  Scotland  to  Ireland  in  the  time  of  the  persecution  waged 
by  the  Catholics  against  the  Protestants.  They  had  two  sons,  William  and  John. 
William  died  when  a  young  man.  John  married  Mary  Sharp,  by  whom  he  had 
five  sons — William,  John,  Richard,  Edward  and  James  ;  and  three  daughters — 
Mary,  Jane  and  Margaret.  John  married  Margaret  Cranston,  of  Scotland,  by 
whom  he  had  two  sons.  James  married  Esther  Ingram.  William  married 
Jane  Love,  who  was  of  Scotch  ancestry;  and  Jane  married  Alexander  Meharry. 
William  Francis,  who  married  Miss  Jane  Love,  had  four  sons — John  L.,  Thomas, 
Abraham  and  Isaac;  and  three  daughters — Jane,  Margaret  and  Mary.  Will- 
iam Francis,  who  married  Jane  Love,  emigrated  from  Ireland  in  the  year  1815, 
and  settled  in  Brown  County,  Ohio,  where  his  family  all  remained  until  the 
year  1831,  at  which  time  Abraham  married  Mary  Ann  J.  Davison,  of  Adams 
County,  Ohio,  and  moved  with  his  brothers  Thomas  and  Isaac  to  the  site  where 
the  widow  of  Abraham  Francis  now  lives  with  her  son,  A.  Allen  Francis,  in 
the  town  of  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  111.  The  next  Spring,  Mary,  with  her  hus- 
band, Aaron  Wear,  came  and  settled  on  the  section  just  west  of  Abraham 
Francis.  Thomas  removed  to  Bates  County,  Mo.,  where  he  died  two  years 
afterward.  Aaron  Wear  removed  to  Morgan  County,  Mo.,  in  the  year  1857, 
where  he  died  a  few  years  later.  Abraham  Francis  had  five  sons  and  six  daugh- 
ters, of  whom  four  sons,  A.  Allen,  John,  Charles  and  George  L.,  and  four 
daughters,  Margaret  (wife  of  N.  P.  Cooper),  Mary  A.  J.  (wife  of  John  S. 
Blackstone)  Lydia  E.  (wife  of  A.  S.  Haven),  and  Addie  A.  (wife  of  Jesse 
Meharry),  are  still  living,  and  all  but  two  of  them  live  in  their  native  town,. 
New  Lenox.  Abraham  died  on  the  place  where  his  widow  now  lives,  an  active, 
intelligent  lady,  apparently  but  little  beyond  the  prime  of  life.  She  was  mar- 
ried when  but  16  years  of  age,  and  came  at  once  to  Illinois,  and  with  her  hus- 
band made  a  home  where  she  still  lives,  awaiting  the  summons  to  join  the 
companion  of  her  youth,  up  beyond  the  blue  sky.  She  relates  the  following  of 
Father  Beggs,  the  pioneer  Methodist  preacher :  He  came  to  their  cabin  one 
day,  soon  after  they  had  settled  in  the  neighborhood,  and  asked  where  her 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  501 

father  was.  She  told  him  he  was  at  home  in  Ohio.  He  then  inquired  what 
she  was  doing  away  out  here  in  the  wilderness,  so  far  away  from  her  father's ; 
when,  with  naivete,  she  answered  that  she  "had  come  here  with  her  husband;" 
at  which  revelation  he  seemed  a  little  surprised,  from  her  childlike  appearance. 
John  Francis,  another  of  her  sons,  is  living  within  a  short  distance  of  her; 
while  a  married  daughter,  Mrs.  Cooper,  also  lives  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood. The  four  sons  reside  on  one  street,  and  their  farms  join  each  other, 
making  a  continuous  stretch  of  two  and  a  half  miles.  Henry  Watkins,  father 
of  the  pioneer  school-teacher,  came  from  New  York  and  settled  in  New  Lenox 
Township  in  the  Fall  of  1831,  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  about  fifteen 
years  ago.  Of  others  who  settled  on  Hickory  Creek  at  a  very  early  period,  we 
may  mention  Michael  and  Jared  Runyon,  Isaac  and  Samuel  Pence,  Joseph, 
Alfred  and  James  Johnson,  and  Henry  Higginbotham.  There  were,  perhaps, 
others  who  are  entitled  to  mention  as  early  settlers,  but  their  names  have 
escaped  the  few  who  survive  them.  Higginbotham.  bought  out  Col.  Sayre  in 
1834,  and  the  saw-mill  firm  before  alluded  to  became  Wheeler  &  Higginbotham. 
The  Johnsons  settled  near  the  line  of  Yankee  Settlement,  on  Spring  Creek. 
The  Fences  and  Runyons  were  among  the  very  early  settlers.  The  Fences  were 
in  the  settlement  before  the  Sac  war,  but  the  exact  date  of  their  coming  is  not 
remembered.  Edward  Poor,  an  old  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812  and  of  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  is  living  on  Maple  street  with  his  son,  Robert  Poor.  He 
first  settled  in  Homer  Township,  where  he  receives  further  notice. 

As  stated  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  settlements  were  made  on 
Hickory  Creek  as  early  as  1829,  which  were  among  the  first  made  in  Will 
County,  perhaps  Plainfield,  or  Walker's  Grove  having  a  little  the  precedence. 
As  a  natural  consequence  of  this  early  settlement,  births,  deaths  and  marriages 
occurred  here  at  an  early  period.  The  death  of  Mr.  Brown,  mentioned 
as  one  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  Creek,  who  died  in  the  Fall  of  1830, 
was  the  first  death  in  this  township,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the  first  person 
who  died  in  Will  County.  The  first  marriage  was  Miss  Anne  Pence  and 
Thomas  Ellis.  The  marriage  took  place  on  the  4th  of  July,  1834,  and  was  a 
part  of  the  programme  of  the  "day  we  celebrate,"  and  the  happy  event  was 
solemnized  in  Joliet,  by  B.  F.  Barker,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  This  wedding 
is  graphically  described  in  "  Forty  Years  Ago,"  to  which  our  readers  are  re- 
ferred for  particulars  of  the  bridal  costume  and  "fixins."  It  is  also  supposed 
to  be  the  first  wedding  in  the  county.  The  first  white  child  born  in  New  Lenox 
Township,  and  perhaps  in  the  county,  was  Elizabeth  Norman,  born  in  January, 
1832,  and  Margaret  Louisa  Cooper,  nee  Francis,  was  the  next  child  born  in  the 
township,  and  was  born  the  3d  of  January,  1834.  The  first  practicing  physi- 
cian in  the  Hickory  Creek  Settlement  was  Dr.  Bowen,  now  of  Wilmington,  and 
the  first  preacher  was  Father  Beggs,  or  Rev.  Mr.  Prentiss,  who  located  in 
Joliet  in  an  early  day.  We  are  informed  by  A.  Allen  Francis,  who  derived  the 
information  from  the  man  himself  that  Joseph  Shomaker  was  the  first  settler 


502  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

in  what  now  comprises  Will  County,  probably  arriving  in  the  Spring  of  1828, 
in  what  is  now  known  as  Reed's  Grove,  in  the  township  of  Jackson.  We  have 
it  from  Mr.  Francis,  also,  that  the  first  marriage  in  the  county  was  that  of 
Jedediah  Woolley,  Jr.,  of  Troy  Township,  to  Betsy  Watkins,  daughter  of  Henry 
Watkins,  of  New  Lenox  Township,  January,  1832;  and  that  Father  Walker 
preached  the  first  sermon,  in  1832,  in  the  fort  or  blockhouse,  and  Stephen  Beggs, 
the  second. 

The  first  mill  was  built  by  Joseph  Norman,  on  Hickory  Creek,  about  1833  or 
1834.  Col.  Sayre's  mill  was  built  previously,  but  was  just  over  in  Joliet  Township. 
The  first  bridge  was  built  across  Hickory  Creek,  near  John  Gougar's.  It  was  built 
of  logs,  and  was  a  rough  affair.  The  township  is  well  supplied  with  excellent 
bridges  at  the  present  day — having  two  iron  bridges  of  improved  patent,  one 
across  Hickory  Creek,  at  New  Lenox  village,  and  the  other  across  the  north 
branch,  while  there  are  a  number  of  excellent  wooden  bridges  of  substantial 
build.  The  first  road  laid  out  was  the  State  road  from  Chicago  to  Blooming- 
ton,  but  was  a  little  off  the  direct  route,  and  was  never  used.  The  first  traveled 
road  was  from  Joliet  east  to  State  line,  and  passed  by  Gougar's.  The  first  post 
office  was  kept  at  Mr.  Gougar's,  though  C.  C.  Van  Home  was  the  Postmaster. 
This  was  not  only  the  first  post  office  and  Postmaster  in  New  Lenox  Township 
but  in  Will  County.  The  mail  was  carried  on  horseback  from  Danville  to  Chi- 
cago. Sometime  after  its  establishment  in  1832,  the  office  was  removed  to  Joliet, 
and  Dr.  Bowen  became  Postmaster.  The  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  was  C.  C. 
Van  Home.  The  present  Justices  are:  T.  G.  Haines  and  Dwight  Haven. 
Township  Clerk,  Sinclair  Hill;  Township  Treasurer,  T.  G.  Haines,  and  John 
Francis,  Supervisor.  Since  township  organization,  the  following  gentlemen 
have  represented  the  town  in  the  Board  of  Supervisors :  J.  Van  Dusen,  1850 ; 
A.  McDonald,  1851;  B.  F.  Allen,  1852  ;  G.  McDonald,  1853;  J.  C.  Kerche- 
val,  1854-55;  D.  Haven,  1856-57 ;  J.  C.  Kercheval,  1858 ;  D.  Haven,  1859-60 ; 
Allen  Francis,  1861-63 ;  T.  Doig,  1864 ;  D.  Haven,  1865 ;  T.  Doig,  1866-6T ; 
D.  Haven,  1868 ;  T.  Doig,  1869  ;  C.  Snoad,  1870-71;  John  Francis,  1872  ;  P. 
Cavenagh,  1873;  John  Francis,  1874,  and  is  still  Supervisor. 

The  first  school  was  taught  in  New  Lenox  Township  in  the  Winter  of 
1832-33,  by  C.  C.  Van  Home.  In  the  Summer  of  1832,  a  schoolhouse  had 
been  built  in  the  timber  on  Hickory  Creek,  which  was  a  small  log  structure, 
and  in  this  building  Van  Home  taught  the  following  Winter.  John  Watkins, 
the  pioneer  teacher,  taught  in  this  house  afterward.  He,  it  is  said,  taught  the 
first  school  in  Chicago.  The  school  facilities  of  New  Lenox  have  increased 
since  that  day,  as,  in  1872,  the  reports  showed  8  schoolhouses ;  366  pupils 
enrolled;  14  teachers;  amount  of  special  tax  $2,896.88;  amount  paid 
teachers,  $2,210.13;  total  expenditures  for  the  year,  $3,342.57;  balance 
in  treasury,  $1,338.96.  The  first  church  edifice  built  in  New  Lenox 
Township  was  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  erected  in  1850,  and  was  called 
Bethel  Methodist  Church.  Before  this  church  was  built,  services  were  held  in 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  503 

the  schoolhouses,  and  before  schoolhouses,  in  the  people's  cabins.  The  Mormons 
were  the  first  who  preached  in  the  settlement,  and  used  to  promulgate  their 
heavenly  revelations  as  early  as  1831,  and  next  after  them  came  the  Methodists, 
who  are  mentioned  as  the  first  "  real,  sure-enough "  preachers.  The  camp 
grounds  of  the  Methodist  Church,  belonging  to  the  Rock  River  Conference, 
located  a  little  west  of  the  village  of  New  Lenox,  in  a  beautiful  grove,  are  very 
beautiful,  and  admirably  adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  used. 

The  name  New  Lenox  was  taken  from  Lenox,  N.  Y.  The  first  Supervisor 
under  township  organization  was  J.  Van  Dusen,  and  came  from  Lenox,  N.  Y., 
and  when  asked  to  name  his  township  by  the  County  Commissioners,  gave  to  it 
the  name  of  his  native  town.  Previous  to  that  it  was  known  as  Van  Home's 
Point,  from  a  point  of  timber  near  the  center  of  the  town,  and  at  a  still  earlier 
date  it  went  by  the  name  of  Hickory  Creek  Settlement.  Maple  street  is  a  road 
running  through  the  north  part  of  the  town  from  east  to  west,  and  was  so  named 
in  consequence  of  the  first  settlers  planting  a  number  of  maple-trees  along  the 
line  of  the  road.  On  the  political  issues  of  the  day,  New  Lenox  is  pretty 
evenly  divided.  Some  years  ago  it  was  largely  Republican,  but  with  National 
Greenbackers  and  Democrats,  the  Republican  majority  has  been  whittled  down 
to  the  little  end  of  nothing. 

As  this  is  one  of  the  early  settled  portions. of  Will  County,  its  history  could 
hardly  be  considered  complete  without  some  special  reference  to  the  Indians  and 
the  Sac  war  of  1832,  so  often  mentioned  in  these  pages.  Although  nearly  a 
half-century  has  passed  since  those  rather  "ticklish"  times,  and  most  of  the 
participants  are  gone  where  "  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  "  come  not  to  disturb 
their  peace  and  tranquillity,  there  are  a  few  left  who  remember  well  the  great 
excitement  of  that  period.  And  the  very  Indians  themselves  are  almost  forgot- 
ten by  the  masses,  or  only  remembered  through  the  reports  from  the  distant 
West  of  their  robbing,  plundering  and  murdering.  But  on  the  18th  day 
of  May,  1832,  Hickory  Creek  Settlement,  for  the  small  number  of  inhab- 
itants it  contained,  perhaps  was  about  as  excited  a  community  as  one  will  gen- 
erally meet  with  in  half  a  life-time.  On  that  day  news  was  brought  to  the  set- 
tlement of  the  death  and  destruction  being  dealt  out  by  Black  Hawk  and  his 
dusky  warriors.  A  committee  of  a  dozen  men  who  had  the  best  horses  were 
•appointed  to  go  to  Plainfield  and  reconnoiter,  and  bring  back  news  as  to  the  truth 
of  the  reports.  Thomas  and  Abraham  Francis  were  on  the  committee,  and  the 
news  brought  back  was  not  calculated  to  allay  the  existing  excitement  in  the  least. 
On  approaching  Plainfield,  they  discovered  Indians  firing  on  the  fort  or  block- 
house, and  the  committee  stood  not  on  their  retirement,  but  fell  back  precipi- 
tately, to  put  it  into  the  mildest  form  possible.  On  their  return,  they  reported 
to  the  settlers  that  the  Indians  were  coming  and  killing  everything  before  them. 
A  council  of  war  was  called  at  "  Uncle  Billy  "  Gougar's,  and  it  was  determined 
to  seek  safety  in  flight,  and  on  the  18th  of  May  they  commenced  the  line  of 
march.  The  majority  retreated  toward  the  Wabash  settlements,  while  some  few 


504  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

went  to  Chicago.  The  bustle  and  excitement  of  getting  ready  to  start,  and  the  mo- 
mentary expectation  of  hearing  the  terrific  yells  of  the  savages,  gave  rise  to- 
some  ludicrous  scenes,  as  serious  as  was  the  cause  of  alarm.  Mr.  Pence's 
girls  came  to  Mr.  Gougar  and  asked  him  to  yoke  up  their  oxen  for  them.  "  Yesr 
in  a  minute,"  said  he ;  but  before  he  could  get  ready  to  do  so,  the  brave  girls  had 
yoked  the  cattle  themselves,  hitched  them  to  the  wagon,  and  were  gone  on  the 
way  toward  safety.  (Young  ladies  of  Will  County,  how  many  of  you  could 
perform  such  a  feat  to-day,  if  an  emergency  should  arise  to  demand  it?)  The 
first  day  the  cavalcade  arrived  within  four  miles  of  the  Kankakee  River,  where 
they  encamped  for  the  night,  intending  to  start  at  daylight  and  drive  to  the 
river  before  breakfast.  But  just  after  starting  the  next  morning,  a  man  named 
Lionbarger came  up  hatless, riding  bare-back,  and  did  "a  tale  unfold"  of  Indi- 
ans in  pursuit  and  of  murder  and  carnage,  that  completely  dispelled  the  appe- 
tites of  the  already  frightened  fugitives,  and  they  did  not  stop  for  breakfast 
until  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  "  thirty  miles  away  "  from  their  encampment 
of  the  previous  night.  As  the  women  and  children  would  see  the  trees  along  the 
way  that  had  been  burned  and  blackened,  they  would  shriek,  INDIANS  !  and  thus 
the  march  or  retreat  was  continued  through  to  a  place  of  safety.  It  was  dis- 
covered afterward  that  Lionbarger  had  mistaken  fence-stakes  for  Indians,  and 
hence  his  story  of  the  pursuit  and  of  his  own  extreme  fright.  He  rode,  it  is 
said,  eighty  miles  without  stopping,  bare-headed  and  without  a  saddle,  a  feat 
that  has  never  been  excelled,  as  we  are  aware  of,  even  by  Jim  Robinson  the 
great  bare-back  circus-rider.  But  the  storm  of  war  soon  passed  ;  the  dark  and 
lurid  clouds  rolled  away  toward  the  west,  and  the  sun  came  forth  in  all  his 
glory — the  olive-branch  of  peace  waved  over  the  land,  and  the  fugitive  settlers 
returned  to  their  claims  in  July  of  the  same  year  which  witnessed  their  precip- 
itate retreat,  never  more  to  be  disturbed  in  their  peaceful  pursuits  by  the  red 
men  of  the  forest,  who,  like  Dickens'  little  Jo  before  the  "  peeler,"  have  moved 
on  before  the  "superior  race,"  the  white  men,  and  are  still  moving  on  toward 
the  "  golden  sunset,"  where  erelong  they  will  hear  the  roar  of  the  last  wave 
that  will  settle  over  them  forever. 

THE   VILLAGE   OF    NEW    LENOX. 

This  pretty  little  village  is  situated  on  the  banks  of  Hickory  Creek,  and  on 
the  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad,  thirty-three  miles  from  Chicago,  and 
about  six  miles  from  Joliet.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  beautiful  grove  of  timber, 
and  grand  old  forest-trees  shade  it  in  Summer  and  protect  it  against  the  storms 
of  Winter.  The  village  of  New  Lenox  was  laid  out  in  1858  by  George  Gay- 
lord,  of  Lockport,  and  surveyed  by  A.  J.  Mathewson,  County  Surveyor.  The 
village  is  known  on  the  original  plat  by  the  name  of  Tracy,  and  was  given  in 
honor  of  the  General  Superintendent  of  the  railroad  at  the  time  of  the  laying- 
out  of  the  village.  But  with  a  modesty  rarely  met  with  in  the  present  day,  he 
shrank  from  such  notoriety,  and  at  his  urgent  request,  the  name  was  changed 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  505 

to  New  Lenox,  to  correspond  with  the  name  of  the  township.  A  man  of  the 
name  of  Robinson  built  the  first  residence  in  the  village,  and  Van  Home  put 
up  the  next  one.  Both  of  these  were  built  before  the  village  was  laid  out. 
David  Letz  built  the  next  house,  which  is  now  a  part  of  the  hotel  kept  by  Doxtader. 
The  first  storehouse  was  erected  by  Paschal  Woodward,  who  owned  both 
the  building  and  the  stock,  though  it  was  managed  by  a  man  named  Haines. 
The  first  post  office  was  established  in  1858,  and  John  B.  Saulsbury  was 
appointed  the  first  Postmaster.  The  mail-bags  are  now  handled  by  Ward 
Knickerbocker.  An  excellent  grain  warehouse  was  built  by  Samuel  Woodward, 
and  is  now  owned  by  the  railroad  company  and  rented  by  George  Hilton,  who 
handles  grain  pretty  extensively.  The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  long  before 
the  village  was  laid  out,  and  stood  just  across  the  street  from  Ward  Knicker- 
bocker's store.  The  present  handsome  school  edifice  was  built  in  1869,  is  a 
two-story  frame  and  cost  about  $3,000.  Prof.  Frank  Searles  is  principal  of  the 
school,  and  employs  an  assistant  during  the  Winter  season.  The  following  is 
a  summary  of  the  business  carried  on  in  the  village :  Three  stores — W.  Knick- 
erbocker, Tunis  Lynk  and  George  Hilton ;  three  blacksmith-shops,  one  grain 
warehouse,  two  wagon-shops,  one  hotel,  one  tin-shop,  one  physician — Dr.  F.  W . 
Searles.  J.  B.  Saulsbury  carries  on  a  butter-factory,  which  is  quite  an  estab- 
lishment, and  adds  materially  to  the  importance  and  business  of  the  village.  He 
does  not  make  cheese,  but  devotes  his  entire  attention  to  the  manufacture  of 
butter,  and  works  up  from  four  to  five  thousand  pounds  of  milk  daily,  which  is 
made  up  on  shares  for  his  patrons. 

The  village  has  two  pretty  little  churches,  viz.:  The  Methodist  and  Grace 
Episcopal.  The  Methodist  Church  was  built  in  the  village  in  1859,  and  is  the 
same,  as  mentioned  in  another  page,  as  being  built  in  the  township  in  1850,  and 
called  Bethel  Church.  It  was  taken  down  in  1859  and  moved  to  the  village 
and  new  material  added  to  it  and  the  present  edifice  erected,  at  a  cost  of  about 
$1,000.  It  has  about  sixty  members,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  George  P. 
Hoover.  Allen  Francis  is  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  which  is 
well  attended.  Grace  Episcopal  Church  was  opened  to  service  in  September, 
1870.  It  is  a  frame  building,  painted  stone-color,  and  cost  $2,000,  with  a 
membership  of  about  fifty,  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev.  Mr.  Turner. 
Quite  a  flourishing  Sunday  school  is  maintained  under  the  superintendence  of 
Sinclair  Hill.  Upon  a  sunny  slope  of  the  village,  where  the  south  winds  sigh 
through  the  forest-trees  that  shade  it,  is  the  beautiful  little  village  grave-yard, 
where  sleep  the  loved  ones,  who  have  gone  to  their  rest.  It  is  a  pretty  spot 
and  shows  many  traces  of  loving  hands  in  the  planting  of  shrubs  and  flowers 
above  the  sleeping  dead. 

The  village  of  Spencer  is  situated  on  the  cut-off  division  of  the  Michigan 
Central  Railroad,  about  nine  miles  from  Joliet,  and  is  two  miles  from  New 
Lenox  village.  It  was  surveyed  by  A.  J.  Mathewson,  County  Surveyor,  for 
Frank  Goodspeed  and  Albert  Mudge,  who  owned  the  land  on  which  it  is  loca- 


506  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

ted.  It  was  laid  out  in  1856,  about  the  time  the  railroad  was  built  through 
this  section.  The  first  storehouse  erected  in  the  place  was  the  one  occupied  by 
Russell  Kennedy  in  1856,  the  same  year  the  village  was  laid  out.  The  post 
office  was  established  in  1857,  and  James  Holmes  was  appointed  Postmaster,  an 
office  he  still  holds.  The  first  grain  elevator  was  built  in  1857  by  the  railroad 
company,  and,  on  its  completion,  was  dedicated  by  a  rousing  ball,  in  which  the 
boys  and  girls  of  the  surrounding  country  participated  to  their  entire  satisfac- 
tion. In  1875,  H.  S.  Carpenter  built  another  large  elevator,  and  this,  like- 
wise, was  similarly  dedicated.  Indeed,  this  seems  to  be  the  usual  mode  of 
opening  elevators  in  this  section  of  the  country.  It  is  now  operated  by  W.  M. 
Dudley,  who,  also,  has  the  other  elevator  rented,  in  order  to  keep  other  parties 
out  of  the  business  at  this  point.  He  handles  annually  something  like  800  car- 
loads of  grain — principally  corn  and  oats.  The  general  business  of  Spencer  i& 
two  stores,  by  N.  P.  Holmes  and  Knapp  Brothers ;  one  saloon,  a  post  office,  a 
blacksmith-shop,  a  shoe-shop,  two  grain  elevators  and  one  grain  dealer.  There 
is  neither  a  church  or  schoolhouse  within  the  limits  of  the  village.  A  consid- 
able  amount  of  business  is  transacted  in  this  little  and  apparently  unimportant 
village — far  more  than  a  stranger  would  imagine  at  first  sight ;  but  it  is  in  the 
midst  of  a  rich  and  fertile  region,  and  immense  quantities  of  grain  and  stock 
are  annually  shipped  from  this  little  station. 


FRANKFORT   TOWNSHIP. 

"  Frankfort-on-the-Main,"  otherwise  Frankfort  Township,  comprises  one  of 
the  stair-steps  of  Will  County,  forming  a  "jog"  in  the  line,  and  is  bounded  on 
the  north  and  east  by  Cook  County,  on  the  south  by  Greengarden  Township, 
on  the  west  by  New  Lenox,  and  had  a  population,  in  1870,  of  about  one  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  twenty  inhabitants.  The  town  is  mostly  fine,  rolling 
prairie,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  sections  bordering  Hickory  Creek,  the  only 
water-course  of  any  consequence.  Frankfort  Township  is  termed  the  summit 
of  this  portion  of  the  State,  and  is  said  to  be  the  highest  point  between  Chicago 
and  the  Mississippi  River.  It  is  described  as  Town  35  north,  Range  12  east 
of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  and  is  as  fine  an  agricultural  region  as  Will 
County  can  boast. 

Forty-eight  years  have  come  and  gone  since  white  men  began  to  settle  in 
the  territory  now  embraced  in  Frankfort  Township.  William  Rice  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  first  white  man  whose  footsteps  marked  the  virgin  prairie  in 
this  portion  of  Will  County.  He  made  a  kind  of  prospecting  tour  through 
here  in  1828,  but  did  not  make  a  permanent  settlement  until  in  the  Summer  of 
1831.  During  the  Spring  and  Summer  of  that  year,  John  McGovney,  Will- 
iam Moore,  William  Rice  and  a  man  named  Osborne  settled  near  where  the 
village  of  Mokena  now  stands.  Not  long,  however,  were  they  allowed  to 
remain  in  peace  and  tranquillity.  The  notes  of  war  were  wafted  to  them  upon 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  507 

the  prairie  winds,  and  the  war-whoops  of  Black  Hawk  and  his  warriors  warned 
them  that  this  was  no  safe  abiding-place.  Early  in  the  Spring  of  1832,  safety 
demanded  a  retreat  to  a  more  thickly-settled  country,  and  they  accordingly 
returned  to  the  Wabash  settlement,  or  to  Lafayette,  Ind.  McGovney,  Moore 
and  Rice  were  from  Ohio,  and  Osborne  had  come  from  Indiana,  but  whether 
that  was  his  native  place  or  not  could  not  be  learned.  After  the  close  of  the 
Indian  war,  McGovney  and  Rice  came  back  to  their  claims,  in  the  Spring  of 

1834.  Moore  and   Osborne,  it  appears,   however,  were  fully  satisfied  with 
frontier    life,    and    never    returned  —  at  least   not    to    this  settlement.     Mr. 
McGovney   pre-empted   eighty    acres  of  land,    and    succeeded   in    getting  a 
"float"  on  another  "  eighty,"  a  portion  of  which  is  embraced  in  the  present 
village  of  Mokena.     He  is  considered  the  first  permanent  settler  of  Frankfort 
Township.     The  land  was  not  in  market  at  the  time  he  settled  here,  and  set- 
tlers  chose  their  locations  and   "  squatted,"  provided   there  were   no   prior, 
claims     Range   11  was  sold   in   1836,  and  Range  12  in  1838,  at   Chicago. 
Mr.  McGovney  died  on  his  original  place  March  11,  1859.     W.  W.  McGov- 
ney,  a  son,    now   lives  in   New   Lenox   Township ;    another    son,  Ozias,   is 
a  prosperous  merchant  in  the  village  of  Mokena;  Thomas  G.,  another  son, 
lives  in  Joliet,  and  Elijah,  the   youngest,  lives  on  the  old  homestead.     The 
family  consisted  of  eight  children,  and  all  lived  until  the  youngest  was  32  years 
old. 

Matthew  Van  Home  settled  here,  it  is  said,  in  1832,  and  remained  during 
the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  was  from  New  York,  and  was  good-naturedly  termed 
by  his  neighbors  a  Mohawk  Dutchman.  He  settled  one  mile  west  of  the 
present  village  of  Frankfort,  in  the  Hickory  Creek  timber,  where  he  lived  and 
died,  and  where  his  widow  still  lives,  in  the  same  old  house  where  they  spent 
more  than  half  their  lives.  Peter  Clayes  came  from  New  Hampshire,  and  set- 
tled first  in  the  vicinity  of  Lockport,  but  removed  to  Frankfort  Township  in 
the  Spring  of  1837.  Orlando  and  Levi  M.  Clayes,  his  sons,  came  in  the  Fall 
of  1836  ;  Charles,  another  son,  came  out  and  worked  on  their  claim  during  the 
Winter,  and  in  the  Spring  the  remainder  of  the  family  came.  They  bought 
their  claim  from  one  Robert  Smith,  who  was  from  Vermont,  and  settled  here  in 

1835.  The  elder  Clayes  is  dead,  and  Charles  lives  on  the  homestead  place. 
E.  Atkins  and  a  brother,  John  Atkins,  came  from  Vermont,  and  were  among 
the  first  settlers  in  the  township  after  the  close  of  the  Sac  war,  and  about  the 
same  time  came  Weir  and  Duncan,  from  the  Wabash  settlements.     Their  first 
names  are  now  forgotten.     Foster  Kane  and  Archibald  Growl  were  from  the 
same  section.    It  is  said  that  Kane  was  in  the  settlement  all  through  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  and  settled  on  the  place  afterward  occupied  by  Matthew  Van  Home ; 
but  this  we  are  inclined  to  doubt  somewhat.      Crowl  settled  near  the  village  of 
Mokena,  in  1834  or  1835.    He  finally  moved  to  Missouri ;  Kane  moved  South 
in  a  short  time  after  the  war  was  over,  and  afterward  to  Missouri,  where  he 
died  many  years  ago.      Daniel  Wilson  came  from  Ohio  and  settled  in  1834  or 


508  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

1835.    Francis  Owen  was  from  Kentucky,  and  came  in  1835.    Phineas  Holden 
and  Trueman  Smith  were  from  Vermont,  and  settled  also  in  1835. 

Ambrose  Doty  came  from  Ohio,  in  1834,  and  settled  on  the  line  between 
Frankfort  and  New  Lenox  Townships.  His  land  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  line, 
and  his  first  cabin  was  built  just  over  the  line  in  New  Lenox  Township  ;  but  when, 
some  years  later,  he  built  a  new  and  more  pretentious  residence,  he  set  it  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  line,  and  thus  became  a  resident  of  Frankfort  Township. 
As  stated,  he  came  from  Ohio,  but  was  born  in  Norris  County,  N.  J.  He  has 
been  living  for  some  years  in  Frankfort  village.  Isaac  Francis  also  came  from 
Ohio,  but  was  a  native  of  the  "Ould  Sod,"  and  settled  in  the  town  in  1835. 
Allen  and  Lysander  Denny,  a  Mr.  Wood,  and  David  Ketcbum  came  from  New 
York  in  1834  or  1835.  Wood  had  two  sons,  Hiram  and  Sydney  ;  one  of  them,  a 
Methodist  clergyman,  moved  to  the  Rock  River  country ;  the  father  and  the 
other  son  moved  away,  also,  but  where,  we  could  not  learn.  The  Denny s  set- 
tled in  the  Hickory  Creek  timber — Allen  near  Mokena,  and  Lysander  on  the 
Creek,  where  he  built  a  saw-mill,  and  after  a  time  sold  out  and  moved  to  the 
village  of  Spencer,  where  he  died.  Allen  finally  returned  to  New  York,  where 
he  died  several  years  ago.  William  Knight,  also  a  New  Yorker,  came  in  the 
Fall  of  1834,  and  settled  in  the  Grove,  but  sold  out  in  a  few  years  and  returned 
to  New  York.  This  includes  a  number  of  the  early  settler's  of  Frankfort  Town- 
ship, and,  perhaps,  a  majority  of  those  who  settled  in  the  town  prior  to  the 
[and  sale,  are  mentioned  in  this  list.  After  the  sale  of  these  lands,  the  com- 
munity rapidly  filled  up  until  not  a  section  was  left  unoccupied.  There  are  no  bet- 
ter farming  lands  in  the  county,  as  shown  by  the  following  statistics  from  the 
Assessor's  books  for  1877. 

ACRES.  BUSHELS. 

Corn  5,721  188,900 

Spring  Wheat 24  400 

Oats  4,822  175,170 

Rye 2  60 

Buckwheat 7  126 

Irish  Potatoes 208  15,170 

Apple  Orchard 262  

Flaxseed 125 

POUNDS. 

Grapes  1,600 

TONS. 

Timothy  Meadow 2,395  3,050 

Clover  Meadow 30  30 

Prairie  Meadow 1,865  2,380 

Pasture 1,664     (not  including  woodland.) 

Fat  Sheep  sold  145 — average  weight,        90  Ibs.  per  head. 

Fat  Cattle,    "     244          "  "       1,000    "         " 

Fat  Hogs      "     867          "  "          250    "         " 

No  of  Hogs  died  of  Cholera 316          "  "          100    "         " 

No.  of  Cows  kept 835 

Pounds  of  Butter  sold 25,780 

Gallons  of  Milk  sold...,  185,150 


JOLIET 


rat 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  511 

John  W.  McGovney,  a  son  of  John  McGovney,  noticed  as  the  first  settler 
of  this  township,  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  the  settlement.  He  was  born 
in  the  Spring  of  1832,  just  before  the  settler  left  the  place  for  the  Waba^sh 
settlements,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Sac  war.  As  to  the  first  death  and  mar- 
riage, the  few  survivors  of  the  early  days,  are  somewhat  uncertain  as  to 
who  they  were,  or  when  they  occurred.  The  first  physician  who  practiced 
the  healing  art  in  the  neighborhood  was  Dr.  Moses  Porter,  of  Hadley ;  Dr. 
W.  P.  Holden  was  the  first  resident  physician  in  the  township,  and  practiced 
many  years,  but  has  at  length  retired  and  given  the  field  to  younger  men. 
The  first  mill  was  built  by  Matthew  Van  Home,  about  1835-36,  and  was 
originally  a  saw-mill  only,  but  a  run  of  stones  was  afterward  added,  for  grind- 
ing corn.  A  saw- mill  was  built  prior  to  this  by  Denny ,  but  it  was  a  saw-mill 
only. 

A  store  was  opened,  in  1836,  by  0.  &  L.  M.  Clayes,  which  was  the  first 
mercantile  effort  in  the  township.  They  continued  in  the  business  for  eight  or 
ten  years,  when  they  closed  out,  and  one  M.  C.  Farewell  opened  a  store  in  the 
same  house  they  had  occupied.  The  latter  did  business  under  the  firm  name 
of  Farewell  &  Case.  Case  lived  in  Chicago,  and  furnished  the  goods,  and  Fare- 
well conducted  the  store.  A  post  office  was  established  in  1837,  with  L.  M. 
Clayes  as  Postmaster  one  of  the  merchants  mentioned  above.  The  name  of 
the  office  was  Chelsea,  and  after  the  Clayes  Brothers  discontinued  their  store, 
the  office  was  moved  to  Van  Home's,  and  he  was  made  Postmaster,  an  office  he 
held  until  some  years  after  the  post  office  had  been  moved  to  the  new  village  of 
Frankfort,  as  noticed  hereafter.  When  the  office  was  first  established,  the 
mail  was  brought  by  "horse  express  fast  line"  from  La  Porte,  Ind.,  to  Joliet 
once  a  week.  A  village  was  laid  out  here  in  1848-49  by  Charles  Clayes  and 
M.  C.  Farewell,  which  was  called  Chelsea.  The  former  owned  the  premises,  and 
the  place  had  some  show  of  becoming  quite  a  town ;  but  upon  the  completion  of 
the  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  Railroad  it  was  abandoned,  and  the  last  traces  of  it 
have  now  disappeared. 

The  first  sermon  preached  in  the  town  was  perhaps  by  Father  Beggs,  who, 
as  noticed  in  other  parts  of  this  work,  was  one  of  the  pioneer  preachers  of  the 
county.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Blackwell,  another  of  the  early  Methodist  itinerants, 
formed  a  class  at  Mr.  Doty's  about  1836  or  1837,  just  over  the  line  in  New 
Lenox  Township,  but  at  that  day  was  included  in  this  settlement,  or  this  was 
included  in  that,  and  all  known  as  the  Hickory  Creek  Settlement.  Mr.  Doty's 
residence  was  a  regular  preaching-place  until  the  era  of  schoolhouses,  as  there 
was  no  church  edifice  built  until  after  the  village  of  Frankfort  was  laid  out. 
There  is  but  one  church-building  in  the  town  outside  of  the  villages- — the  German 
Lutheran  Church — which  is  located  about  three  miles  northeast  of  Frankfort 
village.  It  was  built  in  1877  ;  is  a  neat  frame  building,  costing  about  $1,500, 
and  has  quite  a  flourishing  membership.  The  church  history  will  be  again 
referred  to  in  the  history  of  the  villages.  The  first  schools  taught  in  the  town 


512  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

were  by  Mrs.  Knight  and  Mrs.  Hiram  Wood,  but  to  which  belongs  the  honor 
of  teaching  the  first,  no  one  can  now  tell.  They  both  taught  in  a  little  log 
schoolhouse,  which  stood  on  Section  19,  built  for  school  purposes,  but  afterward 
converted  into  a  dwelling.  The  school  facilities  have  somewhat  increased  since 
then,  and  will  compare  favorably  with  any  town  in  the  county.  In  1872,  we 
find  there  were  ten  districts  and  nine  schoolhouses.  There  were  652  pupils 
enrolled,  and  fifteen  teachers  employed,  with  two  graded  schools  in  addition  to  the 
common  schools.  The  amount  paid  teachers  was  $2,724.90,  leaving  balance  in 
treasury  of  $2,818.14.  Further  notice  of  the  schools  will  be  made  in  connec- 
tion with  the  history  of  the  villages  of  Frankfort  Township.  The  first  Justices 
of  the  Peace  were  Thomas  Lang  and  Matthew  Van  Home.  Lang  had  the 
precedence  by  a  few  years,  and  after  his  term  Van  Home  dealt  out  justice  to  the 
offenders  of  the  law.  The  present  township  officers  are  John  McDonald,  Super- 
visor ;  J.  S.  Glaus  and  George  Morgan,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  John  Cappel, 
Town  Clerk,  and  Moriz  Weiss,  School  Treasurer. 

In  1852,  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad  was  built  through  the 
town.  The  first  freight  shipped  over  the  road  was  consigned  to  Ambrose  Doty  and 
Isaac  Francis,  and  consisted  of  a  couple  of  car-loads  of  lumber.  There  were  no 
stations,  and  when  the  railroad  men  asked  where  they  should  put  it  off,  were  told 
anywhere  in  the  township,  said  they  could  leave  it  one  place  as  well  as  another, 
and  put  it  off  near  the  present  village  of  Mokena.  In  1855,  the  "  Cut-Off,"  or 
Joliet  Division  of  the  Michigan  Central  was  completed  through,  and  the  town 
has  since  been  blest  with  unbounded  railroad  facilities.  These  roads  were  built 
without  aid  from  the  township,  and  so  were  independent  of  the  town,  and  the 
town  of  them.  There  has,  we  believe,  been  another  road  projected,  and,  per- 
haps, partly  graded,  but  has  been  dropped  or  discontinued.  But  as  the  railroads 
of  the  county  are  extensively  noticed  in  the  general  history,  we  will  pass  with- 
out further  mention  of  them  here. 

The  cheese-factory  of  Messrs.  Baumgartner  &  Co.  is  an  extensive  establish- 
ment. It  is  owned  by  a  stock  company,  consisting  of  John  and  Jacob  Baum- 
gartner, George  Geuther,  Francis  Maue  and  E.  Higgens.  They  have  an  excel- 
lent brick  factory  with  stone  basement,  built  at  a  cost  of  $6,000.  It  is  about 
two  miles  north  of  Frankfort  village,  and  was  built  in  1875.  The  manufacture 
of  butter  and  cheese  is  carried  on  rather  largely,  but  not  to  the  full  capacity  of 
the  factory,  owing  to  the  lack  of  material.  About  $10,000  is  the  amount  of 
business  annually,  but  much  more  could  be  done  if  a  greater  supply  of  milk 
could  be  obtained. 

This  township  was  named  by  Mr.  Cappel,  an  old  German  citizen,  for  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  his  native  place,  a  name  it  has  always  borne.  The  town  is 
largely  Republican,  and  has  always  been  so.  It  is  remembered  by  many  that 
at  one  period  of  its  history  there  were  not  half  a  dozen  Democratic  votes  in  the 
entire  town.  But  the  latter  party  has  gained  some  strength  in  the  last  few 
years,  and  the  National  Greenback  party  at  present  bids  fair  to  create  a  revolu- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  513 

tion  in  its  political  record.     The  war  history,  like  all  portions  of  Will  County, 
is  good,  and  many  brave  soldiers  are  accredited  to  this  township. 

THE    VILLAGE    OF   MOKENA. 

Mokena  is  situated  on  the  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  Railroad,  about  ten 
miles  east  of  Joliet.  The  original  village  was  laid  out  in  1852,  before  the  Rail- 
road was  fully  completed,  by  Allen  Denny.  An  addition  was  made  to  it  soon 
after,  by  John  McGovney,  which  was  surveyed  by  A.  J.  Matthewson,  County 
Surveyor.  Knapp  &  Smith  put  up  the  first  building,  -which  was  used  for  the 
double  purpose  of  store  and  dwelling,  and  they  were  the  first  merchants  in  the 
place.  The  first  hotel  was  built  by  Charles  Gall,  in  1853,  and  was  the  next 
next  building  erected  after  Knapp  &  Smith's  store,  which  had  been  put  up  in 
the  Winter  of  1851—52,  before  the  village  was  laid  out  and  before  the  Railroad 
was  completed.  William  McCoy  built  the  first  blacksmith-shop,  in  the  Winter 
of  1853-54.  Ozias  McGovney  was  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  village, 
and  was  elected  in  1850,  an  ofiice  he  held  for  twenty-one  years  uninterruptedly. 
He  is  also  a  lawyer  by  profession,  but  has  not  practiced  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  at  the  present  time  is  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business.  A  post  ofiice  was  es- 
tablished in  the  village  in  the  Spring  of  1853,  and  Warren  Knapp  was  the  first 
Postmaster,  receiving  his  commission  soon  after  the  inauguration  of  President 
Pierce.  Ozias  McGovney  is  the  present  Postmaster,  and  has  been  for  the  past 
three  years.  McGovney  bought  out  Smith,  of  the  firm  of  Knapp  &  Smith, 
and  the  firm  became  Knapp  &  McGovney,  and  so  continued  for  a  number  of 
years.  They  were  the  first  grain  buyers,  and  bought  from  wagons  and  loaded 
into  the  cars  without  the  aid  of  elevators.  Cross  &  Jones  built  a  steam-mill 
in  1855,  and  about  1865,  took  out  the  machinery  and  shipped  it  to  Kansas, 
when  the  mill  building  was  changed  into  the  Mokena  Elevator,  and  is  owned 
and  operated  by  Charles  Hirsch,  the  only  grain  dealer  now  in  the  village. 
Noble  Jones  speculates  in  grain  and  has  an  ofiice  here,  but  does  business  mostly 
on  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  Chicago. 

The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1855,  and  was  a  small  frame,  costing 
$1,000.  James  Pierce  taught  the  first  school  in  it,  soon  after  it  was  completed. 
The  present  elegant  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1872,  is  a  substantial  two-story  frame, 
with  stone  basement,  and  cost,  together  with  furniture,  about  $10,000,  just  ten 
times  the  amount  of  the  first  schoolhouse.  Mrs.  Sarah  Baldwin  is  Principal  of  the 
school ;  Miss  Swalm,  assistant  teacher,  and  Miss  Clara  Williams  is  teacher  of  the 
Primary  Department.  It  is  a  flourishing  school,  ably-managed  and  well-attended. 

The  Mokena  Advertiser,  a  spicy  little  newspaper,  was  established  by  Charles 
A.  Jones,  in  1874,  and  was  published  until  May,  1877,  when  he  died,  and  the 
paper  was  discontinued.  His  brother,  however,  carries  on  a  job  ofiice  in  the 
old  Advertiser  ofiice. 

The  village  is  not  incorporated,  though  containing  about  six  hundred  inhab- 
itants. Several  efforts  have  been  made  to  incorporate  it,  but  have  always  been 


514  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

defeated,  and  so  it  still  exists  under  township  organization.  The  business  of 
Mokena  may  be  summarized  as  follows :  Five  general  stores,  two  hardware 
stores,  two  drug  stores,  two  blacksmith-shops,  two  wagon-shops,  two  harness- 
shops,  three  hotels,  one  furniture  store,  three  millinery  stores,  two  butcher- 
shops,  and  seven  lager-beer  saloons,  grain  buyers,  etc.  There  are  two  physi- 
cians— Drs.  Alexander  and  Joy.  A  large  majority  of  the  citizens  are  Ger- 
mans ;  are  honest,  industrious  and  enterprising  citizens,  quietly  moving  on  in 
their  own  easy  way,  without  interfering  in  the  business  of  others. 

The  Mokena  Methodist  Church  was  built  in  1868,  but  the  society  was  or- 
ganized several  years  before,  in  the  schoolhouse.  The  present  Pastor  is  Rev. 
Richard  Gillespie,  and  the  membership  of  the  Church  is  rather  small.  The 
building  is  occupied  every  alternate  Sabbath  by  the  Baptists,  who  have  quite  a 
prosperous  society,  with  Rev.  J.  JB.  Dibell  as  Pastor.  He  has  been  in  charge  of 
the  Baptist  congregation  since  1851,  except  two  years.  A  large  and  flourish- 
ing Union  Sunday  School  of  these  denominations  is  carried  on  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Deacon  Rollin  Marshall. 

The  German  Lutheran  Church  was  built  in  1859,  and  is  a  substantial  frame 
building,  which  cost  about  $1,500.  It  was  built  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev. 
Charles  Myer.  The  present  minister  is  Rev.  Charles  Schwaub,  and  the  society 
numbers  seventy-two  members.  The  Church  supports  an  interesting  Sunday 
school,  with  E.  Oswald  as  Superintendent. 

St.  Mary's  German  Catholic  Church  was  built  in  1864,  under  the  ministe- 
rial labors  of  Father  Fasbanter,  and  cost  $1,400.  About  thirty  families  wor- 
ship at  its  altar,  under  the  spiritual  guidance  of  Father  Francis  Sixen,  present 
Pastor  of  the  congregation.  A  good  Sunday  school  is  usually  maintained, 
though  it  is  having  a  kind  of  recess  at  present. 

This  embraces  about  all  of  the  historical  facts  pertaining  to  the  village  of 
Mokena,  which  is  a  neat  and  tasty  little  town,  though  it  does  not  present  the 
appearance  of  a  place  that  is  improving  and  building  up  very  rapidly. 

"  FRANKFOKT-ON-THE-MAIN." 

The  village  of  Frankfort  was  named  for  the  township,  and  the  township  was 
named  for  Frankfort-on-the  Main,  as  already  noticed.  Frankfort  village  is 
situated  on  the  Joliet  cut-off  of  the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  about  twelve 
miles  from  Joliet,  and  was  laid  out  in  1855 — the  same  year  the  cut-off  railroad 
was  built  through  the  township.  It  was  laid  out  by  S.  W.  Bowen,  who  owned 
eighty  acres  of  land  embraced  in  the  village.  The  first  store  was  kept  by  a 
man  named  Higley,  a  very  small  affair  (the  store — not  Higley),  and  did  not 
continue  long.  The  next  store — and  the  first  really  deserving  the  name — was 
opened  by  N.  A.  Carpenter  in  the  Spring  of  1855,  who  also  put  up  the  first 
building  designed  for  a  storehouse.  The  first  hotel  was  built  by  a  man  named 
Doud  in  the  Summer  of  1855,  and  still  does  duty  as  a  hostelry  under  the 
supervision  of  J.  R.  Letts.  The  post  office  in  the  village  was  kept  by  Carpen- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  515 

ter,  as  deputy  under  Van  Home,  who  was  mentioned  in  the  township  history  as 
accepting  the  Chelsea  post  office  from  L.  M.  Clayes.  After  its  removal  to  this 
place,  the  name  of  the  office  was  changed  to  Frankfort.  Van  Home  remained 
Postmaster  for  three  years,  but  the  duties  of  the  office  were  performed  by  Mr. 
Carpenter,  and  after  the  expiration  of  the  three  years,  William  B.  Cleveland 
became  Postmaster.  At  present,  Lewis  Claus  opens  the  mail-bags  and  dis- 
tributes the  contents  to  his  patrons.  Nicholas  Fortmiller  kept  the  first  black- 
smith-shop, in  1855,  and  is  now  a  farmer  in  Greengarden  Township. 

The  first  grain  bought  at  this  place  was  by  N.  A.  Carpenter,  who  bought 
for  J.  L.  Kurd  &  Co.,  of  Detroit.  They  built  the  first  grain  elevator,  in  1856, 
which  was  burnt  in  February,  1878.  John  McDonald  was  the  next  buyer,  and 
is  still  in  the  business,  a  prosperous  grain  merchant.  He  bought,  for  a  number 
of  years,  from  wagons,  and  loaded  in  the  cars.  In  1878,  he  built  his  elevator, 
one  of  the  best  in  the  county,  and  which  cost  between  $6,000  and  $7,000. 
It  has  a  capacity  of  about  twenty-five  thousand  bushels,  and  is  supplied 
with  steam-power.  McDonald  has  a  large  trade  in  grain,  and  ships  altogether 
East,  over  the  "  cut-off"  railroad.  The  Frankfort  Elevator  was  built  in  Decem- 
ber, 1875,  by  Carroll  &  Mayer,  and  at  present  is  owned  and  operated  by  D.  W. 
Hunter.  It  cost  about  $8,000,  and  has  a  capacity  of  42,000  bushels ;  is  sup- 
plied with  steam-power — Chase's  patent.  There  are  from  ten  to  twelve  hundred 
car-loads  of  grain  (corn  and  oats)  handled  by  this  elevator  annually,  all  of  which 
is  shipped  directly  East.  The  business  of  Frankfort  consists  of  four  general 
stores,  viz.:  L.  &  J.  S.  Claus,  B.  Baumgartner,  Jacob  Mueller  and  B.  Bal- 
chowsky ;  A.  B.  Barker,  drug  store ;  T.  Herschbach.  hardware  and  stoves  ; 
two  hotels,  Curtis  Williams  and  J.  R.  Letts ;  Stevens  Brothers,  manufacturers 
of  plows,  wagons  and  agricultural  implements,  with  butchers-shops,  blacksmith 
and  wagon  shops,  harness-shops,  millinery-shops  and  several  lager-beer  saloons. 
Dr.  Haas  is  the  only  practicing  physician  since  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Holden. 

The  first  schoolhouse  in  the  village  was  built  in  1856,  and  is  now  used  as  a 
dwelling-house.  Josiah  Carpenter  taught  the  first  school  after  its  erection. 
The  first  school  in  the  village,  however,  was  taught  by  Miss  Lizzie  Kent  before 
the  building  of  the  schoolhouse.  The  present  handsome  and  well-designed 
schoolhouse  was  built  in  1870 ;  is  a  two-story  frame,  and  cost  about  $5,000. 
The  Principal  of  the  school  at  present  is  Prof.  0.  P.  Blatchly,  with  Miss 
Raver  as  assistant  teacher,  and  an  average  attendance  of  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pupils.  The  Methodist  Church  was  built  in  1856,  and  was  the  first 
church  edifice  in  both  the  village  and  the  township.  The  society  was  originally 
organized  in  the  "log  schoolhouse,"  one  mile  east  of  the  village,  and  grew  out 
of  the  society  formed  at  Doty's,  as  elsewhere  mentioned.  The  building  is  a 
frame,  cost  about  $2,000,  and  the  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  George  K.  Hoover. 
A  Sunday  school  is  maintained,  of  which  John  Sinclair  is  Superintendent.  The 
Baptist  Church  was  built  in  1863,  a  frame  building,  costing  $1,600.  Rev. 
David  Letts  was  the  first  Pastor,  and  lives  now  in  Iowa.  Rev.  Stephen  Bar- 


516  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

terick  is  the  present  Pastor,  and  has  a  membership  of  thirty  or  forty.  The 
society  supports  a  flourishing  Sunday  school,  of  which  the  Pastor  is  Superin- 
tendent. The  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  (United)  Church  was  built  in 
1868.  It  is  a  frame  building  30x56  feet,  cost  $2,000,  and  has  a  membership 
of  about  forty.  Rev.  T.  Walter  is  Pastor,  who  is  also  Superintendent  of  the 
Sunday  school,  which  is  attended  by  from  forty  to  sixty  children.  Our  Chris- 
tian Neighbor  is  a  small  religious  paper,  published  monthly  in  the  village,  and 
edited  by  the  Rev.  George  K.  Hoover. 

The  Frankfort  Germania  Saengerbund  is  a  society  devoted  to  musical  cult- 
ure, and  controlled  by  a  President,  Vice  President  and  Board  of  Directors. 
It  was  organized  in  June,  1875,  and  incorporated  by  act  of  the  Legislature. 
The  first  Board  of  Directors  were  Martin  Muff,  Jacob  Mueller,  Charles  F.  Bau- 
man  and  George  Fink,  and  the  present  Board  are  M.  Muff,  C.  Kuerschner,  0.  F. 

Bauman  and Nettles.  Martin  Muff  is  President ;  Casper  Kuerschner, 

Vice  President,  and  Ludwig  Roehler,  Teacher.  They  have  an  excellent  hall, 
which  cost  $1,200,  and  three  acres  of  ground  in  the  beautiful  grove  north  of 
the  village,  which  cost  $265.  The  society  numbers  twenty-five  members,  is  in 
a  flourishing  state,  and  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  Will  County  Saenger- 
bund will  be  held  in  their  hall,  in  the  village  of  Frankfort.  The  fee  of  mem- 
bership is  $2,  and  50  cents  a  month,  dues.  It  is  a  source  of  much  interest  to 
the  German  citizens,  who  comprise  a  large  majority  of  the  population  of  the  place. 

The  oldest  citizens  of  the  village  still  surviving  are :  N.  A.  Carpenter, 
A.  B.  Barker  and  Mr.  Ruggles.  Henry  Dressier  is  the  oldest  German  citizen 
of  the  place. 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 

The  classical  land  of  Homer — the  site  of  the  famous  "  Yankee  Settlement," 
and  peopled  from  the  old  and  refined  States  of  the  Union,  is  one  of  the  finest 
townships  of  Will  County.  About  three-fourths  of  it  is  fine  rolling  prairie,  as 
rich  and  productive  as  the  sun  shines  on  in  his  daily  journey,  while  the  remaining 
fourth  is  covered,  or  was  at  the  time  of  its  settlement,  with  excellent  timber, 
mostly  white  oak.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  and  east  by  Cook  County,  on  the 
south  by  New§Lenox  Township  and  on  the  west  by  Lockport,  with  a  population, 
in  1870,  of  1,280  inhabitants.  No  railroads  cross  its  borders,  nor  are  any  large 
villages  or  towns  located  within  its  limits,  but  it  is  a  thoroughly  farming  district 
and  still  maintains  its  reputation  of  Yankee  thrift  and  intelligence.  It  is 
described  as  Township  36  north,  Range  11  east  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian. 

The  first  settlements  in  Homer  Township  was  before  the  Sac  war,  during 
which  period  some  of  the  settlers  fled  with  their  families  to  the  Wabash  settle- 
ments and  others  to  Fort  Dearborn  at  Chicago,  but  returned  to  the  settlements 
and  joined  Sisson's  company  in  the  blockhouse  so  often  referred  to  in  these 
pages.  The  following  names  were  among  those  belonging  to  Capt.  Sisson  8 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  517 

•company  in  the  blockhouse  during  the  Indian  war:  Benjamin  Butterfield, 
Thomas  Fitzsimons,  James  Glover,  John  McMahon,  Joseph  Johnson,  James 
Ritchey,  Edward  Poor,  Joseph  and  James  Cox,  John  Helm,  Salmon  Goode- 
now,  Joseph  McCune,  Selah  Lanfear,  Peter  Polly,  David  and  Alva  Crandall. 
X)f  these,  Joseph  Johnson  and  his  two  sons  are  supposed  to  be  the  first  settlers 
in  Homer  Township.  They  were  from  Ohio,  and  came  in  the  Fall  of  1830, 
and  were  in  the  town  during  the  Winter  of  the  deep  snow,  and  suffered  all  the 
hardships  of  that  dreary  Winter.  The  elder  Johnson  died  in  the  Summer  of 
1846.  James  Ritchey  came  from  Ohio,  and  settled  here  in  the  Spring  of  1831. 
He  made  a  trip  through  the  country  in  November  of  1330  and  selected  his 
location,  and  moved  out  in  the  following  Spring.  During  his  first  trip  to  the 
country,  in  the  Fall  of  1830,  he  says,  as  he  wandered  through  dismal  swamps, 
dark  forests  and  lonely  prairies,  he  for  the  first  time  in  a  long  trip  wished  him- 
self safe  back  at  home.  He  made  his  claim  on  Section  9,  where  he  has  lived 
ever  since,  but  has  recently  sold  out  to  his  son-in-law,  with  whom  he  at  present 
•lives.  Mr.  Ritchey  is  in  good  bodily  health,  but  has  been  almost  blind  for  a 
number  of  years.  Edward  Poor  was  a  North  Carolinian,  but  had  lived  for  years 
in  Tennessee,  and  came  here  from  Indiana  in  the  Spring  of  1831,  and  is  yet 
living  in  New  Lenox  Township.  He  served  in  the  war  of  1812,  also  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  and  is  now  about  84  years  of  age.  Joseph  and  James  Cox  came 
from  Indiana  in  1831,  but  whether  that  was  their  native  State  or  not  we  are 
unable  to  say.  John  McMahon  is  the  first  who  settled  in  what  was  termed 
•Gooding's  Grove.  He  made  a  claim  there  and  sold  it  to  Gooding,  upon  his 
arrival  in  1832.  McMahon  came  from  Indiana,  but  was  originally  from  Ohio, 
and  was  here  during  the  Indian  war.  Salmon  Goodenow  was  from  Ohio,  but 
had  lived  some  time  in  Indiana  before  settling  in  this  township  in  1832.  Joseph 
McCune  was  his  brother-in-law,  and  after  the  war  was  over,  returned  to  Indiana, 
where  he  remained  for  a  time  and  then  came  back  and  settled  in  what  was  called 
Jackson's  Grove.  Goodenow  moved  down  about  Reed's  Grove,  where,  it  is  said, 
he  got  tired  of  life  and  finally  cut  his  own  throat.  John  Helm  came  from  Indiana 
and  settled  in  Gooding's  Grove  in  1832.  He  went  to  Indiana  during  the  war, 
and  when  it  was  over,  came  back  to  the  Grove  and  found  James  Gooding  on  his 
claim,  and  sold  it  to  him  for  $10,  and  shook  the  dust  of  Yankee  Settle- 
ment from  off  his  feet.  Benjamin  Butterfield,  who  lived  on  the  place  afterward 
occupied  by  Jireh  Rowley,  and  which  Rowley  bought  from  him  on  his  arrival 
in  the  country,  was  an  Eastern  man,  but  had  been  living  some  time  in  Indiana 
before  removing  to  Homer.  He  is  noticed  in  Lockport,  also,  and  as  removing  to 
Iowa,  where  he  was  living  when  last  heard  from.  Peter  Polly  and  a  younger 
brother  were  in  the  fort,  and  came  from  Indiana  in  the  Summer  of  1832.  Selah 
Lanfear  was  from  New  York,  and  came  to  the  settlement  in  1832.  He  is  said  to 
have  first  settled  in  Lockport  Township.  Yankee  Settlement  extended  to  the 
river  in  Lockport  Township,  and  it  is  a  rather  difficult  task  sometimes  to  keep  all 
•on  their  respective  sides  of  the  fence.  David  and  Alva  Crandall  were  from 


518  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

New  York,  and  came  to  the  settlement  in  1832.  Both  were  in  the  forty 
and  Alva  was  Orderly  Sergeant  of  Capt.  Sisson's  company,  while  David  was  a 
private  in  the  same  command.  John  Blackstone,  or  Judge  Blackstone,  who 
settled  at  Hadley  Post  Office,  was  First  Lieutenant  of  this  military  company, 
while  John  Ray,  a  brother-in-law  of  Blackstone's,  was  Second  Lieutenant.  They 
were  from  Ohio,  and  married  in  the  Glover  family.  Thomas  Fitzsimons  was 
from  New  York,  and  came  in  1832.  He  started  to  California  during  the  gold 
excitement  of  1849  and  1850,  and  died  before  reaching  his  destination.  James 
Glover  was  from  Ohio,  and  settled  in  the  town  in  1831  or  1832.  He  went  to  Iowa 
in  1854,  and  was  alive  at  the  last  heard  from  him.  Two  others  belonged  to  the  mil- 
itary band  were  of  the  Homer  settlers,  viz.,  Ashing  and  McGahan,  but  of  them  little 
could  be  ascertained.  This,  so  far  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  comprised  the 
settlement  of  Homer  Township,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  Yankee  Settlement, 
at  the  time  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  and  the  names  above  given  were  in  the 
blockhouse  in  1832,  and  were  members  of  Capt.  Sisson's  dompany.  Nearly 
all  of  them  are  gone  to  join  that  army  of  white-robed  saints  over  on  the  other 
shore,  where  the  pale-face  and  the  savage  do  not  war  with  each  other,  but  sit 
down  in  peace  together  in  the  Father's  kingdom.  None  are  known  to  be  alive 
now  except  James  Ritchey  and  Edward  Poor ;  the  former  is  extremely  sprightly, 
except  his  blindness,  for  a  man  of  his  years,  and  possesses  a  most  wonderful 
memory.  In  fact,  his  recollections  of  the  time  spent  in  the  fort  are  as  vivid  as 
though  of  recent  occurrence.  Mr.  Poor,  as  stated,  lives  in  New  Lenox  Town- 
ship. Several  of  the  others  were  alive  when  last  heard  from,  but  as  they  have 
removed  to  other  States  there  is  no  definite  information  concerning  them. 
Their  Captain,  Holder  Sisson,  died  but  a  few  months  ago,  as  noticed  in  the 
history  of  Lockport  Township. 

Luther  C.  Chamberlain  came  from  New  York  in  1832,  and  purchased  a 
claim  to  eighty  acres  of  land  in  Homer  Township,  and  a  claim  to  eighty  acres 
of  Canal  land,  then  returned  to  New  York,  and  in  January,  1833,  came  back, 
bringing  his  two  sons  with  him.  His  son,  S.  S.  Chamberlain  (now  of  Lock- 
port),  rode  an  Indian  pony  through  from  New  York,  which  his  father  had  pur- 
chased at  Plainfield  on  his  first  trip.  Through  representations  made  by  Mr~ 
Chamberlain  on  his  return  home  from  his  first  trip  to  this  section,  when  he 
came  back  in  1833,  the  following  gentlemen  came  with  him  to  look  at  the 
country :  Ebenezer  Griswold,  Warren  Hanks  (a  bachelor  at  the  time),  Capt. 
Rowley  and  his  son  J.  B.  Rowley  (the  latter  still  living  in  Homer),  Oscar 
Hawley  (oldest  son  of  Lyrnan  Hawley,  and  for  a  number  of  years  clerk  of  Will 
County),  Abram  Snapp  (father  of  Hon.  Henry  Snapp  of  Joliet),  and  Dr. 
Weeks  (the  father  of  Judge  Weeks  of  Joliet).  The  most  of  these  returned  for 
their  families,  and  came  back  and  settled  in  this  township,  of  whom  were  Dr. 
Weeks,  Capt.  Rowley  and  Mr.  Snapp  ;  here  they  lived,  honored  and  respected 
citizens  to  the  day  of  their  death.  Mr.  Chamberlain  settled  where  Rev.  Mr. 
Cowell  now  lives,  and  planted  the  beautiful  row  of  maple-trees  that  are  now  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  51  i> 

admiration  of  all  who  pass  that  way,  and  are  said  to  be  the  first  trees  planted 
in  Homer  Township.  He  died  in  May,  1878,  at  the  age  of  90  years.  S.  8. 
Chamberlain  says  he  slept  in  Lockport  for  the  first  time  on  the  night  of  Feb- 
ruary 27,  1883,  and  that  there  is  not  another  man  living,  so  far  as  his  knowl- 
edge extends,  that  can  with  truth  say  the  same.  He  remembers  to  have  heard 
his  father  and  Capt.  Rowley  remark  that  the  prairies  of  Homer  would  never  be 
settled  in  their  life-time,  and  they  would  always  have  it  for  the  range  of  their 
own  stock,  and  in  four  years  there  was  not  an  "eighty"  left  vacant.  Deacon 
James  Gooding,  the  father  of  William,  Jasper  A.  and  James  Gooding,  Jr.,  was  from 
New  York,  and  came  to  this  township  and  settled  in  Gooding's  Grove  in  1832. 
He  was  60  "years  of  age  when  he  came  to  the  settlement,  and  lived  at  the  Grove 
bearing  his  name  until  his  death.  His  son,  William  Gooding,  who  is  mentioned 
in  the  history  of  Lockport  Township,  planted  a  nursery  and  cultivated  an 
extensive  orchard  here,  perhaps  the  first  effort  at  fruit-growing  in  the  township, 
or  even  in  Will  County.  Benjamin  Weaver  came  from  New  York  in  the  Fall 
of  1833,  and  died  in  1870,  at  the  advanced  age  of  90  years.  John  Lane  was 
also  from  New  York,  and  came  to  the  settlement  in  1833.  He  was  the  inventor 
of  the  first  steel  breaking-plow  ever  used  in  Northern  Illinois  or  in  tho  Western 
country.  He  has  been  dead  many  years.  Frederick  and  Addison  Collins  were 
from  New  York  State,  and  were  brothers.  Addison  was  a  lawyer  by 
profession,  and  had  practiced  for  a  time  in  Rochester  before  removing  West. 
He  went  to  the  Legislature  from  this  county,  and  it  is  said  that  it  was  through 
him  that  Gov.  Matteson's  little  speculation  in  Canal  scrip  was  discovered.  But 
this  is  familiar  to  all  our  readers,  and  is  withal  an  unpleasant  theme,  so  we  will 
pass  it  without  further  allusion.  Addison  Collins  died  in  this  town  in  March, 
1864.  Frederick  Collins  is  still  living  within  a  mile  or  two  of  where  he 
settled  some  forty-five  years  ago,  and  is  still  an  active  man  for  his  time  of 
life. 

Jireh  Rowley  came  from  Monroe  County,  N.  Y.,  in  1833,  and  settled 
on  Section  19,  where  he  lived  about  three  years,  when  he  sold  out  and  entered 
land  on  Section  34,  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Decem- 
ber, 1844,  on  the  place  now  occupied  by  his  son,  A.  G.  Rowley.  Calvin  Row- 
ley, another  son,  came  out  in  1832,  driving  a  peddler-wagon  all  the  way  through 
from  New  York.  He  made  a  claim,  on  which  he  erected  a  cabin,  and  in  which 
the  family  moved  upon  their  arrival.  Calvin  Rowley  now  lives  in  the  city  of 
Rockford.  Hiram  Rowley,  another  son,  lives  in  Chicago,  and  J.  B.  and 
Phineas  K.  Rowley,  two  other  sons,  live  in  this  township,  and  are  prosperous 
farmers.  The  Rowleys  bought  their  claim  from  Benjamin  Butterfield,  who  had 
entered  the  land  where  'Squire  Rowley  now  lives.  The  elder  Rowley  had  mar- 
ried a  second  wife  before  leaving  New  York — a  Mrs.  Gray,  who  had  several 
children,  and  they  came  West  with  the  Rowley  family.  There  were  three 
daughters  and  two  sons ;  one  of  these  sons,  Charles  M.  Gray,  is  freight  agent 
of  the  Michigan  Southern  Railroad,  a  position  he  has  been  in  for  the  past 


520  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

twenty  years.  The  other  son,  George  M.  Gray,  is  agent  of  the  Palace  Car 
Company  of  Chicago.  One  of  the  daughters  married  S.  S.  Chamberlain,  of 
Lockport.  They  came  round  the  lakes  on  their  way  here,  in  an  old  schooner, 
and  landed  at  Chicago,  when  Chicago  was  not,  but  a  swampy  marsh  called  Chi- 
cago, since  grown  into  the  recognized  metropolis  of  the  Northwest.  Their 
landing  at  Chicago,  and  their  trip  form  there  to  Homer,  is  graphically  described 
by  'Squire  Rowley  in  an  article  written  about  two  years  ago  for  the  Joliet 
Sun  :  "  On  or  about  the  17th  of  July,  1833,  the  sail-vessel  Amaranth,  anchored 
in  Lake  Michigan,  nearly  opposite  Fort  Dearborn  (Chicago),  after  a  voyage  of 
three  weeks  out  from  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  having  on  board  about  seventy- 
five  souls,  and  among  them  was  the  writer,  then  a  boy  about  10  years  old.  The 
vessel  was  relieved  of  her  cargo  by  means  of  small  boats,  and  the  passengers 
after  being  taken  on  shore,  were  entertained  as  best  they  could  be,  'in  and 
around '  the  residence  of  Herman  Bond,  which  was  built  of  logs  and  sods,  and 
was  located  near  the  foot  of  Monroe  street.  Chicago  then  consisted  of  the  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  the  house  of  John  Kinzie,  and  some  French  shanties 
on  the  North  Side,  the  hotel  kept  by  Ingersoll,  at  the  forks,  a  store  at  Wolf 
Point,  the  intersection  of  Lake  and  South  Water  streets,  the  frame  of  what  was 
afterward  called  the  Mansion  House,  on  the  north  side  of  Lake,  between  Dear- 
born and  State  streets,  a  few  other  shanties,  and  the  '  palatial  residence '  of  our 
host.  After  taking  in  Chicago  the  next  day,  three  of  the  several  families  who 
had  journeyed  together  thus  far  chartered  some  '  prairie  schooners  '  and  '  set  sail ' 
for  their  destination,  in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Homer,  Will  County.  This 
colony  was  composed  of  the  families  of  Capt.  Jireh  Rowley,  John  Lane  and 
Charles  M.  Gray,  the  latter,  now  and  for  many  years  past,  freight  agent  of  the 
Michigan  Southern  Railroad  at  Chicago.  We  made  our.  way  as  we  could 
through  the  tall  rosin  weeds,  with  very  little  track,  to  Lawton's  (now  Riverside) 
and  thence  to  Flagg  Creek.  Here  we  found  the  body  of  a  log  cabin,  and  the 
owner,  Mr.  E.  Wentworth,  whose  place  in  after  years  became  quite  a  noted 
stage  stand.  We  fought  the  mosquitoes  until  morning,  and  after  partaking  of 
our  frugal  meal,  we  launched  out  upon  the  prairie,  and  at  noon  halted  at  the 
Big  Spring  near  Lilly- Cache  Grove,  and  upon  what  is  now  the  farm  of  Thomas 
J.  Sprague.  After  refreshments,  we  moved  on,  crossing  the  Des  Planes  River 
at  what  was  known  as  Butterfield's  Ford,  opposite  the  present  town  of  Lockport, 
and  near  nightfall  arrived  at  our  destination,  all  weary  and  sad.  Calvin  Rowley 
(now  of  Rockford)  who  came  on  prior  to  the  Sac  war,  was  here  and  had  erected 
a  log  cabin  in  the  timber,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  the  river.  Here  we 
stayed  until  other  and  better -places  could  be  provided.  On  looking  around  we 
found  already  here,  Selah  Lanfear,  Luther  Chamberlain,  Holder  Sisson,  Capt. 
Fuller,  Armstead  Runyon,  Edward  Poor,  James  Ritchey,  John  Blackstone, 
John  Stitt  and  a  few  others  settled  in  what  was  afterward  called  the  Yankee 
Settlement."  We  offer  no  apology  for  this  lengthy  extract,  but  deem  it  very 
appropriate  in  these  pages.  It  is  but  the  reflex  of  hundreds  of  the  early  set- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  521 

tiers  and  their  early  experiences,  as  many  of  our  readers  will  be  able  to  testify 
when  they  peruse  this  work. 

Hale  S.  Mason,  another  of  the  pioneers  of  Homer  who  is  still  living,  was 
originally  from  the  old  Bay  State,  and  came  to  this  settlement  in  1834,  where 
he  lived  for  twelve  years,  when  he  moved  into  Lockport  Township,  and  located 
about  a  mile  northeast  of  the  village,  and  where  he  still  lives,  an  active  old  man. 
Two  years  ago  he  and  his  good  lady  celebrated  their  golden  wedding,  and  to 
them  it  has  been  a  golden  life.  Happy  in  each  other's  love  and  each  other's 
society,  they  have  gone  hand  in  hand  down  life's  pathway,  sharing  its  joys  and 
dividing  its  sorrows.  They  came  through  in  wagons  from  Bristol,  Ontario 
County,  N.  Y.,  where  they  had  for  some  time  resided,  and  which,  we  believe, 
was  Mrs.  Mason's  native  place,  and  were  on  the  road  four  weeks,  arriving  here 
on  the  6th  day  of  June.  Mrs.  Mason  kept  a  diary  or  journal  of  the  trip,  and 
no  doubt  it  contained  many  items  of  interest — items  that  would  be  very 
entertaining  to  read  at  this  distant  period,  if  it  could  be  fished  up  out  of  the 
"  rubbish  of  forgotten  things."  Mr.  Mason's  two  sons,  who  were  rather  young 
then,  enjoyed  the  trip  for  the  first  week,  but  after  that  became  so  tired  of  the 
monotony  that  they  seemed  almost  as  ready  to  die  as  to  get  into  the  wagon  of  a 
morning  and  start  on  the  journey  of  the  day.  Jasper  A.  Gooding  came  out 
with  the  Masons,  and  a  daughter  of  his  soon  grew  so  homesick  that  she  said  one 
day  she  would  be  willing  to  go  back  in  a  wagon  to  the  old  home  in  New  York 
if  the  road  was  all  like  the  "  Black  Swamp,"  a  piece  of  road,  it  seems,  that  was 
•extremely  bad,  from  trees  that  had  been  grubbed  up,  leaving  holes  on  either 
side.  But  one  of  Mason's  boys  spoke  up,  and  said  he  would  not  be  willing  to 
go  back  in  a  wagon  over  such  a  road  as  that,  "  'cause  the  wagon  jounced  too 
much."  Mr.  Mason  went  to  California  during  the  gold  fever  of  1849-50,  and 
was  rather  successful  while  there  ;  was  in  Sacramento  City,  he  says,  when  they 
attempted  to  illuminate  it  in  honor  of  the  election  of  Gen.  Pierce  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  burned  up  nearly  the  entire  place  in  their  excitement. 
James  Gooding,  Jr.,  a  brother  of  William  and  Jasper  A.  Gooding,  came  to 
Homer  Township  before  the  Sac  war,  and  was  one  of  those  who  ran  away  (!) 
in  an  ox- wagon  from  the  Indians,  and  took  refuge  in  the  fort  at  Chicago. 

In  1834,  Deacon  Asa  Lanfear  came  to  the  neighborhood.  He  was  from 
Cayuga  County,  N.  Y.,  and  settled  on  what  was  called  "  Hawley  Hill,"  the 
first  who  located  there.  He  remained  on  this  his  original  claim  until  his  death, 
which  took  place  in  1871,  and  his  widow,  who  is  still  living,  occupies  the  old 
homestead.  She  has  been  blind  for  twelve  years,  but  otherwise  is  quite  healthy 
and  active.  The  following  new-comers  from  "  York  State  "  were  added  to  the 
settlement  in  1834,  besides  those  already  mentioned  :  Alanson  Granger,  Cyrus 
Cross,  Levi  Savage,  Reuben  Beach,  Nathan  Hopkins,  Samuel  Anderson  and 
Horace  Messenger  ;  and  John  Ross  from  the  Buckeye  State.  These  are  all 
dead  except  Horace  Messenger  and  Levi  Savage.  In  fact,  but  very  few  of  the 
pioneers  of  Homer  are  left.  Mr.  Ritchey  and  Mr.  Poor,  who  were  in  the 


522  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

stockade  with  Capt.  Sisson,  and  Savage,  Messenger,  Frederick  Collins,  Mason,, 
who  came  in  a  year  or  two  after  the  war,  are  the  only  landmarks  left  of  the  early 
times.  And  erelong  these,  too,  will  be  gone.  Already  are  they  on  the  shady 
side  of  life,  *'  descending  the  hill  of  existence  in  Ifhe  shadow  of  age,"  and  trem- 
bling on  the  line  that  divides  two  worlds.  After  this  period,  the  town  rapidly 
filled  up,  and,  by  1840,  it  was  almost  entirely  settled  and  fenced. 

The  first  post  office  was  established  in  Homer  Township  in  1836.  This 
was  the  Yankee  Settlement,  bear  in  mind,  and  the  Yankees  were  wide-awake, 
intelligent  people,  and  would  not  be  deprived  of  their  mail  and  other  reading 
matter.  The  office  was  called  Hadley,  for  Hadley,  Mass.,  from  which  some 
of  the  settlers  came  who  were  active  in  getting  it,  and  Reuben  Beach  was 
appointed  Postmaster.  A  store  was  opened  by  Pratt  &  Howard,  and  Hadley 
became  quite  a  business  place,  with  some  chance  of  becoming  a  town.  At  one 
time  it  boasted  two  stores,  a  post  office,  blacksmith-shop,  church,  etc.,  but  rail- 
roads and  the  canal  changed  the  order  of  things,  and  the  glory  of  Hadley 
waned.  The  post  office  and  church  are  all  that  now  remain  of  the  once  busy 
place.  Charles  Haley  is  at  present  the  Postmaster  of  Hadley.  Before  the 
office  was  established  here,  the  settlers  of  Homer  went  to  the  "post  office  on 
Hickory  Creek,  at  "  Uncle  Billy  "  Gougar's,  for  their  mail  matter,  and  right 
gladly  forked  over  their  quarters  (which  was  then  the  postage  on  letters,  pay- 
able at  the  office  of  delivery)  for  the  long-wished-for  letter  from  the  old  home 
in  the  Yankee  States.  When  the  post  office  was  established  at  Hadley,  the 
mail  was  carried  on  horse-back  from  Chicago,  but  a  few  years  later,  a  mail- 
route  was  formed  between  Michigan  City  and  Joliet,  and  then  it  was  brought 
to  Hadley  over  this  route  in  a  kind  of  open  hack  or  stage. 

The  first  store  in  the  township  was  kept  by  Norman  Hawley,  on  Hawley 
Hill,  in  1835.  The  goods  were  hauled  from  Chicago  by  ox-team  express, 
then  the  usual  mode  of  transportation.  This  spot  once  made  some  pre- 
tensions toward  becoming  a  village ;  but,  as  Josh  Billings  said  of  the  attempt 
of  the  two  railroad  trains  to  pass  each  other  on  a  single  track,  "  it  was  a  shock- 
ing failure."  Mr.  Lanfear  built  the  first  house  on  the  hill ;  the  first  school- 
house  in  the  township  was  built  there,  then  a  blacksmith-shop  and  the  store 
just  mentioned.  But  the  only  trace  of  the  village  still  remaining  is  the  hill 
itself.  Reuben  Beach  built  a  saw-mill  on  Spring  Creek  about  1838  or  1839,  and 
several  years  later,  Jaques  &  Morse  built  a  steam  saw-mill.  These  are  the 
only  efforts  made  in  the  mill  business  in  this  township.  Before  Beach  put  his 
mill  in  operation,  the  settlers  used  to  haul  what  little  lumber  they  were  forced 
to  use,  from  Col.  Sayre's  mill  on  Hickory  Creek.  With  the  lumber  thus  pro- 
cured some  of  their  first  shanties  were  built,  while  others  were  built  of  logs, 
"  chinked  and  daubed,"  and  had  chimneys  made  of  sticks  and  mud. 

The  first  school  in  Homer  was  taught  by  D.  C.  Baldwin,  the  veteran  hard- 
ware merchant  of  Lockport,  and  was  taught  in  the  Winter  of  1834-35,  on  Sec- 
tion 19,  in  a  little  log  shanty  with  stick  chimney  which  had  been  put  up  as  a 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  523 

Xt  claim  hut  "  and  abandoned.  It  is  said  by  some  that  a  Miss  Sallie  Warren 
taught  a  school  before  Baldwin,  but  from  the  most  reliable  facts  now  to  be  had, 
we  are  of  the  opinion  that  Baldwin  preceded  her.  The  next  Summer  after 
Baldwin's  school,  Miss  Abigail  Raymond  taught  a  school  in  a  building  that  had 
been  put  up  for  a  cow  stable,  on  the  place  of  Deacon  Lanfear.  The  first  house 
for  school  purposes  was  built  on  Hawley  Hill,  by  the  neighbors,  who  donated 
the  time,  labor  and  material.  An  old  settler — but  young  enough  then  to  shoot 
paper  wads  in  that  primitive  building — thus  alludes  to  some  of  the  comforts 
and  conveniences  pertaining  to  it :  '*  Our  seats  and  desks  were  made  of  split 
puncheons,  and  our  '  persuaders  '  and  '  reminders  '  were  the  young  hickories 
growing  around  the  schcolhouse."  Among  the  scholars  who  attended  this  early 
temple  of  learning,  were  some  of  the  brightest  men  of  Will  County,  of  whom 
we  may  mention  Hon.  Horace  Anderson,  Hon.  Henry  Snapp,  Judge  C.  H. 
Weeks,  N.  L.  Hawley,  Esq.,  Judge  E.  S.  Williams,  of  the  Cook  County  Cir- 
cuit Court,  and  others.  Mrs.  Fred  Collins,  then  Miss  White,  taught  a  school 
in  the  settlement  in  a  little  log  cabin,  still  standing  on  Mr.  Collins'  farm,  in 
1838.  But  the  schools  of  Homer  have  increased  since  that  day,  as  we 
find  in  1872,  there  were  in  the  township  8  districts  and  9  schoolhouses. 
There  were  412  pupils  enrolled,  16  teachers  employed,  at  a  cost  of  $2,213.53. 
The  total  expenditures  of  the  year  were  $2,683.30,  leaving  a  balance  in  the 
treasury  of  $122.67. 

The  first  church  organized  in  Will  County  is  said  to  have  been  the  Presby- 
terian Church  at  Hadley,  in  this  township,  by  Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter,  the 
pioneer  of  the  American  Home  Mission  Society  in  the  Northwest.  The  society 
was  organized  about  1833  or  1834,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Porter  and  Elder  Freeman,  both 
of  Chicago  then,  preached  alternately  for  some  time  at  this  place ;  and  people 
of  all  religious  beliefs  within  a  radius  of  ten  or  fifteen  miles  would  come  together 
and  worship  God  without  the  restraints  resulting  from  closely-drawn  sectarian 
lines,  as  at  the  present  day.  Mrs.  Mason  says  they  owned  a  yoke  of  oxen  and 
Mr.  Gooding  a  wagon.  On  Sunday  they  would  hitch  their  oxen  to  his  wagon, 
and  both  families  jump  in,  and  off  they  would  go  ten  miles  to  "meeting." 
Churches  there  were  none.  Religious  services  were  held  in  the  groves — "  God's 
first  temples" — and  at  the  cabins  of  the  settlers.  The  first  church  was  built 
at  Hadley  about  1838  or  1839,  and  was  church  and  schoolhouse  combined.  The 
The  people  met  in  it,  of  all  denominations,  and  were  not  selfish  nor  confined 
to  one  particular  sect.  But  the  church  there  has  passed  away  and  the 
society  has  drifted  into  the  Congregational  Church,  near  the  center  of  the  town- 
ship. This  edifice  was  erected  in  1862 ;  is  a  neat  frame,  and  cost  $1,500. 
Rev.  George  Slosser  was  the  first  preacher.  The  membership  is  rather  small ; 
has  been  decreased  by  death  and  removal,  but  is  in  a  flourishing  state.  Rev. 
Mr.  McKee  is  the  present  Pastor,  and  William  Storm  Superintendent  of  the 
large  Sunday  school.  The  Baptist  Church  at  Hadley  was  originally  organized 
by  Elder  A.  B.  Freeman,  as  already  stated.  He  was  the  first  Baptist  preacher 


524  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

in  Northern  Illinois,  and  is  said  to  have  baptized  the  first  person  on  the  western 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  in  April,  1834.  The  church  was  built  there  a  year 
or  two  before  the  Congregational  Church  above  mentioned.  It  has  a  large 
membership  and  a  flourishing  Sunday  school,  but  no  regular  Pastor  is  in  attend- 
ance at  present. 

The  first  wedding  in  Homer  Township  or  Yankee  Settlement,  of  which  we 
have  any  definite  record,  was  Westley  Brewer  to  the  widow  of  Alva  Johnson,  and 
they  were  married  about  1833  or  1834,  by  John  Blackstone,  the  first  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  the  township.  The  first  birth  and  death  are  not  remembered ;  but 
the  fact  that  the  population  has  increased  from  a  half-dozen  persons  to  twice  a& 
many  hundreds  is  pretty  good  evidence  that  there  have  been  births,  but  the  first 
one  cannot  now  be  mentioned ;  neither  can  the  first  death  be  given  with  any 
degree  of  correctness.  The  first  blacksmith  was  John  Lane,  and,  as  elsewhere 
stated,  made  the  first  steel  plow  ever  used  in  the  West.  He  procured  an  old, 
worn-out  saw-blade  at  Col.  Sayre's  saw-mill,  which  he  cut  into  strips  about  three 
inches  wide,  and,  after  making  several  trials,  he  succeeded  in  manufacturing  a 
plow  which  was  a  great  improvement  on  the  wooden  ones  then  in  use.  In  after 
years  he  became  a  noted  plowrnaker,  and  his  son,  John  Lane,  Jr.,  of  Chicago, 
sustains  well  the  father's  reputation  as  a  plow  manufacturer.  C.  M.  Gray 
manufactured  at  an  early  day  such  articles  as  grain-cradles,  fanning-mills,  etc.; 
but  the  improved  reapers  and  threshers  have  taken  the  place  of  these  old-time 
implements. 

As  already  stated,  John  Blackstone  was  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
Homer,  as  well  as  one  of  the  first  in  Will  County.  The  first  Supervisor  after 
township  organization,  was  Samuel  Blount,  in  1850,  followed  by  Ira  Austin,  in 
1851  ;  A.  Collins,  1852-53;  Ira  Austin,  1854-59;  Alanson  Granger,  1860  ; 
J.  D.  Frazer,  1861;  S.  Knapp,  1862;  A.  Granger,  1863;  A.  G.  Rowley, 
1864-65 ;  Levi  Hartwell,  1866  ;  Amos  Savage,  1867-72  ;  J.  H.  Bandle,  187a 
-74;  Amos  Savage,  1875-76;  J.  D.  Frazer,  1877-78.  Other  township  offi- 
cers at  present  are,  A.  G  .Rowley*  and  A.  A.  Ingersoll,  Justices  of  the  Peace  ; 
Amos  Savage,  School  Treasurer,  and  also  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Equali- 
zation, and  Philip  J.  Sharp,  Town  Clerk.  Homer  is  Republican  in  politics,, 
nearly  two  to  one,  but  was  Democratic  in  the  time  of  the  two  great  parties 
— Whigs  and  Democrats.  However,  the  reversal  and  upheaval  of  political 
parties  have  changed  the  general  order  of  things,  and  the  Republicans  carry 
the  day  with  as  much  or  more  ease  than  did  the  Democrats  of  yore.  Taking 
into  consideration  the  fact  that  in  Homer  was  embraced  the  very  heart  of  the 
Yankee  Settlement,  filled  up  by  people  who  came  from  the  old  settled 
States,  and  were  scholars  and  people  of  enlightened  views,  it  would  be  but 
natural  to  conclude  that  Homer  was  named  for  the  famous  poet — the  author  of  the 
"Iliad  "  and  "Odyssey."  We  dislike  to  spoil  such  a  pretty  little  romance,  but  the 
facts  of  history  demand  it.  The  name  was  bestowed  on  the  township  by  Alan- 

*Has  held  the  office  uninterruptedly  since  1861. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  525 

son  Granger,  who  came  from  Homer,  Cortland  Co'.,  N.  Y.,  and  gave  it  in 
honor  of  his  native  place.  In  the  process  of  naming  the  townships,  the  County 
Commissioners  asked  him  to  find  a  name  for  this  one  ;  he  consulted  his  neigh- 

7  O 

bors  and  decided  on  Homer.  Its  war  history  is  written  in  another  volume,  and 
also  on  many  a  hard-fought  battle-field  of  the  late  rebellion,  and  we  will  not 
repeat  it  here.  The  Yankee  Settlement  has  furnished  the  country  with  some 
able  men,  but  as  this  part  of  the  subject  is  mentioned  in  the  general  county 
history,  we  will  pass  on  without  further  allusion. 

As  stated  in  the  introduction  to  this  chapter,  Homer  has  neither  railroads,, 
large  towns  nor  villages ;  but  one  or  two  small  country  stores,  a  blacksmith- 
shop  or  two,  a  post  office  at  Hadley  and  at  Gooding's  Grove,  and  two  neat  and 
tasty  little  church  edifices.  Aside  from  this,  the  town  is  devoted  wholly  to 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  as  to  the  productiveness  of  the  land,  it  is  not  surpassed 
in  the  county,  and  scarcely  in  the  State.  Referring  again  to  the  article  in  the 
Joliet  Sun,  already  quoted  from,  the  writer  very  truthfully  says :  "  Standing^ 
as  we  now  do,  at  the  close  of  the  year  1876,  and  looking  over  the  northern 
portion  of  the  State,  and  thinking  of  the  great  change  that  has  been  wroughtr 
we  are  led  to  wonder  how  so  much  could  be  accomplished  in  a  few  short  years. 
Chicago  grown  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  commercial  centers  on  this  continent, 
our  own  city  of  Joliet  numbering  its  15,000  inhabitants,  with  its  four  railroads 
and  canal  giving  great  commercial  advantages,  besides  being  the  seat  of  justice 
of  one  of  the  most  important  counties  of  the  State." 

When  Homer  was  first  settled,  its  prairies  were  considered  the  most  beauti- 
ful that  the  enthusiastic  Yankee  had  seen.  They  were  just  rolling  enough  to 
resemble  the  billows  of  the  ocean  after  a  storm  had  passed,  and  the  thick  grass, 
three  or  four  feet  high,  overtopped  with  fragrant  blossoms,  might — without 
violence  to  the  comparison — have  been  taken  for  the  land  of  Beulah,  which 
Bunyan  "  saw  in  his  dream,"  lying  on  the  borders  of  the  Celestial  City.  Mrs. 
Mason  says  she  used  to  take  rides  across  the  prairies,  when  the  wild  flowers  were 
as  high  as  the  top  of  the  wagon,  and  as  the  oxen  tramped  over  and  the  wagon 
wheels  crushed  them,  they  yielded  a  sweeter  perfume  than  "  Price's  Unique 
Extracts,"  or  the  distilled  essence  of  the  richest  exotics. 


DU  PAGE  TOWNSHIP. 

This  is  one  of  the  extreme  northern  townships  of  the  county,  and  is  bounded 
on  the  north  and  east  by  Du  Page  and  Cook  Counties,  on  the  south  by  Lock- 
port  Township,  on  the  west  by  Wheatland,  and  in  1870,  had  a  population  of 
1,118  inhabitants.  The  Du  Page  River  waters  the  northwest  part  of  the  town, 
the  Lilly- Cache  Creek,  the  southern  part,  and  the  Des  Planes  River  clips  off  a 
small  portion  of  the  southeast  corner.  A  sudden  widening  of  the  river  here 
forms  a  considerable  body  of  water,  called  Goose  Lake.  About  two  miles  of 
the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  are  in  Du  Page,  but  as  there  is  no  station,  it  had 


526  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

about  as  well  be  without  a  railroad  altogether.  Romeo  Station,  however,  is  just 
over  the  line,  in  Lockport  Township.  The  old  Indian  boundary  passes  across 
the  northwest  corner,  and  the  old  Chicago  and  Ottawa  stage-route  crosses  diag- 
onally, very  nearly  through  the  center.  Du  Page  is  wholly  devoid  of  towns  and 
villages,  and  is  devoted  exclusively  to  the  dairy  business  and  to  agriculture.  As 
a  civil  township  it  is  known  as  Town  37  north,  Range  10  east,  and  is  very  fine 
prairie,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  small  groves  along  the  water-courses. 

The  Winter  of  the  "  deep  snow  "  found  a  family  or  two  in  Du  Page  Town- 
ship. In  Central  and  Northern  Illinois,  the  deep  snow  is  a  chronological  event, 
from  which  the  few  old  settlers  who  witnessed  it  date  all  important  items  in 
their  history.  There  are  at  this  date,  however,  very  few  left  who  witnessed  that 
great  fall  of  snow,  which  occurred  in  the  Winter  of  1830—31,  almost  half  a  cen- 
tury ago.  Occasionally  we  meet  one  who  experienced  the  privations  incident 
to  four  feet  of  snow  for  two  months,  which  was  the  depth  of  this  "great  white 
carpet"  we  have  so  often  been  called  upon  to  notice.  To  tell  of  all  the  suffer- 
ings and  trials  of  the  few  who  bore  the  brunt  of  that  snowstorm  in  this  section 
of  the  country,  would  be  to  repeat  an  "oft-told  tale."  We  forbear.  As  stated 
above,  there  were  a  few  families  here  that  Winter.  Pierce  Hawley,  Stephen  J. 
Scott  and  his  son,  Willard  Scott,  and  Ralph  Stowell  came  to  this  township  in 
the  Fall  of  1830,  and  settled  in  the  grove  of  timber  bordering  the  Du  Page 
River.  Hawley  was  originally  from  Vermont,  but  first  settled,  after  coming  to 
the  country,  in  Sangamon  County,  then  embracing  nearly  half  of  the  State. 
Later,  he  removed  to  Holdeman's  Grove,  and  in  the  Fall  of  1830,  settled  in 
this  township,  as  noted.  He  was  of  the  Mormon  faith,  and  at  the  time  these 
"  Latter-day  Saints  "  concentrated  their  "elect  "at  Nauvoo,  he  joined  them 
there,  and  when  driven  from  that  place  by  the  gentiles,  he  followed  the  Saints 
to  Utah.  But  when  the  corrupt  organization  admitted  a  plank  into  their  plat- 
form allowing  the  "faithful"  a  "plurality"  of  wives,  he  threw  off  the  Mor- 
mon faith  and  left  Utah  in  disgust.  He  was  of  a  kind  of  roving  disposition, 
and  loved  wild,  frontier  life — was  Daniel  Boone-like  ;  and  when  people  began 
to  get  too  thick  around  him,  would  pull  up  stakes  and  move  on  toward  the  West. 
From  Utah  he  went  to  Iowa,  where  he  died.  The  Scotts  came  from  Baltimore, 
the  "  Monumental  City  of  the  East,"  and  settled,  upon  their  arrival  in  Illinois, 
at  Grose's  Point  (now  Evanston),  and  in  the  Fall  of  1830,  came  to  Du  Page 
Township.  The  elder  Scott  went  to  California  during  the  gold  fever  of  1849 
and  1850,  by  the  overland  route ;  was  70  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  going, 
and  died  in  the  Golden  State.  His  oldest  son,  Willis  Scott,  who  came  to  the 
settlement  two  years  later,  lives  in  Chicago ;  and  the  other  son,  Willard  Scott, 
who  came  with  his  father,  is  a  prosperous  merchant  and  banker  in  Naperville. 
Stowell  came  from  Ohio  here ;  but  whether  that  was  his  native  State  or  not, 
we  are  unable  to  say.  He  settled  where  Glover  now  lives,  and  afterward  moved 
down  on  Fox  River.  He  died  several  years  ago.  These  were  the  families  that 
waded  through  the  deep  snow  of  1830-31,  in  this  township.  They  are  gone, 


.. 


(DECEASED) 
FRANKFQRTTP. 


THE  i 
OF  THE 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  529 

but  have  left  descendants  behind,  who  recount  their  early  trials  and  hardships 
in  the  opening-up  of  this  country. 

In  1831,  the  settlement  was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  Israel  P.  Blodgett, 
Robert  Strong,  John  Dudley,  Harry  Boardman,  Rev.  Isaac  Scarritt  and  Lester 
Peet.  Blodgett  came  from  Massachusetts,  and  settled  where  Royce  now  lives. 
He  was  the  father  of  Judge  Blodgett,  of  Chicago.  The  Judge  is  remembered 
in  the  town  as  a  boy  of  rather  delicate  appearance,  who  was  very  studious,  at- 
tended the  public  schools,  and  taught  by  way  of  improvement  and  of  defraying 
his  own  expenses.  The  result  is  his  present  exalted  position.  The  father 
moved  to  Downer's  Grove,  where  he  died  some  years  ago  and  where  his  widow 
now  lives.  Strong,  Boardman  and  Peet  were  from  Vermont.  The  former  was 
born  in  1806,  and  when  8  years  old,  his  father  removed  to  Pennsylvania,  and 
five  years  later,  removed  to  New  York.  Upon  arriving  at  man's  estate,  and 
having  taken  to  himself  a  life-partner,  Mr.  Strong  came  to  Illinois,  arriving  in 
Chicago  in  July,  1831.  He  at  once  proceeded  to  Plainfield,  but  found  the  land 
all  "claimed"  in  that  section.  He  says  there  were  then  twelve  families  living 
at  Plainfield,  or  Walker's  Grove,  and  they  told  him  there  was  "  no  room  for 
any  more  immigrants."  He  left  his  family  at  the  house  of  Timothy  B.  Clarke, 
and  went  out  prospecting  for  a  location.  He  chose  the  place  where  he  still 
lives,  and  bought  it  from  two  men  named  Selvey  and  Walker,  who  had  a  claim 
on  it.  He  took  possession  at  once  and  settled  his  family  on  the  spot,  and  for 
forty-seven  years  they  have  occupied  it.  Selvey  was  an  early  settler,  and  was 
here  during  the  Sac  war.  He  was  at  one  time  very  wealthy  and  owned  a 
great  deal  of  land  in  this  section  and  a  large  number  of  lots  in  Chicago.  Mr. 
Clarke  remembers  his  selling  lots  on  Lake  street,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city, 
at  $50  a  lot ;  and  his  father  once  bought  from  Selvey  the  lot  on  which  the 
Union  Hotel  now  stands,  corner  of  Canal  and  Madison  streets,  for  $53.  But 
being  one  of  those  easy,  confiding  men,  he  strove  to  accommodate  everybody, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  lost  all  his  great  property.  He  died  near  Aurora,  quite 
poor,  and  has  a  son  in  this  county  who  works  as  a  farm  laborer,  by  the  month, 
for  a  living.  Dudley  was  an  acquaintance  of  Strong's,  and  never  really  mude  a 
settlement  in  the  township.  Boardman  came  from  New  York,  and  made  the 
trip  around  the  lakes,  landing  in  Chicago  in  the  Summer  of  1831.  He  was 
originally  from  Vermont,  but,  like  Strong,  had  lived  for  some  time  in  New 
York  before  emigrating  West.  Mr.  Boardman  was  an  active  man  in  the  settle- 
ment, and  favored  every  enterprise  for  the  good  of  his  town.  The  first  reaper 
used  in  Will  County  was  bought  by  him  and  operated  on  his  farm,  in  1846, 
which  was  the  year  previous,  it'is  said,  to  the  one  used  by  Granger,  in  Homer 
Township,  mentioned  in  the  "  Combination  Atlas  "  of  the  county.  It  was  a 
McCormick  Reaper.  Boardman  had  known  McCormick  in  New  York,  before 
removing  to  Illinois,  and  meeting  him  in  Chicago  one  day,  McCormick  proposed 
to  sell  him  a  reaper.  Mr.  Boardman  had  a  large  crop  of  wheat,  and  said  to 
McCormick,  "  Suppose  I  should  buy  one  of  your  machines  and  it  would  not 


530  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

work,  I  would  lose  a  large  part  of  my  wheat  crop."  Whereupon  McCormick 
proposed  to  enter  into  a  bond,  agreeing  to  pay  the  damage  if  it  did  not  do  what 
he  claimed  for  it.  Said  Boardman,  "  I  don't  know  that  your  bond  is  any  bet- 
ter than  your  word."  But  finally  he  bought  a  machine  on  those  conditions, 
and  McCormick  gave  a  bond,  guaranteeing  it  as  above  stated.  It  was  shipped 
to  him  and  he  cut  his  crop  of  wheat,  it  fully  coming  up  to  the  guarantee  given 
by  McCormick.  Two  of  his  neighbors  bought  reapers  the  same  season,  and 
thus  those  labor-saving  machines  were  introduced  in  the  county.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  County  Commissioners,  an  office  he  filled  with  credit  to  himself  and 
satisfaction  to  others.  He  died  in  May,  1877.  Peet  settled  here  in  1831, 
near  the  county  line,  where  Swartz  now  lives,  and  died  a  few  years  after  his 
settlement.  Rev.  Scarritt  was  a  Methodist  minister,  and  came  originally  from 
some  one  of  the  Eastern  States,  but  his  wife  was  a  Virginia  lady.  He  settled 
a  little  east  of  where  Mr.  Strong  lives,  and  upon  the  election  of  his  son,  P.  P. 
Scarritt,  Sheriff  of  Will  County,  the  elder  Scarritt  moved  to  Joliet  and  made 
a  home  with  his  son,  where  he  died,  several  years  ago.  This  'comprised  the 
residents  in  the  town  at  the  close  of  the  second  year  after  the  first  settlement 
was  made  within  its  borders. 

In  1832,  the  year  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  but  few  additions  were  made  to 
the  settlement  here.  Seth  Westcott,  John  Barber  and  John  Miller  are  all  of 
whom  we  have  any  account  of  locating  here  during  the  year  1832.  Westcott 
came  from  New  York,  but  was  originally  from  Vermont.  He  settled  on  the 
south  side  of  the  river,  where  his  son,  Seth  Westcott,  Jr.,  now  lives.  The  elder 
Westcott  has  been  dead  three  or  four  years.  John  Barber  came  also  from  Ver- 
mont, and  settled  near  Barber's  Corners.  He  had  twin  sons,  whose  names  were 
Francis  and  Franklin ;  the  latter  lives  now  on  the  old  homestead,  a  pros- 
perous farmer,  and  the  picture  of  health  and  vigor.  The  father  died  a  few 
years  ago,  after  having  been  confined  to  his  bed  for  nearly  twenty  years  from 
rheumatism,  and  for  several  years  had  been  blind  and  incapable  of  feeding  him- 
self. John  Miller,  another  Vermonter,  settled  east  of  Barber's  Corners,  and 
was  quite  a  prominent  man  of  the  township.  He  was  the  first  Supervisor  after 
township  organization,  and  was  the  only  Representative  that  Du  Page  has  ever 
sent  to  the  State  Legislature.  He  died  in  the  Spring  of  1851,  but  a  few  weeks 
before  his  term  of  service  as  Supervisor  had  expired.  In  1833,  Samuel  Good- 
rich also  from  Vermont,  settled  a  few  rods  west  of  Strong's.  He  removed  to 
Minnesota  a  good  many  years  ago,  and  died  there  in  1876,  or  about  that  time. 

Col.  William  Smith  settled  here  in  1834.  He  came  from  New  York,  and 
removed  to  Joliet  a  few  years  after  coming  to  the  country,  where  he  was  long 
known  as  one  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  city,  and  where  he  died  a  few  years 
ago.  Timothy  B.  Clarke  settled  here  this  year,  as  noticed  in  the  history  of 
Plainfield  Township ;  and  his  son,  B.  B.  Olarke,  of  Lockport,  still  owns  a  por- 
tion of  the  land  to  which  his  father  then  laid  claim.  The  elder  Clarke  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  also  during  the  Black  Hawk  war.  He  was  at 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  531 

one  time  offered  the  School  Section  in   Chicago,  which  embraced  the  lot  on 
which  Field  &  Leiter's  wholesale  house  now  stands,  at  $18  per  acre.     But  it 
was  a  low,  swampy  marsh,  thickly  set  in  willows,  and  during  a  large  part  of  the 
year  impassable  to  a  horse,  and  Mr.  Clarke  had  little  idea  that  it  would  ever  be 
worth  the  taxes.      Harry  and  Philip  Lord,  two  brothers,  came  from  New  York 
in  1833  or  1834,  and  made  claims  and  settlements  in  this  town,  but  of  them  we 
could  learn  but  little.     Jonathan  Royce  came  in  1835,  from  New  York,  but  was 
originally  from  New  Hampshire.     He  died  here  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  and 
his  son,  Abner  Royce,  now  lives  on  the  place  where  his  father  located,  and  which 
is  the  original  farm  settled  by  Israel  Blodgett.      Mr.  Royce  was  a  prominent 
man  of  the  settlement,  and  owned  at  one  time  over  three  thousand  acres  of  land 
in  this  township.     His  wife,  who  survived  him  several  years,  seems  to  have  been 
not  only  a  very  remarkable  lady,  but  to  have  sprung  from  a  genuine  old  Revo- 
lutionary family.     When  she  died,  April  25,  1875,  the  Will  County  Courier 
thus  referred  to  the  event :  "  The  deceased  was  the  relict  of  the  late  Jonathan 
Royce,  of  Du  Page,  and  had  lived  in  Will  County  for  the  last  forty  years.    She 
moved  with  her  husband  and  family  into  this  county  in  1835,  and  commenced 
life  in  her  new  home  on  the  farm  where  her  death  occurred.      She  was  born  at 
Walpole,  N.  H.,  May  5,  1784.     Her  maiden  name  was  Emery.     Her  father 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  who  enlisted  at  the  age  of  16,  and  was  with  the 
patriots  until  the  close  of  the  war.     He  was  one  of  the  minute-men  at  Concord, 
and  participated  at  Lexington,  and  received  a  wound  at  the  battle  of  Saratoga 
Springs  from  which  he  never  fully  recovered.     He  was  with  Washington  in  all 
his  campaigns,  being  one  of  that  little  band  of  patriots  who  united  at  Valley 
Forge  and  went  on  that  famous  march  into  New  Jersey,  and  the  masterly  retreat 
across  the  Delaware  River.     Mrs.  Royce  inherited  from  her  father  the  spirit  of 
patriotism  which   characterized  him,  and  during  our  civil  war  was  the  warm 
friend  of  the  soldier,  doing  all  that  she  could  to  aid  the  cause.     She  was  the 
mother  of  a  large  family  of  children,  most  of  whom  are  living  and  citizens  of 
this  State.     She  lost  her  husband  about  ten  years  ago,  who  at  his  death  was  86 
years  of  age,  and  has  been  long  anxious  to  join  him.     They  traveled  the  jour- 
ney of  life  together  for  sixty  years,  honored  and  respected  in  society,  and  in 
her  death  society  loses  one  of  its  most  reverenced  and  beloved  members."    After 
referring  to  the  funeral  services,  which  were  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Porter, 
}f  Naperville,  the  Courier  notices  the  fact  that  she  was  followed  to  the  grave  by 
ibout  seventy  blood-relations,  forty-seven  of  whom  were  her  descendants,  and 
that  she  lived  to  see  children  of  her  great-grandchildren.       She  died  at  the  age 
of  90,  and  retained  her  faculties  to  the  very  moment  of  her  death.     Thomas 
Williams,  living  in  the  southern  part  of  the  town,  is  an   old   resident  and  a 
)rominent  man.     He  was  born  in  the  county  of  Cornwall,  England,  and  came 
to  America  in  1825,  and  to  Illinois  in  1834,  stopping  in  Chicago  until  1836, 
when  he  came  out  and  engaged  in  a  contract  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal. 
He  built  a  portion  of  the  Portage  Railroad  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains 


532  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

before  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  after  quitting  the  Canal  he  built  twelve  miles  of 
the  Galena  Division  of  the  North- Western  Railway ;  and,  later  still,  with  Mr. 
Boyer,  went  to  California,  where  they  took  a  contract  to  build  a  levee  at  Sacra- 
mento along  the  city  front ;  also  a  tunnel  1,900  feet  long,  by  which  the  city  is 
supplied  with  water.  After  years  of  an  active  business  life,  he  is  on  his  farm, 
quietly  resting  from  his  labors,  and  enjoying  the  peace  of  his  fireside. 

In  1833,  quite  a  little  colony  came  to  the  township  from  Western  New 
York,  consisting  of  Andrew  Godfrey,  Shubel  Swift,  Peter  Steward,  Hiram 
Warren,  Joseph  R.  Bessey,  a  family  named  Clifford,  and  Hannibal  Ward.  This 
colony  'made  claims  and  settlements  in  the  valley  of  the  Du  Page  River,  and  all 
are  now  gone  from  the  township  except  Hiram  Warren.  Shubel  Swift  lives  at 
Waukegan,  and  Steward  lives  at  Naperville.  Sylvester  Ward,  a  son  of  Han- 
nibal Ward,  lives  near  Barber's  Corners,  and  is  one  of  the  prosperous  and 
wealthy  farmers  of  the  county.  Hannibal  Ward,  a  cousin  of  Sylvester  Ward, 
is  operating  the  latter's  cheese  factory,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  town. 
Warren  still  lives  on  the  place  where  he  originally  settled.  Samuel  Whallen 
was  also  from  New  York,  and  came  to  the  Du  Page  Settlement  in  1836.  He 
lived  to  be  94  years  old,  and  died  in  the  township  about  five  years  ago. 
Thomas  J.  Sprague,  another  New  Yorker,  came  out  on  a  prospecting  tour  in 
1837,  and  returned  the  next  year  and  settled.  He  lives  now  at  what  is  called 
Sprague's  Corners,  a  wealthy  farmer.  This  comprises  most  of  the  early  settlers 
up  to  the  time  when  the  rush  of  immigration  began.  Settlements  were  made 
here  as  early  as  1830,  but,  as  Du  Page  possessed  but  a  small  scope  of  timbered 
land  there  was  room  for  but  few  inhabitants,  until  the  virtues  of  the  prairies 
were  discovered  years  later.  The  early  settlers  all  chose  timbered  localities, 
many  believing  that  the  prairies  would  never  be  of  any  value  save  for  pasturage. 
Some  even  ventured  the  prophecy  that  their  children  would  never  live  to  see 
the  prairies  settled.  In  ten  years  from  the  time  the  first  claim  was  made  on  the 
Du  Page  River,  there  was  not  a  section  left  vacant  in  the  entire  township. 
Quite  a  large  number  of  the  first  settlers  of  Du  Page,  perhaps  a  majority  of 
them  were  from  Vermont,  and  were  an  intelligent  class  of  people.  The  only 
oae  now  living,  of  those  who"  settled  here  previous  to  the  Sac  war,  is  Robert 
Strong,  and  he,  as  already  stated,  is  on  his  original  claim.  Willis  Scott,  of 
Chicago,  and  Willard  Scott,  of  Naperville,  were  here  at  that  time,  but  were 
bovs  or  young  men.  Mr.  Strong  is  the  only  old  landmark  left  in  the  beautiful 
valley  of  Fountaindale,  and  is  a  man  much  respected  in  the  neighborhood.  He  is 
the  oracle,  so  far  as  regards  the  early  history  of  this  township,  and  but  for  him 
many  of  the  particulars  given  in  this  chapter  must  necessarily  have  been  left  to 

conjecture. 

The  first  mill  in  Du  Page  Township  was  a  saw-mill  built  in  1836  by  Alden 
&  Scott.  In  1840,  another  saw-mill  was  built  by  Ward,  a  little  above  the  one 
iust  mentioned.  Both  were  on  the  Du  Page,  and  were  washed  away  during  a 
season  of  high  water,  and  the  old  dams  are  still  observable  where  these  original 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  533 

mills  were  located.  The  only  grist-mill  was  a  little  concern  by  Pierce  Hawley, 
supplied  with  horse-power,  and  used  to  grind  both  corn  and  wheat.  The 
"bolting"  was  done  by  hand,  and  we  were  told  that  it  turned  out  a  very  fair 
quality  of  flour ;  not  in  quantity  and  quality  with  Norton's  mill,  at  Lockport, 
but  then,  it  satisfied  the  pioneers,  who  were  often  glad  to  get  either  flour  or  corn 
meal,  and  even  that  of  an  inferior  quality.  Ralph  Stowell  kept  the  first  tavern 
in  the  township,  where  Glover  now  lives,  and  also  kept  the  stage-house  after 
stages  were  put  on  the  route  between  Chicago  and  Ottawa.  Shubel  Swift  also 
kept  a  tavern  in  the  early  times,  at  what  was  called  "  the  Junction,"  being  the 
junction  of  the  Chicago,  Plainfield  and  Joliet  roads.  -Du  Page  has  no  village 
within  its  limits,  nor  has  ever  had  a  store  really  deserving  the  name,  but  a  few 
little  stands,  at  various  times,  merely  for  neighborhood  accommodation.  The 
first  bridge  was  built  across  the  Du  Page  where  the  Joliet  and  Naperville  road 
crosses,  about  1836  or  1837.  It  was  built  of  logs, .and  was  a  rough  affair.  A 
number  of  good,  substantial  bridges  span  the  two  branches  of  the  Du  Page  in 
the  town  at  present.  The  first  post  office  was  established  at  the  stage-house 
already  mentioned,  and  Mr.  Stowell  was  the  first  Postmaster.  The  office  was 
originally  called  Fountaindale,  but  finally  changed  to  Du  Page  Post  Office,  by 
which  name  it  is  now  known.  As  Du  Page  Post  Office,  it  has  traveled  all  over 
the  township  two  or  three  times.  Was  first  kept  at  the  stage-house,  then  at 
Barber's  Corners,  at  Col.  Smith's,  at  the  Junction,  again  at  Barber's  Corners, 
and,  indeed,  it  is  hard  to  designate  a  place  in  the  town  where  it  has  not  been. 
There  was,  at  one  time,  another  post  office  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  town- 
ship, called  "  Long  John,"  and  was  established  during  the  popular  period  of  the 
man  for  whom  it  was  named.*  The  man  who  made  the  effort  to  get  the  office 

was  said  to.be  an  Abolitionist,  and  Long  John  swore  that  no Abolitionist 

should  have  it,  but  that  he  would  get  it  for  any  good  Democrat,  and  so  A.  C. 
Paxson  was  made  Postmaster,  and  he  made  the  Abolitionist  his  deputy,  and  thus 
whipped  the  devil  around  the  stump.  But,  Long  John  post  office  has  passed 
away,  and  Du  Page  is  now  the  only  post  office  in  the  town,  of  which  Samuel 
Angleman  is  Postmaster. 

The  first  school  was  taught  in  this  township  by  Josiah  Giddings,  in  the 
Winter  of  1832-33,  in  a  little  house  built  for  the  purpose,  a  few  rods  west  from 
where  Mr.  Strong  lives.  The  house  was  a  rude  affair,  of  hickory  logs  split 
open  and  notched  down  on  edge  with  the  split  side  in ;  the  cracks  between  the 
logs  stopped  with  sticks  and  mud,  and  a  chimney  of  the  same  material.  This 
early  pedagogue  went  to  Wisconsin,  where  he  lived  at  the  last  heard  from  him. 
When  the  first  school  districts  were  laid  off,  Will  then  being  a  part  of  Cook 
County,  this  original  schoolhouse  of  Du  Page  Township  was  in  School  District 
No.  1  of  Cook  County,  and  thus  entered  in  the  "  book  of  the  law  and  testi- 
mony." Du  Page  has  always  maintained  its  early  reputation  for  schools,  and 
spared  neither  pains  nor  expense  to  disseminate  knowledge  among  its  inhabit- 

*  John  Wentworth. 


.534  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

ants.  In  1872,  it  had  11  school  districts;  375  pupils  enrolled;  22  teachers 
employed,  and  10  good,  comfortable  schoolhouses.  The  amount  of  special  tax 
levied  was  $2,454.31 ;  amount  paid  teachers,  $2,350.62.  Total  expenditures  of 
the  year,  $3,749.23,  leaving  a  balance  in  the  treasury  of  $435.85. 

The  first  preachers  in  this  section  were  Rev.  Isaac  Scarritt  and  Rev.  Jere- 
miah Porter,  both  of  whom  have  often  been  noticed  among  the  early  divines  in 
different  portions  of  this  county.  Which  one  of  these  ministers  preached  the 
first  sermon  it  is  impossible  to  say  now,  but  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  Scarritt,' 
as  he  settled  here  as  early  as  1831.  The  first  church  society  was  organized  in 
1833,  by  Rev.  N.  C.  Clark,  in  the  schoolhouse  above  alluded  to,  and  was  a 
Presbyterian  or  Congregationalist,  or  a  cross  of  the  two.  Like  Du  Page  Post 
Office,  it  fluctuated  a  good  deal,  and  was  sometimes  Presbyterian  and  sometimes 
Congregational.  The  first  church  edifice  was  built  about  1854  or  1855,  and  was 
remodeled  about  three  years  ago.  It  is  a  very  handsome  edifice,  and  is  known 
at  the  present  day  as  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Du  Page.  The  present 
Pastor  is  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Porter,  of  Naperville,  who  has  in  his  charge  about  one  hun- 
dred members.  A  large  and  flourishing  Sunday  school  is  carried  on  at  the  church, 
of  which  Robert  Strong  is  Superintendent,  a  position  he  has  occupied  so  long 
that  the  "mind  of  man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary."  A  Methodist  Church 
was  built  at  Barber's  Corners,  some  years  after  the  erection  of  this,  but  of  it 
we  could  not  learn  much.  The  society  was,  at  one  time,  on  the  point  of  dissolu- 
tion. Last  year,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hughes,  from  the  town  of  Crete,  preached  to 
them,  and,  to  some  extent,  revived  the  work  at  this  place.  A  small  Sunday 
school  is  still  maintained,  of  which  Mrs.  Derby  is  Superintendent.  The  Mor- 
mon doctrine  usegl  to  be  promulgated  throughout  this  township  pretty  extensively, 
by  the  Elders  of  that  faith.  Mr.  Strong  says  the  first  Mormon  sermon  he 
ever  heard  was  preached  at  Plainfield,  in  a  little  while  after  he  came  to  the 
county.  A  great  many  prominent  people  embraced  the  faith,  and  some  even 
went  to  the  Mormon  settlement  at  Nauvoo.  This,  however,  was  before  they 
adopted  that  broad  and  liberal  platform,  allowing  a  man  all  the  wives  he  could 
support ;  and,  when  this  wholesale  measure  was  adopted,  many  of  the  more  sensi- 
ble became  disgusted  and  threw  off  the  rotten  yoke  of  Mormonism  forever, 
while  a  few  still  clung  to  their  idols,  following  the  Prophet's  fortunes  to  Salt 
Lake  City. 

The  first  death  recorded  in  Du  Page  Township  was  a  Mrs.  Cleveland,  who 
had  just  moved  into  the  settlement  and  died  in  1832,  and  was  buried  in  the 
cemetery  near  Mr.  Boardman's — the  first  burial  made  in  that  grave-yard,  since 
the  receptacle  of  many  of  the  pioneers  of  this  part  of  the  country.  The 
first  birth  occurred  in  the  family  of  either  Willard  Scott  or  Mr.  Hawley,  as 
both  Mrs.  Scott  and  Mrs.  Hawley  had  brand-new  babes  when  Mr.  Strong  came 
to  the  settlement,  in  1831,  and  which  must  have  been  born  in  the  early  part  of 
that  year.  As  to  the  first  marriage,  there  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  whom  it 
belongs.  One  of  the  first  remembered  was  a  daughter  of  Shubel  Swift  to 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  535 

a  Mr.  Godfrey;  but  whether  it  was  the  first  it  is  not  possible  to  say  with 
certainty.  The  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  was  the  Rev.  Isaac  Scarritt, 
who,  it  seems,  was  commissioned  to  deal  out  justice  to  the  offenders  of  the  civil 
law  as  well  as  the  divine  law.  The  present  Justices  of  the  Peace  are  John 
Marvin  and  Thomas  Stanners ;  Sylvester  Ward  is  School  Treasurer,  and 
Thomas  Williams,  Supervisor.  When  the  county  adopted  township  organiza- 
tion, in  1850,  John  Miller  was  elected  the  first  Supervisor  of  Du  Page.  Since 
then,  the  following  have  served  in  that  capacity  for  the  years  given  in  connec- 
tion with  their  names  :  A.  C.  Paxson,  1851-52  ;  R.  W.  Smith,  1853-54  ;  H. 
Boardman,  1855 ;  E.  D.  Eaton,  1856  ;  A.  C.  Paxson,  1857 ;  T.  H.  Abbott, 
1858-59;  B.  B.  Clarke,  1860  ;  J.  P.  King,  1861;  Robert  Strong,  1862;  B. 
B.  Clarke,  1863;  E.  Virgil,  1864;  R.  W.  Smith,  1865-67;  A.  Godfrey, 
1868;  J.  P.  King,  1869;  John  Royce,  from  1870  until  succeeded  by  the 
present  incumbent,  Thomas  Williams. 

The  dairy  business  receives  considerable  attention  in  this  town.  The  quantity 
of  milk  produced  is,  perhaps,  greater  than  in  any  other  township  of  the  county. 
Besides  the  amount  consumed  at  the  two  factories,  a  great  deal  is  shipped  to 
Chicago  from  Romeo  Station,  just  on  the  line  between  Lockport  and  Du  Page, 
and  which  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  best  milk  stations  on  the  Chicago  &  Alton 
Railroad.  The  oldest  cheese-factory  in  the  town  is  the  one  near  Barber's  Cor- 
ners. It  was  built  originally  at  Lemont  by  a  man  named  Hess,  from  Plain- 
field.  A  company  was  organized  at  Barbers  Corners  about  1-870,  who  bought 
the  factory  and  moved  it  from  Lemont  to  its  present  location.  Last  Spring,  it 
was  bought  by  S.  R.  Richardson,  and  has  cost  him  about  $2,000.  It  is  a 
frame  building  with  a  brick  basement,  and  its  arrangements  for  cheese-making 
are  complete  in  every  detail.  He  makes  up  the  milk  of  his  patrons  on  shares, 
and  is,  at  the  present  time,  making,  upon  an  average,  eight  cheeses  per  day,  with 
a  constantly  increasing  business.  The  factory  of  Sylvester  Ward  was  built  at 
Sprague's  Corners  in  the  Spring  of  1877,  and  is  a  large  and  commodious  estab- 
lishment. It  is  a  substantial  frame  with  stone  basement,  and  cost  $3,000.  It 
is  being  operated  by  Hannibal  Ward,  a  brother  of  the  owner,  who  is  said  to  be 
au  experienced  cheese-maker.  They  have  hitherto  been  making  up  the  milk 
on  shares  for  their  patrons,  but  have  recently  commenced  buying  milk,  and  also 
manufacturing  at  a  certain  compensation. 

As  stated  in  the  introduction  of  this  chapter,  Du  Page  is  prairie  land,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  sections  of  timber  along  the  Du  Page  River,  and  a  small 
grove  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  town.  The  prairie  is  of  the  finest  and 
most  productive.  When  white  people  first  began  to  settle  here,  they  found 
the  prairie  teeming  with  wild  flowers,  their  beauty  and  fragrance  surpassing  all 
that  they  had  ever  dreamsd  of  floral  loveliness.  Some  of  the  more  romantic  of 
them  say,  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  earth  had  been  converted  into  green 
grass,  blue  sky,  blossoming  flowers  and  glorious  sunshine.  This  beautiful  valley 
of  the  Du  Page  was  originally  called  Fountaindale,  from  the  numerous  springs 


536  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

to  be  found  along  the  margin  of  the  Du  Page  River.  But  upon  the  adoption 
of  township  organization,  in  the  process  of  naming  the  towns,  Du  Page  was 
deemed  an  appropriate  title  for  this,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  two  branches  of 
the  Du  Page  River  are  united  within  its  borders.  Thus  the  pretty  and  roman- 
tic name  of  Fountaindale  was  discarded  for  the  less  euphonious  one  of  Du  Page. 
During  the  Sac  war,  the  few  whites  then  living  in  Du  Page,  were  forced  to  seek 
safety  in  flight.  Some  of  them  went  to  "  Fort  Beggs,"  and  some  to  the  fort 
or  blockhouse  at  Naperville.  But  when  the  clouds  of  war  blew  over  and  the 
olive-branch  of  peace  was  held  out,  they  returned  to  their  deserted  homes  and 
redoubled  their  efforts  to  open  and  improve  their  claims. 

Politically,  Du  Page  is  Republican  ;  but  from  the  information  gathered  of  its 
early  history,  we  are  of  opinion  that  in  the  days  of  Whigs  and  Democrats,  it 
gave  its  majorities  to  the  latter  party.  Its  record  during  the  war  was  patriotic, 
and  many  of  its  citizens  shouldered  their  muskets  and  marched  to  the  front,  and 
risked  their  lives  for  the  Union  they  loved. 

WHEATLAND  TOWNSHIP. 

Wheatland  is  the  northwest  township  of  Will  County,  with  Kendall  and 
Du  Page  Counties  on  the  west  and  north ;  Du  Page  Township  on  the  east,  and 
Plainfield  Township  on  the  south.  It  is  described  as  Town  37  north,  Range  9 
east  of  the  Thir-d  Principal  Meridian,  and  at  the  last  census  contained  1,133 
inhabitants.  It  is  watered  by  the  Du  Page  River  and  its  branches ;  the  former 
entering  its  territory  at  the  northeast  corner,  flows  through  it  a  little  west  of 
south.  It  is  wholly  prairie,  having  but  a  few  acres  of  timber,  and,  like  the 
surrounding  lands  of  Plainfield  and  Du  Page,  is  the  finest  farming  and  grain  sec- 
tion of  the  county.  There  are  no  villages  or  railroads  cutting  up  and  marring 
its  ••beautiful  surface,  and  the  snort  of  the  iron  horse  is  never  heard,  save  as  faint 
echoes  of  his  voice  float  over  the  prairies  from  the  distance. 

Rev.  Isaac  G.  Foster  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  permanent  settler  in 
Wheatland  Township.  He  came  from  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  and  settled  here  in 
1837.  It  is  scarcely  known  at  the  present  day  whether  Mr.  Foster  was  a 
minister  or  not,  although  the  prefix  of  Rev.  is  used,  and  he  was  generally  termed 
"Priest  "  Foster.  There  are  none,  however,  who  remember  to  have  heard  him 
preach.  He  now  sleeps  with  his  fathers.  Chester  Ingersoll,  who  first  settled  in 
Plainfield  Township,  settled  in  Wheatland  about  the  year  1839.  He  laid  off  the 
village  of  Plainfield,  as  mentioned  in  that  part  of  this  work,  and  as  his  history  is 
there  given  at  some  length,  we  deem  it  unnecessary  to  repeat  it  here.  Joseph  B. 
Wightman  came  from  Rome,  N.  Y.,  and  settled  in  Plainfield  in  1838.  In  1840, 
he  removed  to  Wheatland  Township,  being  the  third  family  to  settle  in  this 
town.  Previous  to  his  settlement  in  Plainfield,  Mr.  Wightman  had  lived  in 
Kendall  County,  where  he  settled  in  1834,  upon  his  first  arrival  in  the  West. 
George  Wightman,  a  son  of  his,  settled  also  in  Wheatland  at  the  same  time. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  537 

where  he  resided  until  1865,  when  he  .removed  into  Lockport  Township,  and 
located  on  the  farm  known  as  the  Sisson  Place,  west  of  the  village  of  Lockport. 
Mr.  Wightman  married  the  youngest  daughter  of  that  old  pioneer,  Holder  Sisson, 
whose  history  is  fully  given  in  the  history  of  Lockport.  His  father  and  mother 
are  still  living  in  Du  Page  Township,  rather  feeble  and  aged,  and  the  former 
quite  deaf.  A  man  known  as  "Hoosier  "  Smith  settled  in  Wheatland  the  next 
year  after  the  Wightmans,  on  Spring  Brook,  and  in  a  few  years  moved  away  ; 
of  him  very  little  is  remembered,  as  he  remained  but  a  short  time ;  he  was 
probably  from  Indiana,  however,  as  he  went  by  the  name  of  "Hoosier"  Smith. 
Another  settler  of  1841,  was  David  Cheeny,  from  Massachusetts,  and  a  man 
named  Eddy.  It  is  not  known  where  Eddy  came  from,  nor  where  he  lives  at 
present.  Cheeny  had  settled  in  Plainfield  before  coming  to  this  section,  as  did 
several  other  families,  who  became  residents  of  Wheatland  Township.  L.  G. 
Colgrove  settled  in  this  township  in  1839,  and,  in  1840  and  1841,  several  other 
families  were  added  to  the  scattered  settlement  of  Wheatland ;  among  them, 
Simeon  B.  Tyler  and  Anthony  Freeland.  In  1843  and  1844,  they  came  in 
still  more  rapidly,  including  quite  a  colony  from  the  "banks  and  braes"  of 
"Auld  Scotia"  dear,  among  whom  may  be  numbered  the  McMickens  and 
Clows,  who  are  more  extensively  noticed  in  the  general  history  of  the  county. 
This  year,  there  were  also  added  the  families  of  William  and  A.  B.  Cotton, 
James  and  John  Robbins,  and  many  others.  In  fact,  they  were  coming  in  at 
this  time  in  such  numbers  that  it  was  not  an  easy  matter  to  keep  trace  of  them. 

From  the  dates  above  given,  it  will  be  seen  that  Wheatland  is  recently  set- 
tled, as  compared  to  other  portions  of  Will  County.  That  it  was  not  settled 
until  so  long  after  other  sections,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  all  prairie.  We 
were  informed  by  Robert  Clow  that  the  entire  township  contained  but  about 
five  acres  of  timbered  land ;  and  at  the  time  of  the  first  settlements  made  in 
this  part  of  Illinois,  there  were  no  such  things  known  in  the  West  as  board  or  wire 
fences,  and  as  stock  was  allowed  to  run  at  large,  people  were  forced  to  put  rail 
fences  around  their  cultivated  lands.  Thus  it  was  that  the  timbered  land  was 
taken  up  before  the  prairie,  and  for  years  the  latter  was  deemed  unfit  for  any- 
thing but  pasturage,  while  many  were  of  the  opinion  that  they  would  never  be 
cultivated.  The  old  Indian  boundary  or  trail,  mentioned  in  another  page, 
passes  through  this  township,  and  was  visible  long  after  settlements  were  made. 
Robert  Clow  says  it  passed  through  his  father's  farm,  and  showed  plainly  for 
years  after  they  came  to  the  country. 

Perhaps  no  township  in  Will  County  has  a  more  diversified  population  than 
Wheatland ;  very  nearly  half  of  it  are  Pennsylvania  Dutch  and  their  descend- 
ants, while  the  remainder  rank  as  follows,  viz. :  Forty  American  families,  forty 
Scotch  families,  twenty-four  English  families,  with  two  or  three  families  of  Irish 
or  French  nationalities  ;  and  we  may  add,  that  many  of  the  model  farmers  of  the 
county  are  to  be  found  in  Wheatland  Township.  Their  handsome  residences,  the 
neat*and  tasty  manner  in  which  their  farms  are  kept,  and  the  care  and  attention 


538  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

bestowed  on  fine  stock,  all  denote  first-class  farmers.  We  were  told  that  the 
finest  farm  lands  in  the  county  are  embraced  in  ten  miles  square  in  this  corner, 
including  Wheatland,  a  part  of  Du  Page  and  Plainfield  Townships  ;  and  having 
been  pretty  well  all  over  the  county,  we  are  quite  willing  to  indorse  the 
statement.  There  are  no  villages  in  Wheatland  Township,  as  already  stated, 
nor  mills,  and,  in  fact,  the  town  contains  very  little  of  historic  interest  beyond 
its  actual  settlement,  and  the  enterprise  and  energy  of  its  "sturdy  yeo- 
manry." 

The  first  birth  in  Wheatland  is  supposed  to  have  been  Levi  B.  Wightman. 
There  are  some,  however,  who  are  of  opinion  that  it  was  a  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Russell,  formerly  Mrs.  Ingersoll.  Just  which  is  entitled  to  the  preference,  we 
are  unable  to  say,  but  think  it  safe  to  say  that  both  were  first — that  is  to  say,  the 
first  two.  The  first  death  was  a  child  of  E.  T.  Durant.  It,  at  least,  was  the 
first  burial  in  the  public  cemetery,  located  at  the  schoolhouse  near  East  Wheat- 
land  Post  Office.  The  death  of  an  elderly  lady  of  the  name  of  Coburn  is 
remembered  by  some  of  the  citizens  as  taking  place  at  quite  an  early  day  ;  but 
whether  it  was  previous  to  that  of  the  child  mentioned,  could  not  be  determined, 
nor  much  information  obtained  in  regard  to  her  in  any  way.  The  first  marriage 
was,  probably,  Rufus  B.  Olmstead  to  Juliet  Foster,  a  daughter  of  "Priest" 
Foster,  as  the  people  called  him.  The  date  of  the  wedding  is  not  remembered, 
neither  is  the  name  of  him  who  united  the  happy  couple. 

The  first  schools  taught  in  the  township  were  on  Sections  5  and  13,  and 
there  is  some  controversy  as  to  which  was  taught  first ;  but  the  preponderance 
of  evidence,  as  the  lawyers  say,  we  believe  is  in  favor  of  that  on  Section  5. 
However,  they  were  taught  very  nearly  at  the  same  time,  and  in  1846  or  1847. 
There  is  another  report  of  a  school,  believed  by  some  to  have  been  taught  prior 
to  these,  by  a  Miss  Elizabeth  Hoag.  She,  it  is  said,  taught  a  school  in  a  pri- 
vate house  belonging  to  Ira  B.  Thomas,  on  Section  26,  before  the  building  of 
schoolhouses.  If  so,  it  was  probably  the  first  taught  in  the  town.  At  the 
present  time,  Wheatland  will  compare  favorably  with  any  part  of  the  county  as 
to  the  excellent  character  of  its  schools.  At  the  close  of  the  school  year  of 
1872,  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  reported  ten  schools  and  an  equal  number 
of  houses,  and  368  pupils  enrolled.  Twenty  teachers  were  employed ;  five  dis- 
tricts had  libraries,  containing  a  total  of  156  volumes.  The  amount  of  special 
tax  for  the  support  of  schools  was  $2,176.03;  amount  paid  teachers,  $2,257.80 ; 
total  expenditure  for  the  year,  $3,573.12,  leaving  a  balance  in  the  treasury  of 
$620.06.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  schools  of  the  town  are  in  a  flourishing 
condition,  well  supported  and  well  patronized. 

The  first  Justices  of  the  Peace  in  Wheatland  Township  were  Robert  Clow, 
the  present  efficient  Circuit  Clerk  of  Will  County,  and  Edward  Lilly,  but  as 
Mr.  Lilly  declined  to  qualify,  Mr.  Clow  was  really  the  first  officiating  Justice. 
The  present  Justices  of  the  Peace  are  John  McMicken  and  Augustus  B.  Cotton. 
Other  township  officers  are,  A.  S.  Brown,  Town  Clerk ;  Franklin  Boarehnan, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  539 

School  Treasurer,  and  John  McMicken,  Supervisor.  When  the  county 
adopted  township  organization,  in  1850,  D.  W.  Cropsey  was  elected  first  Super- 
visor, and  served  during  the  years  1850  and  1851.  Since  his  time,  the  list  of 
Supervisors  and  their  terms  of  office  have  been  as  follows:  S.  Simmons, 
1852-53 ;  F.  Boardman,  1854-56 ;  Robert  Clow,  1857  ;  S.  Simmons,  1858-60 ; 
Robert  Clow,  1861-76  inclusive,  when  he  was  elected  Circuit  Clerk  of  the 
county,  and  John  McMicken,  the  present  incumbent  succeeded  him.  Mr.  Clow 
has  served  his  township  and  county  in  various  offices,  in  all  of  which  he  has 
acquitted  himself  with  credit,  and  we  should  take  this  opportuuity  of  giving 
him  an  extended  notice,  but  know  that  his  modesty  and  good  sense  shrink 
from  such  notoriety.  Hence,  we  pass  without  further  allusion. 

The  first  regular  preacher,  unless  we  except  "Priest"  Foster,  was  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Oburn,  who  sometimes  preached  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Finley,  in  the  south- 
west part  of  the  town,  on  Section  30,  about  the  year  1846  or  1847.  but  what 
denomination  he  claimed,  we  do  not  know.  The  first  church  was  built  by  the 
United  Presbyterians,  in  1855,  and  was  erected  on  Section  19.  It  is  a  substan- 
tial frame  building,  and  cost  about  $1,500.  The  Rev.  James  Buchanon  is  the 
present  Pastor,  and  has  a  large  and  flourishing  membership  and  Sunday  school 
under  his  charge.  In  1864,  the  German  Lutherans  built  a  church  on  Section 
14,  which  is  quite  an  elegant  edifice,  costing  $3,100.  It  has  a  flourishing 
membership,  and  a  large  Sunday  school  for  a  country  church.  The  first 
Directors,  or  Trustees,  were  Jacob  Fry  and  John  Leppert,  Sr.  The  first  meet- 
ings were  held  at  their  houses.  The  first  clergyman  to  preach  to  them  was 
Rev.  Mr.  Leisman.  In  1863,  land  was  deeded  to  the  Church  by  Robert  Clow, 
Jr.,  and  wife,  and  the  present  building  was  erected.  Their  first  Pastor  was 
Rev.  Ernest  Buhre,  who  remained  with  them  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  1877.  He  was  a  man  much  beloved  by  his  people.  Rev.  William  UfFen- 
back  succeeded  him  in  the  pulpit.  The  present  Directors  are  Jacob  Fry,  Rich- 
ard Weinhold,  John  Smidt,  Joseph  Smidt  and  Frederick  Stultz.  The  following 
story  is  told  of  an  old  German  citizen  and  member  of  this  Church.  About  the 
close  of  the  war,  when  greenbacks  were  plenty,  and  fears  manifested  by  some 
of  those  who  always  experience  all  their  woes  in  anticipation,  that  greenbacks 
were  of  little  value,  this  old  German  friend  concluded  to  invest  as  many  super- 
fluous greenbacks  in  the  church  as  possible.  So,  with  this  idea  in  view,  he 
started  out  on  a  tour  of  collecting,  or  begging,  to  obtain  money  for  the  purpose 
of  adding  a  steeple  and  bell  to  their  church,  and  used  for  his  strongest  plea  the 
instability  of  greenbacks,  or  the  uncertainty  of  their  long  remaining  of  value. 
In  1868,  the  German  Evangelical  Association,  or  German  Methodists,  built  a 
church  on  Section  17,  at  a  cost  of  between  $2,500  and  $3,000.  It  is  a  hand- 
some frame  building,  well  finished,  and  presents  a  modern  appearance.  A 
flourishing  Church  and  Sunday  school  are  maintained,  and  ably  supported  by 
the  German  citizens  of  this  part  of  the  town.  Wheatland  has  several  pretty 
little  cemeteries,  which  are  kept  in  good  order,  and  show  much  respect  for  the 


510  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

beloved  dead.     There  are  two  on  Section  14,  one  at  the  schoolhouse,  one  at  the 
German  Lutheran  Church,  and  another  on  Section  8. 

The  first  post  office  established  in  the  township  was  called  East  Wheatland, 
but  what  year  we  were  unable  to  learn.  It  is  located  on  Section  13,  and  Tam- 
arack Post  Office  was  established  some  years  later  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
town.  There  is  a  store  at  Tamarack  Post  Office,  the  only  institution  of  the  kind 
maintained  in  the  entire  township.  In  the  early  times,  prior  to  township  organ- 
ization, Wheatland  was  known  as  Oregon  Precinct.  But  in  the  process  of 
naming  the  townships,  as  "  made  and  provided  "  by  law,  this  was  called  Wheatland 
by  a  man  from  the  Empire  State,  whose  native  place  was  called  Wheatland,  and 
the  name  has  been  retained  ever  since. 

Politically,  Wheatland  Township  at  the  present  day,  is  largely  Republican, 
perhaps  three-fourths  of  its  voters  supporting  that  ticket.  Before  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Republican  party,  however,  it  was  probably  Democratic;  but  as  in 
many  other  sections  of  the  country,  it  has  changed  its  base,  politically  speak- 
ing, in  the  last  decade  or  two  of  years.  During  the  late  war,  Wheatland  did 
its  duty  equally  well  with  other  portions  of  Will  County.  Its  citizens  waited 
no  urging ;  that  the  old  flag  had  been  defied  by  rebels  and  traitors,  was  suffi- 
cient incentive  to  send  them  to  the  army  by  the  score.  But  as  the  deeds  of  the 
Will  County  soldiery  have  already  been  written,  we  shall  not  repeat  them  here. 

The  recent  settlements  of  Wheatland  Township,  and  the  absence  of  any- 
thing like  towns  or  villages,  leaves  but  little  here  to  write  about,  or  to  make 
history.  It  is  now  pretty  thickly  settled,  and  that  by  an  intelligent  and  ener- 
getic class  of  people,  with  excellent  schools  and  churches.  It  has  good  roads 
and  a  number  of  substantial  wooden  bridges,  but  these  are  of  such  modern  date 
as  to  be  hardly  considered  an  interesting  matter  of  history.  Then,  with  these 
brief  pages,  we  will  leave  it  for  some  future  historian  to  do  it  more  ample  justice.. 

JACKSON  TOWNSHIP. 

This  is  one  of  the  earliest  settled  townships  in  the  county,  the  date  of  its 
first  settlement  being  almost  coincident  with  that  of  Chicago.  Chicago  was  laid 
out  August  4,  1830,  and  the  first  settlement  was  made  at  Reed's  Grove  six 
months  later.  This  grove  being  situated  at  the  corners  of  Jackson,  Channahon, 
Wilmington  and  Florence  Townships,  has  given  rise  to  no  little  misunderstand- 
ing as  to  the  location  of  some  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  vicinity ;  and  we  shall 
not  be  surprised  if  some  of  our  statements  do  not  receive  immediate  indorse- 
ment. Several  parties,  or  colonies,  who  settled  in  the  Grove,  though  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood,  since  township  lines  have  been  established  have  proved 
to  be  in  different  townships.  This  fact  also  makes  the  narration  of  events  in 
one  township,  without  at  the  same  time  bringing  in  the  history  of  other  town- 
ships, quite  difficult;  and  a  small  amount  of  repetition  will  therefore  be 
necessary. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  541 

t 

Reed's  Grove  received  its  earliest  white  settler  in  1831.  At  that  time, 
Indians  were  plenty  in  this  part  of  the  State,  and  the  Grove  was  one  of  their 
favorite  resorts  and  dwelling-places.  The  territory  now  embraced  in  these 
townships  was  occupied  by  the  tribe  or  nation  called  Pottawatomies.  The  rela- 
tions between  these  people  and  their  early  white  neighbors  were  of  the  most 
friendly  character.  They  hunted,  visited  and  drank  together,  as  peaceably  as 
the  more  modern  occupants  of  the  county. 

To  Charles  Reed  belongs  the  credit  of  being  the  first  settler,  not  only  of 
Jackson  Township,  but  of  the  grove  which  still  bears  his  name.  Reed  was  a 
man  of  energy  and  spirit.  He  had  a  family  of  grown  up  children,  some  of 
Avhom  were  already  married ;  and,  being  desirous  of  seeing  them  settled  in 
homes  of  their  own,  such  as  he  was  unable  to  provide  for  them  in  the  older 
settled  States  — he  resolved  to  emigrate  to  this  place. 

Accordingly,  he  with  his  two  sons-in-law,  Charles  Koons  and  Eli  Shoemaker, 
and  Joseph  Shoemaker  (brother  of  Eli),  set  out  for  this  place  in  the  early  Spring 
of  1831,  and  reached  the  grove  March  2  of  that  year.  At  that  time,  but  few 
families  had  settled  in  the  whole  section  now  embraced  in  Will  County.  Dwellers 
at  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles  were  considered  neighbors.  Joseph  Shoemaker, 
though  mentioned  here  as  a  member  of  this  settlement  or  colony,  did  not  in 
reality  settle  in  Jackson  Township.  He  is  usually  accredited  as  the  first  settler  of 
Wilmington  Township ;  but  this,  too,  seems  to  be  an  error,  as  his  cabin  was  just  on 
the  north  side  of  the  line  subsequently  located  between  Wilmington  and  Chan- 
nahon.  Reed,  with  the  balance  of  his  family,  removed  from  the  township  more 
than  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  while  the  country  was  yet  indeed  new.  George 
Kirkpatrick  and  brother  and  James  Hemphill  lacked  but  a  few  months  of  being 
the  first.  They  came  from  Ohio,  and  settled  here  in  May  following  the  advent 
of  Reed.  Of  these,  George  Kirkpatrick  still  resides  in  the  township,  but  the 
other  two  are  dead.  James  Hemphill  died  in  1863. 

During  the  Spring  of  the  next  year,  two  new  companies  settled  in  the  town- 
ship. Wesley  Jenkins,  Thomas  Underwood — brother-in-law  of  Jenkins — and 
Jefferson  Ragsdale  were  from  North  Carolina.  Of  the  "Jenkins  Colony,"  as 
it  was  called,  none  are  left,  all  having  removed  to  other  parts.  Jenkins  was 
quite  a  character — a  very  loud  and  emphatic-spoken  man,  and  a  great  admirer 
of  Gen.  Jackson,  whose  glory  was  then  at  its  height.  It  is  related  that  when 
the  matter  of  naming  the  creek,  which  traverses  the  township,  and  from  which 
it  is  named,  was  under  consideration,  Jenkins  swore  with  violent  gesture  that 
no  personage  was  worthy  of  the  name  but  the  "  Hero  of  New  Orleans,"  and 
Jackson  it  was  called. 

A  Methodist  Church  was  organized  in  this  neighborhood  at  a  very  early  date, 
and  one  of  its  members  felt  that  he  was  "  called  to  preach."  Some  doubted 
the  genuineness  of  the  calling,  amongst  whom  was  this  profane  Jenkins,  who 
accounts  for  the  preacher's  determination  to  proclaim  the  Gospel,  by  saying 
that  it  was  his  custom  to  go  out  early  every  morning  to  feed  his  hogs,  and  in 


542  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

stentorian  tones,  which  might  be  mistaken  for  Gabriel,  to  call  his  pigs  to  their 
morning  meal.  On  one  occasion,  he  says,  while  performing  this  work  in 
the  dim  light  of  the  approaching  morning,  he  observed  running  with  the 
hogs,  with  hymn  i)ook  in  hand,  this  self-styled  preacher,  who,  he  avers,  had 
mistaken  his  voice  for  the  "call  to  preach."  Indeed,  the  conduct  of  the 
preacher,  as  subsequently  developed,  has  gone  far  toward  verifying  Jenkins' 
story,  the  preacher  having  long  since  fallen  from  grace.  Jenkins  was  the  life 
of  all  the  house  and  barn  raisings,  and  enlivened  all  of  the  husking  and  other 
"  bees  "  with  his  peculiar,  though  sometimes  profane,  jokes. 

The  Linebarger  colony  arrived  here  from  Indiana  the  same  Spring  with 
Jenkins.  The  company  consisted  of  Henry,  John,  George  and  Lewis.  The 
last  named,  however,  settled  in  the  town  of  Florence,  a  short  distance  from  the 
otheft.  They  were  also  Carolinians,  and  had  left  there  years  before  and  had 
resided  for  a  time  in  Indiana,  near  the  Wabash.  Of  these,  Henry  Line- 
barger lived  here  but  four  years,  dying  here  in  1836.  George  Linebarger 
is  now  a  resident  of  the  village  of  Elwood.  He  has  been  a  very  useful  citizen, 
a  leader  in  the  Methodist  Church,  and  one  of  its  most  pious  members.  He  is 
now  in  poor  health,  and  waits  but  for  a  short  time  to  take  up  his  residence  in 
another  and  better  country.  John  Linebarger,  though  he  came  to  the  township 
at  the  date  named,  returned  to  Indiana  a  few  weeks  later,  and  did  not  make 
the  township  his  permanent  home  until  1850.  He  now  resides  in  Elwood,  and 
is  engaged  in  the  grain  business. 

Peter  Eib,  with  his  three  sons,  George,  Levi  and  Augustus,  was  from  the 
State  of  Virginia.  The  elder  Eib  was  very  fond  of  his  gun,  and  an  excellent 
marksman.  He  found  here  plenty  of  game  on  which  to  practice  his  skill.  It 
was  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  see  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  deer  in  a  single 
drove.  Turkeys,  wolves  and  other  game  were  so  plenty  as  to  make  them 
almost  a  nuisance.  Mr.  Eib  passed  away  years  ago,  but  his  sons  still  remain 
and  are  amongst  the  best  citizens  of  the  community. 

In  1832,  emigration  to  these  parts,  and  indeed  to  all  Northern  and  Western 
Illinois,  received  a  very  severe  check.  Previously,  the  whites  and  red  men  had 
been  on  the  best  of  terms ;  and  especially  in  this  region  there  seemed  to  be  no 
jealousies  existing  between  the  two  races.  Land  and  game  were  so  plenty,  and 
the  white  settlers  were  so  few,  that  the  Indians  here  did  not  feel  as  though 
their  rights  were  being  encroached  upon.  And  then  again,  the  tribes  dwelling 
in  this  part  of  the  State  were  of  a  more  civilized  character  than  some  others. 
Indeed,  some  of  the  leaders  or  chiefs  were  so  much  so  that  when  the  proposition 
to  build  the  Michigan  &  Illinois  Canal  was  being  agitated,  they  were  not  only 
willing  to  have  the  improvement  made,  but  gave  it  all  the  encouragement  they 
could ;  and  it  is  said  that  among  the  first  acts  of  Congress  relating  to  the  proj- 
ect there  is  a  clause  permitting  the  free  use  of  the  Canal  forever  to  these 
people.  However,  before  the  completion  of  the  work,  the  stealthy  stroke  of 
the  Indian's  paddle,  propelling  his  canoe,  had  ceased.  The  causes  wjiich  led 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  543 

to  their  removal  were  just  beginning  to  take  shape,  when  the  emigrants  whose 
names  have  been  given  had  barely  completed  their  journey.  Black  Hawk,  of 
whom  mention  is  made  on  pages  74—79,  and  his  followers  and  allies  had  become 
restless  and  jealous  of  the  white  people,  who  were  in  that  part  of  the  country 
steadily  encroaching  on  both  the  real  and  fancied  rights  of  their  red  brethren. 
These  jealousies  eventually  broke  out  into  actual  conflict,  and  the  State  and 
national  military  were  called  out  to  quell  the  deadly  trouble  that  seemed  to  be 
rising.  Of  course,  great  excitement  prevailed  everywhere,  and  in  sparsely- 
settled  neighborhoods  like  this,  with  no  commensurate  means  of  resistance  at 
hand,  and  with  a  people  in  their  midst  who,  though  professing  friendship,  were 
yet  known  to  be  of  a  treacherous  nature,  the  most  serious  apprehensions  were 
entertained.  In  this  state  of  fear  and  anxiety  the  inhabitants  of  this  vicinity 
were  living  when,  about  'the  latter  part  of  May,  1832,  news  was  brought  to  the 
neighborhood  of  the  massacre  of  several  families  and  the  capture  and  abduction 
of  two  young  ladies  near  Ottawa.  In  those  days,  this  was  considered  only  an 
adjacent  neighborhood,  and  very  naturally  the  alarm  created  in  this  place  was 
intense.  A  meeting  of  all  the  citizens  was  immediately  called,  and  it  was 
quickly  resolved  that,  in  consideration  of  their  utter  inability  to  repel  an  attack, 
it  was  best  to  remove  to  the  more  thickly  settled  country  on  the  Wabash,  whence 
many  of  them  had  formerly  emigrated.  Accordingly,  on  the  following  night 
at  10  o'clock,  there  were  found  nearly  twenty  wagons  and  teams  gathered 
at  Five-Mile  Grove  prepared  to  start.  At  about  the  time  fixed  for  their 
departure  they  were  joined  by  some  parties  who  reported  the  Indians  approach- 
ing. This  precipitated  their  flight,  and  great  confusion  prevailed.  One  man 
had  loaned  his  ox-yoke,  and  had  sent  for  it,  as  he  could  not  harness  his  cattle 
without  it ;  but  when  the  announcement  was  made  that  the  enemy  were  near, 
he  snatched  a  rail  from  the  fence,  and  with  a  half-dozen  strokes  of  the  ax  fash- 
ioned it  into  a  substitute,  which  in  a  moment  more  was  bound  on  the  necks  of 
his  oxen  with  withes  of  hickory,  as  quickly  cut  from  the  brush,  and  he  was  one 
of  the  first  to  start  for  the  Wabash. 

It  had  been  intended  to  take  the  cattle  and  all  of  their  household  goods ;  but 
so  great  was  their  hurry  that  everything  of  the  kind  was  left  behind.  The  gads 
were  applied  to  the  hides  of  the  oxen,  and  the  flight  was  as  rapid  as  possible. 
Their  way  lay  through  the  townships  of  Manhattan,  Wilton  and  Rockville, 
crossing  the  Kankakee  at  one  of  its  fords.  After  traveling  some  miles,  finding 
that  they  were  not  pursued,  two  of  the  men  determined  to  return  and  bring 
forward  the  stock  which  had  been  left  behind.  However,  when  they  came  to 
the  settlement  no  stock  could  be  found,  having  wandered  off  into  the  woods. 
One  of  the  men  then  bethought  him  of  a  bag  of  maple  sugar  which  had  but 
recently  been  manufactured  from  the  sap  of  trees  which  grew  here.  Throwing 
this  across  his  horse,  he,  with  his  companion,  set  out  to  overtake  the  main 
party.  They  had  traveled  but  a  few  miles  when  they  perceived,  at  a  distance, 
two  real  Indians  rapidly  following  them.  They  very  naturally  conjectured  that 


544  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

these  were  only  scouts  of  a  large  party  of  human  butchers,  and  put  spurs  to  their 
horses.  On  looking  back,  they  found  that  the  Indians  were  pursuing  them 
rapidly.  The  bag  of  sugar  was  a  real  burden  and  difficult  to  carry,  so  it  was 
allowed  to  slip  to  the  ground.  .  Thus  relieved,  horses  and  riders  dashed  forward 
with  increased  rapidity.  Indians  are  notoriously  fond  of  sugar,  and  this  was 
quite  a  prize,  and,  as  they  stopped  to  examine,  taste  and  eat,  the  pursued  parties 
left  their  would-be  captors  far  behind.  As  they  came  up  with  their  friends,  they 
were  just  crossing  the  Kankakee.  As  soon  as  the  report  that  they  were  being  pur- 
sued had  spread  to  the  company,  confusion  was  worse  than  confounded,  and  the 
alarm  vented  itself  in  the  shrieks  of  the  women,  the  cries  of  the  children  and  the 
curses  of  the  men,  mingled  with  the  bellowing  of  the  sharply  goaded  oxen.  One 
team  seemed  to  partake  of  the  excitement,  but  instead  of  rushing  for  the  other 
side,  stood  stock  still,  unable  to  move.  The  driver,  in  his  desperation,  believ- 
ing the  wagon  mired,  hastily  unhitched  the  oxen  from  the  load,  and,  placing  his 
wife,  who  was  the  other  occupant  of  the  wagon,  on  one  ox,  he  bestrode  the 
other,  and,  applying  the  lash  with  renewed  vigor,  they  gained  the  other  shore 
and  soon  overtook  the  train.  The  relation  of  such  incidents,  at  this  date,  causes 
no  little  merriment,  but  at  the  time  of  their  occurrence  were  very  serious  indeed. 
Even  those  who  were  participants  tell  the  story  of  "  Five-Mile  Massacre,"  and 
laugh  heartily ;  though  it  is  said  that  the  hero  of  the  bag  of  sugar  was  ever 
afterward  quite  sensitive  on  that  point,  and,  although  a  man  of  piety,  no  man 
could  say  "  sugar"  to  him  without  running  great  risk  of  being  knocked  down. 
On  the  evening  of  the  second  day,  having  found  that  the  last  incident  related 
was  only  a  scare  from  some  friendly  Pottawatomies,  the  party  halted,  and  it  was 
proposed  to  have  supper  and  a  night's  rest.  But  here,  again,  were  enacted  the 
scenes  of  the  crossing  of  the  Kankakee.  Just  as  the  fires  had  began  to  blaze, 
preparatory  to  cooking  the  much-needed  meal,  a  horseman  galloped  into  camp 
and  stopped  just  long  enough  to  say  that  the  Indians  were  after  them  in  ear- 
nest. Thus,  their  supper  and  sleep  were  dispensed  with,  and  not  until  three 
nights  and  days  had  passed  did  they  stop  long  enough  to  take  a  nap,  or  eat, 
except  as  they  fled.  After  several  days  more  of  travel,  during  which  they 
received  no  further  alarms,  they  reached  Danville,  whence  they  learned  troops 
had  been  sent  to  take  care  of  the  savages,  and  all  fear  and  anxiety  were  at  an 
end.  Soon  after,  Black  Hawk  and  his  people  were  removed  to  the  other  side 
of  the  Mississippi  River;  and,  all  fear  of  molestation  having  passd,  most  of 
the  former  residents  of  this  neighborhood  returned.  They  found  the  most  of 
their  cattle  and  hogs,  and  their  crops  were  unmolested.  The  cows,  however, 
"had  gone  dry,"  and  the  corn  was  sadly  in  need  of  cultivation.  The  wagon 
was  recovered  from  the  bed  of  the  Kankakee,  and  even  the  greater  part  of  the 
bag  of  sugar  was  restored  by  the  hand  of  one  of  the  friendly  red  men,  who  had 
only  pursued  them  to  inform  them  that  there  was  not  the  least  danger.  In  the 
Fall  of  1832,  arrived  Jacob  and  Joseph  Zumalt.  The  Zumalts  removed  to  Cal- 
ifornia some  years  ago.  They  were  natives  of  Ohio. 


(DECEASED) 
FRANKFORTTP. 


Bit  UBH 

. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  547 

The  most  systematic  and  extensive,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most 
important,  settlements  of  this  part  of  the  county  was  made  in  1834.  This 
colony  consisted  of  R.  J.  Boylan,  Peter  Brown  and  two  sons — John  and  Ara — 
and  Smith  Johnson.  These  parties  were  from  Ney  Jersey,  and  came  well 
prepared,  and  with  a  full  understanding  of  the  enterprise  in  which  they  were 
embarking.  Most  pioneers  in  those  days  "  pulled  up  stakes,"  as  the  saying 
was,  and  moved  with  but  little  previous  knowledge  of  the  country  to  which  they 
were  going.  In  many  cases  they  were  guided  by  unreliable  reports,  sometimes 
seemingly  by  instinct  and  sometimes  entirely  by  accident.  But  in  the  case  of 
Boylan  and  his  company,  the  greatest  care  was  taken.  Maps  were  consulted, 
the  most  reliable  reports  were  procured  and  read,  and  all  of  the  information 
obtainable  was  procured  and  used.  R.  J.  Boylan,  a  practical  surveyor  and  a 
man  of  excellent  judgment,  was  sent  forward  to  select,  survey  and  locate  the 
land.  He  came  to  this  neighborhood,  and  having  located  twenty-one  eighties, 
or  1,680  acres,  notified  the  balance  of  the  colony,  who  came  on  at  once,  and 
occupied  the  land.  Hardly  a  finer  selection  could  be  made  than  this,  consisting 
of  land  on,  and  in  the  vicinity  of,  Jackson  Creek.  Of  the  original  colonists, 
only  Mr.  Boylan  remains.  Mr.  Boylan  has  been  a  very  active  man,  having 
been  identified  with  almost  every  enterprise  of  any  consequence  in  this  section 
of  the  country.  He  has  held  many  positions  of  honor  and  trust,  among  which 
may  be  named  that  of  County  Surveyor  and  Township  Treasurer,  the  latter  of 
which  he  has  occupied  for  the  last  sixteen  years.  In  consequence  of  this  activity, 
united  with  strictly  temperate  habits,  he  now  enjoys,  at  an  advanced  age,  per- 
fect health  and  the  exercise  of  his  full  mental  faculties.  His  house  is  the  only 
stone  dwelling  in  the  township,  and  is  situated  on  the  bank  of  the  fine  little 
stream  named  in  honor  of  the  "  Hero  of  New  Orleans."  Though  the  origi- 
nal Browns  and  Johnson  have  passed  away,  they  have  left  behind  numerous 
descendants  and  kindred,  who  occupy  the  old  and  original  selections,  as  made 
in  1834. 

Henry  Watkins  and  sons,  Henry,  Jr.,  Benjamin  and  Peter,  arrived  from 
New  York  in  1834.  None  of  this  family  now  reside  here,  all  having  moved 
away.  About  the  last-named  date,  a  schoolhouse  was  built  at  Reed's  Grove, 
and  Henry  Watkins  was  employed  to  teach  the  first  school  therein. 

Edward  Kirk  was  also  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  in  this  part  of  the  county. 
He  had  come  to  the  county  a  year  or  two  previous  to  his  settling  in  Jackson 
in  1835. 

Mrs.  Adaline  Grant  is  one  of  the  oldest  residents  of  the  county,  having  lived 
here  about  forty-five  years.  She  is  now  a  resident  of  Elwood. 

The  Indian  scare  having  blown  over,  the  country  began  now  to  settle  quite 
rapidly.  Many  soldiers  who  came  with  Gen.  Scott  in  1832,  to  assist  in  subdu- 
ing the  Indians,  afterward  came  to  the  State  to  reside.  Through  their  descrip- 
tions of  the  country,  many  more  were  induced  to  emigrate.  The  proposed 
canal  doubtless  had  much  to  do  with  the  settlement  of  this  region. 


548  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

As  in  all  pioneer  towns  and  neighborhoods,  so  in  this,  there  was  that  notable 
feature  of  roughness,  and  yet  accompanying  it  was  universal  kindness  and  hos- 
pitality ;  so  that,  while  the  old  settlers  are  willing  to  admit  an  improvement  in 
the  manners  and  morals  of  the  people,  they  are  wont  to  disclaim  against  the 
lack  of  sympathy  and  brotherly  feeling  as  compared  with  the  times  when  their 
nearest  neighbor  lived  miles  away.  In  those  times,  they  say,  if  any  one  was 
sick,  everybody  within  a  radius  of  twenty  miles  knew  and  manifested  the  deep- 
est interest.  Did  one  of  the  pioneers  die,  his  funeral  was  attended  by  every 
inhabitant  of  the  country,  and  births  and  marriages  were  subjects  of  universal 
congratulation.  If  a  house  or  barn  were  to  be  raised,  every  man  in  the  neigh- 
borhood was  invited  to  assist  and  stay  to  dinner ;  and  if,  perchance,  a  neighbor 
were  overlooked  in  the  invitation,  it  was  taken  as  cause  for  serious  affront. 

Newspapers  were  not  so  plenty  as  now,  and  in  the, pioneer  settlements  a  copy 
was  seldom  seen.  Indeed  only  one  small  weekly  was  published  in  Chicago  prior 
to  1835,  and  it  was  a  number  of  years  after  that  when  a  few  copies  began  to 
find  their  way  to  this  neighborhood.  Not  until  about  1840,  was  a  post-route 
established  through  this  part  of  the  county,  so  that  the  settlement  was  in  a 
measure  isolated  from  the  balance  of  the  world.  As  before  stated,  about  1840, 
a  post-route  from  Joliet  to  Danville  was  established,  and  an  office  was  located 
on  Jackson  Creek.  James  Gager  was  first  Postmaster,  and  kept  the  office  at 
his  house.  Though  a  great  convenience  to  the  community,  it  was  a  great  nui- 
sance to  its  keeper ;  and  consequently  it  had  a  precarious  kind  of  migratory  ex- 
istence of  about  fifteen  years,  until  it  was  finally  permanently  located  at  Elwood, 
on  the  completion  of  the  railroad  and  the  location  of  that  town. 

The  township  of  Jackson  was  one  of  the  first  to  organize  in  1850  as  a  sep- 
arate precinct.  A  large  number  of  the  present  townships  contained  such  a 
limited  number  of  inhabitants  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  attach  them  to 
others  until  they  should  be  strong  enough  for  separate  organization.  The  first 
election  was  held  April  2,  1850  ;  but  who  the  first  officers  were,  or  who  have 
been  their  successors,  is  not  so  clearly  remembered  that  we  feel  safe  in  giving 
them  ;  and  as  the  township  records  were  destroyed  in  the  Elwood  fire  in  1874, 
the  names  are  therefore  not  obtainable. 

The  names  of  the  present  officers  are :  Henry  Spangler,  Supervisor  ;  Jona- 
than Hougham,  Collector ;  Francis  Shearn,  Assessor ;  Albert  Linebarger, 
Clerk ;  P.  F.  Dooley  and  Joseph  Tehle,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  Robert  Barnes, 
Constable;  R.  J.  Boy  Ian,  Jacob  Palmer  and  Cyrus  Hemphill,  Commissioners 
of  Highways,  and  R.  J.  Boylan,  School  Treasurer. 

From  the  very  first,  the  inhabitants  of  this  township  have  manifested  more 
than  an  ordinary  interest  in  those  two  reforming  and  elevating  influences — 
religion  and  education.  Hardly  had  the  early  pioneers  unloaded  their  wagons 
before  religious  services  of  a  public  character  were  performed.  Like  the  Puri- 
tans, when  they  had  but  just  disembarked  from  the  Mayflower,  they  fell  down 
on  their  knees  and  thanked  God  for  their  safe  journey  through  the  trackless 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  54.9 

waste.  As  early  as  1833,  an  organization  for  religious  purposes  was  effected. 
This  consisted  of  a  Methodist  class,  of  which  William  Thornburg  was  appointed 
First  Leader.  This  little  organization  was  what  has  since  developed  into  the 
El  wood  M.  E.  Church.  From  a  paper  prepared  and  read  before  the  Elwood 
Church,  by  Rev.  G.  J.  Kinne,  we  are  permitted  to  lay  before  our  readers  a  com- 
plete though  brief  history  of  this  oldest  Church  in  the  township  and  one  of  the 
oldest  in  the  county. 

Soon  after  the  establishing  of  the  class  alluded  to,  a  schoolhouse  was  built 
in  the  vicinity,  and  in  this  services  were  held  for  a  number  of  years.  Among 
the  old  pioneer  preachers  who  visited  the  place  and  preached  to  the  people,  are 
mentioned  the  names  of  Jesse  Walker,  John  Sinclair,  S.  R.  Beggs,  S.  H. 

*  *  OO     ' 

Stocking  and  others.  Under  their  preaching,  the  Church  prospered  and  grew 
in  numbers,  influence  and  wealth  until,  in  1852,  they  found  themselves  able  to 
build  a  house  of  worship.  The  site  selected  was  nearly  a  mile  west  of  the  vil- 
lage and  of  its  present  location.  The  cost  of  the  building  was  $1,800.  In 
1866,  it  was  determined  to  remove  the  building  to  the  village.  It  was  thought 
that  the  location  at  the  Grove,  on  account  of  the  growing  village  at  so  short 
a  distance,  was  not  the  most  suitable  site  for  an  increasing  membership.  Dur- 
ing the  migration  of  the  house  which  so  many  had  learned  to  love,  meetings 
were  held  in  it  daily.  Like  the  travels  of  the  tabernacle,  which  the  Israelites 
carried  from  Egypt  to  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  journey  of  the  old  church  was 
consecrated  from  its  beginning  to  its  end  by  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  peo- 
ple. By  October  of  the  year  named,  the  house  had  been  remodeled  and  was 
complete  for  re-dedication.  At  present,  the  building,  inside  and  out,  presents 
a  neat  and  attractive  appearance,  and  will  afford  accommodations  for  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  sittings. 

The  next  year  after  the  removal,  this  branch  was  made  a  separate  charge. 
The  organization  has  continued  to  increase  in  numbers  and  importance.  The 
membership  is  about  one  hundred,  of  whom  William  Clark  is  present  Pastor. 
In  connection  with  the  Church  is  a  flourishing  Sunday  school,  under  the  Super- 
intendence of  William  Nicholson.  The  school  numbers  about  one  hundred 
members. 

The  Baptist  Church  of  Elwood  was  built  in  1859,  at  a  cost  of  about  $2,000. 
Rev.  Mr.  Renfrew  was  the  first  preacher.  For  some  years  past,  the  society  has 
not  been  in  the  most  flourishing  condition,  and  at  times  the  building  has  been 
closed.  At  present,  services  are  held  twice  each  month,  by  Rev.  Mr.  Bradbier, 
of  Gardner.  A  Sunday  school  is  in  operation,  with  Bateman  Lloyd  as  Super- 
intendent. The  membership  of  the  Church  is  about  fifty,  and  of  the  Sunday 
school,  about  as  many. 

In  1863,  the  Reformed  Lutherans  of  this  township  living  in  the  vicinitv  of 
Jackson  Creek  organized  and  built  a  neat  little  church  on  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Section  15,  at  a  cost  of  $1,200.  Rev.  Rufus  Smith,  Edward  Loomis, 
S.  Bosley,  Henry  and  Christopher  Lichtenwater  and  Christopher  Faut  were 


550  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

amongst  the  leading  projectors  of  the  work.  Rev.  Smith  was  the  first  preacher, 
and  for  a  time  labored  in  this  corner  of  the  Lord's  vineyard  with  good  accept- 
ance ;  but,  by  and  by,  his  opinions  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  religion  under- 
went a  change,  and  with  him  coincided  many  of  his  flock,  and  it  was  decided 
to  abandon  the  organization.  Accordingly,  about  five  years  after  the  house  was 
built,  the  congregation  assembled  and  a  motion  was  made  and  carried  that  the 
house  be  "  deeded  to  the  Lord,"  and  that  He  look  after  its  interest  in  the  future. 
The  instrument  was  drawn  up  in  due  form  and  regularly  signed,  but  whether 
delivered  or  recorded  we  are  not  permitted  to  know.  Since  that  event,  the 
house  has  been  occupied  irregularly  by  different  denominations ;  at  present  by 
the  Methodists,  Rev.  Olif  Morse  conducting  the  services. 

The  United  Brethren  have  held  religious  services  in  the  northeastern  part 
of  the  township  for  over  twenty-five  years.  In  1865,  they  erected,  on  the  north- 
east corner  of  Section  11,  their  present  house  of  worship,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000. 
The  building  is  a  neat  frame,  30  feet  in  width  by  45  feet  in  length,  and  will 
seat  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  persons.  Rev.  Mr.  Marglist  is 
present  Pastor,  and  Isaac  Overholser  is  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school. 

On  the  northwest  corner  of  Section  24,  stands  the  German  Methodist,  or, 
more  properly  speaking,  the  Church  of  the  Evangelical  Association.  This  is 
also  a  frame  building,  and  was  erected  in  1865.  It  is  28x36  feet  in  size,  and 
cost  $1,400.  It  was  erected  at  the  instance  of  William  Poleman,  John  Gise, 
Isaac  Moyer,  William  Kriemier,  Jacob  Wible  and  other  prominent  members  of 
the  Association.  Rev.  Rieman  Snyder  is  the  resident  Pastor,  and  M.  Moyer  is 
Superintendent  of  the  Sabbath  school.  Preaching  and  other  religious  services 
have  been  held  here  for  over  twenty  years  by  this  denomination. 

Besides  the  churches  named,  church  service  and  Sunday  schools  are  held 
in  several  of  the  public  schoolhou&es  in  the  township. 

As  intimated,  the  church  and  school  go  hand  in  hand  in  their  influence  for 
good  on  the  human  family  ;  and  so  we  find  in  this  and  many  other  towns  many 
instances  where  the  schoolhouse  and  the  church-building  stand  adjacent  to  each 
other,  and  many  more  in  which  one  building  answers  both  purposes.  In  1834, 
the  first  school  was  opened  in  Reed's  Grove,  with  Henry  Watkins  as  teacher  of 
fifteen  boys  and  girls.  School  has  been  maintained  in  the  township  ever  since ; 
and,  from  the  date  named  until  1870,  there  was  a  continual  increase  in  the 
number  of  persons  in  attendance  at  the  schools.  Since  1870,  the  attendance 
has  remained  about  the  same.  We  have  it  on  the  best  authority  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  schools  in  this  township  is  very  good. 

As  an  indication  of  what  is  being  done  for  the  education  of  the  youth  of 
Jackson  Township,  a  few  items  are  here  given  : 

Number  of  persons  under  21 724 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21  years 512 

Numberof  persons  attending  school 455 

Number  of  male  teachers 6 

Number  of  female  teachers 12 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  551 

Number  of  months  taught 88 

Number  of  days'  attendance 41,278 

Number  of  persons  between  12  and  21  who  cannot  read 00 

Estimated  value  of  school  property * $9,000  00 

Highest  wages  paid  to  any  teacher 60  00 

Lowest  wages  paid  to  any  teacher 25  00 

Total  expenditure  for  school  purposes  (1877) 4,736  00 

The  attention  of  the  reader  is  directed  to  the  second  and  third  items.  A 
comparison  of  these  two  will  disclose  the  fact  that  nearly  90  per  cent  of  all 
between  6  and  .21  have  attended  school  during  the  past  year  ;  and  when  we  take 
into  account  that  scarcely  any  over  18  years  of  age  ever  attend,  the  showing 
for  those  of  from  6  to  18  is  still  better. 

Another  expressive  item  also  appears  in  the  table.  There  is  not  one  person 
in  the  township  between  12  and  21  who  cannot  read  and  write.  In  France, 
Spain,  Italy  and  some  other  Eastern  countries,  usually  termed  enlightened 
nations,  and  several  of  the  southern  States,  from  30  to  60  per  cent  of  the  adults 
cannot  even  read.  The  inhabitants  of  Jackson  Township  are  proud  of  their 
schools,  as  they  have  good  reason  to  be. 

Jackson  Township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Joliet,  east  by  Manhattan, 
south  by  Florence  and  west  by  Channahon.  It  is  a  full  Congressional  town, 
and  is  described  as  such  as  Town  34  north,  Range  10  east  of  Third  Principal 
Meridian.  It  contains  thirty-six  sections,  or  23,040  acres.  Most  of  the  land 
in  this  township  is  first-class,  of  a  deep  rich  soil,  well  adapted  to  the  production 
of  corn,  rye,  oats  and  vegetables. 

Nearly  all  of  the  land  is  well  farmed,  and  the  neat  and,  in  many  cases,  ele- 
gant dwellings  and  other  buildings  betoken  a  thrifty  and  prosperous  population. 
Originally,  about  one-fourth  of  the  township  was  covered  with  timber,  but  the 
early  settlers  cut  off  a  large  portion,  not  only  for  fuel,  but  for  fencing,  house 
and  barn  building ;  and  but  for  the  railroad,  which  now  brings  lumber  for  the 
latter  purposes,  and  the  discovery  of  coal  as  a  substitute  for  the  former,  hardly 
a  tree  would  now  be  left.  As  it  is,  probably  three  or  four  sections  may,  with 
propriety,  be  denominated  timber  land.  The  township  is  well  watered  by  Jack- 
son and  Prairie  Creeks,  the  former  of  which  flows  through  the  central  part,  from 
east  to  west,  and  the  latter  through  the  southeast  corner.  The  Chicago  &  St. 
Louis  Railroad  crosses  the  township  in  the  western  part,  entering  near  the  north- 
west corner  of  Section  4,  and  diverging  toward  the  west,  leaving  near  the  south- 
west corner  of  Section  31. 

VILLAGE    OF    ELWOOD. 

The  year  1854  was  eventful  for  numerous  localities  between  Joliet  and 
Bloomington,  as  it  marks  the  completion  of  what  was  then  called  the  Chicago 
&  Mississippi  Railroad,  now  called  the  Chicago  &  St.  Louis,  and  the  location 
of  most  of  the  villages  and  towns  along  the  line.  Before  that  date,  a  town  in 
Jackson  Township  was  not  thought  of;  and,  had  it  been,  any  other  portion 
would  have  been  as  likely  to  be  fixed  upon  as  its  present  site.  As  soon  as  the 


552  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

road  was  completed,  steps  were  at  once  taken  to  establish  a  station  at  this  point, 
and  this  being  accomplished,  the  village  followed  as  a  consequence.  A  conven- 
ient trading-point  was  at  once  provided,  and  the  country  and  its  products 
demanded  tradesmen,  mechanics  and  professional  men. 

The  town  was  surveyed  and  platted  and  lots  offered  for  sale  in  1854  and  1855, 
by  Messrs.  Spencer,  Gardner  and  Myers,  gentlemen  interested  in  the  road. 
The  first  house  built  in  the  town  was  erected  by  William  Turner,  formerly  of 
New  York,  but  at  the  date  of  which  we  write,  a  resident  of  the  township.  In 
this  building  he  displayed  the  first  stock  of  goods  ever  offered  for  sale  in  the 
township.  Turner  was  also  appointed  Postmaster,  and  kept  the  office  in  his 
store.  Joseph  Partee,  who  had  also  been  living  in  the  neighborhood,  built  the 
first  dwelling,  and  James  Barrett  built  the  second.  George  Blair  built  the  first 
blacksmith-shop.  To  these  were  added  stores,  shops  and  dwellings,  and  the 
town  grew  quite  rapidly,  so  that,  in  1869,  it  was  found  advisable  to  incorporate 
the  same.  Only  a  few  scraps  of  the  original  records  and  lists  escaped  the  fire 
of  1874,  so  that  no  complete  list  of  its  officers  or  narration  of  its  public  acts  can 
now  be  given.  It  is,  however,  remembered  with  certainty  that  William  Muhlig 
was  first  President,  and  R.  Spafford,  John  Linebarger,  William  Eversoll  and 
T.  A.  Mapps  were  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  W.  F.  Keith  was  first 
Police  Magistrate.  In  1873,  the  town  was  re-organized  under  the  general  law 
of  the  State.  The  present  officers  are:  John  H.  Bridge,  President;  John 
Linebarger,  C.  D.  Wickes,  Bateman  Lloyd,  John  Pinneo  and  J.  J.  Lich ten- 
waiter,  Trustees ;  W.  H.  Kinne,  Clerk ;  and  W.  W.  Gifford,  Treasurer. 

On  the  night  of  the  28th  of  May,  1874,  a  fire  swept  over  the  business  part 
of  the  town,  which,  for  destructiveness,  taking  into  account  the  size  of  the 
place,  exceeded  that  of  Chicago  of  two  years  before.  The  fire  broke  out  in  the 
store  of  William  Nicholson,  which  stood  near  the  center  of  the  business  por- 
tion, and  in  a  few  hours  every  store  but  one  and  the  hotel  had  given  way  before 
the  fiery  element.  This  was  a  serious  blow  to  the  little  town.  Prior  to  this, 
it  had  been,  though  slowly,  yet  steadily  increasing.  The  loss  of  property  was 
estimated  at  $30,000,  of  which  not  more  than  $1,000  was  insured.  Though 
some  of  the  burned  district  has  been  rebuilt  and  business  is  carried  on  as  before, 
some  of  the  proprietors  were  so  much  crippled  as  not  to  be  able  to  start  again, 
and  the  village  still  feels  the  loss  sustained.  The  present  population  is  about 
four  hundred.  The  schools  of  the  village  are  in  good  condition.  The  first 
term  taught  in  the  village  was  by  William  Grant,  who  kept  the  same  in  the 
Baptist  Church.  The  schoolhouse,  which  is  the  same  now  in  use,  was  built  a 
few  years  after  the  location  of  the  town,  at  a  cost  of  $2,500.  In  this  building 
Thomas  Greenlaw  taught  the  first  term.  At  present  the  school  consists  of 
three  departments,  of  which  S.  B.  Robins  is  Principal,  and  Nelson  Wickes  is 
Assistant.  School  is  sustained  about  nine  months  each  year. 

Elwood  Lodge,  No.  410,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  was  established  at  this  place  October 
11,  1870,  with  William  Muhlig,  Sidney  M.  Stevens,  Thomas  C.  Pennington, 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  553 

Charles  H.  Eddy  and  J.  S.  Hughes  as  charter  members.  During  the  time  of 
its  existence,  but  two  of  its  members  have  died.  The  number  of  members  now 
belonging  is  thirty.  The  present  N.  G.  is  A.  H.  Linebarger ;  V.  G.,  G.  C. 
Wickes ;  Secretary,  Nelson  Black  ;  and  Treasurer,  Robert  Spafford. 

The  alarm  of  war,  and  that  the  country's  life  was  in  danger  was  not 
unheeded  by  the  citizens  of  Elwood  and  of  the  township  of  Jackson.  Like 
the  namesake  of  the  township,  on  a  former  occasion,  when  the  serpent  of  rebell- 
ion raised  its  ghastly  head,  the  strong  men  of  this  vicinity  but  stopped  to  utter 
the  well-known  and  expressive  sentence,  "By  the  Eternal,  etc.,"  and  then 
rushed  off  to  the  nearest  recruiting  office  to  enroll  themselves  for  "  three  years  or 
during  the  war."  The  promptness  with  which  they  flocked  to  the  standard  of 
the  country  was  not  surpassed  by  any  other  township,  and  many  of  them  sacri- 
ficed their  lives  to  protect  it. 


CRETE  TOWNSHIP. 

The  township  of  Crete  is  one  of  the  two  largest  in  the  county,  being  about 
nine  sections  more  than  a  Congressional  town.  The  Congressional  survey  des- 
cribes it  as  Town  34  north,  Range  14  east,  with  all  of  Town  34,  Range  15 
•east,  lying  in  Illinois — the  balance  of  last-described  town  lying  in  the  State  of 
Indiana.  The  township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Cook  County,  on  the  east 
by  Indiana,  on  the  south  by  Washington  Township,  and  on  the  west  by  Monee. 
Plum  Creek,  which  flows  from  near  the  southwest  corner  and  leaves  the  town- 
ship at  the  northeast  corner,  cuts  it  diagonally  into  two  unequal  portions.  Ly- 
ing along  the  banks  of  this  and  a  small  southern  branch  of  the  same,  is  a  heavy 
belt  of  timber,  formerly  named  and  still  known  as  Beebe's  Grove,  from  one  of 
its  earliest  settlers.  The  northwest  corner,  along  Thorn  Creek,  is  also  covered 
with  timber,  and  is  called  Thorn  Grove.  Ten  or  twelve  sections,  therefore,  of 
the  township  of  Crete  are  woodland ;  not  so  heavy,  however,  as  formerly,  the 
largest  trees  having  fallen  before  the  woodman's  ax.  The  injunction  of  the 
poet,  "Woodman,  spare  that  tree,"  was  unheeded  by  the  early  settler,  and  most 
of  the  noblest  of  the  forest's  representatives  entered  into  the  construction  of  their 
dwellings,  or  were  consumed  in  the  shape  of  fuel.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  land  was 
actually  cleared  for  agricultural  purposes ;  though  just  outside  and  adjoining 
were  thousands  of  acres  better  adapted  for  farming  than  the  land  thus  labori- 
ously prepared  for  the  plow  ;  but  then,  they  had  seen  it  done  so  in  the  East  or 
South,  from  whence  they  had  come,  and  the  prairie  would  have  been  an  experi- 
ment, and  they  had  no  time  or  disposition  to  try  it. 

The  soil  is  varied ;  some  of  the  land  is  very  fertile,  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
township  the  reverse  is  the  case.  All  of  the  land  is  well  adapted  for  the  purpose 
of  grazing,  and  dairying  for  several  years  has  been  carried  on  quite  extensively. 

Hogs,  cattle,  corn  and  other  grains  and  vegetables,  common  to  this  climate, 
re  raised.     In  the  southeastern  portion  was  formerly  an  extensive  marsh  cov- 


554  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

ering  about  a  section.  Successful  drainage  has  redeemed  this  land  and  made  it 
good  pasturage.  Prior  to  1869,  the  market  was  Chicago,  with  occasional  trad- 
ing with  Monee,  on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  In  the  year  named,  the 
Chicago  &  Eastern  Illinois,  or  Danville  &  Vincennes,  line  was  completed  through 
the  western  portion  of  the  township,  making  a  direct  outlet  for  produce.  The 
village  of  Crete  had  already  been  laid  out  and  built  up ;  but  on  the  com- 
pletion of  this  line,  it  took  a  new  growth,  and  is  now  one  of  the  most  thriv- 
ing places  in  this  part  of  the  State.  Another  town  in  the  southwestern  part 
also  sprang  up,  and  the  convenient  trading-point  of  Goodenow  was  estab- 
lished. 

The  original  settlements  of  Crete  Township  were  four,  and  quite  distinct. 
The  settlements  of  Thorn  Grove,  Beebe  s  Grove  and  Wood's  Corners,  on  the 
State  road,  were  almost  identical  as  to  time,  but  divided  as  to  locality  more  defi- 
nitely than  are  the  townships  of  to-day.  Especially  was  this  the  case  with  the 
two  grove  settlements ;  while  Wood's  Corners,  now  the  village  of  Crete,  being 
just  on  the  borders  of  Thorn  Grove,  partook  more  of  the  identity  of  that  set- 
tlement. The  German  settlement,  which  began  a  few  years  later,  though  not 
confined  to  any  one  locality,  was  yet  distinct,  in  that  the  people  were  from  the 
same  country  and  spoke  a  different  language ;  and,  too,  their  settlements  were 
made  mostly  on  the  prairie,  the  borders  of  the  groves  having  generally  been 
previously  occupied. 

If  any  of  these  settlements  can  claim  priority,  probably  the  advantage,  on 
that  score,  lies  with  Thorn  Grove,  David  Haner  being  the  first  permanent  set- 
tler of  that  locality.  His  location  here  was  certainly  as  early  as  1834.  There 
may  have  been  some  one  in  that  part  of  the  Grove  east  of  the  Monee  Township 
line ;  but,  as  this  family  was  permanent,  members  of  it  still  residing  here,  the 
claim,  if  for  no  other  reason,  appears  good.  One  or  two  other  names  have  been 
suggested ;  but,  as  the  evidence  in  the  one  case  is  conflicting,  and  in  the  other 
case  the  parties  having  removed  at  an  early  date,  we  give  them  other  places  in 
the  matter  of  chronology. 

Mr.  Haner  died  many  years  ago,  perhaps  as  many  as  thirty,  but  his  inter- 
ests were  closely  identified  with  the  neighborhood.  He  was  the  first  Constable 
in  this  section,  at  a  period  following  closely  on  the  organization  of  the  county. 
He  was  from  the  State  of  New  York. 

Following  soon  after,  came  to  Thorn  Grove,  James  Rice  and  William 
Brooks — Rice  from  Indiana  and  Brooks  from  New  York.  In  the  cabin  of  the 
former  are  said  to  have  occurred  the  first  death,  the  first  birth  and  the  first  mar- 
riage in  this  township.  Very  soon  after  the  arrival  of  these  two  men,  with 
their  wives,  James  Rice,  Jr.,  was  born,  and  almost  coincident  was  the  death  of 
James  Rice,  Sr.  Very  shortly  after,  Mr.  Brooks'  wife  died,  and  Mr.  Brooks 
and  Mrs.  Rice  each  being  in  want  of  a  partner,  their  marriage  was  celebrated 
in  the  aforementioned  Rice  mansion.  The  united  family  removed  to  Minnesota 
some  years  ago. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

A.  R.  Starr  and  Erastus  Cole,  both  from  New  York,  came  in  1835.  Both 
these  men  are  dead ;  but  a  son  of  the  former  now  resides  in  Joliet,  and  a  son 
of  the  latter  still  lives  here,  and  is  a  large  farmer  of  this  township. 

In  1838,  A.  Wilder,  formerly  of  New  York,  but  more  recently  of  Ohio, 
moved  into  the  neighborhood.  Mr.  Wilder  still  resides  in  this  neighborhood. 
He  has  always  been  and  still  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  citizens  of 
Crete  Township. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  State  road,  mentioned  in  Washington  Township,  was 
attracting  some  settlers.  Doubtless  from  its  very  publicity,  and  from  the  de- 
sire of  the  human  kind  for  society,  or  even  the  frequent  sight  of  his  species, 
the  "Big  Road,"  all  along  its  extent,  became  a  continuous  settlement.  Willard 
Wood  was  the  nucleus  or  founder  of  the  Corners,  or  what  has  developed  into 
the  village  of  Crete,  and,  in  1849,  laid  out  the  town.  Mr.  Wood  has  probably 
been  more  closely  identified  with  the  interests  of  this  vicinity  and  of  the  whole 
township  than  any  other  man.  Willard  Wood  taught  the  first  school,  in  the 
Winter  of  1837-38,  a  short  distance  north  of  the  Corners :  and,  in  1840,  was 
appointed  first  School  Treasurer.  Charles  Wood  was  a  brother,  but  does  not 
reside  here  now,  having  removed  to  Minnesota.  Luman  Hewes  came,  with  a 
large  family,  from  Vermont,  in  1837.  The  family  consisted  of  Mr.  Hewes  and 
wife,  sons  John,  Austin,  William,  Benjamin,  Luman,  Jr.,  Daniel  and  Wallace, 
and  one  daughter.  Four  of  the  sons — John,  Benjamin,  Daniel  and  Wal- 
lace— are  still  residents  of  the  township  ;  the  balance  are  all  dead.  They  have 
all  been  successful  men.  All  bought  farms  and  improved  them,  though  some 
are  at  present  engaged  in  other  business. 

Enoch  Dodge  came  from  New  Hampshire,  in  1838.  He  is  dead,  but  the 
family  still  reside  here.  Asa  Lyttle  was  also  an  early  settler  in  this  neighbor- 
hood. He  was  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  is  now  a  resident  of  Minnesota.  B. 
Boardman,  now  of  California,  was  also  from  Vermont.  B.  Stafford  was 
another  Vermonter.  He  was  the  father  of  Gov.  Stafford,  of  Arizona, 
and  also  of  Mrs.  Dr.  Mary  Blake,  Medical  Lecturer  in  one  of  the  medi- 
cal colleges  of  Boston.  During  the  late  war,  Mrs.  Blake  repaired  to  the 
scene  of  battle  and  engaged  in  the  work  of  nursing  and  caring  for  the  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers,  and,  in  that  capacity,  gained  the  enviable  title  of  "  Le  Petite 
Angel." 

In  the  eastern  portion  of  the  township,  where  lies  the  longest  stretch  of 
timber-land,  quite  an  extensive  settlement  was  being  made  at  the  same  pe- 
riod. Minoris  Beebe  is  credited  with  being  the  pioneer,  and  his  advent  was, 
no  doubt,  as  early  as  1834.  In  honor  of  him  the  grove  was  named.  He  was 
a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence  and  worth,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
Justices  of  the  Peace  in  this  section  of  the  county.  Following  him  but  a  short 
time  after,  was  Hardin  Beebe,  uncle  of  Minoris  and  father  of  Judge  Beebe,  of 
Kankakee.  Quartos  Marsh,  with  five  sons — Edwin,  Jonathan,  Henry,  Nelson 
and  Frank — came  about  the  year  last  named,  or  a  very  short  time  after.  Of 


-556  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

this  family,  Nelson  was  afterward  editor  of  the  Joliet  Republican.    The  family, 
«.s  a  whole,  was  one  of  the  best  in  the  township. 

Maj.  John  Kyle  was  one  of  the  earliest  residents  of  the  Grove,  and  was  the 
first  death.  He  was  from  the  Green  Mountain  State.  His  son  Merrill  was 
Colonel  in  the  late  war.  He  is  now  a  resident  of  Blue  Island,  near  Chicago. 
Several  other  members  of  the  family  live  in  the  city,  and  are  all  wealthy. 

J.  E.  Burritt  and  son,  Elisha,  son-in-law  Henry  Mulligan,  and  Norman 
Northrup,  came  together  from  Connecticut.  Mr.  Mulligan  subsequently  re- 
moved to  the  western  part  of  the  county.  His  oldest  son  is  Superintendent  of 
one  of  the  railroads  of  Michigan,  and  resides  at  Detroit,  in  that  State.  North- 
rup removed  some  years  ago  to  Monee,  where  he  died.  His  widow,  who  after- 
ward married  Willard  Wood,  has  also  recently  died. 

Shipman  Frank  and  James  L.  Dean  were  both  from  New  York.  Frank 
was  the  first  Postmaster  in  the  township  and  was  commissioned  to  take  charge 
of  the  office  of  Endor,  which  was  the  first  established.  The  post  office  has  been, 
with  the  exception  of  a  couple  of  years,  from  1856  till  1858,  in  existence  ever 
since.  Mr.  Frank  died  many  years  ago.  His  son,  Augustus,  is  in  the  Treas- 
ury Department  of  the  United  States,  at  Washington. 

While  the  war  with  Mexico  brought  a  large  number  of  settlers  to  this  coun- 
try, they  having  been  in  the  service  and  received  warrants  for  land,  which  they 
located  here,  so,  also,  the  result  of  that  war  having  opened  up  the  extensive 
Pacific  Slope  to  emigration,  it  was  the  means  of  removing  many  others  to  the 
gold-fields  of  California.  The  treaty  of  peace  with  Mexico  had  scarcely  been 
signed,  when  there  was  almost  an  exodus  from  some  of  the  Eastern  States  to 
dig  for  the  precious  metal.  Among  the  number  from  this  section  who  thirsted 
for  gold  was  James  L.  Dean.  He  did  not  realize  his  bright  anticipations,  however, 
but  died  on  the  way.  His  family  continued  to  reside  here,  until  about  1859. 

Rev.  David  Ripley  was  the  first  preacher  who  located  in  the  township.  He 
•was  from  Connecticut,  and  had  been  preaching  in  that  State  and  New  York, 
prior  to  his  coming  here.  By  him  the  first  church  organization  in  the  township  was 
effected,  it  being  that  of  the  Congregational  denomination,  in  1839.  Hiram  Rowley 
and  John  Pease  were  from  New  York.  The  father  of  Rowley  was  one  of  the  con- 
tractors for  the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal.  It  is  said  of  him  that  on  one  occa- 
sion, while  in  the  discharge  of  some  of  his  duties,  Gov.  Clinton  and  some  other 
gentleman  were  on  the  ground  inspecting  the  works.  Mr.  Rowley  not  being 
acquainted  with  the  gentlemen  or  their  business  at  the  place,  and  noticing  that 
they  were  somewhat  in  the  way  of  the  laborers,  ordered  them  to  stand  aside, 
and  not  to  interfere  with  the  work.  Gov.  Clinton,  instead  of  taking  offense  at 
the  seemingly  rude  treatment  of  His  Excellency  and  companions,  complimented 
Mr.  Rowley  on  his  zeal  and  energy  in  carrying  on  his  business.  Pease  carried 
the  first  mail  from  Chicago  to  Iroquois,  in  1836,  at  which  time  the  post  offi( 
of  Endor  and  Crete  were  established.  Moses  Cook  and  John  Williamson  were 
also  here  before  1839.  They  are  still  residents  of  the  township. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  557 

In  the  year  last  named,  Samuel  Gushing,  or  Deacon  Gushing  as  he  is  more 
generally  called,  arrived  from  New  York.  He  has  a  history  that  would  make 
a  respectable  appendix  to  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  ";  and  all  of  the  interesting  inci- 
dents of  his  pioneer  life,  which  was  at  a  period  when  the  Antislavery  move- 
ment in  this  country  was  just  beginning  to  assume  shape,  and  when  the  under- 
ground railway,  for  the  transfer  of  colored  passengers  from  bondage  to  a 
land  of  freedom,  was  just  being  established,  would  make  a  volume.  Notwith- 
standing the  laws  of  Illinois  imposed  severe  penalties  on  any  convicted  of  in 
anywise  aiding  or  abetting  a  fugitive  in  his  efforts  to  gain  his  liberty,  Samuel 
Gushing  accepted  the  position  of  agent  and  conductor,  and  his  house  was  a  real 
station.  Mr.  Gushing  thinks  he  has  helped  to  place  beyond  the  reach  of  their 
pursuers,  about  eighty  or  ninety  of  these  fugitives.  The  usual  method  of  opera- 
tion was  to  receive  the  "  human  chattels  "  from  the  hands  of  a  former  conductor, 
from  Wilmington  or  Joliet,  before  daylight,  keep  them  concealed  in  the  upper 
room  of  his  cabin  through  the  day ;  and  then,  as  night  came  on,  convey  them 
to  Crown  Point  in  Indiana,  arriving  there  before  light  the  next  morning.  Many 
incidents  of  an  exciting  and  interesting  character  took  place,  which,  but  for 
want  of  space,  are  worthy  of  mention  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Mr.  Gushing  s 
operations  finally  culminated  in  1843,  in  his  indictment  and  arrest  for  ''harbor- 
ing slaves."  It  seems  almost  incredible  that  such  a  proceeding  should  have 
taken  place  so  short  a  time  ago.  Thirty-five  years  have  barely  passed,  and 
there  is  not  a  slave  in  the  land.  Then  the  poor,  trembling  fugitives  came, 
seeking  shelter  and  protection  from  such  as  were  adjudged  outlaws  in  the  free 
State  of  Illinois.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  original  indictment,  still  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Gushing,  and  is  certainly,  to  say  the  least,  considering 
the  character  of  the  man,  the  time  and  place,  and  the  nature  of  the  offense,  a 
great  curiosity : 

Of  the  October  term  of  the  Will  County  Circuit  Court,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-three,  State  of  Illinois,  Will  County  : 

The  Grand  Jurors,  chosen,  selected,  and  sworn,  in  and  for  the  County  of  Will,  aforesaid,  in 
the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  peop'e  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  on  their  oath  present  that. 
Samuel  Gushing  late  of  said  county,  at  the  county  aforesaid,  on  the  first  day  of  July,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty  three,  four  negroes,  then  and  there  slaves, 
and  owing  service  to  a  person  to  the  jurors  unknown,  residing  in  the  state  of  Missouri,  one  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  then  and  there,  to  wit :  on  the  day  and  year,  and  at  the  county 
aforesaid,  in  the  dwelling  house  of  him  the  said  Gushing  then  and  there  situate  did  harbor,  he 
the  said  Samuel  Gushing,  then  and  there  well  knowing  the  said  negroes  then  and  there  to  be  such 
slaves,  and  fugitives  from  service  as  aforesaid  ;  contrary  to  the  form  of  the  statute  in  such  case 
made  and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  .and  dignity  of  the  same  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois. 

And  the  Grand  Jurors,  chosen,  selected  and  sworn,  in  and  for  the  county  aforesaid,  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  on  their  oaths  aforesaid,  do  fur- 
ther present,  that  one  Samuel  Gushing,  late  of  said  county,  on  the  first  day  of  July,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty  three,  at  the  county  aforesaid,  one  female 
negro,  and  one  male  negro,  there  and  then  being  slaves  and  .owing  service  to  a  person  to  the 
jurors  unknown,  in  the  state  of  Missouri,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America,  then  and  there  to 
wit:  on  the  day  and  year  aforesaid  at  the  county  aforesaid  in  the  dwelling  house  of  him.  the 
-said  Samuel  Cushing  then  and  there  situate  did  harbor,  he  the  said  Samuel  Cushing  then  and 


558  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

there  well  knowing  the  said  female  negro  and'  the  said  male  negro,  then  and  there  to  be  such 
slaves  and  fugitives  from  the  said  state  of  Missouri ;  contrary  to  the  statute  in  such  case  made 
and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  said  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois. 

And  the  Grand  Jurors  chosen,  selected  and  sworn,  in  and  for  the  county  aforesaid,  in  the 
name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  on  their  oath  aforesaid  do  further 
present  that  one  Samuel  Gushing,  late  of  said  county,  on  the  first  day  of  July  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty  three,  at  the  county  aforesaid,  two  colored  persons 
then  and  there  being  slaves  and  owing  service  to  a  person  to  the  Jurors  unknown  in  the  state  of 
Missouri,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America,  then  and  there,  to  wit :  on  the  day  and  year 
last  aforesaid,  at  the  county  aforesaid,  in  the  dwelling  house  of  him,  the  said  Samuel  Gushing, 
then  and  there  and  then  situate,  did  harbor,  he  the  said  Samuel  Gushing,  then  and  there  well 
knowing  the  said  two  colored  persons,  then  and  there  to  be  such  slaves  as  aforesaid,  and  fugitives 
from  their  said  service  as  slaves  aforesaid  ;  contrary  to  the  form  of  the  statute  in  such  case  made 
and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  same  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois. 

P.  PALLINGALL, 
States  Attorney,  Pro  Tern. 
Seventh  Judicial  Circuit. 

On  the  back  of  the  document  appears  the  following  indorsement : 
Will  County  Circuit  Court,  October  Term,  1843. 
The  People  of  the  State  of  Illinois 

vs, 

Samuel  Gushing. 
Indicted  for  harboring  Slaves. 

A  True  Bill. 

C.  C.  Van  Home,  Foreman. 
Witness — Dwight  Haven,  Carlos  Haven. 

Then  comes  the  list  of  grand  jurors : 

C.  C.  Van  Home,  John  Runyon,  John  Tanner,  Jr.,  Moses  Porter,  Jr.,  J.  S.  Reynolds,. 
William  Wigant,  Robert  Strong,  William  Rowe,  John  Robb,  James  Walker,  Asher  Holmes,  Reu- 
ben Willard,  George  Woodruff,  Titus  §.  Abbott,  Dennis  Kelly,  Lyman  Meacham,  Lucius  Robinsonr 
Horace  Messenger. 

It  would,  doubtless,  be  injustice  to  some  of  the  names  of  the  grand  jurors 
whose  signatures  are  given  as  indorsing  this  action,  to  suppose  that  they  sym- 
pathized with  the  spirit  which  incited  the  movement.     On  the  contrary,  some  of 
them  will  be  recognized  as  leaders  in  the  very  cause  for  which  Mr.  Gushing  was 
called  upon  to  answer.     On  this  indictment  Mr.  Gushing  was  arrested,  taken 
to  Joliet  and  held  to  bail  until  the  next  term  of  Court.    At  the  term  mentioned, 
though  Mr.  Gushing  would  have  acknowledged  to  ten  times  as  much  as  charged, 
the  Prosecuting  Attorney  was  not  ready  for  trial ;  and  an  immediate  trial  bein^ 
demanded,  a  nol.  pros,  was  entered,  and  the  law-breaker  allowed  to  return 
his  work  of  "  aiding  and  harboring  slaves,  contrary  to  the  form  of  the  statut 
in  such  case  made  and  provided,  and  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  pec 
pie  of  the  State  of  Illinois."    At  the  session  of  the  grand  jury  mentioned,  Col. 
Peter  Stewart,  of  Wilmington,  was   indicted  for  a  like   offense  and  with   likt 
results.     Fifty  years  hence,  in  the  absence  of  records,  it  would  be  exceedingly 
hard  to  convince  any  one  that  such  proceedings  ever  took  place  ;  and,  indeed,  at 
the  present  time  the  relation  of  the  event  sounds  like  a  story  of  a  century  past. 
Mr.  Gushing  still  resides  here  at  an  advanced  age,  and  expresses  no  regret  for 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  559 

the  part  he  took  in  feeding  the  hungry,  clothing  the  naked,  and  sheltering  the 
cold  and  weary,  worn  traveler,  remembering  that  the  Master  had  said,  "  Inas- 
much as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the  least  of  these,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me." 

The  first  German  who  made  his  appearance  on  the  prairie  was  William 
Rinne.  His  first  habitation  was,  if  anything,  of  a  more  primitive  character 
than  any  of  its  time.  It  consisted  simply  of  what  might  be  denominated  the 
cellar  of  a  house,  lacking  the  very  material  part,  the  building,  or,  in  other 
words,  simply  a  square  hole  in  the  ground,  with  a  low  wall  of  sods  built  above 
the  surface  and  covered  with  prairie  grass,  supported  by  poles.  In  this  burrow 
he  lived  five  or  six  years,  the  while  toiling  and  economizing  until  he  had  not 
only  paid  for  his  land,  but  had  saved  sufficient  to  build  a  more  comfortable 
abode. 

John  0.  Meier,  the  present  Supervisor  of  the  township,  came  in  1844,  and 
is  next  to  the  wealthiest  man  in  this  part  of  the  county. 

John  0.  Piepenbrink  is  one  of  the  richest,  if  not  the  wealthiest,  men  in  the 
township.  He  came  to  the  township  in  1849,  and  began  the  manufacture  of 
butter  and  cheese.  The  business,  though  at  first  a  small  matter,  has  developed 
into  a  concern  of  large  proportions,  from  which  Mr.  Piepenbrink  has  realized 
a  fortune. 

John  and  Christopher  Scheiwe  came  about  the  same  time,  and  have  been 
exceedingly  successful  in  business. 

Conrad  Tatge  was  one  of  the  first  German  settlers,  and,  through  his  influ- 
ence, probably,  more  of  that  people  have  come  to  this  neighborhood  than 
through  that  of  any  other  man.  Mr.  Tatge  served  the  county  for  eight  years 
as  Circuit  Clerk,  in  which  position  he  merited  and  gained  the  esteem  of  all 
with  whom  he  transacted  business.  The  German  settlement  grew  most  rapidly 
from  1848  till  1856,  at  the  end  of  which  period  most  of  the  Government,  rail- 
road and  speculators'  lands  had  been  bought  by  them.  Since  then  the  German 
population  has  steadily  increased  by  settlers  in  the  village,  and  also  by  those 
who  buy  out  the  original  purchasers  of  the  land,  they,  in  turn,  removing  to 
newer  localities  further  west.  The  German  people  of  Crete  Township  have 
proved  to  be  most  industrious,  intelligent  and  honorable  citizens,  and  the  indi- 
cations of  their  prosperity  are  observed  on  every  hand. 

Gustavus  Brauns  was  the  first  German  merchant.  He  came  to  Crete  and 
opened  a  store  in  April,  1857.  He  has  been  a  very  successful  man  in  business, 
and  has  the  confidence  and  respect  of  not  only  his  own  people,  but  of  all  of 
his  fellow-citizens.  Beside  these  already  named,  among  the  early  German  set- 
tlers, were  John  Windheim,  Conrad  Weinhoffer,  Henry  Scheiwe,  Philip  Jurd- 
ining,  Henry  Ohlendorf,  Conrad  Hecht  and  Christopher  Batterman,  settling  in 
various  portions  of  the  township,  and  mostly  before  the  year  1850. 

The  history  of  the  churches  of  Crete  Township  is  almost  a  history  of  the 
township  itself,  as  nearly  all  of  the  leading  citizens — especially  of  the  early 
ones — were,  directly  or  indirectly,  connected  with  these  enterprises ;  and  to 


560  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

this  fact,  in  connection  with  the  deep  interest  taken  in  educational  matters, 
must  be  attributed  the  excellent  state  of  morals  and  intelligence  found  here. 
Like  the  Puritans,  when  they  landed  from  the  Mayflower,  the  first  thing  was 
to  set  up  the  altar  in  the  wilderness  ;  and,  like  the  Israelites,  when  they  had 
safely  landed  on  the  borders  of  the  promised  land,  they  erected  to  God  a  tab- 
ernacle. 

Though,  as  before  stated,  Rev.  David  Ripley  organized  the  first  church — 
that  being  a  Congregational  society — the  Methodists  really  organized  the  first 
class  for  religious  culture  and  teaching.  A  cjass  of  this  denomination  was 
formed  by  the  noted  pioneer  preacher,  S.  R.  Beggs,  at  Thorn  Grove,  in  1836, 
with  fifteen  members.  This  was  the  first  religious  organization  in  the  east  end 
of  the  county.  Five  years  later,  it  was  transferred  to  the  village  of  Crete,  but 
no  building  was  erected  until  1852,  the  meetings  of  the  society  in  the  mean  time 
being  held  in  schoolhouses  and,  in  warm  weather,  in  the  open  air  in  the  grove. 
The  building  erected  at  the  date  named  cost  $1,500.  The  present  Pastor  of 
the  Church  is  Rev.  U.  C.  Reynolds.  I.  C.  Reed  is  Superintendent  of  the 
Sunday  school.  The  present  membership  of  the  Church  is  123,  and  of  the 
Sunday  school,  about  as  many. 

The  Congregational  Church  at  Beebe's  Grove  was  organized  in  1839  by 
Rev.  David  Ripley,  with  Nathaniel  Frank  and  wife,  Mrs.  Beebe,  James  L.  Dean 
and  wife,  Moses  Cook  and  wife,  John  Kyle  and  mother  and  Samuel  Gushing 
and  wife  as  members.  Of  these  original  members,  Cook  and  Gushing  and  their 
wives  are  all  that  are  now  living.  Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  Church,  Rev. 
David  Ripley  died,  and  Rev.  J.  Thompson  was  called  to  fill  his  place.  It  is  rela- 
ted that  once  the  minister's  horse  strayed  away  from  his  stable,  and,  for  over  a 
week,  no  trace  of  him  could  be  found.  At  the  end  of  the  period  named,  however, 
some  one,  in  passing  the  church-building,*  heard  a  noise  within,  and,  supposing 
some  one  was  inside  preparing  the  room  for  Church  services,  pushed  open  the  door, 
when  lo  !  the  poor  horse  confronted  him  with  looks  and  actions  which  indicated 
that,  though  he  had  not  been  holding  religious  meetings,  he  had  been  fasting  for 
long  time.  The  horse,  after  leaving  home,  had,  doubtless,  from  force  of  habit, 
taken  the  road  to  the  church,  and,  finding  the  door  ajar,  had  pushed  it  open 
and  walked  in  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  himself  from  the  inclement  weather. 
"  Old  Dick  "  was  always  afterward  dubbed  the  "Pious  Horse." 

Six  years  after  the  organization  at  Beebe's  Grove,  another  church  of  tht 
same  denomination  was  started  at  Thorn  Grove,  by  Rev.  E.  C.  Brige.  Eight 
or  ten  years  later,  the  two  organizations  were  united,  and  steps  taken  to  erect 
building  for  religious  worship  at  the  village  of  Crete.  The  building  was  com- 
pleted a  short  time  thereafter,  at  an  outlay  of  $2,000.  The  membership  at 
present  numbers  about  sixty  persons,  though  more  than  one  hundred  other 
have  been  dismissed  by  letter  to  other  organizations.  Rev.  J.  F.  Smith 
present  Pastor,  and  Mrs.  Smith  is  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school. 

*The  schoolhouse  was  then  used  for  church  purposes. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  561 

The  German  Lutheran  denomination  has  been  exceedingly  prosperous  since 
its  establishment  here.  Trinity  Church,  of  this  denomination,  is  the  result  of 
the  union  of  two  branches — the  one  at  Beebe's  Grove  and  the  other  near  the 
village.  Rev.  C.  Weil  was  the  first  minister,  and  preached  here  a  year,  in 
1849.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  August  Selle,  who  labored  with  the  Church 
for  eight  years,  and  did  most  of  the  work  in  systematizing  the  enterprises  with 
which  the  society  has  since  been  connected.  Mr.  Selle  organized  the  first 
Lutheran  Church  established  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  In  1860,  their  present 
house  of  worship  was  erected.  It  stands  nearly  a  mile  south  of  the  village  of 
Crete,  is  a  neat  structure  of  the  kind  and  cost  $2,640.  The  society  also  owns 
two  schoolhouses,  one  southeast  and  the  other  southwest  of  the  village,  in  which 
schools  are  kept  open  the  most  of  the  year.  At  each  of  the  schoolhouses,  and 
at  the  church,  they  have  ten  acres  of  land.  They,  also,  by  special  agreement 
with  the  school  authorities,  have  a  school  in  the  public  school-building  in  the 
village,  in  which  the  religion  of  the  Church,  the  German  language  and  some  of 
the  primary  branches  taught  in  the  common  schools  are  learned.  Rev.  Gottlieb 
Traub  has  been,  for  the  last  twelve  years,  Pastor  of  the  Church.  At  its  first 
organization,  the  Church  consisted  of  thirteen  &milies  ;  the  present  membership 
is  131  families.  The  Albright  Evangelical  Church,  located  in  the  southeastern 
corner  of  the  township  was  established  in  1856,  by  Rev.  George  Fetters,  with 
twelve  familes.  The  society  has  not  been  very  prosperous,  the  Lutheran  Church 
located  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south,  in  Washington  Township,  completely  over- 
shadowing it.  In  1862,  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Noah  McLain,  a  small 
house  of  worship  was  erected  for  $800,  on  land  owned  by  Conrad  Hecht. 
Seven  families  at  present  belong  to  the  organization,  and  Rev.  William  Gross 
is  minister.  Willard  Wood.  Esq.,  now  a  resident  of  the  village  of  Crete,  taught 
the  first  school  in  the  township,  in  the  Winter  of  1837—38,  and  public  action 
looking  toward  the  establishing  of  a  public  school  system  was  taken  in  1840. 
On  April  11,  of  that  year,  the  school  township  was  organized,  with  Luman 
Hewes,  M.  H.  Cook  and  Norman  Northrup  as  Trustees,  and  James  L.  Miner  as 
Treasurer  and  Clerk.  Miner,  however,  refused  to  act,  and  so  Willard  Wood 
was  chosen  in  his  place,  and  continued  in  office  until  1846,  when  Richard  Brown 
was  appointed.  The  first  business  done  by  the  Board  was  the  division  of  the 
township  into  three  school  districts,  with  the  six  northeast  sections,  or  Beebe's 
Grove,  as  District  No.  1 ;  the  northwest  twelve  sections,  or  Thorn  Grove,  as  No. 
2,  and  the  south  half  of  the  township  as  No.  3.  The  first  two  of  these  districts 
organized  at  once,  and  under  the  public  system  Miss  Eliza  Burrit  taught 
during  the  Summer  of  1840  at  Beebe's  Grove.  This  was  the  first  term  taught 
in  this  neighborhood,  and  was  held  in  the  schoolhouse  previously  mentioned,  in 
which  Elder  Thompson's  "  Pious  Dick  "  kept  his  forced  fast.  This  school- 
house  was  a  very  simple  affair  indeed ;  and,  as  it  was  a  fair  sample  of  the 
architecture  that  prevailed  in  those  days,  a  brief  description  of  it  will  doubtless 
prove  interesting. 


562  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Interested  parties  to  the  number  of  eight  or  ten  came  together  by  appoint- 
ment, bringing  with  them  their  axes,  saws  and  whatever  implements  they  hap- 
pened to  possess,  and  built  it  on  the  mutual  assistance  plan.  Small  trees  were 
felled  and  cut  to  the  length  of  twenty  feet.  Notches  were  cut  in  each  end  to 
admit  others  designed  to  rest  thereon.  Then  the  logs  were  laid  up,  in  the 
manner  of  constructing  a  rail  pen.  When  the  building  had  been  raised  to  a 
sufficient  height,  openings  were  cut  for  a  door,  fireplace  and  windows.  The 
cracks  between  the  logs  were  "chinked" — that  is,  partially  filled  with  small 
pieces  of  wood,  wedged  in,  and  then  daubed  with  mud.  The  roof  was  made 
of  "  clapboards,"  or  very  large  shingles,  split  from  the  bodies  of  straight- 
grained  trees,  and  these  were  held  in  their  places  by  the  weight  of  poles  laid 
thereon.  In  the  building  of  King  Solomon's  Temple,  it  is  found  worthy  of 
record  that  it  was  constructed  ''without  the  aid  of  ax,  hammer,  or  any  tool 
of  iron."  In  our  temple  of  learning  it  is  worthy  of  note  that,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  nails  in  the  door,  not  a  piece  of  iron  entered  into  its  composition. 
The  door  was  made  of  the  boards  of  which,  formerly,  a  dry  goods  box  had  been 
constructed ;  was  hung  on  wooden  hinges,  and  fastened  with  a  wooden  latch, 
which  only  the  ingenuity  of  the  -backwoodsman  could  invent,  being  raised  by 
means  of  a  leather  thong  attached  to  it,  and  hung  through  a  small  auger-hole  a 
few  inches  above.  The  floor  was  made  of  "puncheons,"  or  logs  split  in  two 
parts,  each  of  which,  with  it  flat  surface  turned  upward,  rested  on  the  ground. 
The  desks  were  broad  boards,  resting  on  pins  driven  into  the  wall.  The  seats 
were  constructed  of  slabs,  into  the  ends  of  which  were  inserted  wooden  pins, 
serving  as  legs  or  supports.  These  benches  were  placed  in  front  of  the  desks, 
and  while  the  children  studied  from  their  books  the  sharp  edges  of  the  desks 
served  as  supports  for  their  backs.  The  chimney  and  fire-place  were  composed 
of  small  sticks,  built  up  after  the  manner  of  the  house,  and  plastered  with 
mud,  the  fire-place  being  very  ample  to  admit  of  large  logs  used  for  fuel.  The 
same  Summer  that  the  public  school  was  opened  at  Beebe's  Grove,  a  school  was 
taught  by  E.  Smith  in  District  No.  2.  The  next  year  (November,  1841),  Dis- 
trict No.  3  was  organized  and  school  established  there.  The  school  land,  being 
the  section  cornering  with  the  village  of  Crete,  on  the  southeast,  was  sold  in 
1841,  at  an  average  of  about  $2.00  per  acre.  In  1850,  the  number  of  districts 
had  increased  to  six,  since  which  time  no  new  districts  have  been  formed. 

The  following  items,  extracted  from  the  books  of  the  Township  Treasurer, 
Willam  L.  Adams,  and  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  fractional  township,  J.  C. 
Doescher,  will  doubtless  prove  interesting  to  many  readers,  as  indicating  the 
present  condition  of  the  schools  : 

Town  14.  Town  15. 

Number  of  schools 6  1 

Number  of  persons  under  21 744  124 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21 497  83 

Number  of  months  taught  during  the  year 40 

Value  of  school  property $8,250  $300 

Amount  paid  for  teaching 1,865  235 

Total  paid  for  support  of  schools 2,696  264 


CHICAGO 
FORMERLY  OF  FRANK  FORT  TP. 


Tttt 


OF  TBE 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  565 

By  no  means  least  among  the  enlightening  and  elevating  influences  in  a 
community  is  a  good  newspaper,  and  as  such  deserves  to  be  classed  with  the 
pulpit  and  the  rostrum.  The  Enterprise,  which  is  all  that  its  name  indicates, 
was  established  at  Crete  in  1875.  Its  first  number  appeared  on  the  25th  of 
December  of  the  year  named.  C.  E.  Carter,  who  had  been  in  the  newspaper 
business  in  Wisconsin,  originated  and  founded  the  paper,  and  by  him  it  has 
been  edited  and  published  ever  since.  The  Enterprise  is  a  sprightly  eight- 
column  quarto,  full  of  local  and  foreign  news,  and  enjoys  a  good  patronage, 
both  by  way  of  subscriptions  and  advertising.  It  is  issued  every  Friday.  It 
is  independent  in  politics  and  religion. 

The  Crete  Sash,  Door  and  Blind  Factory,  located  at  the  village,  is  worthy 
of  more  than  a  passing  notice.  This  institution  was  founded  in  1869  by  Messrs. 
Conrad  Tatge,  Christopher  Knabe,  William  Hahnlein  and  F.  Sennholtz.  Two 
years  later,  a  stock  company  was  formed,  with  a  capital  of  $21,000,  with  Walter 
Loock  as  Manager,  and  Gustavus  Brauns  as  Secretary  and  Treasurer.  Twenty 
hands  are  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  the  articles  before  mentioned,  and 
also  of  moldings  and  stair-rails.  Lumber  for  use  is  brought  directly  from  the 
pineries.  The  product  of  the  factory  finds  sale  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
State  and  in  Indiana. 

A  fire  insurance  company,  called  the  Crete  Farmers'  Mutual,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  $20,000,  is  one  of  the  institutions  of  this  township.  Conrad  Tatge, 
Henry  Scheive,  John  0.  Meier  and  Gustavus  Brauns  were  the  originators  of 
the  scheme,  the  last-named  being  the  first  Agent  and  Secretary.  Its  province 
is  to  insure  farm-buildings  and  other  careful  risks,  the  rate  being  about  1  per 
cent. 

The  call  of  the  President  for  soldiers  to  suppress  the  rebellion  was  heard 
by  many  in  this  township,  and  hearing,  they  left  all — homes,  firesides,  friends 
and  kindred — and  followed  the  beat  of  the  drum  to  the  field  of  battle.  A 
number  of  the  brave  boys  who  left  us  never  returned.  Their  bones  lie  mingled 
with  the  soil  of  the  country  which  they  went  out  to  rescue  from  the  hands  of 
traitors.  The  names  of  some  of  them  are  here  given.  Among  those  who  were 
killed  or  died  of  wounds  or  disease  contracted  in  the  army  are  remembered : 
A.  Quackenbush,  John  W.  Cole,  Robert  Cave,  M.  H.  Cook,  Orlando  Hewes, 
William  Conskay,  Conrad  Ingleking,  August  Myer  and  James  M.  Mulliken. 
Whether  there  were  others  or  not,  we  could  not  learn,  but  surely  this  was 
enough ;  and,  though  the  prayers  of  brothers,  sisters,  parents  and  friends 
ascended  day  after  day  for  their  safe  return,  the  sacrifice  was  demanded,  and  it 
had  to  be  made. 

In  1850,  the  township  of  Crete,  embracing  all  of  what  now  constitutes  the 
townships  of  Crete  and  Washington,  was  formed.  The  first  township  election 
occurred  on  the  2d  day  of  April  of  the  year  named.  The  meeting  was  called 
to  order  by  Willard  Wood.  Moses  H.  Cook  was  elected  Chairman  or  Moder- 
ator, and  E.  W.  Beach  was  chosen  Secretary.  They  were  sworn  to  perform  the 


566  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

duties  of  their  offices  according  to  law,  by  J.  Marsh,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  At 
this  first  election,  there  were  109  votes  cast,  of  which  the  following  persons 
received  majorities  for  the  respective  offices  :  N.  Brown,  Supervisor  ;  Z.  Han- 
derson,  Clerk ;  J.  Luce,  Assessor ;  D.  Wilkins,  Collector ;  Horace  Adams, 
Overseer  of  the  Poor ;  A.  Wilder,  S.  W.  Chapman  and  William  Hewes,  Com- 
missioners of  Highways;  H.  E.  Barret  and  0.  H.  Barret,  Constables,  and  H. 
Sprague  and  J.  Marsh,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

The  present  voting  population  of  the  township  is  not  less  than  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  though  the  highest  vote  ever  cast  has  been  but  334. 

The  present  township  officers  are :  John  0.  Meier,  Supervisor ;  Emil 
Walter,  Clerk ;  Henry  Hattendorf,  Collector ;  Henry  Cole,  Assessor ;  A= 
Darling,  William  Diersen  and  H.  N.  Doescher,  Highway  Commissioners ; 
Charles  Smith  and  D.  E.  Hewes,  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  Frank  Pease  and 
Lorenz  Tillotsen,  Constables. 

VILLAGE    OF    CRETE. 

The  village  of  Crete  was  laid  out  in  1849,  by  Willard  Wood,  who  lived  here, 
occupying  the  site  since  1837.  Mr.  Wood  built  at  the  place  now  occupied  by 
the  Hewes  House,  at  the  last-named  date,  and  kept  the  house  as  a  hotel.  As 
mentioned  in  the  history  of  Washington  Township,  places  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  traveling  public  sprang  up  all  along  this  great  highway,  and  among 
the  number  was  the  Wood  Tavern.  Of  course  it  was  not  the  commodious  hotel 
that  now  occupies  the  corner,  but  a  small  log  structure ;  though  the  use  of 
that  corner,  with  numerous  changes  and  additions,  has  always  been  devoted  to 
that  purpose.  Until  about  the  time  of  the  laying-out  of  the  town,  the  same 
log  cabin  was  the  hotel ;  but,  at  the  date  named,  it  gave  place  to  a  more  pre- 
tentious affair.  Wood  then  erected  a  building  26x36  feet,  which  he  occupied 
until  1865.  In  1873,  the  Hewes  brothers,  Daniel  and  B.  F.,  came  into  pos- 
session, and  built  the  main  part  of  the  house,  and  have  occupied  it  ever 
since. 

The  first  merchant  to  locate  here  was  H.  H.  Huntley.  He  opened  his  store 
directly  after  the  town  was  laid  out,  in  1849.  Z.  Handerson  came  in  a  year 
later,  and  opened  another  store.  George  Gridley  had  been  blacksmithing  here 
for  some  years  before  the  town  was  laid  out. 

Dr.  H.  H.  Hitchcock,  now  of  Chicago,  was  the  first  physician  at  the  Cor- 
ners, but  removed  from  here  about  the  time  the  village  started.  Dr.  G.  W. 
Minard,  who  still  resides  in  the  place,  was  a  student  of  Hitchcock's,  and  suc- 
ceeded to  his  practice. 

The  post  office  was  established  at  the  Corners  in  1836,  and  was  named  Crete; 
and  from  this  the  village,  in  1849,  and  the  township,  in  1850,  have  derived  their 
names.  Crete  is  one  of  the  most  enterprising  towns  on  the  line  of  the  Chicago 
&  Eastern  Illinois  Railroad.  It  is  composed  of  men  of  ability  and  thrift,  as 
indicated  by  buildings,  both  public  and  private,  which  are  of  a  superior  charac- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  567 

ter.     Some  of  their  fine  stores  and  private  residences  would  appear  respectable 
in  towns  of  ten  times  its  size  and  pretensions. 

VILLAGE   OF   GOODENOW. 

This  town  was  the  direct  product  of  the  building  of  the  Chicago  £  Eastern 
Illinois  Railroad,  and  was  laid  out  by  George  W.  Goodenow  the  same  year. 
Mr.  Goodenow,  at  the  same  time,  built  a  storehouse  and  put  in  a  general  stock 
of  merchandise.  The  same  year,  William  Kophmeir  erected  a  hotel  and  saloon, 
and  Herman  Brinker  built  a  wagon-shop  and  dwelling. 

Next  year  James  Darling  built  a  blacksmith-shop,  which  was  at  once  occu- 
pied b'y  Samuel  Rose.  Darling  removed  to  Kansas.  Mr.  Goodenow  was  first 
Postmaster,  and  still  occupies  the  position.  The  village  is  situated  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  Section  32,  about  four  miles  south  of  Crete.  It  is  a  fine  location 
for  a  town,  and  but  for  the  hard  times  which  have  intervened  since  its  beginning, 
would  doubtless  by  this  time  present  a  greatly  improved  appearance. 


MONEE  TOWNSHIP. 

The  "  war  of  the  races  "  came  to  a  crisis  in  1832.  Probably  no  year  in  the 
history  of  Illinois  has  been  more  eventful  than  the  one  named.  Certainly,  no 
year  has  brought  so  much  anxiety  and  excitement  to  Northern  and  North- 
western Illinois,  as  did  the  year  1832.  Previous  to  this  time,  it  is  true,  there 
was  considerable  unrest  and  fear  experienced  by  the  inhabitants  from  their  red 
neighbors,  the  Indians.  Though  to  all  outward  appearances  they  were  on 
friendly  terms,  yet  the  farmers,  conscious  that  they  were  encroaching  on  the 
assumed  rights  of  the  others,  and  knowing  full  well  their  treacherous  dispositions 
and  their  sensitiveness  on  the  subject,  were  all  the  while  apprehensive  of  trouble. 
During  the  year  named,  all  their  forebodings  and  much  more  were  realized. 
Black  Hawk  and  his  allies  had  been  wrought  up  to  such  a  pitch,  that  neither 
threats  nor  promises  by  the  Government  or  the  State  would  longer  avail,  and 
war  between  the  two  races  seemed  inevitable.  The  State  and  nation  were 
prompt  to  deal  with  the  belligerents,  but  not  until  a  number  of  wholesale  butch- 
eries had  been  perpetrated  were  the  Indians  brought  into  subjection  and 
removed  from  the  State.  In  the  mean  time,  though  no  actual  demonstration 
occurred  in  this  section,  yet  all  were  in  such  a  state  of  suspense  and  anxiety 
that  the  county  was  for  a  time  entirely  deserted,  some  going  to  the  nearest  for- 
tifications for  protection,  and  others  returning  to  the  East  to  be  out  of  harm's 
way  until  the  trouble  might  blow  over.  After  peace  and  order  had  been  re- 
stored, those  who  for  a  time  had  left  their  pioneer  homes  returned,  bringing 
with  them  many  new  settlers.  ?lmong  the  number  who  emigrated  to  this 
county  soon  after  the  close  of  the  troubles  alluded  to,  were  a  number  of  fami- 
lies from  Ohio.  John  S.  Dilly,  John  M.  Chase,  S.  W.  Cooper,  S.  W.  Gaines, 
Nicholas  Young  and  Aaron  Bonell,  were  the  original  and  first  settlers  of  Monee 


568  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Township,  and,  like  all  early  emigrants  from  the  heavily  timbered  regions  of 
the  East,  sought  the  neighborhood  of  the  little  groves,  found  here  and  there 
throughout  this  part  of  the  State.  All  of  these  men,  with  their  families,  settled 
in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  township,  in  the  vicinity  of  Thorn  Grove.  A 
notable  feature  of  many  pioneer  settlements  is  the  rough  character  of  its  mem- 
bers. Many  early  settlers  have  been  people  who,  having  been  reduced  in  means 
and  character  in  their  original  dwelling-places,  have  fled  to  a  strange  and  new 
country,  in  the  hope  of  recuperating  their  fortunes,  and  either  to  run  away 
from  their  characters  or  reform  their  doubtful  habits.  Then,  too,  in  a  new 
country,  the  restraining  influences  of  church  and  society,  added  to  which  may 
be  counted  that  of  the  law,  are  much  less  felt  than  the  older  settled  sections. 
But  this  settlement  seems  to  have  been  a  notable  exception  to  the  rule,  every 
man  of  the  primary  settlement  proving  himself  worthy  of  the  name  of  a  "  good 
citizen."  Indeed,  one  of  the  number  bore  the  title  of  Parson,  and  as  such  min- 
istered to  the  people  in  things  spiritual,  while  he  at  the  same  time  cultivated 
the  soil.  Of  these  old  pioneers  only  two  still  remain.  The  rest  are  all  gone  to 
other  parts,  or  have  departed  to  that  "  bourn  from  which  no  traveler  returns." 
S.  W.  Cooper  still  resides  on  the  old  place.  He  has  from  the  first  been  ranked 
as  one  of  the  soundest  men  in  the  township,  and  as  such  has  enjoyed  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens  to  an  unlimited  degree.  He  was  the  first 
Supervisor  of  the  township  when  the  two  townships  now  denominated  Moriee 
and  Will  were  a  single  precinct,  and  were  known  as  Carey-  S.  W.  Gaines  is 
the  other  survivor.  Whatever  can  be  said  of  a  man  of  good  reputation  also 
attaches  to  his  name.  He  has  accumulated  a  handsome  property,  and  now 
enjoys  the  fruits  of  his  hard  toil  and  early  hardships  incident  to  a  pioneer  life. 

John  M.  Chase  is  credited  with  building  the  first  house  in  the  township. 
Chase  was  a  well-to-do  farmer,  and  a  man  who  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his 
neighbors,  as  witnessed  by  his  election  to  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  and 
several  other  honors  conferred  upon  him.  However,  he  did  not  remain  here 
long  enough  to  merit  the  title  of  permanent  resident,  but  sold  out  his  improve- 
ments after  a  few  years'  residence  and  returned  to  Ohio. 

Aaron  Bonell  and  sons  continued  to  reside  here  for  a  number  of  years,  and 
then  removed  to  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  Dilly  and  Young  are  both 
dead.  Young  was  the  preacher  alluded  to.  After  his  death,  the  balance  of  the 
family  all  removed  further  West. 

In  1834,  William  Hollis  Newton  came  from  the  State  of  New  York.  He 
is  also  dead.  He  was  a  good  citizen,  and  was  well  liked  by  all  who  knew  him. 
W.  H.  Newton,  Jr.,  is  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the  township,  and  enjoys 
the  reputation  of  being  the  model  farmer  in  this  portion  of  the  country.  His 
residence,  with  the  numerous  houses  and  barns  for  poultry,  stock,  grain  and 
tools,  almost  equals  the  number  found  in  a  respectable-sized  village. 

Otis  Phillips  was  also  from  New  York,  but  came  a  year  after  Newton.  He 
lived  here  several  years  and  then  removed  to  Wisconsin,  where  he  has  since 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  569 

died.  He  is,  without  doubt,  entitled  to  the  honor  of  being  the  pioneer  edu- 
cator, as  he  taught  the  first  school  established  in  this  part  of  the  grove.  J.  E. 
Phillips,  now  residing  near  the  village  of  Monee,  came  from  New  York  the 
next  year — 1836 — and  settled  at  Thorn  Grove.  Mr.  Phillips  has  proved  to  be 
one  of  the  reliable  citizens  of  this  section,  and  has  been  as  intimately  associated 
with  all  of  the  events  transpiring  in  this  vicinity  as  any  other  man  ;  and  to  him 
we  are,  in  a  great  measure,  indebted  for  whatever  may  be  valuable  in  this  nar- 
rative. The  same  year,  came  from  Ohio,  William  Kinney.  He  was  a  farmer, 
in  moderate  circumstances,  but  spent  much  of  his  time  in  hunting.  Indeed, 
we  may  well  believe  that  many  of  the  early  residents  were  wont  to  obtain  a 
subsistence  from  the  use  of  the  rifle. 

Thorn  Grove,  in  the  time  of  which  we  write,  abounded  with  game  of  dif- 
ferent kinds,  and  the  tables  of  the  early  settlers  were  generously  spread  with 
meats  .that  are  now  rare,  and  are  only  eaten  as  a  luxury.  And  yet,  while  thus 
well  supplied  with  venison,  turkey,  wild  chickens  and  ducks,  many  articles  of 
food,  npw  common,  were  almost  entirely  dispensed  with.  Tea,  coffee,  most 
spices  and  sugar  were  obtainable  at  greater  expense  than  many  of  them  could 
afford,  and  home-prepared  substitutes  took  their  places.  Rye  coffee,  sassafras 
tea  and-  corn  bread  instead  of  wheaten,  with  mush  and  milk,  constituted  their 
fare.  In  the  matter  of  clothing  and  furniture,  their  allowance  and  quality  were 
still  more  primitive.  Silks  and  broadcloths,  furs  and  kids,  were  reserved  for  a 
later  generation.  There  were  no  fine  carpets  on  their  puncheon  floors,  no 
expensive  pictures  on  the  walls  or  tapestry  at  the  windows.  Such  luxuries 
were  neither  obtainable  nor  desired.  The  little  marketing  that  was  done 
required  long  journeys  to  the  nearest  stores  ;  and  goods  of  every  kind,  owing  to 
slow  and  expensive  transportation,  were  very  dear. 

The  houses  of  the  pioneers  were  not  stately  or  imposing  structures,  such  as 
have  more  recently  taken  their  places.  A  one-story,  one-roomed  log  cabin  was 
about  the  most  stylish  house  in  the  neighborhood.  In  the  construction  of  the 
first  houses,  there  was  not  used  a  sawed  board  in  the  whole  building,  and,  in 
some,  not  a  single  piece  of  iron — not  even  a  nail.  Wooden  hinges  and  latches 
(with  the  string  out)  for  doors,  puncheons  for  floors,  clapboards  for  roofs,  and 
wooden  pegs,  on  which  to  hang  clothing,  were  some  of  the  makeshifts  to  which 
they  were  obliged  to  resort.  Perhaps  none  but  those  who  have  experienced 
the  events  witnessed  and  passed  through  by  them,  are  fully  competent  to 
describe  them  ;  and,  certainly,  none  but  such  as  have  witnessed  them  can  fully 
comprehend  the  changes  which  have  taken  place,  both  in  the  appearance  of  the 
country  and  the  condition  of  its  inhabitants.  The  people  are  accustomed  to  cry 
"'hard  times;  "  but  if  they  could  be  placed  back  in  time  forty  years,  and  be 
required  to  fill  the  places  of  those  old  pioneers,  deprived  of  all  social  and  com- 
mercial privileges,  as  were  they,  they  would  learn  a  lesson  that  neither  essays 
nor  speeches  can  teach.  Even  in  the  new  settlements  of  the  now  Western 
country,  .things  are  very  different.  Now  the  railroad  and  telegraph  precede 


570  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

emigration,  and  postal  facilities  are  coincident.  For  these  our  fathers  were 
obliged  to  wait  twenty  years. 

The  year  1837  was  one  of  the  worst  in  the  financial  history  of  the  country, 
and  especially  of  Illinois,  that  ever  occurred;  and  for  a  time  emigration  to 
these  parts  was,  in  a  measure,  checked.  Occasionally  a  new  settler  made  his 
appearance.  Guided,  some  by  letters  and  others,  as  it  were,  by  instinct,  they 
dropped  in  from  time  to  time,  but  not  for  several  years  after  the  earliest 
date  mentioned  did  the  township  settle  rapidly.  At  first,  all  the  settlements 
were  made  in  the  edges  of  the  timber,  but  when  all  of  the  land  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  wooded  portions  had  been  occupied,  shanties  here  and  there  on  the  prairie 
began  to  appear.  By  the  year  1850,  seventeen  years  after  the  first  settler  made 
his  appearance,  the  following  additional  residents  are  noted:  John  S.  Holland, 
Stephen,  Jacob  and  James  Goodenow;  George,  Emerson  and  Minet  E.  Baker; 
A.  J.  Smith,  Eugene  Lashley,  August  Klien  and  Simeon  Abbott.  Of  these, 
some  are  dead,  some  have  removed  further  west  or  returned  to  their  native 
States,  and  some  are  still  residents  of  the  township. 

The  Bakers  were  from  Ohio.  They  lived  here  a  few  years  after  the  date 
last  named,  and  then  again  took  up  their  line  of  march  toward  the  setting  sun, 
their  last  resting-place  being  in  the  State  of  Iowa. 

John  S.  Holland  came  here  in  1845,  made  some  improvements,  and  died  a 
few  years  after.  The  family  have  all  removed — one  son  to  Chicago,  where  he 
now  resides. 

A.  J.  Smith  was  here  before  1845,  and  resided  in  the  township  until  about 
1855,  at  which  date  his  death  occurred.  He  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  was  a  good 
man,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Ebenezer  Lashley,  for  the  last  fifteen  years  a  resident  of  Douglas  County, 
of  this  State,  came  to  this  township  from  Ohio.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
informed  of  the  early  residents  of  the  county,  and  his  removal  was  a  source  of 
regret  to  all  his  neighbors. 

Stephen  Goodenow  and  brothers  (Jacob  and  James)  were  from  the  several 
States  of  Michigan,  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana,  and  came  to  this  part  of  the 
country  about  1845.  George  and  Franklin  Goodenow,  relatives  of  the  above, 
settled  in  the  adjoining  township,  the  former  of  whom  is  proprietor  of  the  town 
of  Goodenow,  on  the  Chicago  &  Eastern  Illinois  .Railroad.  Stephen  Goodenow 
now  resides  in  the  village  of  Monee. 

As  before  intimated,  the  first  land  occupied  was  that  in  the  eastern  portion 
of  the  township,  in  the  vicinity  of  Thorn  Grove.  In  1854,  however,  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  was  completed,  and  a  station  being  established  in  the 
western  part,  on  that  line  of  road,  improvements  began  to  be  made  in  that 
neighborhood.  Since  that  date,  the  west  side  of  the  township  has  taken  the 
lead  in  population.  By  an  act  of  Congress,  each  alternate  section  of  land  in 
this  and  other  townships  through  which  this  railroad  passes  (excepting  lands 
already  entered,  the  school  section  and  the  "reservation")  was  transferred  to 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  571 

the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  to  assist  in  building  the  road.  In 
transferring  the  land  to  the  Company,  the  price  of  the  remaining  Government 
land  was  raised  to  $2.50  per  acre,  being  double  its  former  price,  and  at  that 
price  nearly  one-third  of  the  land  was  purchased  by  settlers.  The  lands  occu- 
pied by  settlers  prior  to  the  road  was  bought  at  $1.25  per  acre,  and  that  from 
the  Railroad  Company  from  $2.50  to  $10.00,  according  to  location  and  date  of 
purchase.  The  Indian  reservation,  sometimes  called  Coon  Grove,  consisted  of 
about  three-fourths  of  Sections  28,  29,  32  and  33.  This  land  had  been  deeded 
by  treaty  to  a  small  family  or  tribe  of  Indians,  and  by  them  was  held  until  a 
comparatively  recent  date,  when  it  was  put  upon  the  market  by  their  agent, 
Henry  M.  Ward,  and  sold  to  different  parties  who  now  occupy  it.  The  ancient 
aborigines,  to  whom  the  land  belonged,  have  long  since  removed  from  this  part 
of  the  country. 

Monee  Township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Cook  County,  on  the  east  by 
Crete,  on  the  south  by  Will  and  on  the  west  by  Greengarden.  -4bout  one- 
fourth  formerly  consisted  of  timbered  land  :  but  the  supply  of  fuel  and  building 
material  in  former  times  demanded  the  sacrifice  of  a  considerable  portion,  and 
the  amount  of  woodland  is  now  much  smaller.  In  1850,  the  township  was 
included  with  Will  in  a  single  precinct,  though  not  that  Will  added  anything  to 
the  voting  population,  for  at  that  date  Will  had  not  within  its  bounds  a  single 
inhabitant.  So,  in  reality,  considering  the  population,  Carey  Township  was  what 
is  now  called  Monee.  The  township  of  Carey  was  organized,  with  all  others 
of  the  original  townships  named  in  the  first  division  of  the  territory,  in  1850, 
on  the  2d  day  of  April  of  the  year  named.  From  a  few  miscellaneous  papers 
still  in  existence  in  the  Clerk's  office,  we  find  that  C.  W.  Cooper  was  first  Super- 
visor ;  J.  E.  Phillips,  Assessor,  and  W.  H.  Newton,  Clerk.  The  records  of 
Carey  Township  have  been  lost,  and  we  are,  therefore,  unable  to  make  any  fur- 
ther definite  statements  in  regard  to  the  first  organization.  In  1859,  that  por-  • 
tion  of  Carey  now  known  as  Will  was  struck  off,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  its  inhabitants ;  and,  the  village  of  Monee  having  been  established  and  so 
named,  the  old  name  of  Carey  was  dropped  and  the  name  to  correspond  with 
the  village  was  adopted.  The  organization  of  the  township,  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, is :  John  Kolstedt,  Supervisor ;  E.  R.  Freese,  Clerk ;  Fred.  Rave, 
Assessor;  Jacob  H.  Barlage,  Collector;  Adam  Gorman,  Henry  Deters  and 
George  Kolstedt,  Commissioners  of  Highways;  John  A.  Heins  and  Henry 
Conrad,  Justices  of  the  Peace  ;  Peter  Bischman  and  Gustav  Kettering,  Con- 
stables, and  August  Ehrhardt,  School  Treasurer. 

As  before  intimated,  the  first  school  was  taught  at  the  "  Grove  "  by  Otis 
Phillips.  Like  the  township  records,  the  school  records  of  the  township  have 
been  lost,  and  nothing  positive  can  be  stated  in  regard  to  this  school  except  that 
it  was  in  a  little  cabin  owned  by  Mr.  Phillips,  the  teacher.  The  date  was,  no 
doubt,  about  1836.  All  schools  in  the  State  of  Illinois  at  that  date  were  sup- 
ported by  private  means,  and  of  course  this  was  a  subscription  school.  It  is 


572  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

further  remembered  that  Mr.  Phillips  was  not  only  a  good  teacher,  but  a  good 
man  and  well  worthy  of  the  title  of  "pioneer  schoolmaster." 

In  1855,  a  system  of  reports  from  Township  School  Treasurers  was  adopted, 
and  from  an  old  report,  dated  1858,  from  the  Treasurer  of  this  township,  we 
are  able  to  give  some  interesting  statistics,  indicating  the  condition  of  schools 
at  that  time.  It  is  therein  stated  that  there  were  in  the  township : 

Districts,  in  each  of  which  were  schoolhouses 4 

Male  teachers 2 

Female  teachers 7 

Persons  between  the  ages  of  6  and  21  years 328 

Persons  under  21 .". 472 

Months  of  school  taught 34 

Average  monthly  wages  paid  male  teachers $      34  00 

Average  montly  wages  paid  female  teachers 17  50 

Whole  amount  paid  teachers 870  00 

Whole  amount  paid  for  support  of  schools 1,238  59 

Some  corresponding  figures,  indicating  the  present  condition  of  schools., 
give  additional  interest : 

Number  of  schools 7 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21 668 

Number  of  persons  under  21 938 

Number  of  months  taught 73 

Highest  wages  paid  any  teacher  per  month $      75  00 

Whole  amount  paid  for  teaching 2,913  00 

Whole  amount  paid  for  support  of  schools 3,405  00 

Estimated  value  of  school  property 5,500  00 

Formerly,  churches  were  organized  at  the  ,Grove ;  but  since  the  towns  of 
Crete  and  Monee  have  been  established  and  movements  made  toward  organizing 
church  societies  there,  these  organizations  have  either  been  abandoned  or 
removed  to  the  villages. 

The  war  record  of  this  township  is  bright  with  many  honored  names.  A 
large  number  of  the  best  and  strongest  men,  when  the  call  for  troops  to  suppress 
the  rebellion  was  made,  entered  the  army  and  followed  the  old  flag  even  to  the 
mouth  of  the  cannon,  and  some  into  the  very  jaws  of  death.  John  Clark, 
Isaiah  Cook,  Charles  Bergen,  C.  J.  Garret,  T.  J.  Kemp,  G.  A.  Baker  and 
A.  F.  Clark  were  among  the  number  who  lost  their  lives  to  save  the  life  of  the 
Union.  Henry  Carstons  was  reported  missing,  and,  as  supposed,  was  killed. 
There  were,  doubtless,  others,  but  we  are  unable  to  learn  their  names.  Surely, 
these  were  a  large  and  costly  sacrifice,  and  worthy  of  the  cause  in  which  they 
fell. 

VILLAGE   OF    MONEE. 

The  year  1853  was  an  eventful  one  for  this  section  of  the  State,  which  had, 
prior  to  that  time,  been  without  commercial  privileges,  except  as  carried  on,  by 
means  of  wagons,  with  Chicago.  The  enterprise  of  building  a  railroad  through 
this  part  of  the  State  had  long  been  talked  of,  and  some  legislation  had  resulted. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  57$ 

therefrom ;  though  but  few  realized  the  importance  of  the  scheme  until  the  road 
was  completed.  In  a  few  years,  towns  sprang  up  all  along  the  line,  and  lands 
heretofore  unoccupied  were  taken  up  in  a  short  time.  In  a  very  few  years,  this 
whole  region  was  almost  as  thickly  settled  as  it  is  to-day.  The  western  part  of 
the  township  soon  became  the  most  densely  populated,  and  the  town  of  Monee 
has  sprung  up  from  what  was,  prior  to  that  event,  an  open  plain. 

The  village  of  Monee  was  laid  out  by  Henry  M.  Ward,  for  August  Her- 
bert, in  1853.  August  Herbert  was  in  the  Mexican  war,  and,  being  honorably 
discharged  at  the  close,  he  was  given  a  warrant  entitling  him  to  160  acres  of 
the  unoccupied  Government  land,  wherever  he  might  choose  to  locate.  So,  in 
1849,  he  found  his  way  to  this  township,  and  located  the  southeast  quarter  of 
Section  21.  When  the  railroad  was  located,  though  it  did  not  run  through 
Herbert's  land,  it  ran  so  close  that  his  land  became  available  as  a  part  of  the 
town  site.  He  therefore  sold  to  the  railroad  company  forty  acres ;  and  this, 
together  with  what  Herbert  laid  out,  embraces  the  principal  part  of  the  village. 
In  1853,  Herbert  built  the  first  house  in  the  village.  He  also  built,  in  partner- 
ship with  others,  a  warehouse ;  built  a  storehouse  and  opened  a  general  store, 
.in  which  he  continued  until  about  two  years  ago,  when  he  removed  to  Grant  Park, 
where  he  now  resides.  Though  Herbert  erected  the  first  building  (now  a  portion 
of  Kettering's  Hotel),  a  house  had  been  brought  by  Simeon  Abbott,  from  the  south 
part  of  the  township,  which  was  used  by  the  employes  of  the  railroad  company 
as  a  lodging-house.  This  house  is  still  standing  and  occupies  one  of  the  most 
prominent  corners  in  the  village,  and  is  used  by  Messrs.  Sonneborn  &  Son  for  a 
tailoring  establishment.  Mr.  Abbott  lived  in  the  house  for  a  time,  and  then 
removed  to  Iowa,  where  he  still  resides.  The  first  store  building  was  erected 
in  1853,  by  0.  B.  Dutton,  the  same  now  being  in  use  by  August  Schiffer. 
Among  the  other  early  residents  of  the  village  were  Adam  Vatter,  Bronson 
Wiley  and  Theodore  Wernigk.  Of  these,  Vatter  was  a  carpenter,  who  gave 
most  of  his  attention  to  the  erection  of  churches  ;  and  nearly  all  of  the  German 
churches  in  this,  Greengarden,  Peotone  and  Crete  Townships  are  works  of 
his.  He  still  resides  here. 

Wiley  was  the  first  blacksmith,  and  Wernigk  was  the  first  physician.  Laban 
Easterbrooks  is  also  one  of  the  oldest  residents,  having  resided  in  the  village  for 
twenty-one  years.  "  'Squire  Brooks,"  as  he  is  familiarly  called,  is  a  native  of 
Rhode  Island,  and  has  always  enjoyed  the  friendship  and  business  relations  of 
Gen.  Burnside,  of  that  State.  Mr.  Easterbrooks  was  a  carpenter,  and  Burnside 
was  Cashier  of  the  Land  Department  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad ;  and, 
through  that  relation,  came  to  possess  large  tracts  of  land  in  the  township  of 
Greengarden,  The  General,  having  been  acquainted  with  the  'Squire,  and 
wishing  some  improvements  made  on  his  land,  employed  him  to  look  after  his 
estate — have  it  fenced  and  build  houses  on  the  same. 

The  post  office  was  established  here  in  1853,  with  0.  B.  Dutton  as  Post- 
master. 


574  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

The  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1854,  and  Margaret  Wilson  was  installed  as 
first  teacher.  Five  years  ago,  an  addition  of  one  room  was  made  to  the  orig- 
inal building,  and  three  teachers,  of  whom  F.  Stofflet  is  Principal,  are  now  em- 
ployed. In  1856,  Joseph  Koenig  and  Oscar  Kohler  built  a  steam  grist-mill ; 
but  the  enterprise  did  not  prove  a  great  success  and  it  has  not  been  in  use  for 
several  years. 

In  1865,  August  Schiffer  built  a  warehouse  and  began  handling  grain. 
Two  years  later,  Messrs.  Tatge,  Miller  &  Herbert  erected  their  building  for 
handling  grain ;  and  following  them,  in  1872,  F.  Luehrs,  of  Greengarden 
Township,  also  erected  a  warehouse. 

In  1865,  G.  A.  McGilvery  built  a  hay-press,  which  is  still  in  use,  being 
operated  by  J.  I.  Rice,  of  Peotone. 

An  attempt  to  establish  an  academy  for  a  higher  and  special  course  of 
instruction  was  made  in  1872.  The  building,  called  the  Monee  Academy,  was 
•erected  in  that  year,  named  by  Messrs.  Janzen  &  Stassen.  Prof.  Janzen  was 
put  in  charge  of  the  institution,  and  hopes  were  entertained  that  this  would  de- 
velop into  one  of  the  leading  institutions  of  the  country.  But  after  a  short 
time,  it  was  found  that  the  encouragement  received  was  not  sufficient  to  warrant 
its  continuance,  and  was  abandoned. 

The  leading  church  of  the  village  is  the  Lutheran.  The  German  element 
is  largely  in  the  majority,  and  nearly  all  adhere  to  that  faith.  The  Church 
was  established  in  1857,  by  Rev.  William  Schaefer,  and  a  house  of  worship 
erected  in  1858.  The  cost  of  the  house  was  $1,500.  It  stands  in  the  midst 
of  the  burial  ground,  where  lie  the  remains  of  Christian  Schurz  and  wife, 
father  and  mother  of  Carl  Schurz,  now  a  member  of  President  Hayes'  Cab- 
inet. The  congregation  consists  of  about  eighty  families,  of  which  Rev.  C.  F. 
Hafheing  is  Pastor. 

The  Congregational  Church,  which  stands  in  the  north  part  of  the  village, 
was  the  second  built,  and  the  society  was  the  second  organized.  The  house  was 
built  at  an  outlay  of  $2,100,  in  1866,  the  society  having  been  formed  five  years 
earlier  by  Rev.  W.  B.  Atkinson.  Rev.  George  Dunlap  officiates  as  minister. 

The  M.  E.  Church  was  organized  by  Rev.  Mr.  Ross,  and  the  building 
erected  in  1868,  at  an  expenditure  of  $1,500.  The  building  stands  in  the  west 
part  of  town,  and  is  occupied  part  of  the  time  only,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Crawford. 
This  society  has  not  been  in  as  flourishing  a  condition  as  formerly,  and,  for  a 
time,  the  house  was  closed. 

Rev.  Charles  Steisaberger  organized  the  German  Catholic  society  of  this 
place  in  1866,  and  two  years  later  they  built  their  house  of  worship.  The 
building  cost  $1,500,  and  stands  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  village  near  the 
Congregational  Church.  This  society  has  never  been  strong  here,  and  services 
are  now-  held  only  occasionally. 

Some  years  ago,  perhaps  about  1860  or  1861,  a  newspaper  called  the 
Monee  Eagle,  was  started  here  by  J.  G.  Scott.  The  Eagle  soared  high  for  a 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  575 

-while.  It  continued  its  flight  for  about  three  years,  when  it  drooped,  folded  its 
wings  and  died.  The  village  of  Monee  was  incorporated  in  1874,  by  the  elec- 
tion of  officers  on  the  9th  of  November  of  that  year.  The  first  Board  con- 
sisted of  Edward  Wernigk,  President ;  Henry  Hoffman,  Charles  Plagge, 
Philip  Vollmar,  Christopher  Schoenstedt  and  August  Schiffer,  as  Trustees ; 
William  T.  Hutchinson  was  Clerk,  and  B.  Hayen,  Treasurer.  The  present 
officers  are  Simeon  Miller,  President ;  John  A.  Heins,  Charles  Mertz,  Chris- 
topher Schoenstedt,  Gustav  Jordans  and  William  Kohlstedt,  Trustees ;  Charles 
Pragst,  Clerk ;  John  Kohlstedt,  Treasurer,  and  Laban  Easterbrooks,  Police 
Magistrate. 

FLORENCE  TOWNSHIP. 

It  is  claimed  for  this  township,  that  it  is  the  best,  in  many  particulars,  in 
the  whole  county.  In  soil  and  in  society,  in  thrift  and  in  intelligence,  the 
inhabitants  of  Florence  acknowledge  their  superiority.  After  a  careful 
examination  into  the  several  items  enumerated,  we  are  not  disposed  to  attempt 
to  change  public  opinion,  in  regard  to  the  good  qualities  of  this  locality,  for 
certainly  a  finer  place  for  the  display  of  all  that  is  desirable  in  a  farming  com- 
munity would  be  hard  to  find.  The  land  is  exceedingly  rich,  and  the  soil  deep 
and  very  productive.  The  surface  is  gently  undulating — -just  sufficiently  so  to 
render  drainage  easy,  and,  at  the  same  time,  prevent  the  washing  from  heavy 
rains  incident  to  rolling  or  broken  ground.  Thrift  and  prosperity  are  mani- 
fested on  every  hand,  in  the  well-cultivated  fields,  fat  and  fine-bred  stock,  com- 
fortable and,  in  some  instances,  elegant  dwellings,  and  in  the  well-graded  and 
well-kept  highways.  The  queerest  part  of  the  story,  perhaps,  is  that  much  of 
the  best  land  in  the  township  was  not  occupied  until  long  after  the  little  strips 
of  timber  along  the  streams — though  of  a  greatly  inferior  character  of  soil — 
was  occupied  and  improved.  The  reason  for  this  becomes  apparent,  when  it  is 
considered  that  the  first  inhabitants  of  this  country  were  all  from  the  heavily- 
wooded  States,  that  it  was  then  apparent  that  the  little  bits  of  timber  here  and 
there  must  answer  for  both  fuel  and  building  purposes,  until  artificial. forests 
could  be  grown,  and  that  the  prairie  land  was  as  dear  as  the  timbered.  In  the 
minds  of  many  Eastern  people  contemplating  emigration,  the  timber  question 
is  yet  an  important  one.  Now,  however,  inhabitants  of  the  prairie  experience 
but  little  inconvenience  from  the  lack  of  this  former  essential,  the  "depths" 
producing  an  unlimited  amount  of  fuel,  and  the  railroads  supplying  from  other 
sections  building  material  of  a  better  character  than  ever  was  produced  here. 
In  early  times,  a  saw-mill  was  one  of  the  first  institutions  to  appear  in  the  new 
settlement.  These  have  nearly  all  disappeared — not  because  the  timber  is 
completely  exhausted — but  rather  that  the  lumber  brought  from  the  pineries  of 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin  is  more  easily  worked  and  of  a  more  suitable  quality 
for  building.  The  whole  township  is  devoted  to  farming  in  connection  with 


576  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

stock-raising  and  dairying.  Immense  crops  of  corn,  oats  and  rye  are  produced ; 
considerable  pork  is  raised,  and  within  the  past  few  years,  a  good  deal  of 
attention  has  been  devoted  to  butter  and  cheese  making. 

The  township  is  a  full  Congressional  town,  containing  thirty-six  full  sections, 
and  is  described  in  the  survey  as  Town  33  north,  and  10  east  of  the  Third  Princi- 
pal Meridian.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Jackson  Township,  on  the  east  by  Wil- 
ton, on  the  south  by  Wesley,  and  on  the  west  by  Wilmington.  It  is  watered  by 
Prairie  Creek  flowing  through  the  northwestern  part,  and  by  Forked  Creek  and 
its  branches  flowing  through  the  southern  portion.  These  furnish  excellent 
stock  water  to  the  farms  lying  adjacent.  Stone,  adapted  to  foundations  for 
houses  and  for  making  lime,  is  found  in  some  parts,  and  quarries  are  worked 
for  these  purposes.  Some  dispute  as  to  who  was  the  first  settler  of  this  town- 
ship has  arisen  in  consequence  of  the  nearness  of  some  of  the  first  settlements 
to  the  northwest  corner,  across  the  line  from  which  other  early  settlements  were 
made  in  adjoining  townships.  We  have  no  doubt,  from  close  investigation,  that 
Lewis  Linebarger  is  justly  entitled  to  that  honor.  Several  others  of  the  Line- 
barger  family  came  to  Jackson  Township  in  the  year  1832,  and,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  history  of  that  township,  returned  to  Indiana  on  the  appearance  of 
the  Indian  troubles.  The  next  Spring,  Lewis  moved  out  and  settled  at  what 
has  since  been  known  as  Starr's  Grove,  though  the  neighborhood  was  then 
really  considered  a  part  of  Reed's  Grove.  Perhaps,  from  this  circumstance, 
Linebarger  has  been  incorrectly  accredited  to  Jackson  Township.  Linebarger 
built  a  log  cabin,  which  was  the  first,  and  made  other  improvements.  He  did 
not  enter  the  land,  but  subsequently  sold  his  claim  to  Arthur  Potts,  and  removed 
to  Oregon,  where  he  still  resides. 

Arthur  Potts,  though  not  the  next  to  make  his  appearance  as  a  settler,  was 
yet  in  the  township  of  Wesley  in  1834,  and  moved  on  the  claim  purchased  of 
Linebarger  a  year  or  two  later.  Potts  was  a  native  of  Indiana.  He  lived  here 
until  1854,  and  then  removed  to  Iowa,  having  sold  his  farm  to  Duncan  Mcln- 
tyre. 

Another  of  the  Linebargers  also  settled  in  here  in  1834.  He,  too,  has 
removed  to  Oregon.  Henry  Moore  was  here  in  1834.  He  was  a  native  of 
Indiana,  a  good  farmer,  and  removed  to  Iowa  a  number  of  years  ago. 

In  1835,  the  township  received  an  addition  to  its  population  that  proved  to- 
be  an  addition,  not  only  as  to  numbers,  but  in  worth,  in  energy,  in  industry, 
and  in  general  benefit  to  the  community.  Henry  Althouse  is  a  native  of  Prus- 
sia. He  came  to  this  country  in  1819,  landing  in  Baltimore  that  year.  All 
that  he  had  in  the  world,  when  he  stepped  ashore,  was  the  clothes  on  his  back, 
plenty  of  energy  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  baking  business.  In  the 
business  of  baking  he  engaged,  working  at  the  trade  in  Maryland,  Virginia  and 
Ohio.  In  1821,  he  married  the  lady  with  whom  he  has  now  lived  fifty-seven 
years.  In  1835,  he  concluded  to  turn  farmer,  and,  with  that  intent,  came  to 
this  place  and  laid  claim  to  a  piece  of  land.  To  this  he  has,  by  the  utmost  energy 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  577 

nd  industry  added,  until,  at  one  time,  he  has  owned  1,500  acres.  He  would 
wn  it  now,  but  having  a  view  to  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  a  large  family,  has 
ivided  it  up  and  given  to  each  of  the  nine  surviving  children  a  good  farm  and 
ther  property  of  value.  He  now  resides  at  Wilmington,  occupying  the  fine 
esidence  of  the  former  banker,  Daniels.  He  is  80  years  of  age ;  but,  with 
be  exception  of  his  loss  of  sight,  retains  his  faculties,  and  seems  a  quarter  of 
century  younger. 

John  Kahler  was  also  one  of  the  earliest  citizens  of  this  vicinity,  having 
ettled  here  in  1835. 

James  Martin  came  in  1836.  He  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  proved  to 
e  a  first-class  citizen  of  this  community.  When  he  first  came  to  the  neigh- 
orhood,  he  assisted  in  the  building  of  Dr.  Bowen's  mill  at  Wilmington.  The 
ehool  records  show  him  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  School  Trustees,  in  1842. 
lis  son  William  still  occupies  the  old  homestead,  though  the  father  has  lain  in 
tie  cemetery  seventeen  years.  James  W.  Martin,  another  son,  has  filled  the 
flfice  of  County  Treasurer  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 

About  this  time  came  Walter  and  Thomas  Monteith.  They  were  from  New 
fork.  They  lived  here  about  ten  years,  and  then  removed  to  Oregon.  Since 
heir  removal  to  that  State,  report  says  they  have  become  very  wealthy.  David 
Jell  was  one  of  the  next  to  settle  here.  He  is  a  native  of  New  York,  and 
ame  first  to  Wilmington,  where  he  earned  a  little  money  working  at  the  trade 
f  carpenter,  bought  a  little  land  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  township,  and  by 
onstant  industry  and  good  management  has  become  wealthy. 

In  1837,  Duncan  Mclntyre  and  Daniel  Stewart  came  from  New  York. 
Iclntyre  took  a  claim  on  Section  28,  the  farm  now  belonging  to  Selah  Morey, 
nd  built  a  cabin.  Being  unmarried  at  the  time,  he  took  to  live  with  him  Nel- 
on  Wright  and  family,  who  had  emigrated  from  New  York  with  him.  Subse- 
uently,  Wright  removed  to  Oregon,  and  Mclntyre  sought  elsewhere  for  a 
ousekeeper ;  and  in  this  connection  a  little  romance  is  related.  Some  years 
efore,  Mclntyre  and  some  friends,  while  on  a  tour  of  inspection  in  the  neigh- 
oring  township  of  Wesley,  were  suddenly  surprised  by  seeing  coming  toward 
hem  a  man  leading  a  little  girl,  then  a  mere  child.  The  man  informed  them 
hat  they  were  emigrants  from  Michigan,  and  had  just  arrived  at  the  place; 
hat  their  wagon,  with  the  balance  of  the  family,  had  been  left  a  little  way 
ehind,  and  they  were  seeking  a  place  to  spend  the  night.  The  man  was 
oseph  Hadsel,  and  the  little  girl  was  his  daughter.  All  of  the  gentlemen  were 
truck  with  the  quiet  and  simple  beauty  of  the  little  girl ;  but  no  one  dreamed 
hat  this  was  to  be  the  future  Mrs.  Duncan  Mclntyre.  But  when  Mr.  Mcln- 
pre's  tenants,  the  Wrights,  left  his  place,  he  then  brought  to  mind  the  modest, 
itelligent  face  of  Joseph  Hadsel's  daughter,  who  was  then  living  with  her 
ither  in  the  adjoining  township.  An  opportunity  was  not  long  in  presenting 
;self  for  Mclntyre  to  renew  the  acquaintance  of  the  now  young  lady,  and  his 
stimation  of  her  growing  as  their  acquaintance  increased,  and  her  regard  for 


578  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

him  being  of  an  equally  high  character,  they  were  married  in  1840.  Three 
-  years  later,  Mclntyre  and  his  wife  returned  to  New  York,  where  they  lived  four- 
teen years,  and  then  returned  to  Florence,  where  he  died  some  years  later.  Mrs. 
Mclntyre  still  resides  at  Starr's  Grove,  and  with  her  lives  her  mother,  the 
former  Mrs.  Hadsel,  now  verging  on  to  her  fourscore  years,  and  one  of  the 
oldest  residents  of  this  part  of  the  county. 

Daniel  Stewart,  mentioned  in  Wilmington  Township,  was  one  of  the 
stanchest  and  most  honorable  citizens  of  this  neighborhood.  In  his  line  of 
business  he  was  most  successful,  and  accumulated  a  large  amount  of  property. 
His  death  occurred  about  three  years  since. 

Walter  W.  Monteith,  cousin  of  the  Monteith  before  mentioned,  came  about 
the  year  1841,  and  worked  for  a  time  in  Gov.  Matteson's  woolen-factory  at 
Joliet.  On  coming  to  this  township,  he  settled  near  the  center.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  popular  (and  deservedly  so)  citizens.  He  was  the  first  Supervisor 
of  the  township,  and  held  numerous  other  positions  of  honor  and  responsibility, 
in  all  of  which  he  discharged  the  duties  of  the  same  in  a  most  satisfactory 
manner.  He  has  been  dead  about  eighteen  years. 

Charles  Starr,  after  whom  the  little  grove  on  Prairie  Creek  was  named,  was 
native  of  Nova  Scotia.  He  was  the  father  of  Judge  C.  R.  Starr,  of  Kankakee. 
Mr.  Starr  came  to  this  country  and  to  this  township  in  1842.  He  died  a  few 
years  ago  at  a  very  advanced  age — nearly  100  years  old.  In  the  same 
year,  William  Van  der  Bogert  arrived  from  New  York.  He  was  elected,  the 
same  year,  a  Trustee  of  schools  in  this  township,  being  one  of  the  first 
three. 

Isaac  Jackson  also  arrived  in  1842.  He  was  a  native  of  Nova  Scotia,  and 
came  with  his  family  to  Starr's  Grove,  having  purchased  100  acres  of  land  at  that 
place.  Mr.  Jackson  was  a  Quaker  preacher,  though  in  some  points  he  differed 
from  the  orthodox  Quakers.  Before  removing  from  Nova  Scotia,  he  had  built, 
at  his  own  expense,  a  church,  in  which  he  preached  his  peculiar  doctrines  to  all 
who  desired  to  hear  him,  free  of  expense  to  his  auditors.  On  leaving  that 
country,  he  donated  the  house  of  worship  to  the  congregation.  After  coming 
to  this  country,  he  frequently  held  religious  services  at  schoolhouses  throughout 
the  county.  Mr.  Jackson  was  a  most  profound  mechanical  genius ;  and  whether 
the  circumstances  called  for  the  shoeing  of  a  horse,  the  framing  of  a  house,  the 
building  of  a  carriage  in  all  of  its  parts,  or  the  transforming  of  a  piece  of  iron 
into  the  delicate  hairspring  of  a  chronometer,  he  was  always  found  equal  to 
the  occasion.  At  his  son  Delancy's  may  be  seen  some  of  the  instruments 
manufactured  by  him  for  his  own  use,  which  are  pronounced  by  experts  to  be 
of  the  very  finest  character.  He  died  here  in  1875,  at  the  advanced  age  of 
90  years,  his  wife  having  preceded  him  in  1856.  Enoch  Jackson,  a  son  of 
the  above,  served  for  eighteen  consecutive  years  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  this 
township,  during  which  time  not  a  single  one  of  his  decisions  was  ever  reversed 
by  the  higher  courts. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  579 

By  the  year  1848,  quite  a  number  more  permanent  settlements  had  been 
made,  so  that  the  population  had  become  nearly  one  hundred.  Among  the 
principal  ones  who  arrived  during  the  years  1842-48,  are  remembered  John 
Jordan,  Rufus  Corbett,  George  A.  Gray,  Adam  White,  Edward  Gurney,  the  Bas- 
kerville  family,  Selah  and  Leonard  Morey,  William  Barret,  Dr.  E.  H.  Strong, 
Adam  White  and  sons  John  and  James,  C.  G.  Jewell,  R.  H.  Nott,  Andrew 
Layton,  Henry  Hand  and  Hezekiah  Warner. 

The  first  move  looking  toward  the  organization  of  a  means  of  educating  the 
youth  of  this  township  originated  with  Henry  Althouse,  the  next  Winter  after 
arriving  here.  The  school  consisted  of  only  his  own  children  and  a  child  or 
two  belonging  to  one  of  the  neighbors.  The  school  was  taught  in  a  room  of 
Althouse's  dwelling,  by  a  young  lady  employed  by  him,  and  was  more  on  the 
nursery  style  than  conforming  to  the  strict  rules  of  the  modern  public  school, 
the  young  lady  being  employed  as  much  for  the  purpose  of  taking  care  of  the 
children  as  for  instructing  them.  In  1841,  the  first  steps  were  taken  to  estab- 
lish a  school  for  general  and  public  instruction.  A  petition  was  prepared,  and 
at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Wilmington  Township,  in  the  Spring 
of  the  next  year,  presented  to  that  body  praying  to  be  admitted  as  a  part  of  the 
Wilmington  District.  The  petition  was  considered  favorably,  and  a  school  was 
established  within  the  bounds  of  Florence,  during  the  Winter  of  1842—43.  The 
attendance  was  only  six  scholars,  and  the  term  lasted  but  thirty-five  days. 
Sarah  Fisher  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  being  the  pioneer  educator  of  the  pub- 
lic school  system  of  this  township ;  and  for  her  services,  as  Principal  of  this 
Florence  Academy,  or  Starr's  Grove  institute,  or  whatever  it  was  called,  she 
received  $11.50. 

In  1845,  the  number  of  scholars  in  the  township,  living  near  Starr's  Grove, 
had  increased  to  twenty-four,  and  Town  33,  Range  10,  was  set  off  as  a  separate 
district.  No  schoolhouse  had  yet  been  erected,  but  schools  were  held  in  such 
rooms  of  private  houses  as  could  be  spared.  The  first  schoolhouse  was  erected 
in  1849,  and  was  built  by  Selah  Morey,  for  $250.  The  building,  though  not 
occupied  at  present  for  its  original  purpose,  has  been  reconstructed,  and  is  now 
in  use  as  a  dwelling.  James  Martin,  John  Kahler  and  William  Van  derBogert 
were  the  first  Trustees. 

In  1865,  the  number  of  schools  had  increased  to  six ;  and  at  the  present 
writing  there  are  eight.  In  1865,  there  were  482  persons  in  the  township 
under  21  years  of  age,  342  of  whom  were  between  6  and  21,  and  284  of  whom 
attended  school  during  that  year.  The  total  amount  expended  that  year  for  the 
support  of  schools  was  $1,174,  of  which  $1,140  were  paid  as  teachers'  wages. 
These  items  are  given  for  the  purpose  of  comparing  with  like  figures  at  the 
present  time,  which,  with  additional  items  sliowing  the  condition  of  schools  at 
present,  are  given  below : 

Number  of  schools 

Number  of  persons  under  21 

Number  attending  school 


,580  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Number  of  teachers 14 

Number  of  days  attendance 24,647 

Highest  wages  paid  any  teacher $      48  00 

Whole  amount  paid  teachers , 2,082  00 

Total  expense  of  supporting  schools 2,G32  00 

Estimated  value  of  school  property 3,852  00 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  above,  that  in  1865,  the  township  had  just  reached 
its  maximum,  as  to  school  population,  and  that  since  then,  though  the  number 
of  children  has  really  decreased,  additional  school  facilities  have  been  provided, 
and  although  wages,  gold,  interest,  and  every  commodity  has  decreased  to  one- 
half,  the  amount  expended  for  the  sustenance  of  schools  has  been  almost 
doubled.  This  would  indicate  almost  400  per  cent  increase  in  expenditures — 
taking  into  account  the  depreciated  values  of  other  items — which,  if  an  indica- 
tion of  an  equally  increased  efficiency  in  the  system,  should  be  a  source  of  con- 
gratulation to  all  patrons  of  the  system.  We  are  reliably  informed  that  the 
schools  of  this  township  rank  among  the  highest  in  merit  in  the  county. 

The  first  year  after  the  township  organization  act  was  in  force,  in  this  county, 
the  township  of  Florence  voted  with  Wesley  and  Wilmington,  and  John  Frazier, 
of  Wesley,  was  first  Supervisor  of  the  three.  In  1851,  however,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Florence  determined  to  "set  up  a  government  of  their  own";  and,  a 
petition  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  having  met  with  favorable  consideration, 
an  election  was  called  to  choose  township  officers,  on  April  1,  1851.  W.  W. 
Monteith  was  chosen  Moderator  of  the  meeting,  and  John  Kahler,  Clerk.  There 
were  42  votes  cast,  of  which  the  following  persons  received  majorities 
for  the  respective  offices,  and  were  declared  elected  :  W.  W.  Monteith,  Super- 
visor; William  Van  der  Bogert,  Assessor;  Leonard  Morey,  Clerk;  C.  G. 
Jewell,  R.  H.  Nott  and  G.  A.  Gray,  Highway  Commissioners;  Charles  Starr 
and  Hezekiah  Warner,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  Henry  Hand  and  Andrew  Lay- 
ton,  Constables ;  Rufus  Corbett,  Overseer  of  the  Poor ;  and  Henry  Hand,  Col- 
lector. The  voting  population  of  the  township  has  increased  to  about  two 
hundred.  The  present  officers  of  the  township  are:  Royal  Corbin,  Supervisor; 
W.  P.  Strong,  Clerk;  William  Nelson,  Assessor;  Peter  Ohlhues,  Collector: 
Cornelius  Murphy  and  Edward  Gurney,  Justices  of  the  Peace;  Wesley  Cook 
and  William  G.  Cutshaw,  Constables  ;  Patrick  Naughton,  David  Forsythe  and 
John  Hayden,  Commissioners  of  Highways  ;  John  M.  White,  William  Kerr 
and  David  Forsythe,  School  Trustees,  and  W.  P.  Strong,  School  Treas- 
urer. 

Florence  Township  was  no  idle  spectator  to  the  struggle  of  the  country 
during  the  years  1861-65,  to  maintain  the  Union,  but  gave  many  noble  sacri- 
fices, that  the  Government  might  HVQ.  The  township  was  not  drafted  during  the 
whole  war,  but  furnished  its  full  quota  at  every  call.  Among  those  who  not 
only  risked  their  lives  in  the  service  of  their  country  during  this  momentous 
period,  but  of  whom  even  that  was  demanded  and  freely  given,  are  remembered : 
Walter  Van  der  Bogert,  killed  by  a  shell ;  Charles  Morey,  died  of  disease  con- 


:•, 


rA 


CHCAGO 

FORMERLY  Of  NEW  LENNOX  TP 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  583 

tracted  in  the  army ;  Henry  Ohlhues,  killed ;  Daniel  Linebarger,*  killed  at 
Chickamauga ;  Norman  Kahler,  died  of  wounds  ;  Thomas  Martin,  died  in  the 
army ;  Charles  Jackson,  died  of  disease ;  Thomas  Stewart,  died  of  army  dis- 
ease ;  William  and  John  Shoemaker,  died  of  disease ;  Albert  Wilkins,  of  dis- 
ease ;  Almon  Merrill,  killed.  A  number  of  these  names  will  be  recognized  as 
descendants  of  the  old  pioneer  stock,  named  at  the  beginning  of  this  article. 
Their  fathers  had  braved  dangers  and  suffered  hardships  to  subdue  the  country, 
and  make  them  homes,  and  now,  when  every  fireside  seemed  to  be  in  danger, 
they  rose  up  with  one  accord  to  protect  them. 

The  only  church-building  within  the  boundaries  of  the  township  is  the  one 
•erected  by  the  German  Evangelical  Association,  in  1874.  The  house  is  located 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  Section  10,  and  is  a  neat  frame  structure,  32 
feet  in  width  and  43  in  length.  It  is  completely  finished  and  paid  for, 
having  cost  the  Association  $2,965.  These  people  have  had  preaching  in  the 
vicinity  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  in  schoolhouses  and  at  private  residences.  John 
Jacob  Asher  was  the  first  minister  of  this  denomination  who  held  religious  serv- 
ices here.  Nicholas  Witcshie  and  wife,  Henry  and  John  Rockey  and  J.  Tay- 
lor were  the  first  members  of  the  organization  which  was  effected  twelve  years 
ago.  When  the  house  was  completed,  B.  C.  Wagner  was  the  first  minister 
•employed  to  fill  the  pulpit.  The  present  membership  is  about  thirty,  with  Rev. 
Riemen  Snyder,  of  Jackson  Township,  as  Pastor.  The  northwestern  and 
southwestern  portions  of  the  township,  being  adjacent  to  the  towns  of  Elwood 
and  Wilmington,  are  well  provided  with  church  privileges,  though  no  houses  of 
worship  are  to  be  found  in  those  localities. 


GREENGARDEN  TOWNSHIP. 

This  township,  until  1853,  was  included  with  Manhattan  in  what  was  known 
as  Carey.  Three  years  before  the  date  named,  the  township  of  Trenton  had 
been  formed,  and  prior  to  that  the  territory  of  Greengarden  had  been  in  one 
precinct  and  another,  as  suited  the  convenience  of  its  few  inhabitants  and  the 
fancy  of  the  courts  that  were  authorized  to  appoint  polling-places.  Business 
now  transacted  within  the  limits  of  the  township  was  done  directly  with  the 
county  authorities  and  at  the  county  seat.  By  and  by,  the  old  county  system 
became  burdensome,  and  the  business  of  each  locality  was  delegated  to  local 
authorities.  The  mapmakers  have  always  had  a  hard  time  of  it.  No  sooner 
have  they  succeeded  in  getting  a  creditable  article  ready  for  the  market,  than  a 
new  boundary  line,  a  new  railroad  or  a  new  town  would  be  located,  and  the  sale 
of  their  works  was  thenceforth  a  drag.  It  is  not  only  interesting  and  instruct- 
ive to  look  over  a  map  of  the  olden  time,  but,  in  a  sense,  quite  amusing.  If 
we  compare  a  map  of  the  eastern  coast  of  the  United  States,  as  published  by  the 
authority  of  the  British  Government,  in  the  year  1700,  with  the  more  modern  pub- 

*  He  was  never  seen  after  the  battle  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  killed. 


584  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

lications  of  like  character,  we  shall  find  features  so  different  in  the  two  as  would 
not  only  be  surprising  to  people  ignorant  of  the  history  of  the  country  subse- 
quent to  that  date,  but  which  would  cause  no  little  astonishment  in  the  minds 
of  the  well  informed.  Look  at  a  map  of  the  Northwest  during  a  period  just 
prior  to  1765,  and  you  will  find  it  marked  as  "French  Territory."  Then  this 
same  territory,  from  the  date  named  until  1778,  is  delineated  as  a  "British 
Province."  After  this,  from  1778  until  1787,  what  is  now  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois appears  as  a  part  of  Virginia.  After  this,  for  thirteen  years,  it  is  called  the 
"Northwest  Territory."  In  1800,  when  our  grandfathers  were  going  to 
school,  they  were  taught  to  call  the  whole  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Indiana  and 
Michigan  by  the  name  of  "Indiana  Territory,''  and  by  this  title  it  was  known 
until  1809,  when  the  mapmakers  again  had  to  change,  and  Illinois  and  Wis- 
consin were  called  the  "Illinois  Territory."  In  1818,  when  our  fathers  began 
to  study  geography,  the  atlases  in  which  grandfather  and  grandmother  studied 
would  no  longer  answer  the  purpose,  for  Illinois  had  then  become  a  State,  with 
boundaries  co-extensive  with  what  we  now  find  them.  The  changes  which 
have  come  to  the  State,  in  its  geographical  features,  since  its  admission  into 
the  Union,  are  equally  noticeable.  The  original  number  of  counties  was  only 
fifteen.  These  have  been  divided  and  changed  so  that  we  now  have  one  hun- 
dred and  two,  each  change  being  a  source  of  grief  to  the  map  publishers. 
Originally,  the  county  was  divided  into  voting  precincts,  then  into  townships, 
and  the  townships  have  been  changed  and  divided  to  suit  the  wishes  and  con- 
venience of  the  inhabitants,  with  not  the  least  regard  for  the  feelings  of  those 
whose  business  it  was  to  furnish  the  people  of  the  county  with  maps.  The 
township  of  Grecngarden,  like  many  others,  has  worried  the  mapmakers. 
But  little  more  thun  thirty  years  ago  there  was  nothing  here  for  the  artist  to 
sketch  but  the  two  little  creeks  and  a  boundless  sea  of  grass ;  but  since  then 
the  changes  in  school  districts,  roads,  farms  and  buildings  have  been  so  frequent 
and  marked,  that,  almost  before  a  chart  of  the  township  was  off  the  press,  a 
new  one  was  required.  Probably,  however,  the  description  of  the  township 
which  follows  will  remain  the  same  for  many  years  to  come,  as,  at  present,  the 
whole  of  it  is  settled  up,  and  no  more  changes  are  likely  to  be  made  for  many 
years.  Greengarden  Township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Frankfort,  on  the 
east  by  Monee,  on  the  south  by  Peotone,  and  on  the  west  by  Manhattan.  It  is 
described  in  the  Congressional  survey  as  Town  34  north,  Range  12  east  of  the 
Third  Principal  Meridian.  It  is  a  full  Congressional  town,  containing  thirty- 
six  full  sections,  or  23,040  acres. 

The  land  in  Greengarden  will  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  any  other  town- 
ship in  the  county.  Scarcely  an  acre,  except  what  is  taken  up  by  the  beds  of 
Prairie  and  Forked  Creeks,  is  untillable.  The  surface  is  gently  undu- 
lating, none  being  either  too  rolling  or  too  flat  for  successful  cultivation. 
The  soil  is  all  that  the  agriculturist  or  the  Gardener  could  desire,  being  deep 
and  rich, 'and  capable  of  producing  enormous  crops  of  corn,  oats,  hay  and  vege-  • 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  585 

tables  of  every  kind.  The  two  creeks  named  both  rise  near  the  center,  and 
afford  stock-water  to  the  adjacent  farms,  except  in  the  dryest  seasons,  when 
they  are  sometimes  dried  up.  The  township  is  entirely  devoid  of  a  natural 
growth  of  timber,  and  this  accounts  for  the  tardiness  of  its  settlement.  When 
the  township  of  Crete,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  and  all  of  the  western 
portion  of  the  county  had  been  well  settled,  this  vicinity  was  just  beginning  to 
receive  a  few  apparently  unwilling  squatters.  They  came  from  the  heavily 
wooded  -  States  of  Vermont  and  New  York,  or  the  equally  densely  timbered 
countries  of  the  old  world,  and,  finding  the  land  adjacent  to  the  little  belts  of 
timber  already  occupied,  were  loath  to  venture  out  upon  the  prairie,  as  the  lands- 
man is  reluctant  to  venture  upon  the  untried  waves  of  the  great  ocean.  The 
absence  of  timber  for  fuel,  fencing  and  building  purposes  was  certainly  a  great 
drawback.  Not  until  1865  was  it  known  that  within  a  few  miles  was  a  con- 
densed forest  of  fuel  that  would  supply  all  this  country  for  ages  to  come.  Then, 
too,  the  prairie,  as  a  field  for  farming  operations,  was  only  an  experiment.  It 
looked  much  to  them  as  if  an  absence  of  timber  might  indicate  a  dearth  in  those 
qualities  of  soil  necessary  to  produce  good  crops.  The  subjugating  of  the 
prairie,  though,  in  comparison  with  the  clearing  of  the  eastern  farms,  a  trifle, 
was,  in  their  eyes,  no  small  matter.  The  little  bar-share  plow,  with  the  wooden 
mold-board,  in  common  use  in  the  East,  was  not  to  be  thought  of  to  turn  over 
the  thick  prairie  sod,  matted  with  grass-roots,  as  hard  almost  as  hickory  withes. 
But  soon  the  inventive  genius  of  the  Yankee  supplied  an  article,  though  some- 
what rude  and  unwieldy,  with  which  most  of  these  prairies  have  been  brought 
to  cultivation.  The  original  "sod-plow  "  is  now  seen  no  more  forever,  as  it  has 
long  since  outlived  its  usefulness.  It  consisted  of  a  large  share,  cutting  a  furrow 
two  feet  in  width,  with  iron  bars  for  a  mold-board.  The  beam  of  the  machine 
was  fifteen  feet  in  length.  No  handles  were  needed,  though  sometimes  they 
were  attached,  but  were  used  only  for  the  purpose  of  starting  or  throwing  it  out 
of  the  ground.  To  this  immense  machine  were  hitched-from  five  to  eight  yoke 
of  oxen.  The  breaking  was  usually  done  late  in  the  Spring ;  and,  with  the 
turning-over  of  the  sod  was  deposited  seed,  which  produced  an  inferior  crop  of 
corn  the  first  year,  growing  and  ripening  without  further  attention.  From  this 
crop  has  come  the  brand  of  a  favorite  drink  in  the  Western  country.  Hay  was 
cut  with  scythes  and  gathered  with  hand-rakes.  Wheat  was  cut  with  cradles 
and  threshed  by  causing  horses  to  tread  upon  it.  These  ancient  landmarks 
have  all  passed  away,  and  but  few  who  wielded  them  remain  to  tell  us  the  story 
of  these  and  the  many  other  peculiar  institutions  of  the  olden  times.  Here  and 
there  is  seen  a  whitening  head.  Here  and  there  we  behold  a  tottering  frame. 
Erelong,  they  too  will  have  passed  from  earth,  and  their  places  will  be  filled 
with  the  more  modern  style  of  humanity.  The  first  to  venture  out  on  the  almost 
unknown  waste  of  the  prairie  of  Greengarden  Township  was  M.  F.  Sanders, 
from  Vermont.  The  date  of  his  advent  was  1847,  and  he  has  consequently  been 
a  resident  thirty-one  years.  The  "'Squire,"  as  he  is  familiarly  called,  is  well 


586  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

off  in  this  world's  goods,  having  not  only  survived  the  hard  times  incident  to 
pioneer  life,  but  has  something  "  laid  by  for  a  rainy  day."  He  was  the  first 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  and,  in  that  capacity,  performed  the  first  marriage  cere- 
mony in  the  township. 

G.  M.  Green,  or  "  the  Deacon,"  as  he  was  generally  called,  was  also  a  native 
of  Vermont,  and  came  to  the  place  about  the  same  time.  He  was  a  man  of 
good  qualities  and  well  worthy  to  bear  the  cognomen  universally  bestowed 
npon  him.  He  removed  from  this  place  to  Joliet,  where  he  died  some  years 
ago.  * 

Following  these  two  families,  and  mainly  through  their  influence,  were  a 
number  of  families  from  the  same  State.  Within  three  or  four  years,  Rev. 
James  Hudson,  Daniel  Haradon,  David  McClay  and  Hiram  Twining  arrived 
from  Vermont  and  settled  in  the  same  neighborhood — the  northwest  part  of  the 
township.  These  people,  it  seems,  were  mostly  of  one  religious  faith — being 
that  denominated  Christians — not  the  branch  sometimes  called  Disciples  or 
Campbellites,  but  the  branch  founded  by  Smith  and  others  some  seventy-five 
years  ago,  and  who  would  under  no  circumstances  acknowledge  any  other 
name  but  that  of  Christian.  In  Indiana,  Ohio,  Kentucky  and  some  of  the 
Eastern  States  are  many  of  this  persuasion  ;  but  in  this  section  a  church  of  this 
faith  is  rare.  Horace  Mann,  one  of  the  greatest  acknowledged  educators  of 
this  country,  did  his  last  work  as  President  of  Antioch  College,  at  Yellow 
Springs,  Ohio,  the  college  then  being  one  of  the  educational  institutions  of  the 
denomination.  Elder  Hudson,  soon  after  his  arrival,  organized  the  little  com- 
munity into  a  Church  ;  and  as  such  it  was  very  prosperous  for  a  few  years,  and 
drew  around  it  a  large  number  of  enlightened  and  substantial  people.  But  the 
good  man's  labors  were  not  of  long  duration.  His  body  was  laid  away  beneath 
the  prairie  sod  soon  after  his  work  in  this  wild  field  had  been  successfully 
inaugurated. 

Hiram  Twining  still  resides  on  the  old  place.  His  house,  built  before  roads 
or  partition  lines  were  definitely  known,  proclaims  itself  to  be  one  of  the  ancient 
landmarks,  by  not  "  being  placed  due  east  and  west,"  but  varying  from  that 
usually  accepted  rule  several  degrees.  In  this  house  many  of  the  early  religi- 
ous and  other  meetings  were  held.  The  first  township  and  school  elections  took 
place  here,  it  being  nearer  the  center  of  population  than  others  of  sufficient  size 
for  the  purpose. 

About  the  same  time,  the  Baileys  and  the  Bemiss  family  arrived — the 
former  from  New  York,  and  the  latter  from  Michigan.  Morrison  and  Martin 
Bailey  were  brothers.  They  were  men  of  intelligence,  and  were  counted  as 
leaders  in  society  and  politics.  Morrison  Bailey  was  the  first  teacher  that  ever 
presided  over  a  school  in  the  township.  At  the  first  township  election,  held  in 
1853,  Martin  was  elected  Moderator,  one  of  the  four  Overseers  of  Highways, 
Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Supervisor.  Morrison  Bailey  was  the  first  Township 
Clerk.  The  Baileys  removed  a  few  years  later. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  587 

The  Bemiss  family  consisted  of  Simeon  and  three  grown  sons — Ephraim, 
James  and  Edwin.  In  the  first  election,  this  family  was  also  honored  with  six 
offices.  Simeon  was  elected  Commissioner  of  Highways ;  James,  Clerk  pro 
tern,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace ;  and  Edwin,  Road  Overseer,  Collector  and  Con- 
stable. This  family  also  removed  from  the  township  after  a  short  residence. 

Augustine  Hauser,  John  Young,  A.  A.  Angell,  D.  G.  Jaynes  and  William 
Hutchinson  were  also  early  settlers.  Hauser  was  a  native  of  Switzerland,  and 
came  here  with  a  little  fortune,  which  he  proposed  to  double  in  a  short  time  in 
the  manufacture  of  cheese.  But  it  seems  he  was  a  little  ajiead  of  the  time  ;  for 
the  business,  which  to  those  embarking  in  a  few  years  later  was  the  means  of 
realizing  to  them  fortunes,  was  the  means  of  his  complete  failure,  and  he  left 
the  township  several  thousand  dollars  poorer  than  when  he  came.  The  article 
manufactured  by  him  was,  it  is  said,  of  a  superior  quality  ;  but  the  reputation 
of  Western  cheese  was  not  yet  made,  and,  on  account  of  the  prejudice  of  dealers 
and  consumers  for  the  Eastern  product,  Hauser's  scheme  proved  a  failure. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  the  settlement  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  town- 
ship was  well  under  way,  another  settlement  was  being  formed  a  little  further 
east  and  south.  The  first  settlement  was,  in  every  respect,  a  Yankee  enter- 
prise, while  the  other  was  as  positively  German ;  and,  while  the  former  had  for 
its  central  point  its  church  organization,  so  also  had  the  latter. 

The  Dierks  family  and  the  Strassens,  though  not  the  earliest  German  set- 
tlers, came  about  1851,  bringing  with  them  a  preacher  of  their  own  faith,  and 
immediately  set  about  the  organization  of  a  society,  and  subsequently  of  erect- 
ing a  house  of  worship.  Probably,  the  very  first  German  in  the  township  was 
John  T.  Luehrs,  now  of  Monee,  who  had  come  to  this  vicinity  three  years  be- 
fore. Following  him,  in  1849,  was  his  brother,  F.  Luehrs.  The  Dierkses 
were  cousins  to  Luehrs,  and  came  over  at  the  instance  of  their  relatives  who 
had  preceded  them.  The  Dierks  family  consisted  of  Simon,  Fred  and  G.  A. 
Dierks,  who  have  since  all  removed  to  Nebraska.  On  the  recommendation  of 
Luehrs,  amongst  numerous  other  families  scattered  all  over  this  part  of  the  State, 
came  to  the  township  in  1850,  0.  H.  Remmers,  B.  B.  Henry,  A.  and  G.  G. 
Beiken.  Peter  and  William  Young,  from  the  same  country,  but  who  had  been 
living  in  Ohio,  also  came  in  1850.  The  Youngs  were  not  satisfied  here,  and 
sold  out,  William  returning  to  Ohio  and  Peter  moving  further  south.  Fred 
Hassenjager  and  Peter  Bowlander,  the  latter  now  a  resident  of  Monee,  were 
also  among  the  earliest  Germans.  Hassenjager  is  an  example  of  what  industry 
and  economy  may  accomplish  in  the  face  of  deprivations  and  hardships  incident 
to  a  pioneer  life.  When  he  came  here,  he  was  as  poor  as  the  poorest,  now  he 
is  among  the  wealthiest  citizens  of  this  part  of  the  county. 

One  of  the  most  important  public  acts  of  the  township  occurred  about  the 
close  of  the  period  of  the  two  settlements  named,  and  was  the  separation  of  the 
two  portions  of  Trenton  Township,  now  designated  as  Manhattan  and  Green- 
garden.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  understanding  from  the  first  that,  when 


588  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

both  sections  should  have  attained  to  a  population  sufficiently  strong  for  sepa- 
rate organization,  such  division  should  take  place,  though  it  was  hardly  ex- 
pected that  it  would  take  place  so  soon.  However,  owing  to  the  rapid  filling-up 
of  each,  it  was  found  not  only  feasible,  in  1853,  but  there  were  many  reasons 
adduced  for  separate  organization,  and  thus  a  "  peaceable  secession  "  was  accom- 
plished. 

Petitions  were,  therefore,  presented  to  the  proper  authorities,  and,  by  them, 
a  division  was  made,  accompanied  with  an  order  to  hold  elections.  The  elec- 
tion was  accordingly  held  in  this  township,  the  first  meeting  taking  place  at 
Hiram  Twining's  house,  on  the  5th  day  of  April,  1853.  Martin  Bailey  was 
chosen  Moderator  and  J.  N.  Bemiss,  Clerk,  pro  tern.  The  result  of  the  ballot 
was  the  election  of  Martin  Bailey,  as  Supervisor ;  Morrison  Bailey,  Clerk  ; 
Edwin  Bemiss,  Collector ;  George  M.  Green,  Assessor ;  A.  A.  Angell,  Over- 
seer of  the  Poor ;  Martin  Bailey  and  J.  N.  Bemis,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  Ed- 
win P.  Bemiss  and  A.  A.  Angell,  Constables,  and  John  Young,  Simeon  Be- 
miss and  D.  G.  Jaynes,  Commissioners  of  Highways.  Of  these,  Martin  Bailey 
had  been  Justice  before,  during  the  union  of  the  two  townships,  and  adminis- 
tered the  oath  to  the  judges  and  clerk  on  this  occasion. 

The  present  officers  of  the  township  are :  H.  H.  Strassen,  Supervisor ; 
Andrew  Murdie,  Clerk  ;  August  Voigt,  Assessor ;  Peter  Kenepper,  Collector ; 
Jacob  Froehner,  Martin  Sippel  and  Henry  Hoppe,  Commissioners  of  High- 
ways ;  Henry  Strassen  and  John  Bobzine,  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  George 
Jacobs,  Constable. 

At  the  first  election,  there  were  twenty-seven  voters  present ;  at  the  last, 
204.  It  will  be  noticed  that  most  of  the  present  officers  are  German,  while  the 
first  corps  of  officers  were  as  decidedly  Yankee.  During  the  first  few  years, 
the  settlement  was  marked  by  a  preponderance  of  Americans ;  but  of  later 
years,  the  German  element  has  not  only  increased  more  rapidly,  but,  in  reality, 
most  of  the  Yankee  population  has  disappeared,  having  sold  out  their  farms  to 
the  Germans. 

In  1851,  a  post  office  was  established  in  the  Yankee  settlement,  with  Rev. 
James  Hudson  as  Postmaster.  The  office  was  called  Greengarden,  and  has 
been  in  existence  ever  since,  though  for  the  last  two  or  three  years  its  location 
has  been  within  the  bounds  of  Manhattan  Township.  These  country  post 
offices,  like  some  orphan  children,  have  a  kind  of  vagrant  existence,  with  no 
certain  home,  but  travel  from  place  to  place  at  the  pleasure  or  forbearance  of 
their  keepers.  Greengarden  Post  Office  has  been  no  exception,  as  it  has  had 
many  homes.  Sometimes  it  has  been  sought,  and  at  other  times  it  has  not  had 
where  to  take  up  even  a  temporary  abode. 

Due  attention  has  been  given  to  the  intellectual  and  moral  wants  of  the 
people  and  to  the  youth,  and  schoolhouses  and  churches  abound. 

In  the  Winter  of  1850-51,  Morrison  Bailey  taught  the  first  school,  which 
consisted  of  fifteen  or  twenty  scholars.  Eight  years  later,  from  a  report  made 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  589 

to  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  we  learn  that  three  schools 
had  been  organized,  and  in  two  of  them  schoolhouses  were  built.  In  the  same 
year,  102  scholars  were  attending,  out  of  262  entitled  to  school  privileges,  that 
is,  between  6  and  21  years  of  age. 

The  present  condition  of  the  public  school  system  in  Greengarden  Town- 
ship may  be  gathered  from  the  following  items  extracted  from  the  books  of 
'Township  Treasurer  F.  Luehrs  : 

Whole  number  of  schools 9 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21... : 576 

Number  of  persons  under  21 790 

Number  of  months  taught  during  the  year 58 

Highest  wages  paid  to  any  teacher $45  00 

Amount  paid  out  to  teachers 1,752  30 

Total  paid  for  support  of  schools 2,438  20 

Besides  the  instruction  given  in  these  schools,  two  private  schools  within 
the  limits  of  the  township,  and  another  just  in  the  border  of  an  adjoining  town- 
ship, afford  school  accommodations  for  quite  a  number  of  children. 

There  are  four  church  buildings,  three  of  which  have  organizations.  The 
Ohristian  Church,  already  alluded  to,  is  the  oldest,  being  organized  in  1847, 
and  a  building  erected  in  1861.  The  original  members  of  the  Church  were  : 
Rev.  James  Hudson,  Samuel  Bowen,  Abel  Perkins,  Sr.  and  Jr.,  and  Daniel 
Haradon,  with  their  wives.  In  1861,  when  the  building  was  erected,  the  mem- 
bership embraced  about  forty  persons.  The  house  was  raised  on  the  4th  day  of 
July  of  the  year  named,  and  dedicated  soon  after  by  Rev.  Noah  Johnson,  under 
whose  pastorate  it  had  existed  for  some  time,  and  who  was  mainly  instrumental 
in  having  the  building  erected.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  rebellion,  and  most  of  the  strong  men  of  this  neighborhood  fought 
as  they  professed,  and  enlisted  in  the  army.  Therefore,  during  the  balance  of 
the  struggle,  the  Church  was  weak.  After  the  war  was  over,  quite  a  number 
who  had  been  spared  to  return  removed  further  west ;  and,  one  drawback  after 
another  following,  the  organization  continued  to  weaken  until  it  was  finally 
abandoned,  and  the  building  has  not  been  occupied  for  two  or  three  years. 

The  German  Baptist  society  was  organized  by  Rev.  H.  Jacobs,  who  had 
emigrated  from  Germany  with  some  of  the  founders  of  the  Church.  The  date 
of  the  organization,  though  we  are  not  able  to  state  precisely,  was  about  1855, 
and  the  building  was  erected  about  six  years  later.  The  cost  of  the  building 
was  $1,400,  and  of  the  parsonage,  $800.  The  church  was  erected  during  the 
pastorate  of  Rev.  Mr.  Janzen.  It  is  a  neat  little  frame,  and  stands  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Section  14,  in  an  inclosure  in  which  are  deposited  the 
remains,  of  many  of  its  early  supporters  and  members.  This  church  has  also 
decreased  in  numbers,  many  of  them  having  removed  further  west.  The 
present  Pastor  is  Rev.  S.  Kornier. 

St.  Peter's  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  situated  two  miles  further 
;north,  was  erected  in  1867,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000.  Previous  to  this,  for  four 


590  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

years,  services  and  school  had  been  conducted  in  the  parsonage,  which  had  been; 
built  in  1863.  The  Church  was  organized  at  the  last  date  named,  by  Rev. 
William  Schaefer,  with  about  twelve  families.  Four  years  ago,  a  new  church- 
building  was  determined  upon,  and  a  fine  edifice  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $3,000, 
and  the  old  building  has  since  been  used  as  a  schoolhouse.  Rev.  S.  Lang  is  the 
present  Pastor  and  teacher.  The  congregation  numbers  about  forty-three  fam- 
ilies. School  is  sustained  six  months  in  each  year.  In  1871,  the  German 
Methodists  erected  a  neat  little  church  and  parsonage  near  the  middle  of  the 
northern  portion  of  the  township,  at  a  cost  of  $1,200.  The  first  Pastor  was 
Rev.  Carl  Stelner.  The  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  Oust  Peter,  and  the  member- 
ship of  the  Church  consists  of  about  twenty-five  families.  School  is  kept  open 
about  six  months  each  year.  German,  the  common  branches  of  education,  and 
the  religion  of  the  denomination  are  tanght. 

Throughout  Will  County,  Greengarden  is  noted  for  its  societies  and  mutual 
organizations,  important  among  which  is  the  Greengarden  Farmers'  Mutual 
Insurance  Company,  protecting  against  losses  by  fire  and  lightning.  This  Com- 
pany is  composed  of  about  one  thousand  two  hundred  members.  It  was  organ- 
ized in  1867,  under  the  then  existing  township  insurance  law,  and  received  its 
charter  in  1869.  The  officers  of  the  Company  are  composed  of  a  president  and 
vice  president,  secretary  and  treasurer,  who  are  and  must  be  residents  of  the 
township  of  Greengarden,  and  of  a  director  from  each  township  aside  from  itself 
where  said  township  shall  have  acquired  a  membership  of  thirty  members.  Its 
first  local  officers  were :  President,  Henry  Stassen  ;  Vice  President,  Frederick 
Buchholz;  Secretary,  Henry  Vischoever,  and  Treasurer,  H.  H.  Stassen.  Its 
first  officers  outside  the  township,  which  then  consisted  of  its  directors  and 
solicitors,  were :  Henry  Suhl,  H.  H.  Stassen,  Sr.,  Henry  Engleman  and  Peter 
Conrad.  Its  present  local  officers  are :  President,  Henry  Eisenbrandt;  Vice 
President,  Christian  Buck;  Treasurer,  H.  H.  Stassen,  and  Secretary,  August 
Voigt.  Its  present  officials  in  and  outside  the  township,  which  consist  of  its 
directors  and  solicitors,  are :  William  Beutien,  Nikol  Eyrich,  John  Schoops, 
Andrew  Holl,  Henry  Engleman,  Diedrich  Thiesfeld,  August  Stoekig,  Hasch 
Siemsen,  Charles  E.  Holstein,  Henry  Vischoever  and  John  Stassen.  The  first 
application  was  made  April  11,  1867,  by  Rev.  Frederick  Boeber,  of  Green- 
garden  Township,  policy  $1,000.  This  is  the  cheapest  insurance  company  in 
the  State.  Its  motto  is  a  union  of  many  for  the  protection  of  the  individual 
member,  minus  a  profit  to  a  third  party.  It  insures  farm  property  only,  and 
charges  a  one-half-per-cent  cash  premium,  besides  a  premium  note  of  3  per  cent 
on  the  one  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  property  insured  by  its  members.  Out  of 
the  one-half-per-cent  cash  premium  charged,  this  Company  has  defrayed  all 
expenditures,  such  as  salary  to  officers,  incidentals,  etc.,  accompanying  the 
organization  of  a  company,  and  all  losses  incurred  up  to  the  present  date,  1878, 
and  has  yet  a  cash  balance  on  hand  large  enough  to  warrant  the  assertion  that 
it  will  not  make  an  assessment  for  a  number  of  years  to  come.  This  Com- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  591 

pany  is  chartered  for  fifty  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time,  according  to 
stipulations  in  contracts,  its  renewal  can  be  obtained. 

Den  Werth  einer  Sache  weis  man  am  besten  zu  schatzen,  wenn  man  es  nicht  hat. 

For  a  new  township,  and  thinly  settled  as  was  this  in  1861,  Greengarden 
did  a  noble  part  in  the  late  war  ;  and  its  record  compares  well  with  that  of  other 
portions  of  the  county  and  State.  Quite  a  number  lost  their  lives  in  the  service 
of  their  country,  amongst  whom  are  called  to  mind  John  Depuy,  Stephen  C. 
Kenny,  George  W.  Holmes,  Matthew  Bush,  Ellery  JB.  Mitchell,  E.  J.  White, 
Albert  E.  Devereaux,  J.  D.  Blanchard,  Albert  Haradon  and  Erastus  Rudd. 
"Requiem  eternam  dona  eis  Domine." 


CHANNAHON  TOWNSHIP. 

Channahon  is  an  Indian  word,  signifying  the  "meeting  of  the  waters,"  and 
alludes  to  the  confluence  of  the  Des  Planes  and  Du  Page  Rivers,  which  occurs 
near  the  center  of  the  township,  and  was  bestowed  on  the  town  by  Judge  Peck, 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  country.  It  is  described  as  Township  34  north, 
Range  9  east,  and  is  one  of  the  best  watered  and  best  drained  sections  of  the 
county.  The  surface  is  uneven  and  rolling,  in  some  portions  rising  into  bluffs, 
but  upon  the  whole  containing  much  fine  farming  land,  though  very  little  open 
prairie.  At  the  time  of  the  first  settlements  in  Channahon,  much  of  it  was 
timbered,  and  what  is  termed  in  other  States,  "open  barrens."  It  lies  in  the 
western  tier  of  townships,  adjoining  Grundy  County,  and  is  south  of  Troy  and 
north  of  Wilmington  Township,  with  a  population  in  1870,  of  1,164  inhabit- 
ants. The  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  and  the  Chicago,  Pekin  &  Southwest- 
ern Railroad  pass  through  the  town,  and  afford  excellent  shipping  facilities  for 
the  large  amount  of  grain  and  stock  annually  produced  by  its  enterprising  cit- 
izens. Upon  the  whole,  Channahon  may  be  set  down  as  one  of  the  wealthy 
and  prosperous  townships  of  Will  County. 

Joseph  Shoemaker  is  supposed  to  be  the  first  white  settler  in  Channahon 
Township.  He  came  from  Ohio,  and  made  a  claim  here  in  1831,  and  is  still 
living  in  the  corner  of  the  town,  but  has  traveled  around  considerably  since  his 
first  settlement  in  this  section  ;  has  made  a  trip  to  California,  and  to  Nebraska, 
but  finding  no  place  better  than  Illinois  has  returned  and  settled  in  his  old 
township.  The  Tryons  and  Knapps  came  from  Vermont  in  1833,  and  settled 
on  Section  8,  between  the  Des  Planes  and  Du  Page  Rivers.  The  colony  con- 
sisted of  George  and  Russell  Tryon,  who  were  both  single  men  at  the  time, 
and  Dr.  Ira  0.  Knapp,  his  wife  and  Miss  Knapp,  a  single  sister,  now  the  wife 
of  Lyman  Foster  of  Plainfield.  Dr.  Knapp  is  a  nephew  of  the  Tryons,  and 
his  wife  and  sister  comprised  the  only  ladies  of  their  party.  He  built  a  log 
house  on  his  claim  18x20  feet  in  size,  in  which  all  lived  for  two  or  three  years. 
Dr.  Knapp  says  he  at  one  time  had  eight  boarders  in  this  little  house,  as  other 


592  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

early  settlers  would  come  in,  and  he  would  entertain  them  until  they  found 
locations  and  provided  other  accommodations.  His  description  of  this  prim- 
itive residence  shows  what  the  early  settlers  had  to  put  up  with  forty  years  ago, 
and  were  contented  if  even  a  shelter  could  be  procured.  As  stated,  the  house 
was  18x20  feet,  and  three  sides  of  it  were  of  logs,  while  one  end  was  left  open 
for  a  fire-place,  which  was  the  usual  mode  then  of  cabins  and  fire-places,  and 
the  only  saWed  boards  were  what  the  door  was  made  of,  the  floors  and  roof 
being  of  "shakes"  or  "clapboards,"  and  puncheons  or  slabs  split  out  of  trees. 
Dr.  Knapp  and  George  Tryon  still  live  upon  their  original  claims ;  Russell 
Tryon  died  about  three  years  after  their  settlement  here.  The  party  stopped 
first  in  Plainfield,  or  Walker's  Grove,  and  finding  the  timbered  land  all  claimed 
in  that  region  started  out  on  a  prospecting  tour,  and  came  down  through  the 
present  township  of  Troy  into  Channahon,  west  of  the  Du  Page  River,  where 
they  selected  locations,  and  returned  to  Plainfield  for  the  purpose  of  removing 
their  effects  to  their  claims.  In  coming  back  to  the  place  selected,  they  met 
with  a  man  named  McGill,  mentioned  as  an  early  settler  in  Troy  Township, 
who  volunteered  to  come  with  them  and  show  them  eligible  points  for  settle- 
ment. Instead  of  allowing  them  to  go  to  the  west  side  of  the  river,  where  they 
had  selected  claims,  he  conducted  them  to  their  present  places,  and  told  them 
the  land  was  far  superior  to  that  on  the  opposite  side,  a  fact  that  subsequent 
developments  have  proved  to  be  true. 

New  York  State  furnished  Channahon  a  number  of  its  early  settlers,  and 
some  of  its  most  enterprising  and  worthy  citizens.  Among  them  we  may  men 
tion  Michael  Morehouse,  J.  N.  Fryer,  Isaac  Jessup,  E.  C.  Fellows,  Dr.  Scher- 
merhorn  and  his  brother,  Barant;  Judge  William  B.  Peck,  Peter  McCowan, 
Burke  and  Isaac  Van  Alstine,  H.  D.  Risley,  Jedediah,  Gerry  and  Walter 
Eames,  and  a  man  named  Baurlyte.  Dr.  Schermerhorn  was  a  practicing  physi- 
cian, and  settled  in  the  town  in  1834.  Jacob  B.  Schermerhorn,  a  son  of  his, 
also  came  this  year,  but  before  the  old  gentleman,  and  made  a  claim  on  Section 
8,  where  he  died  about  fifteen  years  ago.  Barant  Schermerhorn,  a  brother  to 
the  Doctor,  came  the  following  year,  and  settled  in  the  neighborhood,  where  he 
died  many  years  ago.  The  Doctor,  after  practicing  his  profession  here  several 
year?,  removed  to  Ottawa.  He  died  some  years  ago,  but  his  widow  was  still 
living  there  at  the  last  known  of  her.  Morehouse  settled  on  Section  17,  in 
1834,  where  he  died  in  1875  at  the  age  of  fourscore.  He  was  a  married  man 
when  he  came  to  the  settlement,  but  boarded  with  Dr.  Knapp  until  he  made 
his  claim  and  built  a  house.  J.  N.  Fryer  was  a  son  of  Mrs.  Morehouse  by  a 
former  marriage,  and  came  here  with  them.  He  is  living  near  the  village  of 
Channahon,  and  is  one  of  the  most  prosperous  farmers  and  citizens  of  the 
township,  and  withal  one  of  the  popular  and  public-spirited  men  of  the  day,  as 
evidenced  by  the  fact  that  he  has  held  the  office  of  Supervisor  of  the  town  since 
1866  without  interruption.  Isaac  Jessup  and  family  settled  in  the  town  in  1834, 
in  good  time  to  raise  a  crop  of  corn  that  season.  The  first  flour  they  used  in  their 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  503 

new  home  was  procured  from  Thornberg's,  who  settled  here  the  previous  year. 
John  S.,  a  son  of  Isaac  Jessup,  and  who  was  rather  young  when  they  came  to  the 
country,  is  now  a  merchant  in  Wilmington.  Another  son  is  an  Episcopal 
clergyman  in  New  Orleans.  It  is  said  that  Butler,  when  in  command  at 
"New  Orleans  during  the  war,  arrested  and  imprisoned  him  at  Fort  Pickens 
because  he  vould  not  pray  for  the  President  of  the  United  States  according  to 
the  Episcopal  Creed.  The  other  sons  of  William  Jessup  are  dead,  but  several 
daughters  are  still  living.  He  died  in  1853.  Judge  William  B.  Peck  settled 
in  the  town  in  1835,  a  little  north  of  the  present  village.  He  received  his  title 
of  Judge  while  living  in  New  York,  and  was  what  was  termed  a  "Side  Judge," 
corresponding,  we  presume,  with  the  Associate  Justices  of  other  States  in  the 
olden  time.  E.  C.  Fellows  and  George  Try  on  married  daughters  of  Judge 
Peck.  The  wife  of  the  former  is  still  living,  and  two  sons  of  the  Judge  are 
living,  one  in  New  York  and  the  other  in  California ;  but  the  old  gentleman 
died  some  twenty  years  or  more  ago.  E.  C.  Fellows  settled  in  the  town  in 
1836,  but  soon  removed  to  Joliet,  where  for  some  time  he  was  a  prominent 
lawyer,  and  where  he  is  noticed  as  one  of  the  first  lawyers  in  that  city.  Burke 
and  Isaac  Van  Alstine  settled  northeast  of  the  village  of  Channahon  in  1835. 
The  former  is  still  a  resident  of  the  township,  while  Isaac  lives  in  the  village. 
Peter  McCowan  settled  in  1835  on  Section  5,  where  he  died  about  fifteen  years 
ago.  H.  D.  Risley  settled  in  the  town  in  1834,  and  was  a  prominent  man  and 
served  a  term  as  Sheriff  of  the  county.  He  died  about  1856  or  1857.  Jede- 
diah,  Gerry  and  Walter  Eames,  three  brothers,  settled  in  this  section  in  1834, 
and  are  all  dead.  Baurlyte  settled  here  in  1834,  but  after  a  residence  of  a  year 
or  two,  became  disgusted  with  the  wilderness  of  the  West  and  returned  to  New 
York. 

Robert  Thornberg,  Seymour  Treat  and  a  man  named  Greggs  came  from 
Indiana  in  1833,  and  are  numbered  among  the  very  first  settlers  of  Channahon 
Township.  Thornberg  died  several  years  ago,  but  his  sons  are  still  living  in 
the  neighborhood.  Greggs  moved  to  Iowa  in  1836.  Treat  and  his  two  sons, 
Isaiah  and  Stephen  (one  of  them  a  doctor),  settled  in  this  township  as  above 
stated,  and  built  a  grist-mill  at  the  foot  of  the  island,  which  is  called  by  their 
name.  The  Lewises  came  from  the  chalky  cliffs  of  Old  England,  and  first  settled 
in  Grundy  County,  just  over  the  line.  Joseph  Lewis  has  long  been  one  of  the 
prominent  business  men  and  merchants  of  Channahon.  He  settled  in  Grundy 
County  in  1834,  and,  in  1850,  removed  to  the  village  of  Channahon,  where  he 
still  lives.  Henry  Lewis  and  Dr.  William  Lewis,  his  brothers,  came  to  the 
country  in  1833,  the  year  before  Joseph  came.  Dr.  Lewis  was  one  of  the  early 
practitioners  of  this  section  of  the  country,  and  died  in  Gruiidy  County,  and 
Henry  was  drowned  some  years  ago  in  the  Kankakee  River.  Gibson  Willard 
came  here  in  1834  and  made  a  claim;  but  did  not  bring  his  family  until  the 
next  year.  Reuben  G.  Willard,  a  nephew,  came  with  him,  and,  several  years 
.later,  Reuben  Willard,  a  brother  to  Gibson  Willard,  settled  in  the  town.  They 


594  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

are  all  gone  now,  either  dead  or  moved  away,  except  some  grandchildren,  who- 
still  live  in  the  neighborhood.  Hosea  Buel  settled  on  Section  5  in  1835,  and 
died  twenty  or  twenty-five  years  ago.  Joseph  McCune  settled  in  this  township, 
east  of  the  Des  Planes  River,  in  1832  or  1833,  where  he  died  a  few  years  ago. 
John  Troutman  settled  in  the  same  neighborhood  about  the  same  time  of 
McCune.  John  Ward  settled  in  the  town  in  1834,  but  of  him  but  Jeitle  could  be 
learned.  In  giving  the  list  of  settlers  in  Channahon  Township,  we  should  not 
omit  the  mention  of  a  small  part  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  whom  many  of 
our  readers  will  remember  as  "  Nigger  Dick."  This  comprises  the  names  of 
the  early  settlers  so  far  as  they  can  now  be  obtained.  Any  omissions  of  names 
entitled  to  mention  as  early  settlers,  result  from  the  fact  that  the  few  pioneers 
left  have  forgotten  them.  Forty  years  is  a  broad  expanse,  over  which  the 
memory  may  not  always  travel  with  clearness,  and  that  many  should  be  for- 
gotten is  but  characteristic  of  human  nature. 

Channahon  Township  was,  previous  to  its  settlement  by  the  whites,  a  favor- 
ite abode  and  hunting-ground  of  the  Indians  of  the  Pottawatomie  tribe,  and 
many  of  them  were  to  found  here  after  white  men  began  to  settle  in  the  town. 
They  had  a  village  here  at  one  time,  traces  of  which  long  remained,  and 
mounds,  where  they  buried  their  dead.  Judge  Woodruff  mentions  the  grave 
of  one,  in  his  "Forty  Years  Ago,"  near  the  residence  of  Mr.  Treat,  who  was 
buried  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  supposed  to  be  one  of  their  prominent  men,  as 
they  always  took  great  pains  to  visit  it  in  passing  up  and  down  the  river.  They 
made  a  visit  to  Chicago  to  receive  their  wampum,  before  leaving  for  the  "  Far 
West,"  and  returned  to  Channahon  for  a  farewell  look  at  the  homes  of  their 
youth.  It  is  said  that  many  shed  tears  on  leaving  forever  the  spot  where  their 
lives  had  been  passed,  and  that  all  appeared  downcast  and  sad.  If  this  be  true, 
it  shows  up  a  new  phase  of  Indian  character,  and  proclaims  them,  after  all, 
tinged  with  a  light  touch  of  humanity,  though  there  are  many  who  are  a  little 
skeptical  as  to  the  feeling  said  to  have  been  displayed  by  them  on  leaving  this 
section,  and  say  that  most  of  them  manifested  the  most  childish  enthusiasm  at 
the  "  change  of  base."  But  on  one  point  they  generally  agree,  and  that  was, 
their  loneliness  after  the  departure  of  the  Indians  ;  for  quite  a  sociability  had 
sprung  up  between  the  two  races,  particularly  between  the  female  portion,  and 
the  squaws  would  frequently  visit  the  whites  and  bring  their  papooses  with 
them,  and  seemed  to  enjoy,  with  the  most  unbounded  delight,  the  hospitality 
extended  by  their  pale-face  sisters.  The  chief,  Bourbonnais,  or,  as  called  by  the 
French  and  Indians,  Bil-bo-nee,  with  the  accent  on  the  last  syllable,  had  a  great 
many  ponies,  and  seems  to  have  been  quite  a  lover  of  horse-flesh.  The  Indi- 
ans were  great  gamblers  and  horse-racers.  "Bil-bo-nee"  had  a  race-course 
near  his  village,  where  they  used  to  race  a  great  deal,  and  would  sometimes  bet 
high  on  the  speed  of  their  ponies.  Their  track  was  straight  and  very  level,  and 
did  not  circle,  like  those  of  their  white  and  more  refined  friends.  The  chief 
was  a  great  friend  to  the  white  people  as  long  as  he  remained  here,  and  parted. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  595 

with  them  with  apparent  regret.  And,  as  stated  above,  a  kind  of  lonely  feel- 
ing settled  over  the  community  after  the  Indians  had  gone.  For,  with  a  feel- 
ing somewhat  akin  to  that  of  the  poet,  who  wrote  within  a  gloomy  prison : 

"  With  spiders  I  have  friendship  made, 
And  watched  them  in  their  sullen  trade ; 
Have  seen  the  mice  by  moonlight  play — " 

and  for  a  lack  of  a  sufficiency  of  copmanionship  in  this,  their  wilderness,  a  warm 
friendship  had  originated  between  the  races  ;  and  when  the  Indians  departed, 
it  left  quite  an  opening  in  the  country,  and  some  few  there  were  who  mourned 
their  absence. 

The  first  white  child  born  in  the  township  was  George  Knapp,  a  son  of  Dr. 
Knapp,  and  was  born  in  July,  ]  834.  This,  at  least,  is  the  first  that  can  now 
be  recalled.  Jedediah  Eames  was  killed  by  lightning  in  April  of  1835  or  of 
1836,  which  was  probably  the  first  death  which  occurred  in  the  small  settle- 
ment. Just  who  were  the  first  parties  to  commit  matrimony,  cannot  now  be 
ascertained.  Judge  Peck's  daughters  were  married  very  early  in  the  history  of 
the  settlement ;  but  whether  George  Tryon  and  Miss  Peck  were  the  first  mar- 
ried in  the  town  is  not  known,  but  they  were  among  the  first.  Dr.  Knapp  was  the 
first  practicing  physician,  and  Dr.  Lewis  was  the  next  and  very  soon  after 
Knapp,  while  Dr.  Schermerhorn  was  also  one  of  the  early  doctors  of  the  town. 
Dr.  Knapp  retired  from  the  practice  of  medicine  more  than  twenty-five  years 
ago.  The  first  preacher  "  crying  in  the  wilderness  "  of  Channahon  was  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Perry,  who  proclaimed  the  Word  here  as  early  as  1836.  He  was  a 
Congregational  or  Presbyterian  minister,  and  was  said  to  be  the  laziest  man  the 
township  ever  knew.  Dr.  Knapp  went  fifteen  miles  for  him  to  come  and  preach 
in  their  neighborhood.  Services  were  held  in  the  house  of  Russell  Tryon,  who 
was  unmarried  and  gave  the  use  of  his  residence  for  a  chapel  and  schoolhouse. 
The  following  story  is  told  in  illustration  of  Mr.  Perry's  "  native  indolence :  " 
He  cut  his  foot  one  day,  very  slightly,  with  an  ax,  a  wound  that  an  ordinary 
man  would  have  paid  no  attention  to.  But  he  bundled  up  his  foot  with  several 
pounds  of  rags,  dismissed  his  school,  and  declined  to  preach  the  first  Sunday 
after  it  occurred.  The  next  Sunday,  however,  he  appeared,  with  foot  well  bun- 
dled up,  hobbling  along  with  a  cane,  and  when  commencing  to  preach,  put  his 
foot  on  a  chair,  while  he  bore  his  entire  weight  on  his  well  foot.  During  his 
sermon  he  became  somewhat  excited,  forgot  his  wound,  set  his  lame  foot  on  the 
floor  and  the  well  one  on  the  chair,  which  so  amused  the  audience  that  the  good 
effect  of  his  sermon,  if  there  was  any,  was  lost.  He  also  taught  the  first  school 
in  the  township,  which  commenced  simultaneously  with  his  preaching,  and  was 
taught  in  Russell  Tryon's  house,  which,  as  above  stated,  was  used  both  as  a 
church  and  as  a  temple  of  learning. 

The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1837-38,  on  Section  8,  near  Dr.  Knapp's, 
and  was  a  frame  building,  something  uncommon  for  school  edifices  at  that  early 
day.  In  1872,  the  school  record  was  as  follows :  Nine  school  districts ;  415 


596  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

pupils  enrolled ;  13  teachers  employed ;  1  graded  school ;  5  schoolhouses ; 
special  tax  for  support  of  schools,  $12,000 ;  amount  paid  teachers,  $3,357 : 
total  expenditures  for  the  year,  $5,375.95;  balance  in  treasury,  $310.80 — 
which  statistics  have  not  materially  changed  since  that  report. 

The  first  church  edifice,  and  the  only  one  in  the  town,  was  built  in  the  vil- 
lage, where  it  is  again  referred  to.  The  first  mill  was  built  on  the  Des  Planes 
River,  by  Seymour  Treat  and  his  son,  as  already  noticed.  It  was  a  log  struct- 
ure and  ground  wheat  and  corn.  It  was  built  in  1837-38,  and  has  long  since 
passed  away;  "But,"  says  Dr.  Knapp,  "when  we  got  that  mill  in  operation 
in  our  settlement,  we  thought  we  had  a  big  thing."  The  first  post  office  was 
established  in  1836,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Judge  Peck,  who  was  the 
first  Postmaster.  The  name  of  the  office  was  Du  Page,  a  name  it  bore  until 
the  laying  out  of  the  village  of  Channahon,  when  it  was  removed  to  the  village 
and  the  name  changed  to  Channahon.  Judge  Peck  was  also  the  first  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  and  was  appointed  or  elected  to  the  office  about  1837.  At  present, 
J.  N.  Fryer  and  Albert  Randall  are  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  J.  N.  Fryer,  Super- 
visor ;  Dr.  Joseph  Fitch,  School  Treasurer,  and  Timothy  Gorman,  Town  Clerk. 

The  first  road  laid  out,  passed  through  the  southwest  corner  of  the  township 
to  Joliet,  and  the  first  bridge  was  built  across  the  Du  Page  River,  on  Section 
18  ;  and  was  built  by  the  people,  of  logs,  and  a  rather  rough  affair.  The  town 
is  well  supplied  with  bridges  at  the  present  time,  over  the  Du  Page,  Des  Planes 
and  the  Canal,  though  none  of  them  are  iron  bridges.  They  are  substantially 
built,  however,  with  stone  foundations,  and  answer  all  practical  purposes.  The 
first  store  is  noticed  in  the  history  of  the  village.  The  first  blacksmith 
was  Julius  Sackett,  who  kept  a  shop  in  the  town  as  early  as  1838  or  1839,  though 
of  him,  little  could  be  learned.  The  first  Supervisor  of  Channahon,  after  town- 
ship organization  in  1850,  was  George  Tryon,  who  served  for  1850-51.  Since 
then  the  following  gentlemen  have  served  in  that  capacity  :  H.  Henderson, 
1853;  J.  B.  Schermerhorn,  1854-56;  Charles  C.  Smith,'  1857-61;  E.  H. 
Jessup,  1862  ;  John  T.  Randall,  1863-65  ;  J.  N.  Fryer  from  1866  to  1878, 
inclusive,  and  is  the  present  incumbent.  His  long  service  as  Supervisor  is' the 
most  satisfactory  evidence  as  to  his  efficiency  in  the  office  he  fills. 

The  sandstone  quarries  of  Channahon  furnish  a  very  superior  quality  of 
building-stone,  and  were  opened  originally  by  Joseph  Lewis,  long  one  of  the 
prominent  business  men  of  the  village  of  Channahon.  Another  quarry  of  a 
similar  character  was  opened  and  worked  for  a  time  by  Patrick  Conroy.  None 
of  these  quarries  are  now  in  operation,  a  fact  that  seems  strange,  when  we  con- 
sider the  excellent  and  cheap  transportation  of  freights  by  way  of  the  Illinois 
&  Michigan  Canal.  With  the  apparently  inexhaustible  supply,  the  ease  with 
which  the  stone  is  reached,  it  would  be  natural  to  suppose  that  this  would  be 
the  leading  business  of  the  town.  Quite  an  item  of  importance  in  the  history 
of  this  township,  is  the  cheese-factory  and  creamery.  It  is  owned  by  Charles 
C.  Smith,  one  of  the  wealthy  and  solid  men  of  the  place,  and  George  Alexan- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  597 

der.  The  factory  was  built  in  the  Spring  of  1877,  and  has  since  done  a  large 
and  extensive  business,  which  is  increasing  rapidly  in  volume.  They  manufact- 
ure both  cheese  and  butter,  purchasing  a  large  quantity  of  the  milk  used,  while 
some  is  made  up  for  their  patrons.  A  grain  elevator  was  built  some  years  ago 
by  H.  S.  Carpenter,  on  the  Canal,  a  short  distance  above  the  village  of  Channa. 
hon,  which  is  now  owned  by  a  man  named  Knapp,*  but  is  at  present  standing 
idle.  The  business  has,  during  the  past  Summer,  been  transferred  to  the  Rock 
Island  Railroad  which  passes  within  a  few  miles  of  the  place.  The  building  is 
an  excellent  one,  provided  with  steam  power,  and  it  seems  a  pity  that  it  should 
remain  closed  and  tenantless. 

The  township  is  pretty  evenly  divided  on  political  issues,  a  small  majority, 
however,  Democratic.  In  the  old  times  of  Whigs  and  Democrats,  it  voted  solid, 
almost,  for  Andrew  Jackson,  and  many  there  are  who  still  vote  for  the  old  hero 
of  New  Orleans,  notwithstanding  the  great  revolution  of  political  questions. 
Its  record  during  the  late  war  was  patriotic,  as  was  every  portion  of  Will 
County.  But  as  their  history  and  patriotism  have  been  ably  written,  we  shall 
not  attempt  to  repeat  it  here. 

VILLAGE    OF   CHANNAHON. 

The  village  of  Channahon  is  situated  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  and 
on  the  Du  Page  River,  a  little  above  its  junction  with  the  Des  Planes,  and  has 
the  double  advantage  of  a  most  excellent  water-power,  and  a  cheap  freight  trans- 
portation. It  was  laid  out  by  Myrvin  Benjamin,  in  1845,  and  was  called  Du 
Page,  after  the  first  post  office  established  in  the  township.  During  the  build- 
ing of  the  Canal,  it  is  said  that  the  Canal  Trustees  had  something  to  do  with 
the  village,  in  some  way  or  other,  and  called  it  "  Swifton,"  after  one  of  their 
number  ;  but  this  story  is  disputed  by  some  of  the  old  citizens  of  the  place,  who 
say  that  its  name  still  stands  upon  the  records  as  Du  Page,  although  the  name 
of  the  present  post  office  is  Channahon,  and  the  village  is  usually  called  by  the 
same  name.  The  first  house  erected  in  the  village  was  put  up  by  Benjamin, 
about  the  time  of  the  laying  of  it  out,  and  was  used  as  a  hotel  by  Mrs.  Story. 
It  is  now  occupied  as  a  residence  by  David  Billsland.  Chauncey  Stickney  opened 
the  first  store  in  the  village  in  1845,  which  was  the  first  mercantile  venture  in 
the  township  as  well  as  in  the  village.  After  the  laying-out  of  the  village,  Du 
Page  post  office  was  removed  into  it  and  the  name  changed  to  Channahon,  and 
at  present  Charles  Fowler  is  Postmaster.  The  following  is  the  business  sum- 
mary:  Four  stores,  by  C.  &  C.  E.  Fowler,  J.  Lewis,  Dr.  Joseph  Fitch,  Timothy 
Gorman  ;  one  grocery  store ;  two  blacksmith-shops ;  one  wagon-shop  and  hard- 
ware store.  For  a  small  place  like  Channahon,  there  is  quite  an  extensive 
business  carried  on,  and  a  good  trade  maintained.  They  have  the  advantage  of 
a  daily  mail,  which  is  brought  across  the  country  from  Minooka,  a  point  on  the 
Rock  Island  Railroad.  The  Channahon  Mills  were  built  by  Joseph  Lewis,  and 

*  No  relation  to  Dr.  Knapp  of  this  township. 


598  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

after  passing  through  the  hands  of  several  parties,  are  now  owned  by  a  man 
named  Sprague,  and  at  present  operated  by  a  Mr.  Eversoll.  They  are  frame 
buildings,  containing  two  runs  of  buhrs,  for  flour  and  feed,  and  run  by  the  water 
power  of  the  Canal. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  located  in  the  village  of  Channahon,  is 
the  only  church  edifice  in  either  township  or  village.  It  was  built  in  1852-53, 
and  is  a  large  and  handsome  frame  building.  Rev.  R.  K.  Bibbins  was  the 
Pastor  last  year,  but  the  session  of  Conference  just  closed  sent  to  the  charge 
Rev.  Mr.  Gillespie.  There  is  a  membership  of  between  eighty  and  ninety,  with 
a  Sunday  school  equally  strong,  under  the  superintendence  of  Dr.  J.  Fitch. 
Although  this  is  the  only  church-building  in  the  township,  religious  services  are 
frequently  held  in  the  schoolhouses,  as  well  as  Sunday  schools.  The  first 
sclioolhouse  built  in  the  village  of  Channahon  was  in  1839,  before  the  village 
was  laid  out,  and  is  now  degraded  by  being  used  as  a  stable ;  the  next  one  was 
built  in  1854,  and  burned  in  1868,  when  the  present  handsome  edifice  was 
erected  and  opened  in  1869.  It  is  an  elegant  and  substantial  two-story  frame 
building,  finished  off  in  the  most  approved  modern  style.  The  school  is  graded, 
with  a  high-school  department,  and  is  in  charge  of  Prof.  Layburn,  assisted  by 
Misses  Brown  and  Blount. 

The  Masonic  Order  is  represented  by  Channahon  Lodge,  No.  262.  It  was 
chartered  in  1857,  and  the  present  oflicers  are  as  follows :  Albert  Randall, 
Worshipful  Master;  Nelson  Bedford,  Senior  Warden ;  R.  C.  Miller,  Junior 
Warden,  and  C.  Fowler,  Secretary,  with  forty-five  names  on  the  roll  of  mem- 
bership. 

This  comprises  the  history  of  the  pretty  little  village,  nestled  among  the 
bluffs  of  the  Du  Page  and  Des  Planes  Rivers.  It  is  a  beautiful  location  for  a 
town,  but,  owing  to  the  railroads  which  pass  within  a  few  miles  of  it,  there  is 
but  little  probability  of  its  ever  growing  to  the  size  of  Chicago. 

Shermanville  is  a  place  only  in  name.  A  stone  quarry  was  opened  here  a 
few  years  ago,  and  an  effort  made  for  a  village  ;  but  for  some  cause  the  quarries 
were  discontinued,  and  the  prospects  of  a  town  became  extinguished.  There  is 
not,  we  are  told,  a  house  or  even  a  cabin  to  designate  the  spot  laid  down  on  the 
map  as  Shermanville.  Gravel  Bank  Station  is  another  place  of  like  propor- 
tions, and  consists  chiefly  of  a  side-track  on  the  Chicago,  Pekin  &  Southwest- 
ern Railroad,  for  shipping  grain  and  stock. 


WESLEY  TOWNSHIP. 

The  alarms  of  cruel  butcheries  and  inhuman  massacres  by  the  Indians  had 
but  ceased  to  echo  through  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  the  tracks  of  the  red  men 
were  still  visible  in  the  soil — the  Government  having  but  recently  removed  them 
to  reservations  beyond  the  Mississippi — when  emigrants  from  all  portions  of  the 
East  and  South  came  pouring  into  the  State.  Prior  to  1832,  many  settlements 


X 


NEW  LENVX  TP. 


THE  LIBHI8Y 
OF  THE 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  601 

had  been  made  in  the  southern  and  northwestern  portions  of  the  State ;  and, 
in  the  part  of  the  State  now  embraced  in  Will  County,  a  few  white  people  had 
settled  among  the  Indians.  But  in  the  year  named,  owing  to  the  troubles 
alluded  to,  this  county,  with  others  near  the  scene  of  hostilities,  was  entirely 
depopulated,  and  immigration  was  temporarily  checked.  As  soon, however, 
as  it  was  apparent  that  the  danger  was  past,  the  tide  again  set  in  with  redoubled 
volume. 

Before  the  Black  Hawk  troubles,  probably,  no  white  man  had  ever  con- 
sidered the  part  of  the  county  now  called  Wesley  Township  his  home,  no  traces 
of  white  men's  cabins,  or  other  improvements  being  detected  two  years  later. 
John  Williams,  who  still  resides  in  the  township,  says  that,  when  he  first  visited 
the  place,  in  the  Fall  of  1833,  there  were  no  indications  that  it  had  ever  before 
been  inhabited  except  by  Indians,  and  that  his  little  cabin,  erected  at  that  time, 
was  the  first  domicile  of  that  nature  ever  erected  here.  Williams  was  from  the 
Old  Dominion,  formerly,  but  had  come  to  the  vicinity  of  Danville  in  1831,  and 
was  living  there  when  the  war  broke  out.  He  remembers  quite  well  seeing 
the  troops  leave  Danville,  on  their  march  to  Rock  River,  where  Black  Hawk 
was  gathering  his  allies,  preparatory  to  taking  possession  of  that  region,  and 
sweeping  off  the  white  population  who  had  dared  to  encroach  upon  his  domain. 
In  1833,  he  came  to  Joliet,  and  from  there  out  to  this  place,  to  select  some 
land,  split  rails  and  build  a  cabin,  preparatory  to  making  a  permanent  settle- 
ment the  next  Spring.  In  May  of  the  next  year,  1834,  he  moved  to  the  place, 
occupied  his  land  and  began  making  other  improvements.  Mr.  Williams  was 
then  33  years  old,  being  born  in  1801.  He  still  lives  at  the  age  of  77,  with 
body  and  mental  faculties  unimpaired,  and  it  is  to  him  that  we  are  indebted  for 
most  of  the  early  history  of  the  township. 

Though  Williams  was  the  first  to  make  an  improvement  in  Wesley  Town- 
ship, he  was  preceded  two  weeks  in  its  occupation.  When  Williams  came  to 
occupy  his  new  home,  he  found  George  M.  Beckwith,  Andrew  Pettijohn  and 
Absalom  Heyworth  already  here,  and  learned  that  they  had  left  Indiana  about 
a  month  before,  and  had  arrived  here  after  a  journey  of  twelve  days.  Beck- 
with's  brother,  Daniel  W.,  had  been  employed  by  the  Government  to  survey 
this  portion  of  the  State,  and  from  him  he  had  learned  of  the  character  of 
the  country,  and  had  moved  out.  George  M.  Beckwith  was  a  lawyer, 
or  at  least  practiced  a  little  in  the  lower  courts,  and  before  Justices  of  the 
Peace.  He  was  also  a  good  farmer.  He  died  in  1845,  of  what  is  sometimes 
termed  "  milk-sickness."  His  widow  afterward  married  John  Frazier,  who  was 
also  one  of  the  early  citizens  in  this  neighborhood. 

Daniel  Beckwith,  to  whom  allusion  has  just  been  made,  took  a  severe  cold 
while  engaged  in  the  work  spoken  of,  from  which  he  never  recovered,  but  died 
in  1834. 

A  few  weeks  after  Williams  settled  in  his  new  home,  John  and  Alexander 
Frazier  and  James  W.  and  Joseph  Kelly,  from  the  same  neighborhood  in 


602  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Virginia,  made  their  appearance  in  the  community.  These  were  men  whose 
coming  would  be  a  source  of  congratulation  to  any  neighborhood  and  at  any 
time  ;  but  at  the  time  of  which  we  write  were  they  especially  welcome.  John 
Frazier  was  a  man  of  education,  and  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  useful  and 
influential  citizens  of  the  township.  He  was  the  first  Supervisor  of  Wilming- 
ton Township,  when  Wesley  constituted  a  portion  of  it ;  and,  upon  the  division, 
he  was  elected  to  the  same  office  from  this  precinct.  There  was  hardly  a  posi- 
tion of  responsibility  and  trust  but  that  he  has  filled,  and  that  with  credit  to 
himself  and  satisfaction  to  his  constituents.  He  died  September  13,  1868,  and 
his  brother  Alexander  about  two  years  later.  Arthur  Potts  and  Robert  Wat- 
kins,  from  Virginia,  and  Hamilton  Keeney,  from  the  same  State,  emigrated  to 
this  place  a  little  later,  arriving  in  the  Fall  of  1834.  Watkins  was  a  man  of 
good  judgment  and  some  education.  He  was  one  of  the  early  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  being  elected  to  the  office  before  the  township  was  organized.  Hamilton 
Keeney  was  also  a  leading  man. 

During  the  year  1835,  quite  a  number  of  new  settlers  made  claims  and 
occupied  land,  among  whom  are  remembered  J.  T.  Davis,  George  Gay,  T. 
McCarty,  Wesley  Carter  and  Griffy  Davis.  J.  T.  Davis  was  an  old  veteran  of 
the  Revolutionary  war ;  '  was  in  Washington's  army,  and  in  the  important 
capture  of  the  Hessians  at  Trenton.  He  used  to  relate  the  circumstances  at- 
tending this  movement  with  great  minuteness  and  much  interest.  One  of  his 
greatest  enjoyments  was  in  thus  "fighting  his  battles  over  again,"  and  many 
a  pleasant  hour  the  younger  folks  enjoyed  in  listening  to  the  old  soldier's 
stories.  The  other  Davis,  "  GrifFy,"  was  not  a  relative  of  the  veteran.  He 
came  from  Ohio,  with  his  young  wife,  who  took  sick  almost  as  soon  as  she  ar- 
rived, lingered  for  six  months,  and  died.  This  was  the  first  death  that  occurred 
in  the  neighborhood.  Rough  but  kindly  hands  laid  her  away  in  the  soil  of  the 
strange  land,  and  Davis  returned  to  his  native  State.  The  place  of  burial  was 
marked  with  only  a  slight  wooden  headboard,  and,  it  having  long  since  decayed, 
the  spot  is  not  now  known.  David  Blackwell,  though  not  a  permanent  settler, 
being  a  Methodist  preacher,  came  in  this  year,  and  organized  the  Church 
of  that  denomination. 

William  Forbes,  William  Goodwin,  John  Strunk,  Henry  Moore,  Joseph 
Hadsel,  Daniel  McGilvery,  John  G.  Putman  and  Elias  Freer  came  in  during 
the  two  years  ending  1837.  Forbes  was  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812,  and,  like 
Davis,  was  fond  of  entertaining  his  friends  with  incidents  of  his  soldier  life. 
He  was  a  millwright,  and  in  this  trade  he  is  said  to  have  excelled.  He  was 
subpoenaed  in  the  great  Parker  wheel  suit,  as  a  witness  against  the  patentees ; 
and,  though  they  had  successfully  contested  the  rights  of  many  millers  to  use 
their  device  on  account  of  its  "back-action"  feature,  Forbes  showed  so  con- 
clusively to  the  Court  the  fallacy  of  their  claim  that  not  only  did  they  lose  this 
suit,  but  never  afterward  attempted  to  enforce  a  claim  against  an  infringer. 
One  of  the  counsel  for  the  plaintiffs  declared  that  Forbes  knew  more  about 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  603 

hydraulics  than  any  other  man  in  America.  John  Strunk  was  a  son-in-law  of 
Forbes,  and  was  also  a  miller.  He  worked  in  the  mills  at  Wilmington  for  a 
time,  and  afterward  moved  to  Momence,  and  bought  the  mill  at  that  place. 
He  died  at  Momence,  about  fifteen  years  ago.  William  Goodwin  was  one  of 
the  most  substantial  farmers  of  Wesley  Township.  His  farm,  near  the  center 
of  the  township,  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  in  this  vicinity.  William  Good- 
win died  about*  a  year  ago,  at  the  age  of  68  years,  leaving  a  very  large  estate. 
Daniel  McGilvery  was  a  Scotchman.  He  died  of  consumption,  in  1856.  All 
of  his  family  have  since  been  taken  away  by  the  same  disease.  Joseph  Hadsel 
was  a  native  of  New  York,  but  had  lived  for  a  time  in  Michigan.  His  family 
consisted  of  himself,  wife  and  six  children,  all  of  whom,  except  his  wife,  now 
verging  on  to  her  fourscore  years,  and  a  daughter,  wife  of  the  late  Duncan 
Mclntyre,  of  Florence  Township,  are  now  dead.  One  son,  Charles,  met  a 
torturous  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  in -New  Mexico,  whither  he  was 
traveling  in  1862.  Two  other  sons,  Thomas  and  William,  both  died  the  same 
day,  in  this  township,  one  of  consumption  and  the  other  of  pleurisy.  The  older 
Hadsel  passed  away  in  1852.  Elias  Freer  was  a  native  of  New  York.  His 
son,  Dr.  Freer,  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  physicians  of  the  Northwest, 
being,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  a  couple  of  years  ago,  President  of  Rush  Med- 
ical College,  of  Chicago.  Another  son,  L.  C.  P.  Freer,  is  a  prominent  lawyer 
of  the  same  city.  Elias  Freer  removed  from  the  township  some  years  ago. 

Some  of  the  old  settlers  will  remember  Adam  Reinish,  of  Reinish  Creek. 
Could  his  history  all  be  known,  it  would,  doubtless,  prove  an  interesting  one,  a& 
he  served  in  the  war  between  the  French  and  Russians,  and  was  with  Napoleon's 
army  in  the  retreat  from  Moscow.  No  one  familiar  with  that  wonderful  cam- 
paign can  doubt  but  that  Reinish  saw  sights  that  neither  pen  nor  words  can 
faithfully  describe.  John  G.  Putnam,  mentioned  among  the  early  settlers  of 
Wilmington,  was  also  an  early  settler  here,  being  in  this  neighborhood  as  early 
as  1837. 

By  the  year  1845,  many  more  had  joined  the  settlement,  prominent  among 
whom  were  James  Gould,  John  Kilpatrick,  Anson  Packard,  David  Willard, 
B.  F.  Morgan,  Richard  Binney,  Robert  Kelly  and  William  Killy.  Th'eir 
names  are  given  as  nearly  in  the  order  of  their  coming  as  can  now  be  remem- 
bered. James  Gould  was  one  of  the  most  solid  men  of  the  township.  He 
grew  quite  wealthy,  and  when  he  died,  left  a  large  estate,  all  of  which  was 
accumulated  here.  John  Kilpatrick  was  also  a  good  citizen,  and  left  to  the 
world  a  legacy  of  value — a  good  family.  Hon.  David  Willard  is  a  native  of 
New  York.  When  he  first  came  to  the  county,  he  was  employed  as  a  laborer  by 
Peter  Stewart.  He  is  a  man  of  high  standing,  politically  and  socially.  He 
has  served  the  county  eight  years  as  County  Judge,  and  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties  gave  the  most  eminent  satisfaction.  B.  F.  Morgan  is  also  of  New  York. 
He  has  gained  the  enviable  reputation  of  being  a  good  citizen.  Richard  Bin- 

*  June  18,  1877. 


604  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

ney  was  a  native  of  New  York.  He  was  a  man  of  worth  and  a  successful  farmer. 
He  died  in  1856,  leaving  a  wife,  who  still  survives  him.  William  Killy  was 
from  the  Isle  of  Man.  All  that  can  be  said  of  a  good  citizen  can  be  truthfully 
said  of  him.  He  died  about  eight  years  ago.  His  son  John  occupies  the  farm. 
Robert  Kelly  came  from  New  Orleans.  A  little  incident  is  related  of  his  com- 
ing, which  is  at  the  same  time  interesting  and  amusing.  When  Kelly  came  to 
the  neighborhood,  it  was  with  the  object  of  purchasing  a  piece  of  land,  with  a 
view  of  making  it  a  home.  Having  fixed  upon  a  tract  belonging  to  John  Kil- 
patrick,  which  land  was  for  sale,  a  bargain  was  struck,  the  deed  made  and  the 
purchase-money  paid  down — $800,  all  in  Mexican  dollars.  Kelly,  having 
bought  his  home,  went  his  way,  intending  to  return  the  next  season  to  put  out 
a  crop  and  make  improvements,  and  Kilpatrick  pocketed  his  cash,  congratulat- 
ing himself  on  having  made  a  good  sale.  By  and  by  Kilpatrick  wished  to  use 
some  of  the  money,  and  it  was  paid  out  in  various  ways — some  of  it  paying 
bills  at  the  store  and  other  amounts  being  loaned  to  neighbors,  who  used  it  for 
different  purposes,  so  that,  in  a  short  time,  it  was  all  in  circulation.  All  at 
once  it  was  discovered  that  the  whole  lot  of  coin  was  bogus.  In  those  times, 
money  did  not  leave  a  community  and  circulate  so  rapidly  as  now,  so  that, 
although  the  $800  had  all  been  paid  out,  it  had  not  left  the  neighborhood,  and 
small  amounts  were  in  the  hands  of  almost  everybody.  By  common  consent, 
and  a  suspicion  that,  perhaps,  after  all,  the  money  was  genuine,  it  continued  to  cir- 
culate and  was  paid  out  and  taken  at  par.  Gradually  the  coins  became  scarcer, 
indicating  that  they  were  finding  their  way  out  into  the  world:  but  "  Kilpatrick's 
currency  "  was  a  standing  joke  for  years  after  the  last  piece  was  seen.  Kilpatrick 
and  Kelly  were  both  innocent  parties,  having  both  received  and  paid  out  the"  stuff,' 
supposing  it  to  be  good.  Kelly  returned  in  the  Spring  following  and  occupied  his 
farm,  and  was  much  surprised  to  learn  that  it  had  been  bought  with  counterfeit 
money,  and  gratified  that  it  had  been  placed  beyond  redemption. 

Nearly  all  of  the  settlers  of  this  neighborhood  were  Methodists,  and  one  of 
the  first  public  acts  was  to  organize  a  society  for  the  purpose  of  holding  religious 
services.  In  the  Winter  of  1834-35,  meetings  were  held,  and  Rev.  David 
Blackwell  was  sent  by  the  M.  E.  Conference  to  preach.  A  Church  and  Sunday 
school  were  organized,  and  these  have  both  continued  in  operation  ever  since. 
Although  this  society  is  the  only  religious  organization  in  the  township,  and, 
although  it  has  been  quite  strong  and  wealthy,  no  exclusive  church-building  has 
ever  been  erected.  For  a  number  of  years,  services  were  held  in  the  little 
schoolhouse.  After  a  time,  when  the  congregation  had  outgrown  its  narrow 
quarters,  it  was  proposed  to  build  a  new  schoolhouse  of  such  dimensions  as 
would  answer  both  purposes,  and  this  building  has  ever  since  been  occupied  by 
the  society  and  the  school.  The  first  members  of  the  society  or  class  were 
John  Frazier,  James  W.  Kelly,  Hamilton  Keeney,  John  Williams  and  John 
Kilpatrick,  with  their  wives.  Rev.  Mr.  Meedham  is  the  present  Pastor  of  the 
Church.  * 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  605 

The  first  school  taught  in  the  township  was  in  John  Williams'  log  kitchen. 
The  school  was  taught  by  John  Frazier,  in  the  Winter  of  1836-37.  The  next 
Summer  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  build  a  house  for  that  purpose.  This  was 
the  first  schoolhouse  erected  on  either  bank  of  the  Kankakee  River,  in  what  is 
now  Will  County.  The  building  is  still  in  use,  but  not  as  a  schoolhouse.  It  now 
serves  the  ignoble  purpose  of  a  lumber-room,  on  the  farm  of  Frank  Childs. 
The  earliest  record  of  schools  dates  back  to  1841,  and  shows  three  schools  in 
operation  at  that  time.  Of  these,  Timothy  McCarty,  James  Hadsel  and  Joseph 
Dunlap  were  Directors  of  District  No.  1 ;  James  W.  Kelly,  Robert  Watkins 
and  John  Williams,  of  No.  2 ;  and  G.  M.  Beckwith,  John  Kilpatrick  and 
Nathan  Smith,  of  No.  3. 

The  school  township  then,  as  now,  occupied  all  of  Town  32  north,  Range  10 
east ;  and,  consequently,  all  of  that  portion  of  Custer  Township,  then  settled, 
was  embraced  in  District  No.  3,  Nathan  Smith  being  the  Director  from  the 
"  other  side  of  the  river."  The  arbitrary  formation  of  all  Congressional  towns 
into  school  towns,  while  townships  are  bounded  in  many  cases,  as  in  this,  by 
different  lines,  makes  it  impossible  to  give  exact  statistics.  At  the  date  named, 
there  were  in  the  school  township,  132  children,  45  of  whom  were  in  District 
No.  1 ;  51  in  District  No.  2 ;  and  36  in  District  No.  3.  The  first  name 
appearing  on  the  record  as  School  Treasurer,  is  that  of  David  Willard,  who 
continued  to  exercise  the  functions  of  that  office  until  1865.  In  1846,  a  new 
iistrict,  designated  as  No.  4,  was  formed  of  that  portion  of  No.  3  which  lay  in 
Custer,  or  south  of  the  river.  The  following  table  will  serve  to  show  the  con- 
lition  of  schools  at  this  date : 

No.  of  schools 10 

No.  of  persons  between  6  and  21 354 

No.  of  children  attending  school 317 

Amount  paid  teachers $1,824  00 

Total  expenses  for  sustaining  schools 2,394  00 

The  first  year  after  the  township  organization  act  was  in  force  in  this  county, 
Wesley  Township  was  a  part  of  Wilmington,  as  was,  likewise,  Florence.  Of 
these  three,  John  Frazier  was  elected  Supervisor.  The  next  year  the  township 
rf  Wesley  was  formed  and  township  officers  elected.  The  first  election  was 
held  at  the  schoolhouse,  in  District  No.  2,  April  1,  1851.  Henry  D.  Childs 
was  Moderator,  and  H.  B.  Putman,  Clerk.  Fifty-eight  votes  were  cast,  of 
which  majorities  were  declared  for  John  Frazier  as  Supervisor ;  Elias  Freer, 
Clerk ;  David  Willard,  Assessor ;  Anson  Packard,  James  Gould  and  Daniel 
McGilvery,  Commissioners  of  Highways;  B.  F.  Morgan,  Collector;  David 
Willard  and  Alfred  Warner,  Justices  of  the  Peace  ;  Daniel  Ferris  and  Palmer 
Robinson,  Constables  ;  and  Samuel  Jewet,  Overseer  of  the  Poor.  The  present 
officers  are  as  follows :  Harvey  Warner,  Supervisor ;  Levi  A.  Richardson,  Clerk ; 
D.  B.  Ritchey,  Collector ;  H.  H.  Jones,  Assessor ;  John  Ritchey  and  Amasa 
Richardson,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  Charles  Muncey,  Constable  ;  Joseph  John- 


<506  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

son,  George  Binney  and  Thomas  W.  Jones,  Commissioners  of  Highways ;  and 
Schuyler  Ackerman,  School  Treasurer. 

The  notes  of  the  bugle,  summoning  the  loyal  men  of  the  country  to  come 
forward  and  rescue  the  country  from  the  hands  of  those  who  would  destroy  it, 
were  heard  and  heeded  by  the  brave  boys  of  Wesley ;  and  scarcely  had  the  first 
blast  broken  the  peaceful  stillness  which  usually  precedes  the  storm,  when  many 
who  loved  country  more  than  homes  or  kindred,  were  on  their  way  to  the  front. 
Some  of  them  never  returned,  but  their  bodies  lie  in  the  soil  beside  those  with 
whom  they  struggled  ;  others  were  permitted  to  return,  disabled  by  wounds  or 
disease,  to  die  at  their  homes  and  be  laid  to  rest  by  friendlier  hands,  in  the 
little  cemetery  whither  their  fathers  and  kindred  had  preceded  them  ;  and,  with 
thanks  to  God,  who  had  preserved  them  through  all  of  the  dangers  and  hard- 
ships of  the  campaign,  others  returned  at  the  close  of  the  war  and  are  still 
spared  to  their  friends  and  to  the  country  which  they  served  so  faithfully. 

The  township  of  Wesley  consists  of  about  twenty-nine  sections,  being  all 
of  Congressional  Towns  32  north,  Ranges  9  and  10  east  of  the  Third  Princi- 
pal Meridian,  lying  east  and  north  of  the  Kankakee  River.  The  land  in  the 
north  and  east  parts  of  the  township  is  first-class,  being  of  rich,  deep  soil  and 
very  productive  of  corn,  hay,  rye  and  oats,  large  crops  of  which  are  raised. 
The  south  and  west  portions  are  broken  by  sand  ridges,  and  these  are,  in  a 
measure,  barren.  Wheat  is  grown  here  to  some  extent ;  and  John  Kelly  says 
that  his  farm  has  produced  fair  crops  every  year  for  thirty-nine  years. 

Of  late  years,  many  of  the  farmers  have  been  giving  attention  to  dairying 
and  a  cheese  and  butter  factory  has  been  recently  built  in  the  eastern  part,  by 
Elnathan  Wright,  of  Manteno,  to  accommodate  that  industry.  Stone  of  a  good 
quality,  but  rather  difficult  to  quarry  is  found  along  the  bank  of  the  Kankakee. 
Forked  Creek  which  enters  the  township  in  the  northeast  corner  and  leaves  at 
the  northwest  corner,  flows,  with  long  and  gradual  bend,  through  the  central 
part,  affording  fine  stock-water  to  the  farms  in  its  vicinity.  Nearly  one-half 
was  formerly  covered  with  timber.  Much  of  the  best  timber,  however,  has 
been  cut  down,  and  the  most  of  that  remaining  is  valuable  for  posts  and  fuel. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  inform  our  readers  that  the  township  was  named  in 
honor  of  the  great  apostle  of  Methodism,  John  Wesley.  The  pioneers  of  this 
vicinity  were  nearly  all  of  that  persuasion  ;  and  when  a  name  was  required  for 
it,  they  bestowed  upon  it  that  name  which,  next  to  the  saints,  is  dear  to  every 
Methodist. 

CUSTER  TOWNSHIP. 

Although  this  is  the  newest  township  in  regard  to  name,  it  was,  neverthe- 
less, one  of  the  first  organized.  The  territory  now  embraced  within  its  bound- 
aries was,  in  reality,  Reed  Township,  though  the  portion  containing  eighteen  sec- 
tions of  the  original  forty-four  sections  recently  struck  off  from  the  west  side  now 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  607 

bear  that  name.  The  earliest  settlements  were  all  made  along  or  near  the  bank 
of  the  Kankakee  River,  and  when  the  organization  of  Reed  was  effected,  there 
was  scarcely  an  inhabitant  in  Reed  outside  the  present  boundaries  of  Ouster. 
However,  as  the  proposition  to  "secede"  came  from  the  eastern  portion,  the 
west  end  retained  the  name  of  Reed,  and  the  east  end  was  left  to  seek  a  new 
one.  As  Ouster  Township  (it  having  existed  as  such  only  two  years),  its  story 
would  be  soon  told ;  but  its  early  history  not  being  included  in  the  one  headed 
Reed  Township  (that  being  but  little  else  than  the  history  of  Braidwood,  whose 
interests  and  peculiarities  are  entirely  different),  we  find  it  necessary  to  go  back 
many  years.  The  history  of  this  portion  of  the  county,  though  not  so  ancient 
as  that  of  some  others,  is  yet  sufficiently  so  to  give  it  that  desirable  flavor 
which  makes  a  narrative  of  this  kind  interesting;  for  to  repeat  only  what 
everybody  already  knows  is  a  task  quite  as  irksome  to  the  writer  as  it  would  be 
tedious- to  the  reader.  The  township,  as  now  laid  out,  consists  of  all  that  por- 
tion of  Congressional  Towns  32  north  and  9  and  10  east,  lying  southwest  of 
the  Kankakee  River  and  east  of  the  section  line  separating  Sections  3  and  4, 
in  Range  9 ;  and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Wilmington  Township,  on  the 
east  by  the  Kankakee  River,  on  the  south  by  Kankakee  County,  and  on  the 
west  by  Reed  Township.  But  little  can  be  said  in  favor  of  the  soil,  as  it  is  usu- 
ally of  a  poor  quality.  Some  good  farms  are  interspersed  with  the  sand  ridges, 
but  for  the  most  part  the  land  is  adapted  only  for  grazing.  Doubtless,  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  west  side  of  the  township  has,  underlying  its  surface,  a 
deposit  of  coal  of  the  same  character  and  quality  as  that  found  at  Braidwood, 
and  only  awaits  the  miner's  pick  to  make  it  of  equal  value.  The  township  is 
watered  by  the  Kankakee,  Horse  Creek  and  another  small  branch  of  the  Kan- 
kakee. The  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  crosses  the  northwestern  corner, 
cutting  off  an  eighth  of  a  section,  and  furnishing,  at  Wilmington  and  Braid- 
wood,  commercial  facilities  for  the  western  part.  The  Kankakee  being  nav- 
igable for  small  steamers  to  the  eastern  point,  an  outlet  is  thus  furnished  for 
the  upper  portion.  Though  navigation  has  been  improved  by  the  building  of 
the  dams  at  Wilmington,  it  has  in  reality  been  used  for  that  purpose  during  wet 
seasons  since  the  earliest  settlements  of  the  adjacent  country.  As  early  as 
1834,  the  products  of  the  farm  were  boated  down  the  Kankakee  to  the  Des 
Planes,  and  up  the  latter  river  to  Chicago.  It  is  related  that  during  the  year 
named  some  parties  loaded  a  boat  on  Sugar  Creek,  a  tributary  to  the  Iroquois, 
with  300  bushels  of  oats,  300  bushels  of  wheat  and  some  hams,  with  the 
design  of  taking  them  to  Chicago  to  supply  the  garrison  stations  there.  The 
trip  down  the  Kankakee  was  accomplished  without  accident  or  unusual  trouble; 
but  after  entering  the  Des  Planes,  when  near  Treat's  Island,  the  boat  dipped 
water  and  so  dampened  the  grain  that  they  were  obliged  to  unload  and  try  to  dis- 
pose of  their  produce  at  that  point.  At  that  time,  settlers  were  arriving  in  that 
neighborhoo'l  quite  rapidly,  and  they  had  no  trouble  in  disposing  of  their  whole 
•cargo — the  oats  at  50  and  the  wheat  at  75  cents  per  bushel.  At  present,  small 


608  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

steamers  owned  by  Messrs.  Small,  of  Wilmington,  and  Stephen  F.  Hanford,  of 
Warner's  Landing,  ply  regularly  between  these  points  and  Chicago,  carrying 
to  that  city  corn,  oats,  rye  and  other  products,  and  bringing  back  lumber,  salt 
and  other  heavy  articles.  The  "Landing,"  which  is  located  near  the  eastern 
point  of  the  township,  is  considered  the  head  of  navigation  during  the  dry  sea- 
son, but  when  the  river  is  ordinarily  full,  boats  can  run  much  higher. 

In  1871-72,  considerable  work  was  done  on  the  proposed  Decatur  &  State 
Line  Railroad,  which  was  to  cross  the  river  at  a  point  a  short  distance  above 
the  landing.  Large  sums  of  money  were  expended  and  a  good  portion  of  the 
road  was  ready  for  the  ties.  At  this  time  a  dozen  huge  pillars  rear  themselves 
from  the  bed  of  the  Kankakee,  over  which  the  trains  were  to  pass,  like  great 
monuments,  reminding  one  of  both  the  sincerity  of  its  projectors,  and  of  what 
must  be  the  disappointed  hopes  of  them  and  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  vicinity. 
About  the  time  that  this  work  was  in  progress,  the  great  fire  in  Chicago  occur- 
ring, so  crippled  some  of  the  friends  of  the  enterprise  that  work  had  to  be  sus- 
pended. Then  it  was  proposed  to  interest  some  Boston  capitalists,  but  before- 
arrangements  were  complete,  a  repetition  of  the  Chicago  catastrophe  also- 
occurred  in  Boston;  and,  other  reverses  following,  work  has  never  been 
resumed.  Some  hopes  are  still  entertained  that  the  line  will  yet  be  completed. 

The  very  earliest  settlements  occurred  between  the  years  1836  and  1840, 
Andrew  Yeates,  Thomas  Hatton,  Samuel  Taft  and  Nathan  Smith  were  the  first 
who  could,  with  propriety,  be  called  permanent  settlers.  There  were  a  few 
others  during  this  period,  but  as  they  did  not  remain  long,  their  mention  is- 
not  a  matter  of  importance. 

Andrew  Yeates  was  a  native  of  Ireland.  He  was  a  man  of  means  and 
ability.  It  is  doubtful  if  he  was  ever  fully  appreciated  in  the  community,  as 
it  was  not  generally  known  that  his  education  and  capabilities  were  of  a  supe- 
rior character.  Unlike  most  emigrants  from  foreign  lands,  who  come  to  this 
country  on  account  of  poverty  and  for  the  purpose  of  simply  gaining  a  liveli- 
hood, Yeates  came  with  plenty  of  money,  and  could  have  lived  without  work. 
He  removed  to  Kankakee  County  some  years  ago,  and  has  since  died.  His 
widow  is  still  an  inhabitant  of  che  township. 

Thomas  Hatton  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Yeates.  Samuel  Taft  was  a  native 
of  New  York.  Like  many  others,  he  was  attracted  to  this  neighborhood  by 
the  abundance  of  game,  and  made  its  capture  and  destruction  a  means  of  live- 
lihood. At  that  date,  this  was  one  of  the  easiest  means  of  subsistence.  The 
woods  swarmed  with  deer,  turkeys  and  other  game ;  and  the  hunter  could,  in 
one  day,  bring  down  enough  to  last  his  family  for  weeks.  The  skins  of  the 
deer  and  coon,  and  the  scalps  of  wolves  brought  a  small  revenue,  that  supplied 
him  with  such  clothing  as  the  pioneer  customs  of  the  country  demanded.  The 
river  teemed  with  fish,  and  these  could  be  caught  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 

After  Taft's  death,  which  occurred  many  years  ago,  his  wife  married  Dar- 
win Dodd,  by  whom  she  has  had  twenty-four  children,  all  of  whom  are  alive- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  6(M> 

and  well.  They  live  in  Minnesota.  It  will  not  be  surprising  to  learn  that  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dodd  are  thorough  "  grangers,"  and  believe  in  ignoring  the  small 
merchants  and  middle-men.  They  buy  directly  of  manufacturers,  hats,  shoes, 
calico  and  all  kinds  of  eatables  not  produced  on  the  farm.  Nathan  Smith,  now 
a  citizen  of  Wilmington  and  Police  Magistrate  of  that  city,  is  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont. He  was  for  a  few  years  a  citizen  of  Wesley  Township,  and  his  name 
appears  as  one  of  the  first  School  Directors  of  District  No.  3  in  1841.  James 
Hines  came  to  the  township  in  1846,  by  which  time  had  also  arrived  John  S.  Hoyte, 
Joseph  Wood,  Jeremiah  Gray,  Elias  Winchell,  Patrick  Judge  and  R.  S.  Noble. 

Henry  Hudson,  from  Ohio,  also  came  in  1846,  and  still  resides  in  the  town- 
ship. Hudson  carried  the  mail  from  Wilmington  to  Pontiac  for  nine  years, 
ending  in  1854,  at  which  date  the  Chicago  &  Mississippi  Railroad  was  com- 
pleted, and  Hudson's  services  were  no  longer  required. 

Stephen  F.  Hanford  is  a  resident  of  thirty  years.  In  1848,  he  came  to  this 
place,  and  entered,  with  soldier's  land  warrant,  a  large  tract  of  land,  of  which 
he  still  owns  over  one  thousand  acres.  He  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  came  to  the 
State  six  years  before  his  advent  to  this  place. 

G.  H.  Blanchard,  John  Wing,  Orlin  Miller  and  Abram  and  John  Wurts  had 
also  settled  here  by  1846. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  and  able  men  who  ever  resided  in  this  part  of 
the  county  was  Richard  Warner,  a  native  of  Ohio,  who  came  to  this  township 
in  1853.  Warner  had  been  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  of  Ohio,  and  had 
filled  other  positions  of  honor.  He  was  for  several  years  Supervisor,  and  it 
was  largely  due  to  his  influence  during  his  occupancy  of  that  office,  that  the 
magnificent  bridge  across  the  Kankakee  at  Wilmington  was  erected.  His 
death,  which  occurred  nineteen  years  ago,  was  considered  a  public  calamity.  At 
the  time  of  his  demise  he  was  possessed  of  a  large  estate. 

John  Kahler,  now  a  resident  of  Wilmington,  but  prior  to  coming  to  this 
county  a  resident  of  Pennsylvania,  was  also  an  early  settler.  He  farmed 
here  for  many  years,  but  old  age  compelled  him  to  give  up  agricultural  pursuits 
and  engage  in  lighter  work. 

Religion  in  this  township  is  not  indicated  by  church  spires,  but  we  do  not 
doubt  that  there  is  real,  genuine  piety  here.  Though  there  are  no  church  build- 
ings or  organizations,  the  inhabitants  are  not  without  church  privileges.  On 
every  side  in  the  adjoining  townships  are  churches  and  buildings — especially  at 
Braidwood  and  Wilmington — where  many  of  the  religiously  inclined  attend. 
There  being  no  village  within  the  limits,  it  has  not  been  a  natural  abiding  place 
for  lawyers  or  doctors,  the  people  supplying  themselves  with  law,  physic  and 
theology  at  the  neighboring  towns. 

Due  attention  is  given  to  the  subject  of  education,  and  five  schools  are  in 
successful  operation,  the  first  of  which  was  established  in  1846. 

Full  school  statistics  in  regard  to  this  township  are  not  obtainable  from 
reports,  as  the  territory  embraced  in  Ouster  lies  in  two  Congressional  towns. 


610  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

In  1876,  the  citizens  of  the  eastern  portion  of  Reed  Township,  seeing  that 
their  interests  were  entirely  different  from  those  of  the  western  portion,  and 
that  the  tastes,  habits  and  pursuits  were  somewhat  inharmonious,  petitioned  to 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  to  be  set  off  as  a  separate  precinct.  A  majority  of 
the  Board  coinciding  with  the  views  of  the  petitioners,  a  division  was  made  as 
described,  and  an  election  of  township  officers  ordered.  The  tragedy  of  the 
brave  Gen.  Ouster  and  his  troops  being  fresh  in  mind,  the  township  was  named 
in  his  honor.  The  first  officers  elected  were  :  George  Petro,  Supervisor  ;  M. 
L.  Russell,  Clerk  ;  I.  T.  Palmer,  Assessor,  and  John  Evans,  Collector — all  of 
whom  continue  to  hold  the  respective  offices.  John  Meadern  and  Lewis  Mon- 
teith  are  Justices  of  the  Peace  ;  James  Bradford,  Constable ;  Henry  Miller, 
A.  G.  Taylor  and  Ira  Smith,  Commissioners  of  Highways.  The  highest  vote 
jet  polled  was  103. 

Warner's  Landing,  though  not  a  laid-out  village,  contains  a  store,  black- 
smith-shop and  other  conveniences  common  to  a  small  country  town.  Grain  is 
shipped  from  here  in  large  quantities,  as  indeed  it  is  the  exclusive  market  for 
the  products  of  the  farm  for  this  neighborhood. 

Horse  Creek  Landing  answers  about  the  same  description,  and  affords  the 
same  facilities  for  shipping  grain,  etc. 


TROY  TOWNSHIP. 

Jedediah  Woolley,  Sr.,  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Plainfield,  but  of 
that  township  it  could  hardly  be  said  that  he  became  a  permanent  resident,  as 
he  removed  from  it  before  the  land  came  into  market.  He,  however,  lived 
there  some  time,  and  there  experienced  some  of  the  trials  and  privations  of 
pioneer  life  incident  to  this  country  at  a  period  prior  to  1835.  In  the  year 
named,  he  removed  to  Troy  Township,  made  a  claim  and  settled  permanently. 
His  son,  Jedediah  Woolley,  Jr.,  had  already  made  some  improvement,  having 
built  a  saw-mill  on  the  Du  Page,  which  flows  through  the  township.  The  saw- 
mill was  completed  and  in  operation  by  the  Fall  of  1834.  His  was  the  first 
mill  enterprise  in  Troy,  and  one  of  the  very  first  in  the  county.  It  was  looked 
upon  as  a  great  addition  to  the  industries  of  the  community,  and  furnished  lum- 
ber for  most  of  the  early  buildings  in  this  vicinity.  The  canal  and  railroad, 
though  dreamed  of,  had  not  been  built,  and  the  only  commercial  communication 
with  the  village  of  Chicago  was  by  means  of  wagons,  and  so  most  of  the  houses 
prior  to  that  date  were  built  entirely  of  logs.  A  dwelling  of  the  character  in 
use  in  those  days  would  be  almost  a  curiosity  now ;  and,  as  compared  with  the 
fine  farmhouses  and  almost  palatial  residences  of  Troy  and  vicinity,  would,  at 
least,  be  considered  a  novelty.  They  generally  consisted  of  a  pen,  from  six- 
teen to  twenty  feet  square,  built  up  of  small  logs,  notched  at  each  end,  to  admit 
of  others  lying  thereon.  The  pen  was  built  to  the  height  of  about  ten  feet, 
and  divided  into  a  lower  and  upper  room  by  joists  of  small  logs  covered  with 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  611 

boards  split  from  the  bodies  of  straight-grained  trees.  Sometimes  the  upper 
room  was  dispensed  with,  and  the  single  room  answered  the  purpose  of  kitchen, 
pantry,  parlor,  dining-room,  bed-room  and  cellar.  Floors  were  not  considered 
indispensable,  and  Mother  Earth  herself  was  the  floor  and  carpet.  A  bedstead 
has  been  described  to  us  as  consisting  of  two  poles  driven  into  holes  bored  into  the 
logs  which  formed  the  wall  of  the  building,  and  supported  at  the  other  ends  by 
a  stake  driven  into  the  ground.  A  bed-cord  was  made  of  bark  stripped  from 
the  body  of  a  hickory-tree.  Windows  were  glazed  with  panes  made  by  satu- 
rating strong  white  paper  with  grease.  This  made  a  fine  substitute  for  both 
glass  and  curtains,  for,  while  it  admitted  the  light,  it  also  prevented  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun  from  entering,  being  translucent  without  being  transparent. 
The  roof  of  the  dwelling  was  constructed  of  split  shingles — an  article  scarcely 
known  at  the  present — held  in  their  places  by  poles  laid  thereon. 

Jedediah  Woolley,  Jr.,  was  County  Surveyor  when  Will  was  a*  part  of  Cook 
County,  and  surveyed  the  county.  Both  he  and  his  father  are  dead.  A  man 
named  Chipman  was  partner  with  the  younger  Woolley  in  the  saw-mill.  Chip- 
man  was  from  the  State  of  Ohio.  He  did  not  find  the  country  all  that  he  had 
anticipated,  and,  after  a  short  residence,  he  returned  to  the  Buckeye  State. 

Alford  McGill,  a  son-in-law  of  the  Elder  Woolley,  moved  to  the  township  at 
the  same  time.  He  is  spoken  of  as  kind-hearted,  big-souled  man,  and  well 
liked  by^  all  who  knew  him.  It  was  such  men  who  made  the  pioneer  life  toler- 
able to  those  whose  former  lives  had  been  spent  in  localities  where  social  advan- 
tages had  been  somewhat  superior  to  what  they  found  in  their  new  homes.  It 
"was  McGill  who  guided  the  Knapps  and  the  Tryons  of  Channahon,  to  the  place 
of  their  location,  and  recommended  it  as  the  finest  soil  in  the  country.  Like 
many  other  great-hearted,  social  fellows,  he  had  one  fault  developed  by  the  in- 
fluence and  habits  of  pioneer  life.  The  cup,  to  which  he  was  most  friendly, 
Was  his  worst  and  most  relentless  enemy,  and  finally  overcame  him  entirely, 
dragging  him  down  to  an  untimely  grave.  Gary  Thornton  was  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  but  had  lived  in  the  State  of  New  York  prior  to  coming  here,  in 
1835.  At  that  date,  he  came  West,  and  attended  the  land  sale  and  purchased 
a  half-section  of  land.  The  next  year,  1836,  he,  with  his  brother  William, 
moved  from  New  York  to  the  land  purchased  the  year  before,  each  occupying 
one-half.  The  location  of  the  land  was  in  the  southern  part  of  the  township, 
and  is  now  known  as  the  Farnsworth  property.  Gary  Thornton  removed  to 
the  city  of  Joliet,  in  1866,  where  he  still  resides,  an  active  old  gentleman  of 
79  years.  William  Thornton  removed  to  Lake  County,  where  he  died  about 
six  years  ago. 

Josiah  Holden,  a  brother  of  Phineas  Holden,  who  settled  in  New  Lenox  at 
an  early  date,  was  in  the  township  as  early  as  1836.     He  moved  away  and  died  ' 
many  years  ago.     Dr.  Alexander  McGregor  Comstock,  whom,  from  the  name 
we  imagine,  to  have  been  a  Scotchman,  came  here  from  New  York,  about  1837. 
He  moved  to  the  city  of  Joliet  and  died  of  cholera,    during   the   reign  of 


612  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

that  fatal  plague  years  ago.  He  was  the  first  resident  physician,  and  a  man 
of  much  intelligence  and  of  excellent  attainments.  Horace  Haff  was  from  the 
Black  River  country,  of  New  York,  and  settled  in  this  township  about  1837. 
By  him  the  township  was  named  West  Troy,  probably  from  the  city  of  the  same 
name,  near  which  he  had  formerly  lived.  A  portion  of  the  name  was  afterward 
dropped,  leaving  it  as  we  now  have  it.  Andrew  and  Marshall  King  came  to 
this  place  from  Indiana,  and  settled  in  the  north  part  of  the  township.  Andrew 
died  here,  October,  1849.  Marshall  moved  to  Texas,  where  he  died  several 
years  ago.  A  son  of  Andrew  King  is  a  resident  of  Joliet,  and  is  engaged  in 
the  lumber  trade.  The  Kings  were  natives  of  Kentucky. 

After  the  settlements  already  mentioned,  but  few  additional  were  made  for 
some  years.  The  panic  of  1837,  continuing  for  several  years,  put  a  check  upon 
immigration,  and  not  until  the  completion  of  the  Ganal,  which  passes  through 
the  southeast  corner,  did  the  township  again  grow  in  population.  In  several 
ways,  the  Canal  contributed  to  the  rapid  development  of  this  part  of  the  State. 
The  works  were  pronounced  complete  in  1848,  and  boats  began  to  ply  along  the 
line.  Formerly,  grain  and  produce  of  all  kinds  had  to  be  hauled  by  wagon 
over  bad  roads,  to  the  nearest  market,  which  was  Chicago,  and  supplies  of  gro- 
ceries and  other  necessities  had  to  be  obtained  there  by  the  same  means,  and, 
consequently,  emigrants  looking  for  homes,  located  at  points  where  commercial 
advantages  were  more  convenient.  When  the  Canal  was  completed,  bringing 
these  facilities  to  this  portion  of  the  State,  immediately  a  new  impetus  was 
given  to  the  settlement  of  Troy  Township.  Again,  a  number  of  the  laborers 
on  the  works  being  now  out  of  employment,  and  having  saved  some  of  their 
earnings,  located  on  the  adjacent  lands.  Quite  a  number  of  our  Irish  citizens 
date  their  arrival  in  the  township,  with  the  completion  of  the  Canal. 

The  subject  of  education  has  received  its  share  of  attention  by  the  Trojans. 
The  first  school  was  taught  in  a  litte  log  structure,  erected  for  that  purpose,  on 
Mr.  Thornton's  place.  This  was  about  the  year  1836  or  1837,  but  who  was 
the  pioneer  educator  is  not  now  remembered.  The  first  teacher  whose  name  can 
be  recalled  with  sufficient  distinctness  to  fix  dates,  was  Miss  Rebecca  Boardman,. 
who  taught  here  in  1840-41.  From  this  small  beginning  has  developed,  in 
proportion  to  the  development  of  the  country,  a  system  of  education  in  thi& 
township,  that  compares  favorably  with  any  township  in  the  county.  As  indi- 
cating the  progress  in  this  direction,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  ten  years  after 
the  completion  of  the  Canal  there  were  in  the  township  six  organized  schoolsr 
with  three  hundred  and  two  persons  of  proper  age  to  receive  their  benefits,  of 
which  number  two  hundred  and  thirty  were  in  attendance.  A  few  additional 
items  extracted  from  an  old  report  to  the  School  Commissioner,  at  the  date  indi- 
cated, 1858,  will  prove  interesting  : 

Number  of  schools 6 

Number  of  months  taught 42 

Number  of  children  in  schools 230- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  61  3 

Number  of  persons  under  21 406 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21 302 

Average  salaries  paid  teachers  per  month $     24  00 

Whole  amount  paid  for  support  of  schools 1,308  00 

In  1872,  the  school  population  had  reached  its  maximum,  as  had,  also,  the 
number  of  schoolhouses ;  and,  as  other  statistics  for  that  year  do  not  vary 
greatly  from  the  present,  some  of  the  most  essential  are  appended : 

Number  of  schools 10 

Number  of  teachers  employed 13 

Number  of  months  schools  sustained 72 

Number  of  children  enrolled 375 

Number  of  persons  under  21 -160 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21 627 

Whole  amount  expended  for  school  purposes $2,216  00 

In  each  of  the  districts  is  a  comfortable  schoolhouse,  nearly  all  of  which 
are  furnished  with  the  improved  desks,  maps  and  the  simpler  pieces  of  school 
apparatus. 

Though  the  Gospel  was  preached  at  an  early  date  in  this  township,  owing 
to  its  proximity  to  Joliet,  and  other  points  where  churches  and  all  the  means  of 
affording. religious  advantages  abound,  no  church-buildings  are  to  be  found  here. 
Preaching  in  the  schoolhouses  is  had  occasionally,  and  Sunday  schools  are 
sustained.  Dr.  Comstock,  before  mentioned,  was  also  a  preacher,  and,  as  such, 
not  only  offered  to  his  patients,  sick  -with  the  infirmities  of  the  body,  remedies 
for  their  corporeal  diseases,  but  pointed  the  people  to  the  Great  Physician  who 
heals  both  body  and  spirit.  The  following  anecdote  is  told  of  him  in  the 
"Forty  Years  Ago :"  "  Dr.  Comstock  will  be  remembered  as  one  of  our  most 
respected  citizens  and  physicians.  He  was  somewhat  eccentric,  and  many 
anecdotes  could  be  told  of  him.  He  was  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  of  con- 
siderable culture,  both  literary  and  professional.  He  could  repeat  the  standard 
poets  by  the  yard,  and  was  at  home  with  Virgil  in  the  original.  He  was  not 
remarkable  for  his  style,  either  in  dress  or  equipage.  He  was  also  a  local 
preacher  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and  often  supplied  acceptably  the  pulpit  of 
his  own  and  other  churches,  in  the  absence  of  the  regular  preacher.  He  had 
a  brother  living  in  Michigan  who  often  came  to  visit  him,  and  who  was  in  some 
respects  very  much  like  him,  while  in  others  he  was  very  unlike.  He  had  held 
the  position  of  Chaplain  to  Congress  at  one  time,  and  was  always  very  sleek 
and  well  dressed,  and  carried  a  gold-headed  cane.  He  was  also  a  physician, 
and  also  a  preacher,  but  of  the  Baptist  faith,  although  not  of  the  '  hard-shell ' 
variety.  I  used  to  think  of  Dickens'  Cheeryble  Brothers  whenever  I  saw  them 
together.  They  were  very  much  attached  to  each  other ;  and  our  Methodist 
Doctor  always  marked  with  a  white  stone  the  day  when  his  brother  came  to  visit 
him.  On  one  occasion  as  our  Methodist  Doctor  was  in  front  of  his  house,  about 
getting  into  his  old  wagon  for  a  professional  tour — house,  horse  and  wagon  very 
much  alike  in  their  general  make-up,  the  Baptist  Doctor  drove  up  in  a  splen- 


614  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

did  new  '  sulky,'  one  of  those  unsocial  vehicles  which  will  hold  but  one.  The 
Methodist  Doctor  saw  him  coming,  took  in  at  a  glance  the  whole  rig  in  such 
marked  contrast  to  his  own ;  and  although  longing  to  rush  up  and  take  his 
brother  by  the  hand,  he  coolly  folded  his  arms,  surveys  for  an  instant  the 
Baptist  and  his  'turn-out,'  and  with  a  merry  twinkle  of  the  eye  exclaims: 
'  Close  communion,  carriage  and  all ! '  ' 

Troy  Township  is  described  in  the  Congressional  survey  as  Town  35  north, 
Range  9  east  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north, 
east  and  south  by  the  townships  of  Plainfield,  Joliet  and  Channahon,  and  on 
the  west  by  Kendall  County.  It  is  divided  into  two  almost  equal  parts  by  the 
Du  Page  River,  which  flows  through  it  from  north  to  south ;  and  this  stream,, 
together  with  Buck  Run  and  their  branches  and  the  Canal,  constitute  the  water 
privileges  in  the  township.  The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad  passes 
through  the  southern  part,  and  the  new  railroad  known  as  the  Joliet  &  Mendota, 
now  being  warmly  agitated,  will  pass  through  by  way  of  Grintonville,  and  will, 
probably,  soon  be  running.  The  land  is  about  three-fourths  prairie ;  the  bal- 
ance, known  in  other  States  as  "  barrens,"  is  covered  witbtimber,  some  of  which 
is  of  good  quality,  though  the  land  embraced  in  the  timber  tract  is  not  of  as 
good  a  quality  for  corn  raising  as  the  adjoining  prairie.  There  are  some  as 
fine  farms  in  Troy  as  are  to  be  found  in  Will  County.  D.  C.  Searles,  Myron 
Spencer,  James  Paul,  the  McEvoys,  W.  A.  Dix,  Brady  and  others  are  among 
the  model  farmers  of  the  county,  and  have  large  and  well-improved  farms. 
This  is  thoroughly  an  agricultural  region,  and  the  large  amount  of  grain  and 
stock  produced  find  a  ready  market  by  means  of  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal  and  by  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad,  which  pass 
through  it. 

Bird's  Eye  Bridge  is  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  about  five  miles 
south  of  Joliet.  It  received  its  name  from  a  man  of  the  name  of  Bird,  who 
formerly  lived  near  the  bridge,  a  hundred  yards  below  the  place.  A  grain  ware- 
house and  elevator  were  erected  here  by  H.  S.  Carpenter,  of  Joliet,  about  the 
year  1867.  In  1870,  M.  Truby  purchased  the  establishment  and  remodeled  it 
throughout,  putting  grain-dumps  and  all  the  modern  improvements  in  the  eleva- 
tor. He  conducts  a  general  grain  business  under  the  firm  name  of  M.  Truby 
&  Son.  The  elevator  will  store  about  twenty  thousand  bushels  of  grain,  and 
the  cribbing  capacity  is  about  as  much  more.  They  handle  annually  about 
two  hundred  thousand  bushels,  which  they  ship  by  canal.  Recently,  however, 
they  have  put  in  a  side-track  on  the  Rock  Island  Railroad,  which  passes  within 
a  few  rods  of  the  place,  which  will  enable  them  to  take  advantage  of  the  Winter 
markets  and  will  necessitate  much  less  storage.  A  post  office  was  established 
here  in  1870,  and  called  Bird's  Eye  Post  Office,  with  M.  Truby  as  Postmaster. 
They  get  the  mail  over  the  Rock  Island  line,  the  mail-bags  being  thrown  off 
daily  at  the  side-track.  Mr.  Truby  has  erected  for  himself  at  this  point  a  very 
handsome  residence,  costing  about  $3,500.  The  firm  keep  a  kind  of  supply 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COU11TY.  615 

store  for  the  benefit  of  their  customers ;  also  a  pretty  extensive  lumber-yard. 
There  are  also  shops  of  various  kinds  common  to  a  country  village. 

Grintonville,  or  Grinton's  Mill,  is  another  little  hamlet  on  the  Du  Page 
River,  five  miles  from  Joliet.  It  was  regularly  laid  out  by  William  Grinton 
and  called  after  his  name.  Mr.  Grinton  was  an  early  settler,  and  built  a  mill 
here  about  the  year  1845.  It  is  a  three-story  building,  with  three  runs  of  buhrs, 
and  is  owned  at  present  by  J.  I.  Mather,  who  is  doing  a  good  business  in  the 
way  of  milling.  It  is  on  the  Du  Page  River,  and  is  run  by  power  obtained 
from  its  waters.  In  addition  to  this,  there  are  in  the  place  two  blacksmith- 
shops,  one  wagon-shop,  one  shoe-shop  and  two  saloons.  There  are  no  stores 
here,  but  there  is  a  fine  opening  for  one,  and  it  seems  strange  lhat  the  want  has 
not  been  supplied  long  ere  this.  A  post  office  was  obtained  for  this  point,  but 
the  appointee  to  the  office  of  Postmaster  being  found  ineligible — not  having 
been  naturalized — the  project  for  a  post  office  failed  and  the  place  is  still  without  one 

In  the  early  times,  when  much  of  the  clothing  was  made  at  home,  and  the 
cloth  from  which  it  was  cut  was  spun  and  woven  there,  woolen-factories  or 
carding  machines  were  common  all  over  the  country.  Sheep  were  raised  prin- 
cipally for  their  wool,  and  nearly  all  the  product  was  consumed  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Now,  a  mill  for  the  purpose  of  making  rolls,  is  a  novelty.  The  wool- 
picking,  the  carding,  the  spinning,  the  weaving,  are  all  of  the  past ;  and  even 
the  making  of  the  clothing,  though  there  is  a  sewing  machine  in  almost  every 
house,  is  largely  done  by  manufacturers.  A  factory  for  the  purpose  of  convert- 
ing wool  into  cards  preparatory  to  spinning,  was  built  here  by  the  McEvoys ; 
but  for  many  years  it  has  stood  idle,  though  at  one  time  it  did  an  extensive  busi- 
ness. The  factory  was  built  about  1848  or  1849.  It  is  now  owned  by  some  of 
the  McEvoys. 

The  Will  County  Poor  Farm  and  Asylum  is  located  in  Troy  Township. 
The  institution  is  at  present  under  the  supervision  of  C.  W.  Cropsey,  whose 
able  management  is  highly  approved  by  the  people  and  the  Board  of  Supervis- 
ors who  visited  it  at  their  last  session.  At  present,  there  are  accommodated  at 
the  Farm  forty-two  paupers  and  nineteen  insane  persons-.  A  few  of  these 
unfortunate  people  do  a  small  amount  of  manual  labor,  most  of  them,  however, 
being  too  feeble  either  in  body  or  mind  to  be  of  any  service.  To  the  establish- 
ment are  attached  eighty  acres  of  land.  The  buildings  are  large  and  comfort- 
able, and  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are  designed.  The  whole 
concern  speaks  loudly  in  honor  of  the  county  and  its  immediate  management. 

The  township  was  one  of  the  first  organized  in  the  county,  being  set  off  as 
a  separate  precinct  by  the  Commissioners  in  1849.  On  the  2d  day  of  April, 
1850,  the  first  election  was  held.  The  first  Supervisor  was  J.  H.  Robinson. 
His  successors  have  been  as  follows:  John  McEvoy,  1852;  John  T.  Randall, 
1853  ;  P.  Rowan,  1855 ;  G.  Kinsilla,  1856  ;  J.  Dillon,  1859 ;  N.  Hull,  1861 ; 
H.  W.  Searles,  1863;  J.  Dempsey,  1865;  D.  C.  Searles,  1868;  Wm. 
McEvoy,  1869  ;  D.  Murphy,  1872 ;  D.  C.  Searles,  1875. 


•616  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Troy  Township  is  Democratic  in  politics,  as  it  has  been  since  the  advent  of 
the  Irish,  and  has  scarcely  ever  failed  to  give  a  good  round  majority  for  the 
candidates  whose  names  appeared  on  that  ticket. 

As  will  be  seen  by  the  war  history  of  Will  County,  the  record  of  this  town- 
ship in  that  regard  compares  well  with  other  sections. 


PEOTONE  TOWNSHIP. 

In  1850,  when  the  township  of  Wilton  was  formed,  Town  33,  Range  11,  or 
•what  is  now  known  as  Peotone,  contained  only  two  voters,  and  it  was,  there- 
fore, necessary  to  include  it  with  some  other  township,  and  as  Wilton  was 
already  pretty  well  settled,  it  was  concluded  to  embrace  within  its  limits  the 
two  Congressional  towns.  It  was  not  until  1858  that  the  voting  population  of 
this  section  was  considered  sufficiently  strong  for  separate  organization. 

During  a  period  embraced  between  the  years  1849  and  1858,  about  twenty- 
five  families  came  to  the  township,  most  of  whom  became  permanent  settlers. 
Most  of  these,  however,  settled  during  the  years  1855  to  1858.  The  most  of 
the  earliest  settlers  selected  the  little  stream  which  flows  through  the  township 
from  the  northeast  to  the  southwest,  and  is  a  branch  of  Forked  Creek. 

In  1849,  when  some  settlements  had  been  already  made  in  every  adjoining 
township  except  Will,  this  locality  was  but  just  beginning  to  come  into  notice. 
The  first  actual  settlers  were  Daniel  B.  Booth  and  James  Allen,  from  Massa- 
chusetts. These  two  men  made  the  first  improvements  in  the  township.  Both 
located  on  the  land  now  owned  by  Samuel  Goodspeed,  having  entered  one-half 
of  Sections  19  and  30,  through  which,  it  will  be  noticed,  Forked  Creek  runs. 
While  he  remained,  he  gave  most  of  his  attention  to  butter-making.  It  had 
not  become  generally  understood  that  this  land  was  well  adapted  for  agricultural 
purposes,  and  Booth's  idea  seems  to  have  been  that  in  pasturage  was  its  prin- 
cipal value;  and  when  he  found  his  dairy  business  a  failure,  he  resolved  to 
dispose  of  his  interest  and  remove  to  a  more  congenial  clime.  From  here  he 
removed  to  Joliet,  in  1855,  and  from  thence  to  Texas,  where  he  has  since  died. 
Allen  seems,  also,  to  have  been  dissatisfied  with  the  country,  as  he  stayed  but  a 
few  years,  and  returned  to  the  East. 

These  two  men  could  scarcely  be  deemed  permanent  settlers,  and  are  hardly 
deserving  of  that  credit.  The  year  1855  is,  in  reality,  the  year  from  which 
the  real  prosperity  and  substantial  settlement  of  the  township  dates.  In  that 
year,  Ralph  Crawford,  Samuel  Goodspeed  and  the  Cowing  brothers  came  in 
and  made  improvements  which  have  not  only  proved  substantial,  but  which 
have  increased  in  number  and  value.  These  men,  too,  have  stuck  to  the  town- 
ship, borne  its  burdens,  and  shared  in  its  trials  and  all  of  its  enterprises. 

Crawford  had  really  been  in  the  township  the  year  before,  had  bought  his 
land,  done  some  breaking,  and  made  other  improvements.  He  has  been  exceed- 
ingly prosperous,  having  accumulated  a  fortune  since  his  location  at  this  place. 


CHICAGO 
FORMERLY  OF  NEW  LENOX 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  619 

Besides  his  fine  farm,  on  which  he  lives,  he  has  another  farm  in  Texas  of 
J2,000  acres.  Mr.  Crawford  has  always  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  favor  of 
ill  of  the  citizens  of  the  township,  and  has  been  honored  by  them  with  almost 
(very  office  and  honorable  position  within  their  gift. 

As  before  intimated,  Samuel  Goodspeed  bought  the  interest  of  Booth.  He 
icttled  on  the  place  in  the  Spring  of  1855,  where  he  has  resided  ever  since. 
Mr.  Goodspeed  had  lived  in  the  county  twenty  years  prior  to  his  removal  to 
Peotone  Township,  having  settled  in  Plainfield  in  1835.  He  has  proved  to  be 
me  of  the  most  substantial  citizens  of  this  portion  of  the  county,  and  has  filled 
ilmost  every  position  of  honor  and  trust,  and  that  to  his  own  credit  and  the 
latisfaction  of  the  people.  He  was  Moderator  of  the  first  township  meeting, 
n  1858,  one  of  the  first  three  School  Trustees,  in  1859,  and  has  held  various 
)ther  offices  since. 

John  C.  and  James  H.  Cowing  have  been  amongst  the  most  substantial 
nhabitants  of  this  vicinity.  They  had  also  been  in  the  State  some  years,  but 
irere  originally  from  New  Hampshire.  James  H.  Cowing  has  been  dead  about 
;en  years.  John  C.  was  one  of  the  first  three  Commissioners  of  Highways, 
ind  is  serving  in  that  capacity  at  this  time. 

John  Noland  and  Daniel  Gleason,  two  Irishmen,  and  brothers-in-law,  were 
lere  in  1855.  They  both  removed  from  the  township  but  a  short  time  since. 
Poland  still  owns  a  farm  here. 

P.  Armstrong,  now  of  Peotone,  came  with  Goodrich  as  a  laborer,  and 
mtered  some  land,  but  gave  it  up  and  removed  to  the  village.  The  next  year, 
L856,  Arnold,  Tobias  and  Cornelius  Fahs,  Moses  Wright,  Milton  Smith  and 
lames  F.  Johnson  made  their  advent.  The  Fahs  brothers  were  from  Mary- 
and,  Wright  from  New  York,  and  Smith  and  Johnson  from]Michigan.  Of  the 
Fahses,  only  Tobias  still  resides  here.  Cornelius  is  dead,  and  Arnold  removed 
io  Chicago  two  or  three  years  after  his  settlement  here.  After  removing  to 
Chicago,  Arnold  Fahs  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade,  from  which  he  realized  a 
large  fortune.  He  died  at  that  place  about  two  years  ago.  Moses]W  right  was 
elected  first  Supervisor  and  first  Assessor  in  1858,  and  the  next  year  returned 
to  Michigan,  from  whence  he  had  come.  Milton  Smith  was  an  enterprising 
man.  He  died  eight  or  nine  years  ago,  and  his  family~*rernoved  to  Iowa. 
James  F.  Johnson  continued  to  reside  here  until  a  year  ago,  whenj[he  sold  out 
ind  removed  to  Kansas. 

George  Reynolds  and  William  W.  Kelly  settled  here  in  J1857,  the  former 
coming  from  New  York  and  the  latter  from  Boston.  Both  Reynolds  and 
Kelly  have  since  removed  to  Chicago.  The  above,  with  Thomas  Lockey, 
Smith  Shaw  and  William  P.  Benn,  are  all  that  are  now  remembered  "who  became 
permanent  residents  before  1858,  at  which  date  the  village  of  Peotone  com- 
menced to  grow.  From  that  date,  for  a  number  of  years,  the  township  settled 
rapidly.  Indeed,  at  that  date,  nearly  all  of  the  land  not  held  by  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  had  been  occupied  by  actual  settlers  or  bought  by  speculators. 


620  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

It  was  at  that  date  that  a  move  was  made  looking  toward  the  separate  organiza- 
tion of  the  eastern  half  of  Wilton  Precinct  into  a  separate  township.  The 
usual  formalities  of  signing  and  presenting  a  petition  to  the  County  Board  hav- 
ing been  observed,  and  an  order  from  that  body  having  been  obtained,  the  first 
annual  township  meeting  was  appointed  for  April  6,  1858.  At  this  meeting, 
Samuel  Goodspeed  was  elected  Moderator,  and  George  Reynolds,  Clerk  pro 
tern.  The  oath  was  administered  to  the  officers  in  charge  of  the  election  by 
Richard  Constable,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  of  Wilton.  The  result  of  the  ballot 
was  the  election  of  Moses  Wright,  Supervisor ;  George  Reynolds,  Clerk ; 
Moses  Wright,  Assessor  ;  William  W.  Kelly,  Collector ;  James  H.  Cowing, 
Overseer  of  the  Poor ;  Milton  Smith,  James  F.  Johnson  and  John  C.  Cowing, 
Commissioners  of  Highways ;  Cornelius  Fahs  and  Ralph  Crawford,  Justices 
of  the  Peace ;  and  James  Fahs  and  James  H.  Cowing,  Constables.  At  that 
date  there  were  in  the  township  25  voters.  Since  then,  the  township  has  cast 
as  many  as  237  votes — an  increase  of  nearly  1,000  per  cent.  The  population 
was  at  that  time  about  125 ;  the  present  population  exceeds  1,200. 

The  present  officers  are :  Michael  Collins,  Supervisor ;  William  Young, 
Clerk ;  William  Crawford,  Assessor ;  Louis  Gundlach,  Collector ;  John  Meyer, 
Jr.,  John  C.  Cowing  and  Henry  Gintert,  Commissioners  of  Highways ;  F.  C. 
Hasenmeyer  and  Henry  Joint,  Constables ;  Louis  Gundlach  and  David  Morri- 
son, Justices  of  the  Peace ;  William  Dunlap,  Jonathan  Dennis  and  D.  L. 
Christian,  School  Trustees ;  and  Peter  Conrad,  Treasurer. 

In  1858,  every  township  in  Will  County  had  established  schools  except 
Peotone.  This  was,  previous  to  that  date,  entirely  destitute  of  school  accom- 
modations. There  were  a  few  children  sent  to  the  township  of  Wilton,  where 
schools  had  been  in  operation  for  eight  or  ten  years ;  but  the  distance  was  so 
great  that  only  during  the  finest  weather  could  they  be  made  available.  A 
year  after  the  organization  of  the  township,  however,  a  movement  was  made 
toward  putting  in  operation  the  means  for  establishing  schools  in  the  midst  of 
the  settlements  within  the  bounds  of  Peotone  Township.  On  the  28th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1859,  the  voters  of  the  township  met  at  the  house  of  J.  F.  Johnson  and 
elected  Samuel  Goodspeed,  A.  H.  Fahs  and  Tobias  Fahs,  School  Trustees ;  and 
by  the  Trustees,  Ralph  Crawford  was  elected  Treasurer,  which  office  he  held 
for  the  next  fourteen  years.  At  the  meeting  just  mentioned,  the  Trustees 
divided  the  township  into  four  school  districts.  Two  of  these,  the  one  in  the 
Goodspeed  neighborhood,  and  the  other  at  the  station,  which  was  then  attract- 
ing settlers,  built  houses  and  opened  school  the  same  year.  The  next  year, 
the  Third,  and  the  next,  the  Fourth  Districts  established  schools  and  built 
houses.  Both  of  the  first  schoolhouses  are  still  in  use — the  one  for  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  erected,  the  other,  with  some  additions,  doing  duty  as  a 
church. 

By  1866,  the  number  of  districts  was  increased  to  six,  and  in  all  except 
one  were  school-buildings.  At  that  time,  which  was  seven  years  after  the  first 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  621 

steps  were  taken  to  establish  the  system  in  the  township,  there  were  453  per- 
sons under  21  years  of  age,  301  of  whom  were  entitled  to  the  benefits  of  the 
common-school  system,  being  between  the  ages  of  6  and  21  years.  Of  these, 
248  were  reported  as  having  attended  school  the  previous  year.  The  people  of 
the  township  were  at  that  time  making  up  for  lost  time,  248  persons  out  of  301 
being  a  large  proportion  for  a  newly-formed  township.  Another  seven  years, 
we  find,  has  increased  the  number  of  schools  to  9,  and  the  number  of 
enrolled  scholars  to  366,  out  of  398,  entitled  to  school  privileges. 

A  few  items  taken  from  the  report  of  the  Treasurer  to  the  County  Su- 
perintendent of  Schools  for  1877,  will  doubtless  prove  interesting,  especially  as 
compared  with  the  preceding  figures  : 

Number  of  School  Districts 9 

Number  of  persons  under  21 791 

Number  of  scholars  enrolled 427 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  12 613 

Highest  wages  paid  any  teacher,  per  month $        70  00 

Whole  amount  paid  teachers 2,280  00 

Total  expenditure  for  school  purposes 3,380  00 

Estimated  value  of  school  property 10,000  00 

In  each  district  is  to  be  found  a  comfortable  schoolhouse,  and,  in  several 
are  buildings  that  are  a  credit  to  the  district.     Nearly  all  are  furnished  with 
modern  desks  and  apparatus,  and  we  are  credibly  informed  that  the  schools  of 
this  township  are  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

The  people  have  provided  well  for  the  moral  and  religious  instruction  of  them- 
selves and  of  all  who  care  to  avail  themselves  of  these  privileges.  Besides  the 
churches  of  the  village,  mentioned  elsewhere,  there  are  three  handsome  church- 
buildings.  The  United  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  1860  by  Rev.  R. 
W.  French,  who  was  subsequently  called  to  the  pastorate  in  1861,  at  which  time 
he  moved  to  the  neighborhood.  The  original  members  were  Thomas  Luther, 
David  Gilkerson  and  James  E.  Shaw,  with  other  members  of  their  families,  and 
a  few  other  persons,  to  the  number  of  eighteen. 

In  1867,  the  building  was  erected  at  an  outlay  of  $3,600.  It  is  a  very 
neat  and  comfortable  house,  30x45  feet  in  size,  and  well  furnished  throughout. 
The  membership  numbers  at  present  about  fifty.  It  is  not  as  strong  as  at  a 
former  period,  quite  a  number  having  withdrawn  to  unite  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  the  village,  and  several  families  having  removed  to  Kansas.  Rev. 
R.  W.  French  has  been  the  Pastor  ever  since  the  organization  of  the  Church. 
Sunday  school  is  kept  open  during  the  Summer. 

Wesley  M.  E.  Church,  of  West  Peotone,  was  organized  in  1868,  and  a 
building  erected  in  1870,  at  an  expense  of  $3,000.  The  building  is  32x48 
feet,  and  is  a  very  neat  and  comfortable  structure.  Rev.  R.  Wright  was  the  first 
minister  who  officiated  as  such  in  the  new  building.  The  present  membership 
of  the  Church  is  about  thirty,  with  Rev.  N.  Crichter  as  Pastor.  Sunday  school 
is  kept  open  throughout  the  year;  of  this,  William  Crawford  is  Superintendent. 


622  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

St.  John's  German  Evangelical  Church,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town- 
ship, was  organized  in  1866  by  Rev.  F.  Baeber,  with  sixteen  families.  Mr. 
Baeber  preached  here  a  year  and  a  half.  The  whole  establishment  consists  of 
four  acres  of  land,  a  parsonage,  schoolhouse  and  church  edifice.  The  parson- 
age was  the  fir-?t  building  erected  in  1868.  In  this  church,  services  were  held 
with  varying  frequency,  until  1871,  when  the  building  of  the  chapel  was  com- 
pleted. In  1873,  the  schoolhouse  was  built.  The  buildings  have  cost — the 
parsonage,  $1,500  ;  the  church,  $3,000,  and  the  schoolhouse  $400.  The  con- 
gregation consists  at  present,  of  about  fifty  families,  of  whom  Rev.  D.  Behrens 
is  Pastor  and  teacher.  The  school  is  kept  open  six  months  in  the  year,  the 
children  attending  the  public  schools  a  portion  of  the  time. 

We  would  not  forget  that  when  the  life  of  our  country  was  in  danger,  in 
1861-65,  Peotone  Township,  though  but  illy  able  to  contribute  largely  to  its 
support  in  men  or  means,  having  been  so  recently  settled,  did  her  part  and 
made  several  noble  sacrifices  ;  but,  unfortunately,  on  account  of  a  method  which 
then  prevailed,  proper  credits  were  never  given,  and  many  of  their  names 
appear  in  the  Adjutant  General's  Reports  as  credited  to  other  towns.  The 
township  of  Peotone  is  described  in  the  Congressional  survey  as  Town  33  north, 
Range  12  east  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Greengarden,  on  the  east  by  Will,  on  the  south  by  Kankakee  County,  and  on 
west  by  Wilton  Township.  The  township  is  not  greatly  diversified  in  soil  or  sur- 
face, but  is  mostly  of  a  rich,  deep  soil  and  a  slightly  rolling  surface,  broken 
only  by  the  two  creeks  which  flow  through  it.  There  are  no  native  groves  of 
timber ;  but  on  many  of  the  older  farms  are  to  be  seen  fine  little  groves  of  soft 
maple,  elm  and  poplar,  planted  by  the  early  settlers.  The  products  of  the  town- 
ship are  those  common  to  most  parts  of  the  county,  and  consist  of  corn, 
hay,  oats  and  rye.  Within  the  last  year  or  two,  considerable  attention  has 
been  given  to  the  dairy  business,  and  the  result  has  been  the  establishing  by 
Messrs.  Conrad  &  Son,  of  a  cheese-factory,  a  half-mile  west  of  the  village  of 
Peotone. 

The  factory  was  built  this  year,  and  business  began  August  5.  The  build- 
ings are  commodious  and  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  are 
designed.  The  cost  of  buildings  and  machinery  was  $4,000.  They  began 
operations  with  the  consumption  of  2,000  pounds  of  milk  per  day.  The  capacity 
of  the  factory  is  14,000  pounds,  which  limit,  it  is  confidently  thought,  will  be 
reached  in  a  short  time. 

For  some  years,  hay  has  been  a  reliable  crop,  and  a  large  amount  of  both 
timothy  and  the  native  prairie  hay  has  been  cut  and  shipped.  However,  as  the 
prairie  was  gradually  fenced  up  and  tilled  the  natural  product  decreased. 
Farmers  have  been  giving  more  attention  to  stock  than  formerly,  and  a  larger 
amount  of  this  product  has  been  consumed  at  home  for  the  purpose  of  winter- 
ing cattle  and  sheep.  In  1869,  Oliver  Lipincott  built  a  hay-press  at  the  vil- 
lage, for  the  purpose  of  preparing  the  hay  for  the  city  and  Southern  markets. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  623 

The  press  is  still  in  operation,  but,  for  reasons  already  assigned,  the  business 
of  hay-pressing  has  somewhat  fallen  off.  Formerly,  considerable  wheat  was 
raised  here,  and,  in  1858  to  1868,  especially  during  the  earlier  years  of  that 
period,  wheat  was  considered  a  staple  crop ;  but  of  late  years  the  crop  has  been 
a  failure,  and  its  cultivation  has  been  almost  entirely  abandoned.  In  1872, 
Messrs.  Elling  &  Rathje  erected  a  fine  mill  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing 
this  product  into  flour.  The  mill  cost  nearly  $12,000,  and  is  one  of  the  finest 
of  its  kind  in  the  conntry.  It  is  built  on  the  Holland  plan,  with  four  large  fans, 
of  fifty  feet  each  in  length,  which  furnish  power  equal  to  forty  horses.  Owing 
to  the  fact  already  mentioned,  that  but  little  wheat  is  now  produced  here  to 
keep  the  mill  at  work,  the  grain  is  brought  by  railroad  from  Minnesota  and 
other  places,  and  ground  here,  for  consumption  by  those  who  formerly  raised 
the  article. 

VILLAGE    OF    PEOTONE. 

In  1855,  a  year  after  the  completion  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  the 
site  of  the  village  was  bought  from  that  Company,  and,  in  1856,  it  was  laid  out 
by  David  Goodwillie.  For  a  couple  of  years,  no  one  seemed  disposed  to  embark 
in  business  here,  as  the  settlements,  prior  to  that  time,  had  been  made  mostly 
in  the  western  part ;  and  what  little  business  was  done  was  transacted  at  Twelve 
Mile  Grove,  in  the  adjoining  township.  Gradually  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
township  began  to  be  settled,  and  a  demand  for  postal  and  commercial  privileges 
began  to  arise,  which  were  no  sooner  demanded  than  they  were  supplied. 

In  1858,  John  F.  Pickering  erected  a  house,  in  which  he  lived  and  also 
opened  a  small  stock  of  goods.  In  the  Spring  of  the  next  year,  he  erected  the 
first  real  store-building.  Thus  opened,  business  of  various  kinds  began  to  ap- 
pear ;  and,  in  the  Summer  of  1859,  several  families  came  to  the  village,  bought 
lots  and  made  some  improvements.  A  post  office,  the  first  ever  established  in 
the  township,  was  established  about  this  time.  In  the  Winter  of  1859-60,  as 
has  been  stated  on  another  page,  the  first  school  was  taught.  The  first  teacher 
was  W.  W.  Clark.  Dr.  Charles  Stedman  located  here  soon  after,  and  was  the 
first  resident  physician.  A  warehouse  had  been  erected  by  Messrs.  Harding  & 
Comstock,  in  1857  ;  but  this  being  the  beginning  of  the  "hard  times"  period, 
yet  fresh  in  the  minds  of  many  of  the  early  settlers,  but  little,  by  way  of  grain- 
buying,  was  done  for  several  years.  Partially  owing  to  the  same  cause,  the 
town  improved  but  slowly  until  the  midst  of  the  war  or  near  its  close  when 
money  was  plenty,  and  produce  plenty  and  in  great  demand.  Then,  Messrs. 
Comstock,  Gilkerson  &  Worden,  and  Messrs.  Schroeder  &  Rathje,  began  buy- 
ing large  quantities  of  grain  ;  and,  in  1868,  both  firms  erected  elevators.  This 
was,  indeed,  the  beginning  of  the  period  of  Peotone's  solid  growth.  Prior  to 
1866,  not  more  than  fifteen  houses  were  to  be  found  here,  one  of  which  was  the 
store.  From  that  time  forward,  for  about  eight  years,  the  town  improved 
rapidly.  New  dwellings,  stores,  shops  and  churches  went  up.  During  that 
period  of  prosperity,  three  churches,  a  good  schoolhouse,  and  most  of  the  stores 


624  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

and  other  buildings  now  found  in  the  lively  little  town  were  erected.     Then 

•/ 

began  to  be  felt  another  period  of  hard  times,  consequent  upon  the  panic  of  1873, 
since  which  time  Peotone,  like  most  other  places,  has  shown  no  signs  of  special 
activity.  In  1869,  the  village  was  incorporated.  The  first  election  was  held 
June  6,  of  the  year  named,  and  the  following  officers  were  selected :  C.  A. 
Westgate,  President;  E.  S.  Smith,  Emanuel  Wirt,  Joseph  Imholtz  and  John 
F.  Pickering,  Trustees,  and  John  F.  Pickering,  Clerk.  The  present  officers 
are:  Philip  Sultzbaugh,  President;  E.  B.  Cowing,  Fred.  Schroeder,  N  S.' 
Beedy,  Martin  Collins  and  James  Earnhardt,  Trustees  ;  Martin  Collins,  Clerk  ; 
James  Earnhardt,  Treasurer ;  John  Conrad,  Police  Magistrate,  and  Fred. 
Wahls,  Constable. 

In  1869,  the  old  school-building,  which  had  been  erected  ten  years  before, 
was  found  to  have  outlived  its  usefulness,  or  rather  its  capacity  was  found  too 
limited  for  its  purpose.  It  was  thought  by  some  that  additions  to  the  old  build- 
ing would  be  the  better  way  to  enlarge  the  school  capacity ;  but  it  was  finally 
resolved  to  build  anew  from  the  ground,  and  dispose  of  the  old  building  for 
other  purposes.  The  house  erected  is  a  very  fine  one,  for  a  place  of  this  size, 
and  cost  about  $7,000 

The  M.  E.  Church  was  the  first  to  organize,  and  one  of  the  two  first  to 
build.  The  organization  was  effected  in  1858,  by  Rev.  John  Hitchins,  and 
consisted  at  first  of  ten  members.  The  building,  which  stands  in  the  west 
part  of  the  town,  was  erected  in  1867,  and  cost  the  society  $3,000.  The 
parsonage,  owned  by  the  Church,  cost  $1,000.  Rev.  Henry  Hill  is  present 
Pastor. 

The  German  Evangelical  Church  was  erected  the  same  year,  the  society 
having  been  recently  organized.  In  1870,  it  was  set  off  as  an  Independent 
Church,  having  formerly  belonged  to  the  Rockville  Circuit.  The  building  is  a 
frame  structure,  and  stands  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  village.  Though  to 
outward  appearance  a  good  building,  it  was  poorly  constructed,  and  must,  at  no 
distant  date,  be  taken  down  and  replaced  by  one  of  more  substantial  character. 
Rev.  John  Wellmar  officiates  as  minister. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  1871,  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Trowbridge, 
with  seventeen  members.  The  building  of  the  new  schoolhouse  a  year  or  two 
before,  and  its  recent  occupancy,  left  the  old  schoolhouse  vacant.  This  house 
had  not  been  a  stranger  to  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  or  the  songs  of  praise.  All 
of  the  denominations,  during  a  period  prior  to  the  erection  of  their  houses  of 
worship,  had  made  use  of  this  building  for  Church  and  Sunday  school  purposes. 
So  when  the  building  was  vacated  by  the  school,  the  society  purchased  it  and 
refitted  it  for  their  use.  Rev.  W.  F.  Wood  is  minister  of  this  congregation. 
The  parsonage  is  the  best  in  the  village.  The  German  Lutheran  Church  is  the 
best  building  of  the  four.  It  was  built  in  1875,  and  stands  in  the  southwestern 
part  of  the  village.  The  organization  of  the  society  had  been  accomplished 
four  years  before,  by  Rev.  F.  Baeber.  The  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  Christopher 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  625 

Wobus.  In  connection  with  all  of  the  congregations  are  flourishing  Sunday 
schools,  and  each  minister  is  provided  with  a  comfortable  parsonage. 

Peotone  Lodge,  No.  636,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  was  established  October,  1869. 
The  charter  members  were  Samuel  Jamison,  Charles  A.  Westgate,  John  B. 
Sollitt,  Charles  Gates,  David  Gilmore,  Benjamin  Sellers,  Rufus  K.  Reynolds, 
August  Herbert,  Henry  Pape,  W.  F.  Hutchinson,  D.  F.  Mason,  J.  M.  French, 
A.  A.  Manson,  J.  D.  Downing,  J.  L.  Miller,  John  M.  Tobias  and  F.  Elder. 

The  regular  communications  are  held  on  the  second  and  fourth  Saturdays  of 
each  month.  The  present  membership  is  thirty-seven.  The  present  principal 
officers  are  C.  A.  Westgate,  W.  M.  ;  Charles  Gates,  S.  W.  ;  R.  G.  Jorgenson, 
J.  W.  ;  Thomas  Collins,  Sec.,  and  Philip  Sultzbaugh,  Treas. 


WILTON  TOWNSHIP. 

Of  all  of  the  interesting  little  nooks  in  Will  County,  Twelve-Mile  Grove 
is,  without  doubt,  the  most  romantic.  Not  only  on  account  of  location  has  it 
this  peculiar  aspect,  but  associated  with  it,  were  it  in  our  power  to  unearth  it, 
is  an  ancient  history  of  a  sufficiently  wild  flavor  for  a  poem  like  to  that  of 
Hiawatha.  Almost  entirely  secluded  as  they  were  from  the  rest  of  their  race, 
with  surroundings  at  once  so  beautiful  and  so  well  adapted  to  their  style  of  life, 
we  cannot  but  conceive  that  the  wild  people  who  dwelt  here  must  in  many 
respects  have  been  peculiar.  The  little  grove  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the 
finest  tracts  of  timber  in  Northern  Illinois,  and  was  full  of  deer,  wild  turkeys 
and  other  game,  at  the  time  of  the  earliest  settlement  by  the  whites.  The  fine 
little  stream,  a  branch  of  Forked  Creek,  dividing  the  township  diagonally  into 
two  almost  exactly  equal  parts,  flows  over  a  rocky  bed,  along  which  the  grove, 
on  either  side,  lies.  On  every  side  lies  the  open  prairie,  and  in  approach- 
ing the  timber  one  is  reminded  of  the  little  clumps  of  timber  described 
by  Eastern  travelers  as  appearing  on  the  Great  Desert,  toward  which 
their  anxious  eyes  and  weary  limbs  ever  turn  for  refreshing  shelter  and  drink 
for  themselves  and  thirsty  animals.  Formerly  this  feature  was  much  more 
apparent  than  now,  the  adjacent  prairie  having  long  since  been  occupied  and 
planted  here  and  there  by  the  early  settlers,  not  only  with  fruit-trees,  but 
also  with  those  of  the  foTest,  so  that  at  present  the  whole  township  presents 
the  appearance  of  a  succession  of  little  groves.  The  land  of  Wilton  Town- 
ship is  of  varied  quality  and  appearance,  in  some  portions  being  very  rich  and 
productive,  and  in  others  quite  the  reverse ;  in  some  portions  being  very  flat, 
and  in  others  undulating.  In  some  parts  of  the  township  stone  of  a  good 
quality  is  found,  which  answers  a  good  purpose  for  foundations  for  buildings, 
though  it  has  been  utilized  to  a  limited  extent  for  other  purposes. 

Wilton  Township  formerly  embraced  the  township  of  Peotone,  but  was  sep- 
arated from  it  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  in  1858.  The  township, 
as  now  constituted,  embraces  all  of  Town  33  north,  Range  11  east  of  the  Third 


626  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

Principal  Meridian,  and  is  bounded  on  the  north,  east  and  west  by  the  respect- 
ive townships  of  Manhattan,  Peotone  and  Florence,  and  on  the  south  by  Kan- 
kakee  County. 

As  before  intimated,  the  township,  or  rather  that  portion  still  known  as  Twelve- 
Mile  Grove,  was  occupied  by  a  small  tribe  of  Indians.  The  grove  was  reserved 
by  act  of  Congress,  ratifying  a  treaty  with  these  people,  for  their  sole  use  and 
benefit ;  but,  though  they  were  not  concerned  in  any  way  in  the  Black  Hawk 
disturbance,  or  any  other  unfriendly  or  hostile  act  toward  the  whites,  they 
removed  from  here  the  same  year  that  saw  the  exodus  of  the  hostile  tribes. 
They  simply  abandoned  their  lands  here,  not  because  of  any  encroachments  by 
the  whites,  nor  because  of  their  inability  to  hold  the  title  to  the  land,  for  the 
Government  would  doubtless  have  protected  them  in  their  rights,  but,  perhaps, 
because  they  did  not  like  the  idea  of  being  separated  so  far  from  others  of  their 
race. 

From  the  best  information  in  our  possession,  Joseph  Lawton,  one  of  the 
owners  of  the  land,  was  a  half-breed ;  and,  from  him  and  others  of  the  tribe  of 
Ce-nag-e-wine,  the  land  comprising  the  grove  was  bought,  bj  James  M.  Kibbin, 
William  T.  Nelson  and  A.  M.  Wiley,  ten  or  twelve  years  after  the  Indians  had 
deserted  it.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  land  in  the  township  was  granted 
to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  and,  from  that  Company,  bought  by 
such  settlers  as  came  in  after  1853.  Samuel  Hocum,  who  is  usually  accredited 
with  being  the  first  settler  at  the  Grove,  really  affiliated  with  the  Indians,  and, 
when  they  left  here  to  reside  at  Council  Bluffs,  followed  their  fortunes  thither. 
Hocum,  whatever  his  character  may  have  been,  was,  in  one  characteristic  which 
distinguishes  the  civilized  white  from  the  uncivilized  red  man,  of  civilized  pro- 
clivities, in  that  he  lived  in  a  house.  It  is  said  that  he  built  the  first  cabin 
erected  by  white  men  in  the  township,  and  that  it  stood  at  the  east  end  of  the 
grove,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Chauncey  Clinton.  The  exodus  of  the  Ho- 
cums,  the  Lawtons  and  the  other  Indians,  took  place  about  1835,  at  which  date 
Abram  Huyck  came  to  the  township  and  settled  on  Section  36,  since  and  still 
called  Huyck's  Grove.  For  two  years,  the  Huyck  family  were  the  only  inhab- 
itants of  the  township,  and  Twelve-Mile  Grove  was  deserted.  Abram  Huyck 
died  about  fifteen  years  ago,  and  the  family  removed  to  other  parts. 

When  the  whites  first  began  to  settle  here,  many  traces  of  the  former  occu- 
pants of  the  grove  were  yet  visible.  Among  the  most  interesting  of  these,  as 
illustrating  their  methods  of  sepulture,  were  the  tombs  of  three  Indians,  sup- 
posed, from  the  profusion  of  their  decorations,  to  be  chiefs.  The  sepulcher,  or 
whatever  it  might  be  called,  consisted  of  a  little  pen,  built  up  of  small  sticks,  laid 
one  upon  the  other,  to  the  height  of  about  four  feet,  being  from  four  to  five  feet 
square.  The  whole  was  covered  with  sticks,  weighed  down  with  heavy  stones. 
Arid  therein,  on  a  kind  of  stool,  sat  the  three  "  poor  Loes,"  looking  lonesome  and 
ghastly  enough.  The  cracks  between  the  sticks  composing  the  pens  were  sufficiently 
wide  to  admit  of  inspection,  while  being  at  the  same  time  too  small  to  allow  of 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  62T 

their  being  disturbed  by  wild  animals.  In  this  position,  these  ghastly  remains 
sat  in  all  of  their  feathers,  beads  and  jewelry,  with  the  flesh  decaying  from  their 
bones,  for  a  number  of  years,  till  at  length  a  foolish  lad,  who  lived  in  the 
neighborhood,  upset  their  charnel-houses,  scattering  their  bones  about  the  sur- 
rounding country. 

In  1837,  three  families  from  Canada  came  in  and  settled  at  the  grove. 
These  were  Franklin  Chamberlin,  Oliver  Chamberlin  and  James  Adams. 
The  Chamberlins  were  father  and  son.  The  Chamberlins  built  the  first  frame 
house.  The  timbers  were  "got  out,"  hewed  and  prepared  from  the  grove,  and 
the  boards  were  brought  from  Wilmington,  where  a  saw-mill  had  recently  been 
built.  Adams  occupied  the  Hocum  cabin.  The  Chamberlins  remained  here 
until  1845,  when  they  removed  to  Black  Oak,  near  Chicago,  where  they  still 
reside. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  write,  in  addition  to  the  wild  animals  desirable  for 
food,  there  were  also  wolves  in  great  numbers.  Geese,  chickens,  sheep  and 
pigs  were  their  favorite  repast ;  and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  protect  them 
from  the  voracity  of  their  natural  enemy.  An  able  and  eloquent  representa- 
tive had  risen  in  the  Legislature  and  declared  that,  "  When  the  denizen  of  the 
prairie  is  locked  in  the  embrace  of  Morpheus,  the  shades  of  night  have  settled 
'round  his  abode  and  all  nature  has  settled  to  rest,  then  the  noisome  wolf  rises 
from  his  lair,  and,  roaming  up  and  down  the  land,  seizes  the  inoffensive  pig  and 
the  innocent  lamb,  devouring  them,  to  the  great  detriment  of  said  denizens," 
and  the  law  for  the  protection  of  domestic  animals  against  the  ravages  of  "  said 
wolf"  had  been  passed,  allowing  to  any  one  who  would  secure  the  scalp  of  one 
these  "noisome"  animals,  a  bounty  of  $1.  The  business  of  wolf-hunting  at 
once  became  quite  lucrative.  For  a  number  of  years  afterward,  in  the  newly 
settled  counties,  nearly  all  of  the  State  taxes  were  paid  in  this  kind  of  currency. 
The  younger  Chamberlin  was  a  skillful  hunter  of  the  wolf,  killing  from  twenty 
to  forty  every  Fall.  For  these,  he  received  for  the  scalps  $1  each,  and  for  the 
pelts,  50  cents.  In  those  times,  the  hardest  that  have  ever  been  known  in 
this  State,  this  was  counted  a  large  amount  of  money.  But,  though  the  profit 
derived  was  comparatively  great,  the  propagation  of  the  wolf  was  neglected, 
and  now,  a  wolf,  should  one  be  captured  in  the  county,  would  be  counted  as  a 
curiosity. 

If  intelligence  were  necessary  to  "  keep  school  "  in  those  days,  the  Adams 
family  must  have  been  in  that  respect  more  than  ordinary,  as  the  first  two  terms 
taught  in  the  township,  in  1841  and  1842,  were  taught  respectively  by  Lydia 
and  Sallie  Adams,  daughters  of  James  Adams.  At  about  the  last  date  named, 
the  Mormons  at  Nauvoo  were  in  all  their  glory.  Missionaries  were  being  sent 
to  all  parts  of  the  country  to  enlighten  the  people  on  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
Joseph  Smith,  as  revealed  in  the  Book  of  Mormon  ;  and  among  the  places 
visited  in  this  part  of  the  State  was  Twelve-Mile  Grove.  Their  efforts  here 
were  not  without  success.  The  Adams  family,  having  become  fully  established  in. 


•628  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

the  faith,  sold  out  and  removed  to  headquarters  at  Nauvoo.  A  few  years  later, 
when  the  conflict  arose  between  the  authorities  of  the  State  and  the  troops  of 
Smith,  which  resulted  in  the  death  of  that  would-be  prophet,  and  the  succes- 
sion of  Brigham  Young  to  the  Prophet's  position,  most  of  the  Mormons  removed 
to  Salt  Lake.  Among  the  faithful  who  followed  the  fortunes  of  Young  to  the 
new  land  of  promise,  were  Adams  and  his  family.  In  crossing  the  plains,  among 
the  hundreds  of  these  people  who  perished  was  Lydia  Adams.  Sallie  after- 
ward became  one  of  the  wives  of  an  influential  and  wealthy  Mormon,  and 
still  resides  in  that  country.  Several  other  converts  were  made  to  Mormonism 
in  this  neighborhood,  some  of  whom  still  reside  here,  but  repudiate  the  doctrine 
of  plural  marriages,  cleaving  to  the  faith  as  expounded  by  Joseph  Smith,  Jr., 
now  of  Piano,  111. 

The  Chamberlins  and  Adams  sold  out  their  possessions  here  to  one  Reuben 
Putnam,  more  generally  known  as  "  Old  Put."  Putnam  had  the  reputation  of 
being  a  horse-thief,  a  cattle,  pig  and  sheep  thief,  and  a  robber  of  all  kinds  of 
goods  on  which  he  could  lay  hands.  He  was  even  credited  with  having  in  the 
grove  an  underground  stable  in  which  he  concealed  his  ill-gotten  gains,  and  in 
which  he  accommodated  members  of  a  then  numerous  gang  of  horse-thieves 
that  infested  the  country  ;  and  it  is  not  doubted  that  Putnam  was  one  of  the 
leaders.  "  Old  Put's  "  favorite  mark  for  his  stock  was  to  cut  off  both  ears  and 
tail,  and  in  this  way  destroy  all  other  marks  that  might  previously  have  been 
made  by  rightful  owners.  Certain  it  is  that  he  was  the  terror  of  this  part  of 
the  country,  and  as  such  prevented  for  a  time  the  rapid  settling  of  the  township. 
But  finally  his  operations  became  so  gigantic,  and  his  attitude  toward  his  neigh- 
bors became  so  unbearable,  that  forbearance  ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  and  it  was 
determined  to  bring  him  to  grief.  Suits  numerous  had  been  brought  against 
him  ;  indictments  had  been  procured  ;  and  all  legal  measures  had  been  tried  to 
bring  him  to  justice,  but  always  to  the  defeat  of  those  instituting  such  proceed- 
ings. So  a  few  of  the  citizens  of  the  neighborhood,  to  the  number  of  seven, 
entered  into  a  compact  to  rid  the  county  of  his  presence.  It  is  unnecessary  to 
repeat  the  names  of  the  seven  who  planned  the  scheme,  or  to  give  the  minutiae 
thereof.  Suffice  it  to  say  that,  one  day  in  June,  1853,  Old  Put  was  plowing 
corn  in  his  field,  when  suddenly,  what  to  him  appeared  to  be  an  Indian,  grap- 
pled his  arms  from  behind  and  held  him  fast ;  then  another,  who  seemed  to  be 
a  negro,  appeared  with  a  tar-bucket,  and  another  Indian  came  up  with  a  bag  of 
feathers.  Quicker  than  it  takes  to  tell  it,  two  or  three  more  negroes  stripped 
him  of  his  clothing,  and  a  pair  of  sheep  shears  applied  to  his  scalp,  divested 
him  of  his  hair.  In  four  minutes  from  the  time  of  commencing  the  operations, 
Mr.  Put  presented  a  striking  appearance.  So  much  did  he  resemble  the  descrip- 
tions of  'that  ancient  one  called  Scratch,  that  the  boys  who  took  part  in  the 
work  were  really  struck  with  fear.  He  had  been  covered  from  head  to  foot 
with  the  tar  and  feathers  ;  and  to  add  to  the  Satanic  appearance  as  if  having  just 
issued  from  the  ground,  they  had  rolled  him  in  the  fresh-plowed  dirt.  After 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  629 

the  work  had  been  completed,  he  was  asked  if  he  understood  the  meaning  of  all 
these  proceedings,  and  upon  giving  an  affirmative  answer,  he  was  told  that  be 
would  be  allowed  just  ninety  days  to  settle  up  his  business  and  get  out  of  the 
country,  and  was  assured  that  if  he  were  found  in  the  neighborhood  at  the  end 
of  the  period  named,  the  seven  had  sworn  a  great  oath  never  to  rest  day  or 
night  until  he  was  quartered.  At  the  end  of  the  eighty-seventh  day,  it  was 
noticed  that  Put  still  lingered,  as  if  loath  to  leave  the  scene  of  the  drama  in 
which  he  had  taken  so  prominent  a  part ;  but  after  that  date  he  was  a  stranger 
to  Twelve-Mile  Grove,  having  suddenly  vanished. 

For  a  long  time  his  countenance  presented  rather  a  sallow  appearance,  look- 
ing much  as  though  he  was  undergoing  an  attack  of  the  jaundice.  He  spent 
much  time  in  trying  to  find  out  who  had  been  his  persecutors ;  but  so  well  had 
they  concealed  their  plans  that  for  many  years  it  was  not  known  who  had  taken 
part  in  the  work. 

Four  of  the  men  employed  in  the  matter  are  still  residents  of  the  county, 
and  are  among  the  best  citizens.  The  thing  proved  so  popular,  and  those  con- 
cerned in  it  kept  it  so  well,  that  others  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  it  hinted 
that  they  "knew  more  about  it  than  they  cared  to  tell."  Hiram  Harvey  and 
sons  came  to  the  township  from  Canada  in  1841,  stayed  three  years  and  then 
removed  to  Five-Mile  Grove,  where  they  resided  nearly  four  years,  returning 
to  Twelve-Mile  in  1848.  Jabez  Harvey,  one  of  the  best-esteemed  citizens  of 
the  township,  went  to  California  during  the  gold  fever,  and  had  returned  by 
June,  1853,  having  in  the  mean  time,  seen  somewhat  of  the  manner  of  dealing 
with  outlaws  in  that  country,  at  that  time  governed  neither  by  the  principles  of 
law  nor  morals.  Mr.  Hiram  Harvey  is  now  over  70  years  of  age,  hale  and 
hearty,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  of  his  youthful  energy.  He  is  the  oldest 
resident  of  the  township.  From  1841  until  1845,  Alanson  Williams,  J.  Taft, 
Dr.  A.  B.  Mead,  Amos  Van  Valtonburg  and  Alfred  Warner  made  their  appear- 
ance in  the  neighborhood.  They  resided  here  but  a  short  period — but  four  or 
five  years — and  then  removed  to  other  places.  During  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Mead,  the  post  office  of  Wallingford  was  established  near  the  center  of  the 
township,  with  Mead  as  Postmaster  and  mail- carrier,  between  this  point  and 
Wilmington,  and  for  his  services  he  received  the  proceeds  of  the  office.  After 
his  removal,  the  office  was  removed  to  the  head  of  the  grove,  where  it  has 
since  remained.  By  1848,  quite  a  number  of  Irish  families  had  also  settled  in 
the  neighborhood.  At  the  date  last  named,  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal 
was  completed,  and  a  number  of  the  laborers  on  the  works,  having  saved  a  por- 
tion of  their  wages  and  being  out  of  employment,  concluded  to  engage  in  farm- 
ing, and  took  up  their  residence  here.  Some  of  our  best  citizens  are  of  Irish 
nativity,  among  whom  are  John  Brown,  Roger  Waters  and  Thomas  McCor- 
mick.  In  1846,  Kibben,  Nelson  &  Co.,  the  new  proprietors  of  the  reservation, 
came  to  the  Grove  with  a  view  to  making  improvements  and  selling  out  the 
land.  The  land  was  surveyed  and  offered  for  sale ;  and,  there  being  no  other 


630  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

timber  near,  coal  not  yet  having  been  discovered  in  the  county,  and  the  rail- 
road not  yet  having  been  projected,  the  people  were  greatly  excited  over  the 
prospect  of  having  the  only  source  of  fuel  and  lumber  disposed  of  without  a 
chance  to  obtain  a  piece ;  and  as  a  consequence,  land,  which  can  to-day  be 
bought  for  $20  per  acre,  brought  $100.  The  proprietors  who  had  bought  the 
reservation  for  a  trifle  became  rich  men  in  a  short  time. 

The  Nelson  family,  of  whom  W.  T.,  mentioned  above,  was  a  member,  con- 
sisted of  the  father,  John  Nelson,  and  sons  W.  T.,  S.  G.  and  D.  M.  They 
came  from  Indiana  to  reside  at  the  Grove  in  1848.  John  Nelson  had  been,  in 
the  State  of  his  former  residence,  one  of  the  first  citizens  of  the  county  in 
which  he  lived,  and  was  honored  with  many  positions  of  trust,  among  which 
was  that  of  member  of  the  Assembly  of  the  State.  Mr.  Nelson  died  two  or 
three  years  after  his  removal  to  this  place.  .  W.  T.  Nelson  now  resides  in  an 
adjoining  township,  and  the  two  other  brothers  still  reside  near  the  village  of 
Wallingford. 

George  and  David  Dancer,  brothers,  from  the  northern  part  of  the  State, 
came  in  1848.  The  former  still  resides  here,  but  the  latter  has  removed  to 
Iowa. 

Samuel  C.  Baker  and  brother  Caleb  settled  here  in  1849.  Caleb  is  one  of 
our  most  wealthy  and  respected  citizens.  Samuel  C.  now  resides  in  Colorado, 
and  is  engaged  in  the  cattle  trade. 

Joseph  Cook  was  the  first  blacksmith.  His  shop  at  first  consisted  of  a  bel- 
lows, anvil  and  a  few  hammers,  and  the  broad  branches  of  a  tree  were  his  only 
shelter.  Of  him  it  could  with  propriety  be  said : 

"  Beneath  a  spreading  chestnut-tree, 

The  village  smithy  stands, 
The  smith  a  mighty  man  is  he, 

With  large  and  sinewy  hands  ; 
And  the  muscles  of  his  brawny  arms 

Are  strong  as  iron  bands." 

All  except  the  tree,  which  was  an  oak  instead  of  a  chestnut. 

A  horse-power  saw-mill  was  erected  by  Henry  Stone,  now  of  California,  in 
1850,  but  it  run  but  a  short  time,  as  the  completion  of  the  railroad  brought 
lumber  of  a  more  desirable  character  to  within  a  short  distance.  The  first 
goods  were  sold  in  1856  by  J.  Hopkins,  at  Wallingford.  Hopkins  did  not 
continue  in  the  business  long,  but  sold  out  to  S.  G.  Nelson.  A  store  was 
started  in  Wilton  Center  in  1857,  by  Barret  &  Hersperger,  and  by  them  it  was 
run  for  about  three  months,  when  they  sold  to  Jabez  Harvey,  who  has  contin- 
ued the  business  without  intermission  or  suspension  for  twenty  years. 

There  were  at  one  time  three  post  offices  in  the  township.  The  first  estab- 
lished was  the  one  at  Ingham's  Hill,  near  the  center  of  the  township,  and  then 
removed  to  Wallingford.  About  1856,  a  post  office  called  Pierce,  was  author- 
ized at  Huyck's  Grove,  and  another  at  Wilton  Center.  Pierce  Post  Office 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  631 

xisted  but  a  short  time.     The  one  at  Wilton  Center  was  somewhat  irregular, 
:ntil  a  few  years  ago  when  it  became  a  permanent  fixture. 

In  1850,  there  were  in  the  township,  as  then  organized — embracing,  also, 
'eotone — about  twenty-five  voters.  The  precinct,  with  the  Grove  as  center 
or  an  indefinite  area  surrounding,  was  called  Dallas.  In  the  year  named,  how- 
ver,  the  Commissioners  of  the  county  changed  the  name,  giving  the  precinct  a 
lefinite  boundary,  with  Supervisor  and  other  township  officers. 

The  first  election  was  held  April  2,  1850.  Of  this  meeting,  Henry  Stone 
ras  elected  Moderator,  and  William  T.  Nelson,  Clerk  pro  tern.  Twenty-six 
•otes  were  cast,  of  which  the  following  persons  for  the  respective  offices  received 
aajorities :  William  Dancer,  Supervisor ;  Horace  Kelsey,  Clerk ;  James  M. 
Cibbin,  Assessor ;  Joel  0.  Norton,  Collector ;  Hugh  Kennedy,  Overseer  of  the 
}oor;  George  Dancer,  Samuel  Hall  and  Alfred  Warner,  Commissioners  of 
Highways ;  Samuel  Wilson  and  Patrick  Boyland,  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and 
Edward  Graham  and  John  McGowan,  Constables. 

In  1858,  the  eastern  half  of  the  precinct,  now  constituting  Peotone 
Cownship,  was,  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  set  off  as  a  separate 
ownship,  and  Wilton  left  with  boundaries  co-extensive  with  what  we  now  find 
hem. 

The  present  officers  are :  S.  G.  Nelson,  Supervisor ;  G.  Boynton,  Clerk ; 
\..  J.  Mills,  Assessor ;  D.  M.  Nelson,  Collector ;  George  Mackender,  John 
iVhite  and  James  Cavency,  Highway  Commissioners ;  S.  G.  Nelson  and  Jabez 
3arvey,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  George  Rose  and  B.  F.  Dunham,  Constables, 
ind  Jabez  Harvey,  School  Treasurer.  The  present  voting  population  is  240. 
3ne  of  the  most  important  public  acts  of  the  township  was  the  voting  of 
£35,000  to  aid  the  Decatur  &  State  Line  Railroad,  which  was  to  cross  the 
;ownship  and  locate  a  station  at  Wilton.  The  road  has  not  yet  been  completed, 
md,  as  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  call  for  an  election  was  that  the  bonds  were 
;o  be  issued  only  when  the  first  train  of  cars  were  run  through  the  township, 
;hey  have  not  yet  been  called  for. 

The  township  took  more  than  ordinary  interest  in  the  great  war  for  the 
^reservation  of  the  Union,  in  1861-65  No  draft  was  ever  enforced,  the  quota 
)f  each  call  being  filled  by  volunteers,  or  by  substitutes,  paid  by  subscriptions  or 
;ax.  Nearly  all  who  enlisted  from  this  township  were  in  the  One  Hundredth 
tllinois  Infantry.  Many  of  the  brave  boys  who  left  us  never  returned.  Of 
;his  number  are  remembered  Alva  Hoyt,  Richard  L.  Barr,  William  Bruce, 
[ra  Temple,  Amos  and  James  Gauthrop,  Simon  Cgnchlin,  Ahaz  Young,  Giles 
L.  Greenman,  Joseph  Robinson,  Frank  Patchett,  Robert  Stevens,  Don  A.  Rob- 
inson, Henry  Doncaster  and  James  T.  Ladieu.  The  last  named  died  a  double 
ieath  in  Andersonville  Prison.  Isaac  Jenks,  though  he  received  such  wounds 
as  would  have  killed  a  common  man — his  head  being  literally  shot  to  pieces — 
still  lives.  Jerry  Kennison  was  promoted  to  the  office  of  Captain,  and  S.  G. 
Nelson  was  honored  with  the  title  and  office  of  Major. 


632  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

As  before  intimated,  the  first  school  was  taught  in  1841.  This  was  the 
school  not  only  for  the  township,  but  for  all  the  country  adjacent.  Pupils 
attended  this  school  who  lived  ten  miles  away.  The  number  of  children 
living  in  the  township  at  that  time  scarcely  warranted  the  building  of  a  house 
and  the  establishing  of  a  school.  The  house  was  built  by  James  Adams,  Frank- 
lin Chamberlin  and  Hiram  Harvey,  and  was  a  partnership  concern.  It  was 
constructed  of  bass-wood  logs,  split  in  two  parts,  and  laid  up  in  the  manner  of  a 
rail  pen,  with  the  flat  surfaces  inside.  The  puncheon  floor,  slab  seats  and  desks 
and  the  huge  fire-place,  common  to  most  of  the  pioneer  schoolhouses  such  as 
appear  in  our  cut  on  page  89,  were  features  of  this  school-building.  In  1849, 
the  school  township  was  organized,  with  Horace  Kelsey  as  Treasurer,  and  in 
1850,  the  first  public  school-building  was  erected  at  Wilton  Center,  which  build- 
ing is  still  standing  and  doing  the  service  as  originally  designed.  It  was, 
doubtless,  considered  a  grand  affair  in  its  early  days,  though  at  present  it  looks 
somewhat  antiquated — however,  in  a  pretty  good  state  of  preservation.  It  is  con- 
structed of  stone,  which  were  taken  from  the  quarry  near  by,  the  stones  being  raised 
and  hauled  by  different  parties,  who  gave  their  time  and  labor  to  the  enterprise. 
The  building  is  20x30  feet,  and  in  height  is  scarcely  eight  feet  between  joists. 
Above  the  door  appears  the  following  inscription,  cut  deep  in  the  stone  cap : 


Oo\  Dist. 
1850. 

KNOWLEDGE  IS  POWER. 


In  this  building,  Chauncey  Steele  taught  the  first  term.  The  schoolhouse 
proved  to  be,  in  addition  to  its  use  as  a  temple  of  learning,  a  great  convenience 
for  numerous  other  purpose.  In  it  have  been  held  political  meetings,  debating 
societies,  churches  and  Sunday  schools,  indignation  meetings  and  ratification 
meetings  and  assemblies  of  all  sorts  and  sizes,  except  large  sizes,  which  could 
not  be  accommodated  within  its  modest  incJosure,  and  were,  therefore,  held  in 
the  grove.  Soon  after  the  date  of  the  building  of  the  schoolhouse  in  District 
No.  1,  a  school  was  organized  at  the  north  end  of  the  Grove  and  a  building 
erected  there ;  and,  within  eight  years,  three  more  had  been  built,  making,  in 
1858,  five  organized  districts,  each  with  a  school  building  of  its  own,  and  hav- 
ing a  school  population  of  over  four  hundred. 

At  present,  there  are  seven  whole  districts  and  two  union.  The  school  pop- 
ulation is  610  children  under  21  years  of  age,  of  whom  408  are  between  the 
ages  of  6  and  21. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  63£ 

The  value  of  school  property  is  estimated  at  $2,000.  The  whole  amount 
paid  for  sustaining  schools  last  year  was  nearly  $2.500.  Jabez  Harvey,  who 
succeeded  Kelsey,  the  first  Treasurer,  in  1864,  is  present  Treasurer  and  Clerk 
)f  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

VILLAGE    OF   WALLINGFORD. 

As  previously  stated,  Nelson,  Kibbin  and  Wiley  had  purchased  of  the 
tndians  the  tract  known  as  the  ;<  reservation."  Afterward  that  portion  which 
low  constitutes  the  site  of  the  village  was  sold  to  H.  B.  Goddard,  by  whom,  in 
;urn,  it  was  conveyed  to  Charles  W.  Keith,  who  laid  out  the  town  and  offered 
;he  lots  for  sale. 

Doubtless,  high  anticipations  were  indulged  in,  regarding  the  destiny  of 
SVallingford,  as  Keith  advertised  it  extensively.  Charts  of  the  town  were 
ithographed  and  sent  to  every  corner  of  the  East  and  West.  Some  of  them 
still  in  existence  show  what  a  nice  town  may  be  built  on  paper,  all  with  streets 
ind  alleys,  public  squares  and  fine  parks.  But,  alas,  for  human  expectations  ! 
ihe  enterprise  proved  a  failure,  and  Wallingford  stands  a  monument  of  blasted 
lopes.  It  is  now  simply  a  little  trading-point,  with  a  score  of  houses,  a  store 
ind  a  few  shops.  Keith,  after  having  disposed  of  a  few  lots,  sold  the  site  and 

;he  adjoining  farm  to  Noah  Thayer,  of  Aurora,  who  still  owns  it. 

•• 

VILLAGE    OF   WILTON    CENTER. 

Wilton  Center  was  platted,  originally,  in  1860  ;  but,  subsequently,  the  plat 
ivas  taken  up  and  a  new  plat  made  in  1876.  The  plat  consists  of  about  forty 
icres,  of  which  Jabez  Harvey  is  principal  proprietor.  Its  history  is  not  greatly 
lissimilar,  as  to  success,  to  its  little  rival  at  the  other  end  of  the  grove.  It  con- 
;ains  two  general  stores,  two  wagon-shops,  two  churches,  and  dwellings  and 
)ther  buildings  in  proportion.  The  population  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  M.  E.  Church  was  erected  in  1866.  and  cost  about  $6,000.  From  the 
•eport  to  the  Conference,  we  learn  that  its  membership  is  162. 

Rev.  A.  H.  Needham  is  the  present  Pastor,  and  John  Crawford  is  Superin- 
;endent  of  the  Sunday  school. 

The  Baptist  Church  was  built  in  1868.  It  is  a  neat  frame  building,  capa- 
ale  of  accommodating  about  two  hundred  persons.  The  membership  of  this 
Church  is  forty  seven,  with  Rev.  0.  C.  Dickinson  as  Pastor  and  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Sunday  school. 

Both  of  the  above  denominations  had  held  services  here  for  many  years 
prior  to  the  erection  of  their  houses  of  worship,  holding  meetings  in  the  school- 
tiouse  and  in  private  dwellings. 

Lodge  No.  640,  I.  0.  0.  F.  was  established  at  this  place,  June  15,  1877, 
with  seven  members,  most  of  whom  had  belonged  to  Wilmington  Lodge.  Of 
the  number  named,  A.  J.  Mills  was  N.  G. ;  J.  G.  Thompson,  V.  G.;  Henry 
Storch,  Secretary  ;  and  Jabez  Harvey,  Treasurer.  The  present  membership  is 


634  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

thirty-three,  the  officers  of  which,  with  the  substitution  of  Lorenz  Reitz  as  V. 
O.,  and  Charles  Weber  as  Secretary,  remain  as  at  first  constituted.  Meetings 
are  held  on  Saturday  of  each  week. 


MANHATTAN  TOWNSHIP. 

"  A  rose  by  any  other  name  would  smell  as  sweet,"  sang  the  bard  of  Strat- 
ford-on-Avon.  This  township  was  erst  known  as  Trenton — a  name  bestowed 
by  William  Nelson,  the  first  Supervisor  after  township  organization.  When 
Will  County  adopted  township  organization,  there  not  being  a  sufficient  number 
of  voters  in  this  to  form  a  township,  it  and  Greengarden  were  embraced  in 
one,  under  the  name  of  Trenton,  after  the  town  in  which  Mr.  Nelson  had 
resided  in  New  York.  In  1853,  the  population  having  sufficiently  increased, 
the  two  towns  were  separated,  and  the  name  of  Manhattan  was  proposed  by 
John  Young,  Esq.,  the  first  Supervisor  of  this  one,  and  no  objection  being  made 
by  Nelson,  it  was  duly  named  Tor  the  island  of  the  Knickerbockers,  since  which 
time  it  has  been  known  as  Manhattan  Township,  34  north.  Range  11  east.  It 
is  a  beautiful  undulating  prairie,  lying  in  gentle  eminences,  having  much  the 
appearance  of  the  swell  of  the  ocean  after  a  storm  has  passed  away.  No  timber 
breaks  the  monotony  of  the  prairie,  except  Five-Mile  Grove,  and  which  com- 
prises less  than  a  section  of  land.  It  is  thoroughly  an  agricultural  region,  than 
which  there  is  none  better  in  Will  County,  with  no  towns  or  villages,  or  manu- 
factories to  interfere  with  the  farming  interests.  Its  population,  in  1870,  was 
922  souls. 

The  first  settler  in  Manhattan  Township  was  Orin  Stevens,  but  of  him  little 
can  now  be  learned  further  than  that  he  had  made  a  settlement  at  Five-Mile 
Grove.  He  was  keeping  a  sort  of  tavern  there  when  the  next  settlers  came  in, 
in  1834.  The  Perkinses  were  the  next  to  settle  after  Stevens,  and  consisted  of 
Ephraim  Perkins  and  four  sons,  viz.,  Orin,  Edward,  Ephraim  and  Pliny  Per- 
kins. They  were  from  Trenton,  N.  Y.,  and  Edward  came  out  in  June,  1834, 
and  bought  out  the  man  Stevens.  Where  Stevens  was  from,  when  he  settled  at 
Five-Mile  Grove,  or  what  became  of  him  after  he  sold  out,  are  items  of  the 
township  history  lost  in  the  things  of  the  past.  Edward  Perkins  was  a  single 
man  when  he  first  came  to  the  settlement,  but  returned  to  New  York  in  the 
Fall  and  married,  and  brought  his  young  wife  to  the  West.  Jerrod  Gage  came 
about  this  time,  and  he  and  Perkins  entered  into  partnership  in  the  dairy  busi- 
ness at  Five-Mile  Grove.  The  next  Spring  (1835),  Perkins'  father  and  brothers 
came  out,  and  also  Gage's  father  and  his  family.  The  elder  Gage  had  been  an 
extensive  dairyman  in  "York  State,"  and  being  an  ardent  admirer  of  Henry 
Clay,  the  "Sage  of  Ashland"  and  renowned  Kentucky  statesman,  once  made 
for  him  a  mammoth  cheese,  and  presented  it  to  him  during  one  of  his  cam- 
paigns. .  When  Edward  Perkins  returned  from  New  York,  after  his  marriage, 
he  located  for  a  time  in  Joliet,  as  noticed  in  that  part  of  this  work,  and  was 


BEE  CHER 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  637 

nterested  with  Dr.  Bowen  in  his  Addition  to  the  city  of  Joliet.  The  elder 
'erkins  and  Gage  are  both  long  dead ;  Edward  Perkins  died  in  this  township ; 
)rin  went  to  California  during  the  gold  fever,  and  when  about  to  start  for 
lome,  died;  Pliny  and  Ephraim  Perkins,  Jr.,  are  both  living  still  in  this  State, 
•ut  in  what  part  our  informant  had  forgotten.  Hiram  Harvey  also  settled  at 
IMve-Mile  Grove,  about  1835  or  1836,  and  was  from  the  East,  but  what  partic- 
ilar  State  we  were  unable  to  learn,  nor  do  we  know  what  became  of  him. 
Chese  few  settlements  around  Five-Mile  Grove  seem  to  have  been  all  that  were 
oade  in  the  township  until  a  quite  recent  date,  as  compared  to  other  portions 
f  the  county.  As  this  little  grove  was  the  only  timber  in  the  town,  and 
t  required  a  score  or  two  of  years  for  the  people  to  find  out  that  the  prairies 
fere  habitable,  probably  accounts  for  the  long  gap  that  occurred  just  here  in 
he  arrival  of  new-comers  to  this  section,  as  the  next  we  find  coming  in  about 
847  and  1850,  and  which  we  will  now  notice.  , 

John  Young  came  from  New  York  City  in  1849,  and  settled  in  this  town- 
hip,  where  he  remained  until  1876,  when  he  removed  to  Joliet.  His  son, 
/lansfield  Young,  a  prosperous  merchant  of  Joliet,  married  Miss  Sarah  Walker, 
aughter  of  Joseph  Walker,  of  New  York,  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  most 
miable  and  lovely  woman,  beloved  by  all  who  knew  her.  She  died  in  1876, 
nd  he  and  his  father  (also  a  widower)  now  live  together,  the  old  and  the 
roung  bereaved  ones  forming  a  single  family.  Samuel  Bowen  and  his  two  sons 
rere  from  the  Quaker  State  of  William  Penn,  and  came  also  in  1849.  Bowen 
iad  first  settled  in  Jackson  Township,  where  he  remained  some  time  before  com- 
ng  to  Manhattan.  He  has  been  dead  some  years.  Bryan  Gorivan  and  son 
ettled  in  the  town  in  1848.  They  were  from  Ould  Ireland,  the  "blissed  Gim 
f  the  Say,"  are  still  living,  and  are  prosperous  farmers  of  the  community, 
dartin  Bergen  was  also  from  Ireland,  and  came  to  the"  country  a  poor  man,  but 
rent  to  work,  and  by  industry  and  energy  became  the  owner  of  about  six  hun- 
Ired  acres  of  fine  land,  and  amassed  considerable  other  property;  was  honored 
rith  office,  and  had  been  for  some  time  School  Treasurer  of  the  township,  when 
ie  suddenly  decamped,  and  his  business  was  found  to  be  in  rather  a  deranged 
ondition.  His  accounts  as  School  Treasurer  were  short  a  thousand  or  two, 
»ut  so  secured  that  nothing  was  lost.  His  neighbors,  who  speak  of  him  in 
:indly  terms,  seem  to  wonder  at  his  going  away  when  he  apparently  had  suflfi- 
ient  property  to  liquidate  all  his  liabilities.  Freeman  Gay  came  from  the  bleak 
hores  of  the  Pine-Tree  State,  about  1847  or  1848,  and  settled  in  this  neigh- 
orhood,  where  he  remained  a  number  of  years,  and  finally  removed  into  Jack- 
on  Township.  He  is  still  living  there,  and  is  a  wealthy  farmer  of  that 
own. 

William  Nelson,  a  prominent  citizen  of  the  town  in  the  early  days,  came 
ere  from  Trenton,  N.  Y.,  but  was  an  Englishman  by  birth.  He  settled  in 
his  section  in  1848,  and  gave  the  town  the  name  of  Trenton,  when  it  and 
Srreengarden  were  known  as  one  township,  as  noticed  in  the  beginning  of  this 


638  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

chapter.  He  sold  out,  some  years  ago,  and  removed  into  Jackson  Township, 
where  he  still  resides.  William  and  Charles  Bissett  were  from  Bonny  Scotland, 
and  came  to  the  settlement  in  1848.  Charles  died  in  a  short  time  after  their 
settlement  here.  William  went  to  California  during  the  gold  excitement  of  1849 
and  1850,  where  he  still  lived  the  last  known  of  him.  A  man  named  Borders 
settled  here  in  1849.  He  was  from  Ohio,  and  did  not  remain  long  in  the  set- 
tlement. What  became  of  him  no  one  knows  or  seems  to  care,  as  he  was,  to 
use  a  Southern  phrase,  "small  potatoes  "  anyway,  it  was  said. 

Clarke  Baker  came  from  New  York,  and  bought  land  here  in  1847,  but  did  not 
settle  on  it  until  1850.  He  is  still  living,  an  active,  energetic  man  of  fourscore 
and  two  years,  and  is  one  of  the  respected  citizens  and  wealthy  farmers  of  the 
township.  He  is  the  present  Supervisor,  an  office  he  has  held  for  several  years, 
as  will  be  found  on  another  page.  This  comprises  a  number  of  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Manhattan  Township  up  to  a  period  when  the  tide  of  immigration 
poured  in  with  a  rapidity  defying  the  power  of  the  historian  to  keep  pace  with 
names  and  dates.  When  township  organization  went  into  effect,  in  1850,  there 
were  but  ten  legal  voters  in  the  territory  now  comprised  in  Manhattan  Town- 
ship, and,  as  already  stated,  was  not  sufficient  to  form  a  township  of  itself,  but 
was,  with  Greengarden,  known  as  Trenton  Township,  and  so  remained  until 
1853,  when  they  were  separated  and  organized  under  their  present  names. 
William  Nelson  was  the  first  Supervisor  of  Trenton  Township,  and  held  the 
office  in  1850 ;  was  succeeded  by  M.  Bailey,  who  served  during  1851  and 
1852,  when  the  towns  were  divided,  and  John  Young  elected  Supervisor  of 
Manhattan  for  1853.  Clarke  Baker  was  elected  in  1854,  and  held  it  for  two 
years,  when  Mr.  Young  was  re-elected,  and  held  the  office  from  1856  to  1860, 
inclusive.  In  1861,  Clarke  Baker  was  again  elected  and  also  in  1862,  and  in 
1863,  was  succeeded  by  G.  A.  Buck,  who  served  until  1865,  when  J.  E.  Baker 
was  elected,  serving  from  1865  to  1869,  inclusive.  G.  A.  Buck  was  then 
re-elected,  and  served  1870-72,  and  was  succeeded  by  S.  Robinson,  in 
1873-74,  when  Clarke  Baker  was  again  elected,  and  has  held  the  office  ever 
since.  Other  township  officers  are  Clarke  Baker  and  Hiram  Olney,  Justices  of 
the  Peace  ;  Hiram  Olney,  Town  Clerk  ;  Michael  Haley,  Constable,  and  George 
A.  Buck,  School  Treasurer. 

As  recent  as  the  settlement  of  Manhattan  Township  has  been,  the  early 
record  of  mortality  is  somewhat  cloudy  and  vague.  The  first  death  of  which 
we  have  been  able  to  learn  definitely  was  that  of  Charles  Bissett,  who  is  noticed 
as  settling  here  in  1848,  and  who,  it  is  said,  died  in  a  year  or  two  afterward. 
A  child  of  Stephen  Bowen  was  born  in  1850,  and  was  probably  the  first,  or,  at 
least,  the  first  in  what  might  be  termed  the  second  era  of  settlements  in  the 
town.  It  might  be  claimed  that  Edward  Perkins  was  the  first  settler  of  the 
township  to  perpetrate  matriniony,  though  he  married  in  New  York.  But  to 
come  down  to  a  more  modern  date,  George  A.  Buck  and  Miss  Sarah  Baker 
were  married  at  quite  an  early  day.  We  do  not  give  these,  however,  as  being 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COU11TY.  639 

;he  first  births,  deaths  and  marriages  which  actually  occurred  in  the  town,  and 
ire  inclined  to  think  they  are  not;  but  they  are  the  first  of  which  we  have  been 
ible  to  learn  anything  definite.  It  is  altogether  probable  that,  with  many  Ger- 
man and  Irish  immigrants  coming  in,  there  were  births  at  an  earlier  date  than 
;hose  given.  But  it  is  stated  by  some  of  the  early  settlers  that  children  were 
"ather  scarce  in  Manhattan  in  the  early  days  of  its  settlement,  and  that  it  was 
ong  before  there  were  enough  to  form  a  school.  Mr.  Young,  who  had  resided 
n  New  York  City,  where  the  crop  of  juvenility  was  ponderous,  says  his  wife 
svas  often  annoyed  there  by  the  noise  and  racket  of  children  in  their  neighbor- 
lood  ;  but  used  to  say  frequently,  after  she  had  been  "  here  a  spell,"  that  she 
nrould  give  much  to  hear  the  noise  of  children  at  play. 

The  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  the  township  was  William  Bissett,  and 
•eceived  the  office  in  1849,  but  did  not  hold  it  long,  as  he  sold  out  in  1850  and 
ivent  to  California.  The  first  blacksmith-shop  was  kept  by  a  man  named  Cun- 
lingham,  in  1851.  Where  Cunningham  came  from,  or  whither  he  went,  no 
me  can  now  tell.  There  is  no  village  in  Manhattan  Township,  nor  has  there 
;ver  been  a  store  within  its  borders,  nor  a  post  office  established  for  its  particu- 
ar  benefit.  But  very  recently  Greengarden  post  office  was  moved  over,  just 
nside  of  the  Manhattan  line.  Joliet  is  the  point  of  traffic  of  its  citizens,  and 
s  the  post  office  where  the  large  majority  of  them  get  their  mail  matter.  It  is 
;here  they  haul  their  grain  and  other  farm  produce,  and  hence,  stores  and  post 
>ffices  have  not  been  at  all  required  in  their  town,  and  would  not,  perhaps,  be 
nuch  patronized  if  they  were  as  plenty  as  Falstaff's  blackberries. 

The  first  and  the  only  church  structure  ever  erected  in  Manhattan  Town- 
ihip,  is  the  Episcopal  Church,  built  in  1857,  under  the  ministerial  charge  of 
Rev.  Clinton  Locke,  who  at  the  time  was  Rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
Joliet,  and  now  of  Grace  Church,  Chicago,  and  whom  we  noticed  as  officiating 
n  the  reception  of  President  Hayes  in  his  recent  visit  to  Chicago.  The  church 
jdifice  is  a  frame,  and  cost  about  $1,500.  Some  dozen  or  twenty  families  wor- 
ship there  at  the  present  time  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  A.  W.  Glass.  Other 
•eligious  organizations  have  regularly -established  societies  in  the  township,  and 
lardly  a  schoolhouse  but  serves  as  a  temple  of  worship  and  for  Sunday  schools, 
jut  there  are  no  other  church  edifices.  The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1852, 
ind  in  it  was  taught  the  first  school  in  the  township.  For  as  before  stated,  there 
ivere  but  few  children  in  the  settlement  for  several  years,  and  consequently  not 
nuch  need  felt  for  schoolhouses.  In  1872,  a  little  more  than  a  score  of  years 
ifter  the  second  era  of  immigration  set  in,  we  find  the  town  contained  eight 
school  districts  and  eight  good,  substantial  schoolhouses.  There  were  415 
supils  enrolled  and  13  teachers  employed ;  the  district  tax  levy  for  the 
support  of  schools  was  $1,135.22,  and  $1,422.35  the  amount  paid  to  teachers. 
Ihe  schools  of  Manhattan  are  in  a  flourishing  state ;  each  district  has  a  good', 
comfortable  schoolhouse  ;  the  best  of  teachers  are  employed,  and  school  main- 
;ained  for  the  usual  number  of  months  each  year. 


640  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

When  Mr.  Young  settled  in  Manhattan  Township,  in  1849,  there  was  not, 
he  informed  us,  a  rod  of  fence  in  the  town,  but  a  little  in  five-Mile  Grove, 
where  Mr.  Baker  had  bought  land.  Aside  from  that  little  bunch  of  timber,  it 
was  an  unbroken  prairie,  well  set  in  tall,  waving  grass,  overtopped  with  wild- 
flowers,  and  presenting  a  picture  of  beauty  equal  to  the  most  extravagant  ideas 
of  the  Western  prairies  to  be  obtained  from  the  New  York  Ledger  and  kindred 
publications.  The  town  is  sufficiently  rolling  to  drain  well ;  in  fact,  there  is 
not  a  section  but  that  is  capable  of  being  well  drained.  It  is  irrigated  by 
Jackson  and  Mud  Creeks,  two  small  brooklets  that  usually  go  dry  in  the  Sum- 
mer season,  but  sometimes  in  long  "  rainy  spells  "  get  on  the  rampage  and 
become  rather  boisterous  streams.  There  are  no  mills  in  this  .town,  nor  rail- 
roads, and  as  before  stated,  no  villages  or  cities,  or  "corner  lots,"  and  hence, 
there  is  very  little  in  the  way  of  history  pertaining  to  it,  beyond  the  mere  fact 
of  its  settlement,  and  that  of  its  being,  as  already  noted,  one  of  the  finest  agri- 
cultural districts  in  the  county.  Although  originally  settled  by  New  Yorkers, 
and  other  Eastern  people,  the  foreign  population  has  rather  the  ascendency  at 
present.  The  German  and  Irish  elements  are  well  represented,  and  can  boast 
of  many  excellent  and  wealthy  farmers. 

As  showing  the  importance  of  Manhattan  as  an  agricultural  community,  we 
present  the  following  statistics  from  the  last  Assessor's  books  : 

ACRES.  BUSHELS. 

Corn 8,371  210,330 

Oats 3,857  16,510 

Irish  Potatoes 5,880 

Apple  Orchards 135  

Flaxseed s  231 

TONS. 

Timothy  Meadow 2,063  2,500 

Prairie  Meadow 2,101  2,643 

Pasture 5,959     (not  including  woodland.) 

No.  pounds  wool  shorn 160     Ibs. 

No.  of  Fat  Sheep  sold 15  head. 

No.  of  Cows  kept 557     " 

No.  Fat  Cattle  sold 107 — average  weight,  1,000  Ibs.  per  head. 

No.  Fat  Hogs      "     1,408  "          250    " 

From  the  above  figures  it  will  be  seen  that  Manhattan  is  an  excellent  farm- 
ing district,  and  does  its  part  in  swelling  the  agricultural  resources  of  the 
county. 

The  political  record  of  Manhattan  is  Democratic  by  a  very  small  majority, 
or  has  been,  until  the  present  "shaking  of  the  dry  bones  of  the  valley  "  caused 
by  the  National  Greenbackers,  and  just  now  it  appears  somewhat  uncertain  as 
to  what  a  day  may  bring  forth.  The  township  bore  a  good  record  in  the  late 
war,  as  is  shown  by  reference  to  the  "Patriotism  of  Will  County."  As  the 
deeds  of  its  soldiers  are  perpetuated  in  the  pages  of  that  work,  we  shall  not  go 
into  details  of  their  war  history  here.  They  bore  the  perils  of  the  war  for  the 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  641 

Union,  and  we  will  pass  from  the  subject,  with  this  tribute  to  those  who  sleep 
;heir  last  long  sleep  : 

"  Like  a  swift-fleeting  meteor,  a  fast-flying  cloud, 
A  flash  of  the  lightning,  a  break  of  the  wave, 
Man  passes  from  life  to  his  rest  in  the  grave." 


WASHINGTON    TOWNSHIP. 

This  township  is  situated  in  the  extreme  southeastern  part  of  the  county, 
,nd  is  the  most  distant  from  the  county  seat  of  any  township,  being  from  its 
enter,  in  a  direct  line  from  Joliet,  twenty-seven  miles,  and  by  rail  not  less  than 
hirty-five.  Since  the  division  of  Reed  Township,  this  is  one  of  the  two  greatest 
ti  area  in  the  countv,  including  within  its  limits  all  of  Congressional  Town  33 
lorth  and  14  east,  and  about  one-fourth  of  Range  15.  The  township  presents  more 
ban  an  ordinary  variety  of  soil  and  surface,  being  in  some  portions  quite  flat 
nd  in  others  rolling ;  in  some  portions  a  deep,  rich  soil,  and  in  others  lacking 
n  this  character.  It  is  watered  by  the  small  stream  which  drains  Eagle  Lake, 
rhich  also  furnishes  stock  water  for  the  northeastern,  central  and  southwestern 
arts.  Eagle  Lake,  formerly  much  larger  than  at  present,  covers  an  area  of  a 
uarter  of  Section  7  and  the  swamp  adjacent,  nearly  all  of  this  and  Section 
8.  Before  the  work  of  draining  the  lake  was  begun,  hundreds  of  bushels  of 
ranberries  were  annually  produced  and  gathered  here,  but  now  this  industry  is 
estroyed.  The  other  products  of  the  township  consist  of  corn,  rye,  oats,  pota- 
>es  and  hay.  Stock-raising  is  carried  on  to  some  extent. 

The  Chicago,  Danville  &  Vincennes  Railroad  passes  through  the  western 
art,  furnishing  an  outlet  for  its  products  and  a  means  of  communication  with 
ther  parts  of  the  country.  Prior  to  the  completion  of  this  line,  most  of  the 
larketing  was  hauled  direct  to  Chicago,  or  shipped  by  the  Illinois  Central  at 
eotone  or  Monee.  Most  of  the  land  in  this  township,  being  outside  of  the 
llinois  Central  limits,  was  sold  to  original  settlers  or  to  speculators  for  $1.25 
er  acre,  and  was  occupied  within  a  period  ending  about  1857. 

The  first  settler  in  the  township  was  a  man  of  the  name  of  Jesse  Dutcher. 
ut  little  is  known  as  to  whence  he  came  or  whither  he  went ;  but,  in  1851,  he 
B  was  found  here  occupying  some  land  a  couple  of  miles  north  of  Washington 
enter.  The  line  running  through  the  Center,  and  continuing  through  Crete, 
id  thence  to  Chicago,  with  its  southern  terminus  at  Vincennes,  Ind.,  was 
le  main  traveled  road  between  those  two  extremes,  and  was  one  of  the  most- 
*ed  thoroughfares  in  the  State.  Marketing  of  all  kinds  was  hauled  from  Vin- 
iiines  and  all  intermediate  points  by  way  of  this  road  to  Chicago.  As  a  con- 
;quence,  little  settlements  sprang  up  all  along  the  line,  and,  at  short  distances, 
)uses  for  the  accommodation  of  the  traveler  and  teamster,  and  for  the  profit 
'  the  owners,  were  opened.  These  houses  were  scarcely  deserving  of  the  name 
'  hotel  or  tavern,  but  were  owned  by  parties  who  were  opening  farms,  and 


642  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  ' 

having  built  cabins  of  more  than  ordinary  size,  established  this  species  of 
lodging-house  in  connection  with  their  farming  operations.  Such  an  establish- 
ment was  Dutcher  keeping  at  the  time  remembered  by  the  earliest  settler,  in 

1851,  and  for  two  or  three  years  later.     How  long  he  had  been  there,  we  are 
unable  to  say  ;  but  those  who  saw  him  there  at  the  date  named,  judging  from 
the  looks  of  his  house  and  other  improvements,  credit  him  with  a  half-dozen 
years'  previous  residence.     Dutcher  was  also  a  preacher,  and,  as  now  remem- 
bered, was  of  the  Methodist  persuasion.     Perhaps  he  was  not  a  regularly- 
licensed  minister,  as  his  stay,  in  such  case,  could  not  have  been  so  prolonged. 
However,  like  his  ancient  prototype,  Melchizedek,  the  priest  of  Salem,  he  went 
as  he  came,  unknown  to  any  of  his  cotemporaries,  and  the  balance  of  his  history 
is  lost  to  this  part  of  the  world. 

Four  miles  south  and  a  mile  west  of  the  Dutcher  Tavern,  hotel,  caravan- 
sary, or  whatever  it  might  be  called,  was,  at  the  same  date,  another  stopping- 
place  of  a  similar  character,  though,  if  report  be  true,  of  a  little  less  respecta- 
bility, as  its  proprietor  was  anything  else  than  a  preacher.  At  this  place, 
which  was  near  what  is  now  known  as  the  Sollitt  Farm,  James  McBein  "  took 
the  stranger  in  "  and  accommodated  him  for  a  compensation ;  and,  with  this 
Scriptural  argument,  he  went  before  the  Bar  Supreme  many  years  ago  to  plead 
admission  to  the  "  Heavenly  Mansion."  The  McBein  family  have  all  removed 
from  the  township. 

By  an  examination  of  the  map,  it  will  be  discovered  that  these  two  hotels 
or  taverns  were  not  on  the  same  section  line ;  but  they  were  on  the  same  road, 
which  did  not  follow  the  section  line  in  all  cases,  but  meandered  about,  follow- 
ing sometimes  the  bank  of  a  creek,  and  at  others  being  confined  to  the  highest 
ridges  of  land.  Along  this  general  highway  other  habitations  sprung  up  in 
due  time,  and  the  "  big-road  "  settlement  was  distinct  for  many  miles  up  and 
down  its  course.  Among  these  were  John  Rose,  William  Strain  and  Joseph 
Maxwell.  John  Rose  was  probably  the  third  settler  in  the  township,  and  is 
almost  entitled  to  the  credit  of  being  the  first,  as  the  settlements  previously 
named  could  scarcely  be  called  permanent.  Certain  it  is  that  the  Rose  family 
is  now  the  oldest  family  in  the  bounds  of  Washington  Township.  Mr.  Rose 
was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  came  to  this  part  of  the  country  in  1851.  He 
settled  on  the  west  side  of  Section  3,  which,  it  will  be  noticed,  is  near  the  line 
of  the  former  "  big  road."  John  Rose  died  in  1858.  Heirs  of  the  family  still 
occupy  the  old  homestead. 

William   Strain  was  also  a  native  of  Ireland.     He  came  to  this  place  in 

1852,  and  still  resides  here,  a  few  rods  north  of  the  "  Center." 

Joseph   Maxwell  came  from  Ohio  with  T.  L.  Miller,  and  still  resides  here. 

Philip  Nolan  was  also  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  in  this  part  of  the  town- 
ship. Nolan  had  lived  in  Chicago  a  couple  of  years  before  removing  to  this 
vicinity  in  1851.  Joseph  White  was  one  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  early  times 
in  this  neighborhood,  though  his  residence  here  was  but  brief,  extending  from 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  643 

the  year  1854  till  about  1858.  It  was  at  his  house,  on  the  Dutcher  farm,  that 
the  first  township  election  was  held,  in  1856  ;  and  at  this  election  he  was  chosen 
one  of  the  first  Justices  of  the  Peace.  After  the  exodus  of  Dutcher,  White 
installed  himself  as  landlord  and  farmer,  and  continued  here  until  1858,  when 
he  removed  to  Indiana. 

While  these  settlements  were  being  made,  another,  known  at  the  time  as 
"  The  Settlement,"  was  being  made  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the  township,  in 
the  vicinity  of  Eagle  Lake.  Among  the  first  settlers  in  that  neighborhood 
were  Henry  Bahlman,  Peter  Dohse,  Andrew  Carstensen,  Pade  Kruse,  Charles 
Fuller  and  William  Bliss,  most  of  whom  have  since  removed  to  other  places. 

The  Bahlman  family,  of  whom  Henry  Bahlman,  Jr.,  is  a  member,  still 
reside  here.  The  modest-looking  lake  was,  about  twenty  years  ago,  the  scene 
of  a  horrible  and  most  disgusting  tragedy,  with  which,  however,  none  of  the 
citizens  were  in  anywise  connected.  Parties,  residents  of  other  parts  of  the 
county,  to  conceal  another  crime,  and  for  the  small  consideration  of  $50,  com- 
mitted a  crime  here  that  has  justly  cursed  them  for  all  time  to  come.  The 
night  was  dark  and  gloomy,  and  well  calculated  to  inspire  the  two  monsters 
who  committed  the  devilish  deed  with  feelings  which  must  be  necessary  to  the 
accomplishment  of  such  an  inhuman  act.  Their  victim  was  an  infant,  of 
which  they  had  been  put  in  charge  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  for  it  a  home 
in  some  institution  established  for  such  unfortunates.  But  either  the  price 
received  or  the  idea  of  a  more  effectual  concealment  of  the  original  crime, 
impelled  them  to  committing  the  little  body  to  the  depths  of  Eagle  Lake.  The 
details  of  the  crime,  though  published  in  all  of  the  papers  at  the  time,  are  too 
disgusting  for  further  mention,  except  to  say  that  the  perpetrators  were  discov- 
ered, arrested,  tried  and  convicted,  but  by  some  means  they  escaped  the  just 
penalty  of  their  dark  deed. 

By  1856,  farms  were  also  being  opened  in  the  southern  and  western  parts 
of  the  township.  The  Germans,  who  are  now  more  than  half  owners  of  the 
township,  were  beginning  to  arrive ;  and  by  the  year  last  named,  there  were 
about  twenty  additional  families,  among  whom  are  remembered  :  Rensellaer  and 
Edwin  C.  Richards,  W.  and  C.  Lyon,  Joseph  Irish,  Horace  Morrison,  William 
and  M.  Watkins,  Richard  Lightbown,  Isaiah  and  Stephen  Goodenow,  Robert 
and  David  Dunbar,  John  B.  Bowes,  John  Miers,  Peter  Dohse,  H.  Spanler, 
John  Tatmire  and  Aaron  and  Miles  Johnson.  The  township  was  yet  a  part  of 
Crete,  and  voted  and  transacted  all  political  business  with  that  precinct.  In 
the  year  mentioned,  however,  a  move  was  made  toward  establishing  this  as  a 
separate  precinct.  A  petition  was  prepared  and  presented  to  the  Board  of 
Supervisors ;  and  no  good  reason  appearing  to  the  contrary,  an  election  for  the 
purpose  of  organization  and  for  selecting  township  officers  was  by  them  ordered 
to  take  place  on  the  1st  Tuesday  of  April,  1856.  As  has  been  stated,  the 
election  was  held  at  the  house  of  Joseph  White,  and  the  record  which  is  still 
extant  indicates  that  there  were  thirty  voters  present.  Rensellaer  Richards  was 


644  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

chosen  Moderator  and  William  Watkins,  Clerk  pro  tern.  They  were  sworn  to 
perform  the  duties  of  their  positions  according  to  law,  by  William  Hughes,  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  were  about  to  proceed  to  business,  when  it  was  men- 
tioned that  as  William  Watkins  had  not  resided  in  the  town  a  year,  he  was  con- 
sequently ineligible.  M.  Watkins  was  therefore  chosen  and  qualified  in  his 
stead,  and  the  election  proceeded.  Rensellaer  Richards  was  elected  Supervisor 
and  Assessor ;  Edwin  C.  Richards,  Clerk ;  William  B.  Conner,  Collector ; 
William  A.  Bliss,  Overseer  of  the  Poor;  Joseph  Irish,  Joseph  Maxwell  and 
Henry  Bahlman,  Commissioners  of  Highways  ;  Joseph  White  and  William 
Watkins,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  and  Isaiah  Goodenow  and  J.  H.  Irish,  Con- 
stables. The  Richards  family  must  have  been  both  a  popular  and  competent 
one,  as  they  monopolized  the  three  most  important  offices. 

The  names  of  the  present  officers  are :  F.  Wilke,  Supervisor ;  Charles  Holtz, 
Clerk  ;  Henry  Bahlman,  Jr.,  Assessor ;  August  Guritz,  Collector ;  Henry 
Valtner,  John  Tegtmeir  and  Edmund  Smith,  Commissioners  of  Highways ; 
Charles  Holtz  and  Henry  Lattz,  Constables ;  Rudolph  Pecht  and  Henry  Bahl- 
man, Justices  of  the  Peace;  and  Christopher  Koelling,  School  Treasurer. 
The  number  of  votes  polled  is  about  200,  though  a  full  ballot  has  never  been 
cast. 

The  township  is  well  supplied  with  school  facilities,  there  being,  besides  the 
seven  public  schools,  four  private  schools  supported  by  the  different  religious 
denominations.  The  first  effort  to  provide  school  advantages  for  the  children  of 
the  township  was  in  1855,  when  Sabina  Graham  was  employed  to  teach  a  few 
children,  in  a  room  of  the  Dutcher- White  Hotel.  The  next  Spring,  a  little 
shanty  was  erected  in  that  neighborhood.  This  first  schoolhouse  was  a  simple 
Summer  concern,  constructed  of  rough  boards,  and  was  but  twelve  feet  long  and  as 
many  wide.  At  first  it  was  designed  for  only  a  single  Summer,  but  was  pressed 
into  the  service  for  several  years.  Miss  Graham  was  an  excellent  teacher,  and 
her  praise  as  a  kind  and  diligent  instructor  may  still  be  heard  from  some  of  her 
early  pupils,  now  grown  to  be  middle-aged  men  and  matrons.  In  1857,  a  good 
schoolhouse,  which  is  still  mentioned  in  this  vicinity  as  the  "new  schoolhouse," 
was  erected  in  this  vicinity,  and  the  following  year  the  township  was  divided 
into  two  districts,  and  a  second  house  was  erected. 

A  few  items  extracted  from  the  School  Commissioners'  report  of  that  year, 
will  prove  interesting  to  our  readers,  as  showing  the  satisfactory  advance  in  this 
direction  at  the  present  date  : 

Schools 2 

Number  of  months  in  each  year 9 

Average  wages $19  63 

Number  of  scholars  attending 99 

Number  of  persons  under  21 171 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21 112 

Amount  paid  to  teachers 402  74 

Whole  amount   paid  for  school  purpose? $1,992  14. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  645- 

If  the  items  in  regard  to  attendance  and  number  between  6  and  21  are  both 
correct,  it  shows  a  remarkably  high  percentage  of  those  entitled  to  school  privi- 
leges taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity.  Especially  is  this  so,  when  the 
newness  of  the  settlement  is  taken  into  account.  In  1866,  eight  years  later, 
we  find  4  schools  here,  with  569  persons  under  21 ;  and  still  eight  years 
later,  in  1874,  the  number  had  increased  to  6  schools,  with  612  persons  under 
21.  The  present  status  of  education  may  be  determined  from  the  following 
figures : 

Number  of  persons  under  21 881 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21 650 

Number  of  scholars  attending 237 

Number  of  schools 7 

Number  of  months  taught 46£ 

Amount  paid  teachers $1.959  00 

Total  expenditures  for  school  purposes 3,087  00 

The  present  apparent  meager  attendance  is"  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
about  four  hundred  children,  between  the  ages  of  5  and  14,  are  in  attendance 
at  the  parish  schools,  of  which  there  are  four  in  the  township. 

The  oldest  organized  church  in  the  township  is  St.  John's  Evangelical 
Lutheran,  near  Eagle  Lake.  This  organization  was  accomplished  in  1850  ; 
but,  as  has  already  been  stated,  there  were  not  more  than  two  families  resident 
in  Washington  Township,  and  they,  as  has  been  intimated,  being  of  other  belief; 
in  regard  to  religious  matters,  it  will  be  surmised  that  the  organization  could 
not  have  been  effected  here.  The  church  was  at  first  established  a  mile  north  of 
its  present  location,  in  the  township  of  Crete.  A  building  for  religious  and  edu- 
cational purposes  was  erected  there  at  the  date  named,  and  church  and  school 
were  kept  open  there  until  1864.  Rev.  Gustav  Pollack  was  the  organizer  of 
the  enterprise,  and  was  Pastor  for  fifteen  years.  In  1864,  it  having  been 
determined  to  build  a  new  house  of  worship,  a  new  location  was  selected  for  the 
same,  though  school  has  been  kept  open  at  the  old  site  till  the  present  time. 

The  new  building  at  Eagle  Lake  is  a  very  neat  and  commodious  one,  and 
cost  the  society  $5,000.  The  old  building,  a  mile  north,  was  torn  down  a  few 
years  ago,  and  a  new  schoolhouse  erected  at  a  cost  of  $1,000.  A  dwelling  for 
the  use  of  the  teacher  was  also  built,  at  an  expense  of  $900.  At  the  Lake  a 
parsonage,  costing  $2,200,  was  built  in  1865  ;  also  a  schoolhouse  was  erected 
which  cost  $1,200. 

At  the  north  establishment,  in  Crete  Township,  A.  Albers  is  employed  as 
teacher.  In  the  school  at  the  Lake,  Friedrich  Fathaur  has  been  teacher  ever 
since  its  organization.  The  congregation  or  society  consists  of  118  families,  of 
whom  Rev.  J.  F.  Nuoffer  is  Pastor. 

St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  located  a  mile  northwest  of 
Beecher,  was  organized  in  the  Spring  of  1865,  by  Rev.  Gustav  Pollack,  who 
had  been  preaching  in  this  vicinity.  Herman  Lossner  was  installed  Pastor,  in 
which  position  he  is  still  engaged.  The  organization  was  first  started  with 


•646  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

twenty  families,  which  has  increased  to  eighty-five,  embracing  a  membership,  as 
estimated  by  other  denominations,  of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  persons. 
In  1865,  a  two-story  building,  for  the  use  of  Pastor,  and  as  a  church  and 
schoolhouse,  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $2,500.  In  1867,  a  neat  parsonage,  cost- 
ing $1,250,  was  built;  and  the  other  building  has  since  been  used  for  school 
and  church  purposes.  It  is  proposed,  next  year,  to  build  a  church  edifice 
40x60  feet,  at  an  expenditure  of  about  $3,500,  the  plans  of  which  are  already 
procured  and  most  of  the  money  subscribed.  At  this  establishment,  as  at  all 
of  the  others  of  this  denomination,  school  is  kept  open  nearly  all  the  year,  and 
the  common  branches  of  German  and  religion  are  taught.  At  the  age  of  14, 
or  confirmation,  the  children  attend  the  public  schools.  Albert  Dorn  has  been 
in  charge  of  the  school  for  the  last  three  years. 

St.  John's  German  United  Evangelical  Church,  located  two  miles  southeast 
of  Beecher,  was  established  and  an  organization  effected  in  1864.  Rev.  Peter 
Lehman  had  been  preaching  in  the  vicinity  for  a  year  before,  and  organized 
the  society  at  the  date  named,  with  a  membership  of  forty  families.  After  the 
Church  had  been  established,  Rev.  Philip  Albert  was  installed  as  Pastor,  and 
acted  as  such  for  two  years.  The  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  Emil  Keuchen,  who 
has  been  in  charge  as  minister  and  teacher  for  the  last  six  years.  The  society 
owns  a  plat  of  ten  acres,  on  which  was  erected,  in  .1864,  a  church  edifice 
30x44  feet,  at  a  cost  of  $1,960,  and,  in  1876,  a  parsonage  for  $1,150.  The 
present  membership  is  350  members,  or  85  families.  Religious  and  secular 
instruction  are  given  to  the  children  of  the  parish,  six  months  in  the  year. 

The  Congregational  Church,  at  the  village  of  Beecher,  was  organized  Jan- 
uary, 1872,  the  house  of  worship  having  been  erected  the  year  before.  The 
original  members  were  eight  in  number;  the  present  membership  is  about 
twenty.  The  building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $1,250,  and  is '24x32  feet  in 
size.  The  lumber  was  donated  by  dealers — friends  of  T.  L.  Miller,  of  Chicago ; 
$175  was  contributed  by  citizens  of  the  village,  and  Mr.  Miller  paid  the  bal- 
ance. Rev.  J.  F.  Smith,  now  Pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church,  at  Crete, 
was  the  first  Pastor.  At  present,  T.  C.  Hunt,  a  student  of  the  Theological 
Seminary,  officiates  as  Pastor.  Sunday  school  is  sustained  with  S.  S.  Hunt 
as  Superintendent. 

In  the  great  struggle  to  preserve  the  Union,  in  1861-65,  Washington  Town- 
ship was  well  represented,  and  did  its  part  creditably.  Among  those  who 
enlisted  and  never  returned,  having  fallen  a  sacrifice  on  the  field,  were  Peter 
Dohse,  L.  M.  Lyon  and  D.  T.  Moore.  There  were,  doubtless,  others ;  but, 
from  an  unfortunate  method  of  recording  enlistments  which  prevailed  at  the 
beginning,  they  were  accredited  to  other  localities. 

Doubtless,  the  most  interesting  industry,  and  at  the  same  time  one  which 
has  given  the  little  village  of  Beecher  a  reputation  co-extensive  with  the 
•whole  country,  is  the  breeding  of  fine  stock,  as  carried  on  by  T.  L.  Miller, 
Esq.,  of  this  place. 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  647 

Mr.  Miller  came  to  this  place  in  1852,  and  located  land,  preparatory  to 
embarking  in  the  gigantic  enterprise  in  which  he  is  now  engaged.  He  did  not, 
however,  begin  operations  until  1861,  in  the  mean  time  engaging  in  other 
business  in  Chicago.  In  the  year  last  named,  he  removed  to  this  place,  and 
from  that  time  till  1870  engaged  in  the  cattle  business  in  a  small  way,  and 
with  no  definite  idea  of  future  plans  or  prospects.  During  all  this  time,  how- 
ever, he  carried  on  an  extensive  correspondence,  and  conducted  a  thorough 
course  of  investigation  and  experiment,  so  that,  in  1870,  his  mind  was  fully 
made  up,  and  his  future  plans  fully  mapped  out.  Then  began  the  great  work  that 
has  not  only  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  extensive  in  the  United  States,  but 
which  has  also  already  led  to  a  grand,  success.  After  careful  study  and  minute 
consideration,  he  decided,  much  against  the  then  popular  opinion  of  the  leading 
cattle  men  of  this  country,  to  adopt  the  Hereford  breed.  The  Durham  cattle 
had  for  years  been  accorded,  by  breeders  of  this  country  and  the  landed  gentry 
of  England,  the  first  place  as  beef-producing  cattle.  For  nearly  a  century  the 
short-horn  breeds  had  held  the  prestige,  though  the  Herefords  were  accredited 
with  being  good  stock.  A  few  feeble  attempts  had  been  made  in  this  country, 
prior  to  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Miller's  enterprise,  to  introduce  the  stock ; 
but  the  great  character  of  the  competing  herds  already  attained  so  overshadowed 
them  that  their  efforts  in  this  direction  were  almost  lost  sight  of.  When,  there- 
fore, Mr.  Miller  announced  his  intention  of  breeding  the  Hereford  stock,  he 
was  not  looked  upon  as  a  competitor,  but  was  regarded  with  feelings  akin  to 
pity.  Even  his  warmest  friends  could  not  but  feel  apprehensive  of  his  ultimate 
failure ;  and,  perhaps,  no  one  but  himself  discerned  the  grand  success  with 
which  his  efforts  have  been  crowned.  After  awhile,  however,  he  began  to  be 
recognized  as  a  competitor ;  and  since  that  time,  he  has  fought  his  way,  foot  by 
foot,  until,  if  his  cattle  do  not  stand  pre-eminent,  they  at  least  bear  the  reputa- 
tion of  equal  merit  with  any  herd  or  breed  in  the  world.  When  it  is  considered 
that  all  of  this  change  in  sentiment,  in  the  face  of  such  gigantic  opposition, 
during  a  time  of  such  severe  financial  depression,  has  been  wrought  almost  by 
one  man,  we  come  either  to  one  or  the  other  of  two  conclusions :  that  the 
character  of  stock  which  Mr.  Miller  handles  must  be  of  a  superior  quality, 
or  that  he  is  a  man  of  much  more  than  'ordinary  courage,  good  management 
and  pluck.  Perhaps  it  would  not  be  incorrect  to  credit  the  enterprise  with  both 
of  these  advantages. 

The  farm  devoted  to  the  purpose  indicated  lies  alongside  the  eastern  part 
of  the  village  of  Beecher,  and  consists  of  1,000  acres  of  the  finest  land  in  the 
township,  divided  into  fields  of  convenient  size  for  the  purpose  of  pasturage 
and  raising  the  crops  necessary  for  feeding  the  stock.  On  the  west  side  of  the 
farm,  a  half-mile  from  the  railroad  station,  are  the  barns,  together  with  dwell- 
ings for  the  family  and  employes.  The  principal  barn  is  an  immense  structure, 
capable  of  sheltering,  on  its  first  floor,  200  head  of  cattle,  and  of  holding,  on 
the  second  floor,  600  tons  of  hay  and  other  feed,  reserving  space  in  the  center 


648  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

of  the  floor  for  cutting  and  otherwise  preparing  feed.  On  the  third  floor,  is 
the  mill  for  grinding  corn,  oats  and  other  grain  for  the  use  of  the  stock.  Sur- 
mounting the  building,  is  one  of  Nichol's  double-fanned  wind-mills,  of  twenty 
horse-power,  used  for  driving  the  feed-mills,  cutting  hay  and  drawing  water. 
The  whole  structure  is  built  in  the  most  substantial,  convenient  and  tasty  man- 
ner, so  that  it  is  not  only  finely  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
designed,  but  is  an  attractive  object,  and,  from  its  high  elevation,  can  be  seen 
for  many  miles.  Beside  the  great  barn,  there  are  also  the  hay -barns,  the  tool- 
house,  barns  for  pigs,  sheep  and  colts,  and  all  built  in  the  same  substantial  and 
convenient  manner. 

The  fine  stock  of  the  establishment  consists  of  250  thorough-bred  heifers, 
of  the  Hereford  species;  300  Cotswold  Sheep,  and  200  Berkshire  hogs. 
The  estimated  value  of  lands  and  improvements  is  $25,000,  and  of  stock, 
$100,000 ;  the  sales  last  year  amounted  to  $30,000.  Mr.  Miller's  trade  is 
largely  with  stock-raisers  of  the  plains  of  Colorado,  Wyoming  and  Texas,  to 
which  this  breed  of  cattle  is  found  to  be  peculiarly  adapted.  There  are 
employed  in  the  care  of  the  farm  and  stock  fifteen  hands,  some  of  whom  have 
been  brought  from  the  county  of  Hereford,  England,  for  the  express  purpose 
of  taking  care  of  the  stock  with  which  they  had  been  familiar  for  many 
years. 

Washington  Center,  prior  to  the  location  of  the  C.,  D.  &  V.  R.  R.  was  the 
central  point,  not  only  as  regards  location,  but  as  to  business.  From  about 
1860  till  1870,  a  large  amount  of  business  was  transacted  here,  and  fortunes 
were  made  in  merchandise  and  other  trade.  About  1860,  Miles  Johnson,  who 
had  previously  been  in  the  business  at  Monee,  opened  a  store  at  this  place.  Lewis 
Jessen  started  a  blacksmith-shop,  and  Charles  Holtz  opened  a  hotel. ,  Johnson 
was  appointed  Postmaster,  and  carried  the  mail  to  and  from  Monee  for  $15 
per  year  and  the  proceeds  of  the  office.  He  continued  in  business  several  years, 
and  then  removed  further  south.  Jessen,  by  hard  hammering  and  blowing  has 
accumulated  a  little  fortune.  He  still  resides  here. 

Charles  Holtz  has  got  rich  keeping  a  hotel  and  dealing  in  stock.  After 
Johnson  retired  from  the  business  of  selling  goods,  Messrs.  Flint  &  Miller 
put  in  a  stock  of  goods  and  carried  on  the  business  for  two  years,  when  they 
sold  out  to  Lewis  Metterhausen,  who  immediately  moved  the  goods  to  the  sta- 
tion, into  a  house  which  he  had  just  built.  In  the  meantime  the  Chicago  &. 
Eastern  Illinois,  or  Danville  &  Vincennes  Railroad,  had  been  completed,  a 
station  established,  and  the  town  of 

BEECHER 

laid  out.  T.  L.  Miller  had  begun  his  fine  stock  enterprise,  secured  the  location 
of  a  station  here,  and  laid  out  and  named  the  new  town.  Thenceforward  the 
growth  of  the  Center  was  checked,  and  the  station  became  the  point,  from  which 
improvements  have  widened  until  the  village  of  Beecher  has  not  only  over- 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  649 

shadowed  the  Center,  but  by  building  out  toward  it,  has  nearly  enveloped  it  in 
itself.  Beecher  was  laid  out  in  1870  by  George  Dolton,  for  T.  L.  Miller,  and 
commenced  at  once  to  build  up,  and  develop  a  trade  which  compares  favorably, 
at  this  time,  with  towns  three  times  as  old.  As  we  have  seen,  Metterhausen 
opened  the  first  store  in  the  village,  in  what  proves  to  have  been  the  second 
building  erected,  and  which  also  proves  to  have  been  the  first  store-building. 
Metter-hausen  had  been  a  teacher  in  the  Lutheran  school.  He  sold  goods 
here  for  a  time  and  then  went  into  the  liquor  trade,  in  which  he  is  still 
engaged. 

James  Burns  built  the  first  house — a  dwelling — and  sold  lumber  for  a  few 
months  and  then  removed  to  Michigan,  from  whence  he  had  come. 

Shortly  after  this,  Henry  Bielfeldt  built  and  opened  a  hotel.  Carl  Melow 
moved  his  blacksmith-shop  from  .the  Corners  in  1871,  and  Rudolph  Pecht 
opened  a  furniture  store.  Fred  Schmidt  built  a  second  hotel,  and  John  R. 
Miller  moved  the  old  dancing  hall  from  the  Corners  and  put  in  a  second  stock 
of  goods.  William  Struve,  formerly  of  Monee,  followed  Burns  in  the  lumber 
and  coal  business.  By  and  by  the  post  office  was  removed  from  the  Corners  to 
Metterhausen 's,  and  he  was  appointed  Postmaster.  Elliot  Miller,  son  of  T.  L. 
Miller  and  now  partner  in  the  firm  of  L.  Gould  &  Co.,  of  Chicago,  was  appointed 
first  station  agent.  About  this  time,  T.  L.  Miller  built  the  first  warehouse,  and 
Henry  Block  commenced  buying  grain,  eventually  buying  the  warehouse  and 
continuing  the  business  until  the  present.  The  period  extending  from  1870  to 
1873,  was  a  lively  one  for  this  vicinity.  The  sounds  of  the  ax,  hammer  and 
saw  were  heard  in  all  directions,  new-comers  were  arriving  almost  daily,  and, 
by  the  end  of  ;the  period  named,  the  village  had  grown  in  size  and  importance 
to  proportions  hardly  expected  by  its  most  enthusiastic  friends.  Though  its 
growth  has  not  ueen  rapid,  within  the  last  few  years,  it  continues  to  show  signs 
of  animation  and  prosperity.  There  are  now  three  warehouses,  five  general 
stores,  and  other  stores,  shops  and  dwellings  in  proportion. 

A  wind-mill,  a  short  distance  north  of  town,  built  by  Henry  Ditmers"  is 
worthy  of  mention.  The  mill  is  now  owned  and  operated  by  Herman  Ehlers. 
It  is  built  on  the  Holland  plan,  runs  two  sets  of  buhrs  and  is  used  for  grinding 
flour  and  feed,  most  of  which  is  custom  work. 

Eagle  Lake  is  a  little  village  in  the  northeast  part  of  the  township,  on  the 
margin  of  the  little  body  of  water  of  the  same  name.  It  is  not  a  regularly 
laid  out  town,  but  the  lots  have  been  sold  by  the  description  of  "corners  and 
bounds."  It  contains  about  two  dozen  houses,  a  store,  saloon  and  shops.  It 
is  simply  an  improved  or  concentrated  settlement,  whose  establishing  dates 
back  to  the  location  of  its  early  settlers.  Herman  Lepien  brought  a  stock  of 
goods  here  about  fifteen  years  ago,  a  post  office  was  obtained,  and  gradually  the 
place  has  assumed  the  style  of  a  village.  Its  location  is  quite  pleasant, 
and  for  a  country  place  without  railroad  communications,  does  a  brisk  busi- 
ness. 


650  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

WILL  TOWNSHIP. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the 
West  is  its  rapid  development.  Eastern  people  compare  the  census  of  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  ago  with  that  of  to-day,  and  remark,  with  astonishment,  the 
wonderful  increase  in  population  and  resources  in  this  part  of  the  country.  It 
is  true,  the  West  has  had  some  advantages  over  the  East  in  its  development. 
Improved  machinery,  a  better  system  of  communication  and  travel,  and  improved 
means  of  transportation,  doubtless,  partially  account  for  it ;  but  is  hard 
to  conceive  that  all  these  results  could  have  been  brought  about,  without  bring- 
ing to  mind  that  the  parties  concerned  in  the  opening-up  of  the  country  were 
men  of  more  than  ordinary  pluck  and  intelligence.  Twenty-five  years  have 
scarcely  passed  since  the  first  blow  was  struck,  since  the  first  shovelful  of 
earth  was  moved,  since  the  first  furrow  was  turned  and  since  the  first  shanty 
was  erected  in  the  township  of  Will,  now  alive  with  population,  and  teeming 
with  herds  of  stock  and  dotted  all  over  with  the  habitations  of  its  owners. 
That  "truth  is  stranger  than  fiction  "  is  well  illustrated  in  the  growth  of  some 
of  our  Western  towns  and  cities,  which  bud  and  blossom,  as  it  were,  in  a  single 
night.  Irving's  hero  of  Sleepy  Hollow  would  not  have  been  less  surprised  had 
he  taken  his  twenty-years  nap  on  the  prairie  of  Will  Township.  His  feelings 
upon  awaking  must,  indeed,  have  been  quite  similar.  Twenty  years  ago, 
where  is  now  a  succession  of  well-cultivated  fields,  with  orchards  and  gardens, 
was  nothing  but  an  unbroken  expanse  of  wild  prairie ;  where  were  then  less 
than  a  hundred  inhabitants,  are  now  almost  a  thousand. 

Will  Township  was  one  of  the  last  to  settle,  the  wood  and  water  question 
being  until  a  recent  date  the  great  desideratum. 

In  1852,  the  first  actual  settler  made  his  appearance  in  this  locality.  All 
of  the  adjoining  townships  had  already  received  some  population ;  and  two 
years  previous,  the  township  organization  act,  which  gave  a  corps  of  officers  to 
each  six  miles  square  containing  enough  inhabitants  for  organization,  had  been 
passed,  while  this  section  contained  not  a  single  inhabitant — white,  black  or 
red. 

John  McKenzie,  who  is  generally  accredited  with  being  the  first  settler,  was 
a  Scotchman,  but  had  lived  in  the  country  some  time  before  removing  to  this 
locality.  He  lived  here  six  or  seven  years  and  then  removed  to  Missouri.  He 
was  in  that  State  at  the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  and  engaged  in  the  service  of 
the  Government  as  a  spy.  On  one  occasion  he  was  captured  by  the  enemy  and 
put  in  prison,  to  await  trial  by  a  court  martial ;  and  had  his  case  ever  come  to 
trial,  he  would  doubtless  have  suifered  the  penalty  of  death,  as  the  evidence 
against  him  was  sufficiently  conclusive. 

James  M.  Gridley  had  been  living  in  Crete  and  other  places  in  this  part  of 
the  State,  since  1840.  He  came  to  this  township  in  1853,  and  built  the  second 
house.  He  has  been  one  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  township,  and  one  of  its 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  651 

most  solid  citizens.  Gridley  was  a  native  of  New  York.  Joseph  Baldwin  was 
a  native  of  Massachusetts,  but  had  been  to  California  and  brought  back  a  few 
hundred  dollars  of  the  "yellow  metal."  He  remained  here  but  a  few  years, 
when  he  removed  to  Missouri  with  the  aforementioned  McKenzie.  James 
Maxwell  came  out  here  in  1853,  from  New  Jersey,  and  bought  some  land,  but 
returned  to  his  home  in  the  East  and  lived  until  1861.  He  says  that  when  he 
came  first,  in  1853,  there  was  but  one  little  shanty  in  the  whole  township,  and 
is  not  certain  that  it  was  occupied. 

In  1853,  Henry  Lyon  came  from  Chicago,  or  rather  from  the  Michigan  & 
Illinois  Canal,  where  he  had  been  working,  and  settled  on  the  land  now  owned 
and  occupied  by  F.  P.  Lilley,  to  whom  he  sold  out  a  year  later,  and  returned 
to  the  more  congenial  pursuit  of  working  on  the  Canal. 

The  next  year,  1854,  brought  several  good  and  enterprising  families  to 
this  vicinity,  among  whom  were  H.  N.  Ingersoll,  F.  P.  Lilley,  Patrick 
McMahon  and  John  B.  Sollitt.  The  first  of  these,  H.  N.  Ingersoll,  had  really 
been  here  the  year  before,  and  had  purchased  the  land  to  which  he  moved  in 
the  Spring  of  1854.  Mr.  Ingersoll  was  one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  the 
township,  and  one  of  its  most  prominent  men.  He  continued  to  reside  here 
until  about  three  years  ago,  when  he  sold  out  and  removed  to  Iowa.  F.  P. 
Lilley  is  still  a  resident  of  the  township,  and  has  been  one  of  its  most  reliable 
citizens.  He  had  been,  previous  to  his  coming  here  from  Chicago,  his  former 
home,  a  workman  on  the  canal  and  railroad.  McMahon  is  a  native  of  Ireland ;. 
he  still  resides  here.  John  B.  Sollitt,  now  a  resident  of  Peotone,  was  formerly 
a  resident  of  Chicago,  where  he  was  engaged  in  butchering  for  the  Chicago 
market. 

In  1855,  William  Constable,  James  Pickard,  Robert  Patterson  and  R.  0. 
Hutchins  came,  the  first  three  from  New  York  and  the  last  from  Vermont. 
William  Constable  has  been  a  most  successful  man  in  business.  When  he  came 
to  this  place  he  was  as  poor  as  the  poorest ;  but  by  industry,  economy  and  good 
management  he  has  made  quite  a  fortune.  His  property  is  estimated  at  about 
$25,000.  Robert  Patterson,  the  present  Supervisor,  and  one  of  our  most  substan- 
tial business  men,  also  came  poor  and  is  now  wealthy.  R.  0.  Hutchins  resided 
here  but  a  few  years.  He  had  been  a  gunmaker,  and  on  the  breaking-out  of 
the  war,  in  1861,  he  returned  to  his  native  State  and  engaged  in  his  old  trade 
of  making  fire-arms  for  the  Government.  Mr.  Hutchins  was  the  first  School 
Treasurer  of  Will  Township,  having  been  appointed  to  the  office  in  1856. 
Samuel  Storer  and  Lorenzo  Tobias,  the  former  from  New  Hampshire  and  the 
latter  from  New  York,  came  in  1856.  Storer  was  one  of  the  most  important 
citizens  that  ever  lived  in  the  township.  He  was  son-in-law  of  Gov.  Windsor, 
of  New  Hampshire,  having  married  his  daughter.  He  was  elected  first  Super- 
visor of  the  township,  in  1859,  and,  the  year  following,  was  sent,  as  Represent- 
ative of  this  district,  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State.  The  township  lost  one 
of  its  most  promising  citizens  when  he  removed  to  California,  which  he  did  in 


652  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

1862.  Lorenzo  Tobias  was  one  of  the  two  first  Justices  of  the  Peace  elected 
in  1859.  He  died  here  about  ten  years  ago.  None  of  the  family  now  reside 
here,  all  having  removed  to  other  parts  George  W.  Smith  also  came  in  1856. 
lie  was  one  of  the  first  Justices  of  the  Peace,  and  also  one  of  the  first  High- 
way Commissioners,  being  elected  to  both  offices  in  1859. 

During  the  period  of  the  three  years  ending  1857,  there  were  a  few  others 
who  settled  in  this  township,  but  whose  stay  was  so  short  that  it  is  not  thought 
worth  while  to  consume  space  with  their  mention.  The  same  may  be  said  with 
respect  to  the  following  year.  The  years  1857  and  1858  were  almost  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  hard  times  experienced  in  1837,  and  emigration  to  this  vicinity 
received  a  check.  From  1859,  however,  the  rush  of  settlers  to  this  part  of  the 
county  was  very  rapid,  and  in  a  short  time  the  whole  township  was  fully  occu- 
pied. 

The  townships  of  Will  and  Monee,  previous  to  1859,  were  embraced  in  a 
single  precinct,  which  was  called  Carey.  In  the  year  last  named,  the  two  sections 
agreed  to  a  separation,  and  petitions  to  that  effect  were  accordingly  presented 
to  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  who  ordered  a  division,  with  boundaries  and  names 
as  indicated. 

On  the  5th  of  April,  1859,  in  accordance  with  the  order  of  the  Supervisors, 
the  voters,  inhabitants  of  the  new  township  of  Will,  met  at  the  schoolhouse  in 
District  No.  1,  and  organized  by  the  election  of  township  officers.  H.  N. 
Ingersoll  was  elected  Moderator,  and  Robert  Patterson  was  chosen  Clerk  pro 
tern.  Nineteen  votes  were  cast,  of  which  a  majority  were  polled  for  the  follow- 
ing persons  : 

Samuel  Storer,  Supervisor  ;  R.  0.  Hutchins,  Clerk  ;  H.  P.  Tobias,  Assessor  ; 
F.  P.  Lilley,  Collector ;  H.  N.  Ingersoll,  Poormaster ;  John  B.  Sollitt, 
James  M.  Gridley  and  George  W.  Smith,  Commissioners  of  Highways  ;  L.  D. 
Tobias  and  George  W.  Smith,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  and  H.  P.  Wright  and 
Robert  Patterson,  Constables. 

The  township  has  from  its  first  settlement  been  noted  for  its  good  schools. 
The  first  settlers  took  a  deep  interest  in  whatever  tended  toward  the  education 
and  enlightenment  of  the  youth,  and  when  there  were  only  a  half  dozen  fami- 
lies within  its  bounds,  steps  were  taken  to  establish  a  school.  In  the  Winter  of 
1855-56,  it  began  to  be  talked  over  that  a  school  was  not  only  a  possibility  but 
a  real  necessity. 

On  the  18th  of  February,  notice  having  been  given,  the  legal  voters  met  at 
the  house  of  F.  P.  Lilley,  and  proceeded  to  organize  Congressional  Town  33, 
Range  13,  into  a  school  township  by  electing  a  Board  of  Trustees  and  a  Treas- 
urer. F.  P.  Lilley,  James  M.  Gridley  and  H.  N.  Ingersoll  were  chosen  Judges, 
and  R.  0.  Hutchins,  Clerk  of  the  election.  H.  N.  Ingersoll,  James  M.  Grid- 
ley  and  John  McKenzie  were  elected  Trustees,  and  by  them  R.  0.  Hutchins 
was  appointed  Treasurer  and  ex-officio  Clerk.  A  Board  of  School  Directors 
was  appointed,  and  forthwith  preparations  were  made  for  the  erection  of  a  school- 


m     , 


(DECEASED) 


~ 

; 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY.  655 

building,  which  was  completed  and  ready  for  occupation  by  Fall.  The  first 
school  was  taught  by  Sarah  M.  Wolcott,  and  the  Treasurer's  books,  which  are 
still  in  existence,  show  that  she  received  in  the  following  April  $6.30  of  her 
salary. 

The  whole  township  remained  in  one  district  till  1859,  when  it  was  divided 
into  three.  A  few  items  taken  from  the  Township  Treasurer's  report  to  the 
School  Commissioner  for  the  year  1858,  will  doubtless  prove  interesting  as 
compared  with  similar  statistics  of  the  present  year  : 

Whole  number  of  schools 1 

Number  of  teachers  employed  during  the  year 2 

Average  wages  paid  per  month $23 

Number  of  male  scholars 9 

Number  of  female  scholars  4 

Number  of  persons  under  21  41 

Number  of  persons  between  6  and  21  25 

Principal  of  school  fund $100 

In  1866,  there  were  yet  only  3  schools,  but  the  number  of  scholars  had 
increased  to  99,  and  the  number  of  persons  under  21  had  increased  to  224,  of 
whom  133  were  between  the  ages  of  6  and  21.  The  average  monthly  wages  of 
male  teachers  was  $50,  and  of  female  teachers  $25.47. 

The  township  school  fund  had  been  increased  by  the  sale  of  the  school  sec- 
tion to  $8,157,  being  at  that  time  the  fifth  in  amount  in  the  county. 

As  far  as  the  facts  could  be  obtained,  we  give  corresponding  statistics  from 
the  reports  of  School  Directors  for  1878  : 

Total  number  of  persons  under  21 374 

Total  number  of  persons  between  6  and  21 306 

Average  number  of  months  school  sustained 7 

Value  of  school  property $4,140 

Highest  monthly  wages  paid  any  teacher $50 

Total  expenditures  for  support  of  schools $2,800 

Number  of  children  attending  school 270 

Number  of  schools  in  the  township 9 

While  there  is  nothing  of  wonderful  nature  in  the  above  comparisons,  the 
increase  being  simply  the  natural  effect  of  the  rapid  settlement  of  the  township, 
there  is  sufficient  to  indicate  that  the  growth  of  the  public-school  system  has 
been  equal  to  the  other  interests  of  the  township,  and  the  condition  of  the 
schools  is  in  a  high  degree  satisfactory. 

While  the  township  is  not  "dotted  all  over"  with  church  edifices  as  it  is  with 
schoolhouses,  we  are  led  to  believe,  from  our  short  intercourse  with  its  people, 
that  the  moral  and  religious  natures  have  not  been  left  uncultivated.  It  is  true, 
there  is  but  one  church-building  or  church  organization  in  its  whole  bounds 
but,  being  adjacent  to  towns  on  all  sides  where  these  accommodations  abound, 
the  township  seems  to  need  only  the  one  already  erected  and  standing  near  the 
center.  The  Presbyterian  Church  of  Will  Township  was  organized  and  the 
building  erected  about  the  same  time,  1865.  There  had  been  some  preaching 


656  HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 

by  both  Presbyterians  and  Methodists,  and  both  denominations  had  some  claims 
on  the  field ;  but  it  was  agreed  on  all  hands  that  more  than  one  church  could 
scarcely  live,  and  that  a  union  of  forces  was  the  better  plan.  Neither  party 
was  very  tenacious ;  but  when  a  party,  who  was  not  a  member  of  either  denom- 
ination, came  forward  and  proposed  that  if  the  society  to  be  formed  should  be 
Presbyterian,  he  would  donate  ten  acres  of  land  and  $1,000  toward  the  erec- 
tion of  a  church  edifice,  it  was  decided  to  organize  a  Presbyterian  Church. 
George  W.  Smith  was  the  liberal  donor,  and  not  only  did  he  fulfill  his  obliga- 
tion, but  added  to  it  $500  more.  The  original  members  of  the  society  were  D. 
J.  Board,  H.  N.  Ingersoll,  George  W.  Smith,  Thomas  F.  Clark,  Henry  Neal 
and  James  Maxwell,  with  .their  families.  Most  of  these  afterward  became 
members  of  the  Church.  The  building  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  $7,500,  and  is 
a  credit  to  the  society,  the  Church  and  the  township.  The  first  Pastor  of  the 
Church  was  Rev.  E.  J.  Hill ;  the  present  Pastor  is  Rev.  George  Dunlap.  The 
present  membership  of  the  Church  is  forty-seven,  and  of  the  Sunday  school, 
about  eighty  members. 

This  township  took  a  most  lively  interest  in  the  late  war,  nearly  all  the  able- 
bodied  men  enlisting  and  entering  the  service.  At  one  time,  there  more  of  the 
citizens  of  this  township  in  the  army  than  there  were  legal  voters.  Of  course, 
the  township  was  not  drafted,  nearly  all  of  its  able-bodied  men  having  volun- 
teered. Several  who  thus  left  their  homes  friends  and  firesides  to  battle  for 
the  country  which  our  fathers  had  done  so  much  to  establish,  gave  up  their 
lives  in  its  protection.  Among  such  are  remembered  Benjamin  F.  Gridley, 
James  H.  Ingersoll,  William  Pickard  and  J.  S.  Cotton,  the  last  of  whom  died 
in  Andersonville  prison,  where  so  many  of  our  brave  boys  suffered  a  double 
death,  that  of  starvation. 

The  present  officers  of  the  township  are :  Robert  Patterson,  Superivsor  ; 
0.  P.  Lilley,  Clerk ;  Robert  Bayne,  Assessor ;  John  Shultz,  Collector ;  Charles 
O'Neil  and  F.  H.  Steinberge,  Commissioners  of  Highways;  James  Maxwell 
and  Robert  Patterson,  Justices  of  the  Peace ;  William  Chamberlain,  F.  H. 
Steinberge  and  I.  Dubridge,  School  Trustees,  and  0.  P.  Lilley,  School  Treas- 
urer. The  present  voting  population  of  the  township  is  about  one  hundred. 

Will  Township  is  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  county,  and  is  bounded  as 
follows :  on  the  north,  by  Monee ;  on  the  east,  by  Washington ;  on  the  south,  by 
Kankakee  County,  and  on  the  west,  by  Peotone  Township.  It  is  a  full  Congres- 
sional town,  containing  thirty-six  whole  sections,  and  is  described  in  the  survey 
as  Town  33  north,  Range  13  east  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridian.  The  land  is 
somewhat  rolling,  though  not  what  is  usually  termed  broken.  The  soil  is  rich 
and  productive,  and,  in  most  parts,  deep  and  is  well  adapted  to  the  production 
of  corn,  oats,  rye  and  hay,  large  quantities  of  which  are  raised.  About  one-half 
of  the  land  formerly  belonged  to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  was  bought 
of  that  Company  for  $2.50  to  $5.00  per  acre.  Th«  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
passes  through  the  northwest  corner  of  the  township,  cutting  off  about  one  and 


HISTORY  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 


657 


a  half  sections,  though  no  station  has  ever  been  established  in  its  limits.  Black 
Walnut  Creek  furnishes  stock-water  to  the  farms  lying  adjacent,  in  the  north- 
western portion.  Along  this  little  stream  the  first  settlements  were  made. 

The  township  is  entirely  devoid  of  natural  timber,  though  numerous  little 
groves  and  thrifty  orchards  give  it  the  appearance  of  one  of  the  older  settled 
Eastern  places,  where  the  absence  of  timber  is  due  to  the  industry  of  the  early 
wood-chopper  and  lumberman. 

For  some  years,  it  was  thought  that  the  climate  of  Northern  Illinois  was  too 
severe  for  apples  and  other  fruits,  but  later  years  have  proved  that  this  section 
is  well  adapted  for  such  purpose ;  and  at  this  writing  the  ground,  in  the 
orchards  of  this  and  adjacent  townships,  is  literally  covered  with  the  product. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES 

OF 


JOLIET    TOWNSHIP. 


E.  H.  AKIN,  dealer  in  real  estate, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Johnstown,  Fulton  Co., 
N.  Y.,  July  3,  1815  ;  at  the  age  of  17,  he 
went  to  Onondaga  Co.,  and  in  1847,  to 
Berrien  Co.,  Mich. ;  followed  the  mercan- 
tile business  there  one  year ;  removing 
thence  to  Chicago;  in  1849,  he  came  to 
Lockport,  and  shortly  afterward  went  to 
California,  where  he  followed  mining  until 
1851  ;  returning,  he  engaged  in  farming 
near  Lockport,  and,  in  1854,  removed  to 
Joliet ;  here  he  followed  his  trade  of  a 
cooper,  for  a  short  time,  and  then  engaged  in 
manufacturing  staves,  which  he  continued 
until  1860 ;  in  1861,  he  removed  to 
Hennepin,  Putnam  Co.,  111.,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  flour  manufacturing  and  dealing 
in  grain,  which  he  shipped  to  Chicago  and 
St.  Louis.  He  did  a  very  successful  busi- 
ness during  the  war,  and,  in  1867,  returned 
to  Joliet,  since  which  time  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  grain  trade,  woolen  manufact- 
uring and  real  estate  transactions.  In  1872 
he  laid  out  Akin's  Addition  to  Joilet,  com- 
prising forty  acres,  lying  near  the  Fair 
Grounds,  and  accessible  to  business  by  the 
street  railway  ;  most  of  these  lots  have 
since  been  sold  and  improved.  He  also 
owns  considerable  other  property  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  city  ;  in  1877,  he  built 
the  Akin  Building  on  Jefferson  st.  He  is 
a  Director  of  Oakwood  Cemetery,  and  one 
of  the  originators  and  a  Director  of  the 
People's  Loan  and  Homestead  Association, 
which  was  organized  in  1874.  He  was 
married  June  10, 1840,  to  Miss  Sophronia 
C.  Merrill,  of  Cortland  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and 
has  four  children — Charlotte  C.,  Libraran 
of  the  Joliet  Public  Library ;  Lucy  H., 
John  J.,  a  banker  in  Roodhouse,  111.,  and 
Edward  C.,  a  law  student  in  Joliet. 


W.  J.  ADAM,  Secretary  of  the  Adam 
Manufacturing  Co.,  Joliet;  is  a  native  of 
Joliet;  he  was  born  Sept.  18,  1851.  He 
is  a  son  of  William  Adam,  who  came  to 
Joliet  in  1849,  and  has  been  a  prominent 
business  man  here  ever  since.  Mr.  Adam 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Joliet, 
and  at  Jennings  Seminary  in  Aurora,  111., 
graduating  from  the  scientific  department 
of  the  latter  institution  in  1870;  the  fol- 
lowing year,  he  entered  the  employ  of  Adam 
&  Wilcox,  and  two  years  later  became  a 
member  and  the  managing  partner  of  the 
firm  of  William  Adam  &  Co.  While  in 
the  milling  business,  he  served  two  years 
as  Vice  President  of  the  Illinois  State  Mill- 
ers' Association,  and  was  also  a  Delegate 
to  the  National  Millers'  Association  three 
successive  years.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  first  Board  of  Directors  of  the  National 
Millers'  Insurance  Company.  On  Jan.  22, 
1877,  their  mill  burned  down,  and  soon 
afterward  the  Adam  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany was  formed,  and  Mr.  Adam  became 
Secretary  and  Business  Manager,  which 
position  he  now  holds. 

PETER  ADELMANN,  dealer  in  gen- 
eral merchandise,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Lockport,  Will  Co.,  111.,  Jan.  5,  1852.  He 
is  the  son  of  Christopher  Adelmann,  who 
coming  from  Bomberich  Biern,  Germany, 
settled  in  Lockport  in  1846,  and  is  still  a 
respected  and  substantial  citizen  of  that 
city.  The  son,  Peter  Adelmann,  received 
his  education  in  the  Lockport  public 
schools,  and  in  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Busi- 
ness College  in  Chicago  ;  he  then  went  to 
Iowa  and  engaged  in  clerking  in  a  leather 
and  shoe-finding  house  in  Council  Bluffs, 
from  which  city,  at  the  age  of  18  years,  he 
came  to  Joliet,  and  started  in  the  dry  goods 


660 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


business  with  Anthony  Schall ;  in  Febru- 
ary, 1877,  he  purchased  his  partner's  inter- 
est, and  has  since  continued  the  business 
alone.  He  was  married  on  the  21st  of 
October,  1873,  to  Miss  Louisa  Scheldt, 
daughter  of  Hon.  Anton  Scheldt,  of  this 
city ;  they  have,  three  children — Anthony 
C.,  Frederick  P.  and  Cora.  L. 

E.  D.  AVERY,  attorney  at  law,  Joliet 
(firm  of  Fithian  &  Avery) ;  was  born  in 
Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  2,  1846 ;  the  fol- 
lowing year,  1847,  his  parents  removed  to 
Illinois,  settling  on  a  farm  in  Lisbon, 
Kendall  Co. ;  his  father  is  a  well-known 
fruit-grower  and  nurseryman  and  to  this 
business  the  son  was  raised;  he  attend- 
ed the  Newark  Seminary,  in  his  na- 
tive county,  several  terms,  and,  on  becom- 
ing of  age,  he  with  his  brother  started  a 
nursery  near  Dwight,  Livingston  Co.;  two 
years  later,  he  sold  his  interest  to  his 
brother  and  engaged  in  dealing  in  stock ; 
in  1871,  he  removed  to  Chebanse,  Kan- 
kakee  Co.,  and  there  added  a  general  mer- 
chandise business  to  his  stock  in  trade  ;  he 
remained  there  until  1874,  when  he  came 
to  Joliet  and  began  reading  law  in  the 
office  of  Messrs.  Hill  &  Dibell ;  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  January,  1877,  and 
in  the  following  September,  entered  into 
partnership  with  John  B.  Fithian  in  the 
practice  of  the  law.  He  was  married  Dec. 
25,  1871,  to  Miss  Mary  Sidlow,  of  Grundy 
Co.,  111.,  and  has  one  child — Hubert  C. 

ALEXANDER  ANDREWS,  grocery 
merchant,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Meriden, 
New  Haven  Co.,  Conn.,  Oct.  29,  1824; 
in  early  life  he  learned  the  trade  of  car- 
penter and  joiner ;  he  came  West  to  Illi- 
nois in  1852,  and  settled  in  Peoria  Co., 
where  he  engaged  in  carpentering  for  a 
number  of  years;  in  1858,  he  purchased  a 
farm  in  Knox  Co.,  and  followed  agricult- 
ural pursuits  till  1870  ;  he  then  spent  one 
or  two  years  in  traveling,  and,  in  1872,  lo- 
cated in  Joliet ;  here  he  worked  at  his 
trade  until  November,  1876,  when  he 
engaged  in  his  present  occupation.  He 
was  married  in  1843,  to  Lucia  S.  Lewis, 
a  native  of  Connecticut ;  has  two  children 
— Frank  and  Fred.  Mr.  Andrews  has  a 
fine  trade  and  is  deservedly  popular  as  a 
business  man. 

JACOB  ADLER,  stock  dealer,  Joliet ; 
born  in  Prussia,  Germany,  March  17, 
1 836 ;  he  emigrated  with  his  parents  to 


America  when  2  years  of  age,  landing  in 
New  York,  coming  directly  West  and  re- 
maining in  Chicago  for  a  few  months,  then 
a  short  time  in  Indiana,  then  a  short  time 
at  Sag  Bridge,  Will  Co.,  when  he  removed 
to  New  Lenox,  where  he  went  to  school 
one  year,  then  to  Joliet  in  1843,  where  he 
attended  school  in  the  old  log  schoolhouse, 
the  first  school  house  in  the  township  ;  he 
remained  with  his  father  upon  the  farm 
until  22  years  of  age,,  when  he  engaged  in 
the  grocery  and  provision  business  about 
one  year,  then  selling  out,  he  went  to 
Pike's  Peak  and  traveled  over  a  large  part 
of  the  Western  Territories ;  returning  to 
Joliet  in  1861,  he  engaged  in  the  butch- 
ering and  stock  business,  which  he  has 
since  successfully  followed ;  he  has  been 
largely  engaged  in  farming,  and  raising, 
buying  and  shipping  stock  to  the  Chi- 
cago and  Eastern  markets.  He  married 
Jan.  11,  1866,  to  Emily  Erhard,  daugh- 
ter of  George  Erhard,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Will  Co. ;  they  are  the  parents  of  six 
children  now  living,  viz.,  Louisa  M.,  Jacob 
C.,  Lawrence  J.,  Emily  F.  V.,  Michael 
L.  and  Angeline  A. 

P.  P.  ADLER,  dealer  in  live  stock  and 
proprietor  of  Adler's  wholesale  and  retail 
market,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Joliet  Oct.  7, 
1842 ;  he  is  a  son  of  Michael  Adler, 
who  came  to  Will  Co.  over  forty  years 
ago  and  is  now  living  in  Joliet  at  the 
age  of  7  5  years;  Mr.  Adler  received  an 
English  education  in  the  Joliet  public 
schools,  and  then  learned  the  shoemaker's 
trade,  which  he  followed  for  four  years  ; 
at  the  age  of  21,  he  began  business  for 
himself  and  has  followed  various  kinds  of 
business  to  the  present  time.  He  was 
married  in  1865,  to  Miss  Mary  A  Flick, 
of  Joliet  and  has  four  childien — Angeline 
J.,  Lizzie  L.,  Peter  J.  and  Frederick  J. 

OREN  W.  ARNOLD,  groceries  and 
provisions,  Joliet ;  firm  of  Arnold  &  Bowen ; 
born  in  Orleans  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  12,  1835, 
where  he  attended  school  until  10  years  of 
age ;  he  emigrated  with  his  parents  to  Joliet 
in  the  winter  of  1845  ;  in  the  spring  fol- 
lowing, he  removed  with  his  parents  to 
Iroquois  Co.,  and  engaged  in  farming  for 
a  period  of  seventeen  years,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Troy  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  where  he 
lived  six  years,  being  engaged  in  learning 
the  trade  of  carpenter,  and  farming  ;  he  then 
went  to  Minnesota  for  his  health,  taking 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


661 


with  him  two  droves  of  horses ;  after  dis- 
posing of  them  he  engaged  at  his  trade  for 
two  yearg ;  returning  from  there  to  his 
farm  in  Troy  Tp.  in  1874,  where  he  lived 
until  1877,  when  he  engaged  in  the  above 
business  in  Joliet,  cor.  Bluff  and  Exchange 
sts.  He  married  in  1859,  Helen  Sammons ; 
they  had  one  child,  which  died  in  infancy. 
Mrs.  Arnold  died  Jan.  30,  1862.  Mr. 
Arnold  again  married,  Dec.  25,  1868,  to 
Minnie  Clark  ;  she  was  born  in  Plainfield, 
Will  Co.  Her  parents  were  among  the 
early  settlers  of  Will  Cp.  Four  children 
were  the  fruit  of  this  union,  viz.,  Hellen, 
May,  Lillian  E.,  Burt  C.  and  Francis  W. 

F.  ALFRICK,  blacksmith,  Joliet ;  born 
in  Germany  Feb.  20,  1837,  where  he  lived 
and  attended  school  constantly  until  15 
years  of  age,  when  he  engaged  in  farming 
three  years  ;  he  emigrated  to  America  when 
18  years  of  age,  landing  in  New  York  Nov. 
27,  1854 ;  from  there  he  went  to  Picton, 
C.  W.,  where  he  learned  the  blacksmith 
trade,  working  at  the  same  for  a  period  of 
ten  years ;  he  emigrated  to  Joliet,  111.,  in 
November,  1865,  and  engaged  at  his  trade, 
which  business  he  has  since  successfully  fol- 
lowed ;  he  owns  his  place  of  business  and 
other  real  estate  upon  Bluff  st.,  and  has  a 
fine  residence  upon  Broadway,  which  he 
erected  in  1 875  ;  all  of  the  above  he  has 
accumulated  by  his  own  hard  labor,  strict 
integrity  and  industry.  He  married  March, 
1860,  Jane  Storm  ;  she  was  a  native  of 
Scotland ;  they  had  five  children  by  this 
union,  viz.,  Robert  L.,  Isabella  R.,  Emma, 
Maggie  and  Frederick.  Mrs.  Alfrick  died. 
Mr.  Alfrick  again  married  to  Susan  Kluth  ; 
she  was  born  in  Chicago  Oct.  6,  1849. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  ALLEN, 
physician,  Joliet ;  was  born  of  New  En- 
gland parentage,  in  Watertown,  Jeffer- 
son Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  12,  1815;  when 
about  4  years  of  age,  his  parents  re- 
moved to  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  where  he 
passed  his  early  years  on  a  farm  situated 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence, 
attending  the  district  school  during  the 
winter  seasons;  soon  after  attaining  his 
majority,  he  went  back  to  Watertown,  his 
native  place,  and  there  spent  six  years, 
first  as  a  student  at  the  Black  River  Liter- 
ary and  Religious  Institute,  a  part  of  the 
time  teaching  school,  and  later  pursuing 
his  medical  reading,  under  the  direction  of 
Drs.  Hannibal  S.  Dickerson,  of  Watertown, 


and  M.  K.  Bates,  of  Brownsville ;  he  com- 
pleted his  full  term  of  medical  study,  at- 
tending courses  of  medical  lectures  at 
Geneva  College  in  1841-42,  and,  in  the 
summer  of  1844,  came  West,  prepared  to 
engage  in  the  practice  of  medicine ;  he 
followed  this  practice  for  a  few  months  in 
Kane  Co.,  and  the  followiug  winter  en- 
gaged in  teaching  in  New  Lenox  Tp.,  in 
Will  Co.,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Mrs.  Priscilla  W.  Davison,  a  young 
widow  lady,  relict  of  Judge  John  J.  Davi- 
son, to  whom  he  was  married  April  17, 
1845  ;  he  continued  to  reside  in  that  town- 
ship, performing  satisfactorily  the  duties  of 
administrator  of  the  Davison  estate,  and, 
jointly  with  his  wife,  that  of  guardian  to 
her  infant  daughters,  and  was  also  engaged 
in  farming,  till,  in  the  summer  of  1860,  he 
built  a  residence  in  the  city  of  Joliet,  into 
which,  with  his  family,  he  removed  in  the 
spring  following,  and  has  here  since  con- 
tinued to  reside.  He  has  four  children 
living — Helen  A.,  now  the  wife  of  C.  W. 
Cross,  attorney-at-law  in  Nevada  City,  Cal. ; 
Florence  M.,  wife  of  H.  C.  Plimpton,  now 
a  resident  of  Joliet,  111 ;  Frank  E.  and 
Mortimer  A.,  the  last-named  in  the  employ 
of  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.,  in  their  wholesale 
house,  in  Chicago.  Mrs.  Allen  has  two 
daughters  of  her  former  marriage — M. 
Jennie,  wife  of  Maj.  John  M.  Thompson,  of 
New  Lenox,  and  Rachel  D.,  wife  of  H.  N. 
Higinbotham,  general  manager  for  Field, 
Leiter  &  Co.,  Chicago.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Al- 
len are  both  earnest  and  consistent  mem- 
bers of  the  Ottawa  Street  M.  E.  Church, 
and  also  zealous  and  earnest  advocates  of  the 
cause  of  temperance.  Dr.  Allen  is  in  no 
sense  of  the  term  an  office-seeker,  yet  has 
held  various  offices  much  of  the  time  during 
his  residence  in  Will  Co. ;  for  several  years 
he  served  the  township  of  New  Lenox  as 
Supervisor  or  Town  Clerk;  in  1857  and 
1858,  held  the  office  of  County  School 
Commissioner,  and  has  been  most  of  the 
time  a  member  of  the  Board  of  School  In- 
spectors during  his  residence  in  the  city  of 
Joliet.  Having  considerable  leisure  time, 
he  has  devoted  a  portion  of  it  to  literary  pur- 
suits, being  a  frequent  contributor,  both  in 
prose  and  verse,  to  the  city  papers,  and 
occasionally  furnishing  an  article  to  vari- 
ous leading  periodicals;  among  the  prose 
articles  from  his  pen  which  have  been  well 
received  by  the  public,  may  be  mentioned, 


662 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


"  How  I  Was  Once  Robbed,"  "A  Visit  to 
the  Mammoth  Cave;"  "The  Short  Pa- 
pers," a  series  of  twenty-two  articles; 
"  Notes  and  Opinions  on  California  ;  "  "A 
Trip  to  Florida — Notes  by  the  Way,"  eight 
papers;  and  "  The  Uncle's  Legacy,"  a 
serial  tale,  running  through  six  months  of 
the  Will  County  Courier,  and  many  brief- 
er articles ;  among  the  articles  in  verse, 
which  have  been  read  with  approval,  were 
"Women  Suffrage ;  "  "  Carrier's  Address;" 
"The  Wonderful  Pamphlet;"  "Bring 
Flowers,"  a  song  for  Decoration  Day ; 
"  The  Two  Fishers  of  Men ;  "  "  Ode  for 
the  Fourth  of  July ; "  "  The  Secret  Cave," 
a  legend  of  the  Cumberland ;  and  several 
articles  partaking  somewhat  of  the  humor- 
ous, entitled,  "  Experiences,  Advice,  Com- 
ments and  Suggestions  of  Barney  OToole," 
etc. ;  he  has  in  course  of  publication, 
"  Irene,  or  the  Life  and  Fortunes  of  a 
Yankee  Girl,"  a  tale,  in  eight  short  cantos, 
comprising  a  neatly  executed  volume  of 
160  pages,  16mo,  which  may  be  obtained 
at  the  book  stores,  or  by  addressing  the 
author,  at  Joliet,  111. 

GEORGE  ABBOTT,  proprietor  of  the 
New  England  Restaurant,  Joliet ;  was 
born  in  Keene,  N.  H.,  Dec.  1,  1829; 
there  he  resided  until  1853,  when 
he  went  to  Missouri,  and  remained  two 
years,  returning  to  Keene.  He  shortly 
afterward  came  to  Illinois,  and  after  spend- 
ing one  year  in  Rockford,  settled  in  Joliet, 
in  October,  1857  ;  in  1858,  he  engaged  in 
the  restaurant  business,  keeping  the  Rock 
Island  Railroad  Restaurant  for  eight 
years.  He  is  the  oldest  restaurant  man  in 
the  city;  in  March,  1866,  he  started  the 
New  England  Restaurant.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  February,  1855,  to  Miss  Eunice 
A.  Foster,  of  Keene,  N.  H.,  who  died  in 
June,  1861.  He  was  married  again  on  the 
12th  of  December,  1866,  to  Miss  Abbie 
A.  Cutting,  of  Joliet ;  they  have  six 
children — Isabel,  John  M.,  Lawrence  D., 
George,  Lulu  M.  and  Lydia  Belle. 

JAMES  R.  ASHLEY,  Secretary  Joliet 
Wire  Fence  Co.,  Joliet;  was  born  in 
Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  February,  1825  ;  in 
1837,  his  father  came  West  with  his  fam- 
ily and  settled  in  Plainfield,  Will  Co.,  111.; 
he  was  a  minister  in  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  labored  many  years  for  the  churches 
in  Plainfield,  Naperville,  Downer's  Grove, 
and  organized  the  church  in  Joliet;  he 


till  resides  in  Plainfield,  having  almost 
completed  his  fourscore  years.  James 
enjoyed  a  good  common-school  education, 
and  was  at  an  early  age  introduced  to 
business  life ;  after  his  majority  he  began 
mercantile  life  in  Plainfield,  which  he  fol 
lowed  twenty  years;  in  1871,  he  sold  out 
his  store,  and  in  the  spring  of  1874,  began 
business  in  Joliet  in  company  with  A.  B. 
Sharp,  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
the  Excelsior  Axle  Grease ;  this  he  con- 
tinued till  January,  1876,  when  he  formed 
a  copartnership  with  Scutt  &  Watkins, 
under  the  firm  name  of  H.  P.  Scutt  & 
Co.,  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
barbed  fence  ;  in  October,  1876,  he  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  Mr.  Watkins  in  the 
firm,  and  a  stock  company  was  formed 
under  the  name  of  the  Joliet  Wire  Fence 
Company,  of  which  he  was  chosen  Secre- 
tary, a  position  he  still  holds.  He  was 
married  Oct.  27,  1850,  to  Julia  F.  Tyler, 
a  native  of  Troy,  N.  Y.;  has  one  child 
living — Ellie  M.;  three  deceased — Alice 
E.,  Christina  and  Nellie. 

H.  E.  BALDWIN,  Joliet,  of  the  firm 
of  Nelson,  Ferriss  &  Co.,  proprietors  of  the 
Joliet  Morning  News,  and  the  Greenback 
News,  was  born  Sept.  25,  1853,  in  Lacon, 
Marshall  Co.,  111.,  but  during  the  first 
year  of  his  existence  his  parents  removed 
to  a  farm  on  the  bank  of  the  Vermilion 
River,  opposite  Streator  ;  two  years  after- 
ward they  removed  to  the  vicinity 
of  Ottawa,  and.  in  1862,  made  that 
city  their  residence ;  his  father  engaged 
in  business,  and  continued  until  1869 ; 
Horace  E.  attended  the  high  school, 
under  the  management  of  Professor 
Thomas  H.  Clark,  until  January,  1870, 
a  period  of  nearly  eight  years ;  the 
following  June,  he,  in  company  with  his 
mother  and  three  sisters,  went  to  Woodson 
Co.,  Kan.,  where  his  father  had  already 
gone ;  he  farmed  there  about  two  years,  and, 
on  St.  Patrick's  Day,  1873,  began  to  learn 
the  printing  business  at  La  Cygne,  Linn  Co., 
in  that  State ;  in  May,  1875,  he  went  to  Chi- 
cago and  completed  his  apprenticeship 
with  the  Metropolitan  Printing  Company; 
his  parents  having  removed  to  Kansas 
City,  Mo.,  he  spent  the  fall  and  winter  of 
1876  with  them,  taking  a  six-months 
course  of  study  in  the  Kansas  City  High 
School ;  at  the  request  of  friends  in  the 
Joliet  Phani.f  office  he  became  an  em- 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


66S 


ploye  of  the  firm  of  McDonald,  Ferriss 
&  Co.,  Feb.  4, 1877,  and  in  July  follow- 
ing, became  connected  with  the  Morning 
News,  while  under  the  proprietorship  of 
Charles  F.  Dutcher ;  on  the  1st  of  Octo- 
ber, 1877,  he  became  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Nelson,  Ferriss  &  Co. 

CAPT.  WILLIAM  W.  BISHOP,  of 
the  firm  of  King  &  Bishop,  dealers  in  lum- 
ber, lath,  shingles,  etc.,  Joliet ;  was  born 
in  Ulster  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  26,  1837 ;  he 
remained  on  the  farm  until  1859,  when  he 
came  to  Chicago,  and  engaged  in  the  lum- 
ber business,  in  the  employ  of  Reed  & 
Bushnell,  with  whom  he  remained  until 
the  beginning  of  the  rebellion.  In  1862, 
he  entered  the  Union  army  as  a  member  of 
the  103d  111.  V.  I.;  was  elected  First 
Lieutenant  of  Co.  A,  and  soon  afterward 
promoted  to  Captain,  serving  as  such  dur- 
ing the  war.  As  showing  the  character  of 
the  services  he  rendered  his  country  we 
copy  the  following: 

HEADQUARTERS  FIRST  Div.,  16th  A.  C.,  1 
LA  GRANGE,  Term.,  May  25,  1863.  / 
GENERAL  ORDER  No.  87. 

The  General  commanding  the  First  Division, 
takes  this  means  of  bringing  to  the  notice  of 
the  entire  command,  the  meritorious  conduct 
of  a  detachment  of  the  103d  111.,  under  com- 
maad  ofCapt.  Win.  W.  Bishop,  stationed  at  Por- 
ter's Creek.  On  the  night  of  the  22d  inst.,  infor- 
mation reached  Capt.  Bishop  that  the  notorious 
guerrilla  band,  under  the  command  of  Sol. 
Street,  was  encamped  within  three  miles  of  his 
station.  He  started  immediately  with  his  little 
command  at  a  double-quick  through  the  brush, 
and  succeeded  in  completely  surprising  the 
guerrillas:  killing  three,  wounding  six  and 
capturing  six  prisoners.  Loss  on  our  side,  in 
the  captain's  own  language,  "  Not  a  scratch." 
This  is  to  be  regarded  asan  earnest  of  the  glory 
that  awaits  the  103d,  and  it  is  held  up  for  imi- 
tation by  our  troops,  whenever  opportunities 
like  this  may  present  themselves  to  any  of 
them.  A  copy  of  this  order  will  be  sent  to 
each  officer,  non-commissioned  officer  and  pri- 
vate, who  participated  in  the  surprise. 

By  order  of         Brig.  Gen.  Wm.  S.  Smith, 

Commanding  First  Dii. 

W.  H.  Harland,  A.  A.  A.  G. 

He  was  present  during  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
burg  and  battle  of  Mission  Ridge  ;  accom- 
panied Sherman  from  Chattanooga  to 
Atlanta,  and  on  his  famous  march  "  from 
Atlanta  to  the  sea,"  through  the  Carolinas 
to  Washington,  where  with  his  regiment, 
he  participated  in  the  grand  review  of  the 
army  at  the  close  of  the  war  ;  he  was  mus- 
tered out  of  the  service  in  Louisville,  Ky., 


in  1865  ;  returned  to  Chicago  and  engaged 
in  the  lumber  business;  in  1869,  he  came 
to  Joliet  and  entered  into  partnership  with 
John  P.  King  in  the  lumber  business.  He 
was  married  in  September,  1865,  to  Mis& 
Julia  A.  King,  of  Chicago,  and  has  two 
children — Minnie  D.  L.  and  Grace. 

REV.  GERARDUS  BECKER, 
Pastor  of  St.  John  the  Baptist's  Church 
and  Superior  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers,  of 
the  Strict  Observance,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Rhineland,  Germany,  April  27,  1834;  he 
received  his  preparatory  education  in  the 
parish  schools  of  his  native  country,  and 
then  entered  Warendorf  College  in  West- 
phalia ;  in  1862,  he  came  to  this  country, 
and  completed  his  education  in  St.  Joseph's 
College,  Teutopolis,  111.,  where  is  located 
the  mother-house  of  the  Order  in  this 
country ;  he  was  ordained  a  priest  of  the 
Franciscan  Order  about  five  years  later  by 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Yunker  of  Alton ; 
remained  about  a  year  longer,  and  was 
then  transferred  to  Quincy,  where  he  be- 
caiLe  a  Professor  in  the  College  of  St. 
Fj-ancis  Solanus.  and  at  the  same  time  at- 
tended the  congregation  at  Warsaw,  111., 
and  another  in  Gilman  Tp.;  from  Quincy 
he  returned  to  Teutopolis,  and  spent  two 
years  as  Prefect  of  St.  Joseph's  College, 
and  then  became  Superior  of  the  Convent 
of  St.  Francis,  and  Pastor  of  the  congrega- 
tion ;  after  the  death  of  the  late  Father 
Nolte,  he  was  sent  to  Joliet  in  December, 
1876.  Father  Gerardus'  Chief  Assistant, 
Father  Symphorinus  Forstmann,  is  one  of 
the  many  victims  of  persecution  under  the 
present  dynasty  in  Germany,  having  been 
expelled  by  Bismarck,  together  with  eighty- 
four  others  of  his  brethren  from  West- 
phalia, in  1875;  after  completing  his 
studies  in  the  convent  in  St.  Louis,  he  was 
assigned  to  Joliet  in  1877.  It  was  a 
desideratum  of  the  Bishop  in  calling  the 
Fathers  to  Joliet,  that  they  might  admin- 
ister to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  Catholic 
prisoners  in  the  State  Penitentiary,  which, 
through  the  politeness  of  Warden  Mc- 
Claughry,  they  have  been  enabled  to  do. 
This  duty  is  performed  by  Father  Augus- 
tine McClory,  who  is  a  native  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Penn.,and  came  to  Joliet  in  1877. 
There  are  here  four  fathers  and  three  lay 
brothers,  who,  besides  attending  the  con- 
gregation, are  the  spii'itual  advisors  of  ihe 
Sisters  of  the  Franciscan  Convent  and 


664 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


Academy,  and  also  give  religious  instruc- 
tion to  the  pupils  in  the  Academy. 

REV.  MAURICE  FRANCIS 
BURKE,  Pastor  of  the  St.  Mary's  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
County  Limerick,  Ireland,  May  5,  1845; 
when  but  a  child,  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  this  country  ;  they  came  directly 
to  Chicago ;  when  about  18  years  old,  he 
entered  the  old  University  of  St.  Mary's 
of  the  Lake  in  Chicago ;  previously  to 
this,  he  had  taken  a  commercial  course  at 
Bryant  &  Stratton's  Business  College  in 
Chicago ;  in  1866,  he  went  to  Rome  and 
spent  nine  years  as  a  student  in  the 
American  College;  he  was  ordained  a 
priest  on  the  22d  of  May,  1875,  by  Card- 
inal Patrizi,  Vicar  General  of  Rome,  under 
Pope  Pius  IX,  after  which  he  returned  to 
Chicago,  previously,  however,  spending  a 
few  months  in  traveling  in  Italy,  Switzer- 
land, Germany,  England  and  Ireland ; 
soon  after  his  return,  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church  in 
Chicago,  and  remained  as  such  until  his 
appointment  as  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Joliet,  April  27, 1878. 

JOHN  BROWN,  of  the  firm  of  Houck 
&  Brown,  tanners  and  curriers,  wholesale 
and  retail  dealers  in  sole  leather,  shoe 
findings,  etc.,  Joliet ;  has  for  twenty-three 
years  been  a  citizen  of  Will  County ;  he 
is  a  native  of  the  Isle  of  Man ;  was  born  on 
the  25th  of  November,  1826;  served  his 
apprenticeship  at  the  tanner's  trade  in 
Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  and  followed  the 
business  there  for  ten  years ;  he  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1853 ;  spent  two 
years  in  New  York  City,  and  in  1855, 
came  to  Lockport,  Will  Co.;  the  following 
year  he  came  to  Joliet,  and  entered,  upon 
his  present  business,  which  he  has  con- 
tinued through  the  several  changes  in  the 
firm  that  have  taken  place  since  that  time ; 
in  1863,  the  Joliet  Tannery  was  built  by 
Mack,  Cleghorn  &  Co.,  of  which  firm  Mr. 
Brown  was  a  partner ;  he  has  attended 
strictly  to  his  business,  never  taking  any 
active  part  in  political  affairs,  nor  seeking 
office  of  any  kind.  He  was  married  in 
the  Spring  of  1850,  to  Miss  Catharine 
Kissack,  of  Douglas,  Isle  of  Man ;  they 
have  had  ten  children,  six  of  whom  are 
living — Richard  J.  (now  in  business  in 
Chicago),  Frank  E.,  Eliza  J.,  Charles  H., 
George  W,  and  William  H. 


JOSEPH  BRAUN,  proprietor  of  the 
Apollo  Hall,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Erbach, 
Wurtemberg,  Germany,  May  27,  1837; 
when  he  was  14  years  old,  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  a  tailor  to  learn  the  business;  in 
April,  1855,  he  came  to  this  country; 
spent  a  short  time  in  Buffalo  and  in  Canada 
West,  coming  to  Joliet  the  same  year,  and 
starting  in  his  present  business,  in  which 
he  has  been  very  successful ;  in  1856,  he 
went  to  Minnesota  and  remained  till  1859, 
with  the  exception  of  a  short  time  spent  in 
St.  Louis  and  Quincy ;  he  then  went  to 
Naperville,  111.,  and  remained  till  1861  as 
clerk  in  Stenger's  brewery ;  in  1865,  in 
company  with  Joseph  Braun  (another  gen- 
tleman of  the  same  name,  since  deceased) 
he  built  the  Columbia  brewery,  and  fol- 
lowed the  brewery  business  till  February, 
1868,  when  he  disposed  of  his  interest  to 
Mr.  F.  Sehring,  the  present  proprietor ;  in 
1874,  he  revisited  his  native  country  in 
company  with  Mr.  John  Reicherdt,  and 
spent  about  four  months  in  travel  in  all 
parts  of  Germany.  He  was  married  March 
2,  1862,  to  Miss  Frances  C.  Braun,  of 
Joliet ;  she  is  a  native  of  Soulnt,  France, 
and  came  to  this  country  at  the  same  time 
with  Mr.  Braun;  they  have  two  children 
— Mary  M.  and  Willie  K.  Mr.  Braun 
served  as  Street  Commissioner  in  1 872. 

J.  E.  BUSH,  dealer  in  grain,  Joliet;  is 
a  son  of  Stephen  N.  Bush,  who  came  to 
Joliet  from  Washington  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in 
1861 ;  he  was  born  in  Washington  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Nov.  5,  1835;  he  prepared  for 
college  at  Whitehall  Academy  in  his 
native  county,  and  in  1856,  entered  Will- 
iams College,  Mass.,  graduating  in  1860 ; 
he  came  to  Joliet  the  same  year ;  spent 
two  years  in  a  grocery  store ;  one  year  as 
teller  of  the  First  National  Bank,  and,  in 
1864,  purchased  the  elevator  built  by 
Abijah  Cagwin  (which  was  the  first  elevator 
built  in  Will  Co.),  and  engaged  in  the 
grain  business  ;  this  elevator  has  a  capacity 
of  30,000  bushels;  in  1872,  he  erected 
the  elevator  n<>ar  the  Michigan  Central 
Depot  with  a  capacity  of  20,000  bushels  ; 
he  handles  upward  of  half  a  million 
bushels  of  grain  per  annum.  He  was 
married  in  1863  to  Miss  Marian  C.  Wood- 
ruff, daughter  of  George  Woodruff,  of 
Joliet;  she  died  in  1876,  leaving  two  chil- 
dren— George  W.  and  Jennie  C.  Mr. 
Bush  was  married  again  in  1877  to  Miss 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


665 


Bella  G.  Kenyon,  daughter  of  John  Ken- 
yon,  of  Wheatland,  111. ;  they  have  one 
child — John  K. 

J.  D.  BROWN,  druggist  and  chemist, 
Joliet ;  born  in  Raymertown,  Rensselaer 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  12,  1826 ;  he  received 
his  academical  education  in  Lyman  Cross 
Academy,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  completing  the 
course  in  1842  at  the  age  of  16  ;  he  then 
engaged  in  the  drug  .business  with  his 
uncle  at  Lansingburg,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
remained  three  years.  He  emigrated  West 
and  located  in  the  drug  trade  in  Joliet  in 
1846,  since  which  time  he  has  been 
successfully  engaged  in  the  above  business 
during  a  period  of  upward  of  thirty-two 
years ;  he  is  the  senior  member  of  the 
firm  of  J.  H.  Brown  &  Co.,  his  brother, 
J.  H.,  being  the  junior  partner  for  the 
past  nine  years.  He  married  in  New 
York  Sept.  10,  1846,  to  Adelia  Brown; 
four  children  were  the  fruit  of  this  union, 
two  of  whom  are  now  living,  viz.,  George 
and  Mary  M.  Mrs.  Brown  died  in  Sep- 
tember, 1855.  His  second  marriage,  to 
Emily  G.  Bartle,  was  celebrated  in  Sep- 
tember, 1858 ;  three  children  have  been 
born  to  them — Eugene,  Helen  and  Horace. 

JOSEPH  BARTHELME,  farmer;  P. 
O.  Joliet;  born  in  Alsace,  Germany,  Feb. 
17,  1828,  where  he  lived  until  18  years  of 
age,  and  engaged  in  farming ;  he  emigrated 
to  America  at  the  above  age,  landing  in 
New  York  April  27,  1846,  going  directly 
to  Pennsylvania ;  he  engaged  in  the  canal 
business  until  October,  1848,  when  he 
emigrated  to  Joliet  and  worked  in  the 
quarries  and  lime-kilns  for  a  period  of 
twelve  years;  in  1860,  he  engaged  in 
farming,  renting  sixty  acres  two  miles  from 
Joliet,  which  he  worked  for  seven  years, 
when  he  purchased  eighty  acres  on  Sec.  6, 
Joliet  Tp.,  which  he  has  since  continued  to 
work ;  he  owns  besides  his  farm  of  eighty 
acres,  which  is  located  one  mile  from 
Joliet,  his  present  residence  on  Bluff  street, 
which  he  has  owned  since  1851.  He 
married  June  11,  1851,  to  Mary  Wiles; 
she  was  born  in  Alsace,  Germany,  March 
22,  1833 ;  they  have  by  this  union  ten 
children  now  living,  viz.,  Mary  Ann, 
Helen,  Frank,  Joseph,  Michael,  Antonette, 
Edward  C.,  George,  William  and  Alexan- 
der. Mr.  B.  has  held  the  office  of  Alder- 
man for  two  years  in  the  ward  in  which  he 
lives. 


T.  BURKE,  livery,  feed  and  sale  stable, 
Joliet;  born  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  May  11, 
1840,  removing  when  quite  young  to  Joliet, 
111.,  where  he  has  since  lived,  being  en- 
gaged in  various  pursuits  in  his  youth  when 
not  attending  school ;  his  first  business 
enterprise  was  in  trucking,  to  which  he  has 
added  the  livery,  feed  and  sale  stable,  car- 
rying on  the  only  business  of  the  kind  west 
of  the  river,  and  keeping  a  good  stock  of 
horses  and  carriages  for  rent  which  receive 
his  personal  attention,  and  are  always  found 
in  first-class  order.  He  married  July  11, 
1856,  in  Joliet,  to  Mary  Hennesy  ;  she  was 
a  native  of  Ireland;  they  have  by  this 
union  eleven  children  now  living,  viz., 
Mary  A.,  John  R.,  Bernard,  Helen,  Katie, 
Anna,  Thomas  F.,  William,  Sarah,  Hattie 
and  Alice. 

R.  S.  BROWN,  of  the  firm  of  Zarley 
&  Co.,  publishers  of  the  Joliet  Signal ;  is 
a  native  of  Joliet ;  he  was  born  Aug.  30, 
1845  ;  he  is  a  son  of  R.  D.  Brown,  who 
who  came  to  Joliet  from  Rensselaer  Co.. 
N.  Y.,  in  1845,  and  still  resides  here;  Mr. 
Brown  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  the  city,  and  at  the  age  of  17  entered 
the  Signal  office  as  an  apprentice ;  this 
was  in  1862 ;  he  became  familiar  with 
every  branch  of  the  business,  afterward 
becoming  foreman,  and  in  1873,  became  a 
partner  in  the  firm. 

ALEXANDER  BURDEN,  merchant 
tailor,  Joliet ;  born  in  Comrie,  Perthshire, 
Scotland,  on  the  8th  of  April,  1832 ;  he 
learned  the  trade  of  a  tailor  in  his  native 
country,  and,  when  about  17  years  of  age, 
left  Scotland  and  came  to  America;  the 
first  five  years  he  worked  at  his  trade  in 
Lowell,  Mass.,  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Ottawa, 
Can.  and  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  in  March, 
1853,  he  came  to  Joliet  and  has  continued 
in  the  merchant  tailoring  business  here 
ever  since.  He  was  married  March  3, 
1853,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Jamieson  of  New 
York  Mills,  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y,;  she  was 
a  native  of  Loch  Winnock,  Scotland,  and 
came  to  this  country  in  1849 ;  she  died 
Aug.  29,  1877,  leaving  four  children — 
David,  Jennie,  Maggie  and  Willie. 

NATHANIEL  BARNS,  farmer  and 
stock -raiser,  Sec.  34;  P.  0.  Joliet;  born 
in  Rockland  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  18,  1818, 
where  he  lived  until  40  years  of  age,  being 
engaged  in  farming  and  dealing  in  stock 
until  he  emigrated  to  Joliet  Tp.,  Will  Co., 


666 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


111.,  in  1858,  upon  his  present  place,  since 
which  he  has  been  extensively  engaged  in 
farming  and  has  expended  a  great  deal  of 
time    and   money   making   improvements, 
such  as  draining,  etc;  he  owns  160  acres 
under  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  three  and 
one-half  miles  from  Joliet.      He  married 
Oct.  1, 1849,  to  Mary  E.  Thiell ;  she  was 
from  the  same  place  as  Mr.  Barnes  ;  she 
was   born  June   21,  1829;  they  are  the 
parents  of  ten   children — Emily  A.,  Isaac 
and    Edward,    deceased;     the    living   are 
George    J.,    Rosalia,    Grace,    Nathaniel,  j 
Eliza,   John   Henry   and   Blanche.     Mr. 
Barnes  has  held    the   office  of  School  Di-  j 
rector   for  more  than  ten  years  and  has  j 
always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  cause  ' 
of  education  in  the  district  where  he  lives. 

LEWIS  BROWN,  farmer,  Sec.  24; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  born  in  Onondaga  Co.,N.  Y., 
June  2,  1827,  where  he  attended  school 
in  winter  and  worked  upon  his  father's 
farm  in  summer  until  13  years  of  age, 
when  in  1840,  he  removed  with  his  fath- 
er's family  to  Will  Co.,  111.;  he  settled 
upon  his  present  farm  in  1863 ;  owns  160 
acres  of  well-improved  land,  valued  at  $60 
per  acre.  He  married  Miss  Christy  Smith- 
ley,  Oct.  19,  1871  ;  she  was  born  Oct.  13, 
1839,  in  Westmoreland  Co.,  Penn.;  they 
are  the  parents  of  three  children — Jennie 
Luella,  born  Oct.  21,  1872  ;  Lydia  May, 
born  Feb.  17,  1875,  died  Feb.  19,  1876; 
Katie  Bell,  born  June  2,  1877. 

WALLACE  B.  CASWELL,  proprietor 
St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  Joliet;  was  born  in 
Orleans  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1831  ;  his  father 
was  a  farmer  of  moderate  circumstances, 
possessing  a  small  piece  of  land  which  he 
tilled  with  his  own  hands ;  he  recognized 
the  value  of  an  education  and  made  every 
effort  to  secure  for  his  children  that  mental 
culture  which  is  imperishable ;  but  Wallace 
was  not  a  studious  youth  ;  the  glorious  fun 
of  fishing,  hunting,  "  I  spy,"  •'  two-old-cat " 
and  other  athletic  sports,  had  for  him  a 
far  greater  charm  than  the  problems  of  his 
arithmetic,  the  puzzling  intricacies  of  his 
grammar,  the  comprehensive  knowledge 
contained  within  the  pasteboard  lids  of 
his  geography,  or  even  the  polysyllables  of 
his  spelling-book  ;  all  told,  his  schooling 
amounted  to  less  than  three  years  of  con- 
stant attendance ;  to  this  day  he  acknowl- 
edges, that  it  was  his  own  fault  that  not 
even  a  common-school  education  accompa- 


nied him  when  he  embarked  for  himself  in 
the  struggles  of  life ;  it  was  in  the  vocation 
of  an  apple-peddler  that  pennies  first  poured 
into  the  capacious  pockets  of  his  "flap" 
trowsers ;  with  a  basket  well-laden  with 
pippins,  greenings,  Spitzenbergs,  gillyflow- 
ers and  rusty-coats,  gathered  from  his 
father's  orchard,  he  daily  plodded  to  the 
village  of  Albion  for  several  years  and 
returned  at  night  jubilant  with  success,  or 
dejected  by  failure,  according  as  good  or 
ill  luck  had  attended  his  labors  among  the 
fruit-loving  denizens  of  the  village ;  in 
those  days  (a  matter  which  will  be  a  sur- 
prise to  the  fruit-venders  of  this  genera- 
tion) a  "square  meal"  could  be  obtained 
for  3  cents,  and  to  indulge  in  the  extras  of 
the  season  5  cents  was  considered  an  ex- 
orbitant demand  ;  in  1844,  his  father 
came  West,  purchased  a  small  farm  and 
grist-mill  at  Plainfield,  nine  miles  north- 
west of  Joliet ;  from  that  date  till  the 
present,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  has  been 
a  resident  of  this  State  ;  in  1845,  he  en- 
tered the  village  store  as  clerk,  owned  by 
a  Mr.  Goddard,  at  the  munificent  salary 
of  $4  per  month,  without  board  ;  Mr.  G. 
also  operated  stores  in  Elgin  and  St.  Charles ; 
he  continued  with  him  at  intervals,  until 
1858,  vibrating  from  one  point  to  another, 
as  occasion  and  the  interests  of  his  employer 
might  require  ;  in  1849,  he  was  employed 
in  the  dry  goods  and  carpet  store  of  H. 
W.  Bigelow,  of  Chicago;  his  positions  and 
employments  have  been  various,  and  fortune 
and  mis-fortune  have  not  been  strangers  to 
him.  He  was  married  in  1 854,  to  Esther  J. 
Eurn,  of  Plainfield.  At  one  time  we  find 
him  a  prosperous  business  man,  amassing 
wealth  rapidly  ;  again  we  see  him  penniless, 
with  a  great  debt  upon  his  shoulders  ;  at 
the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  he  was  doing 
a  thriving  grocery  trade  in  Joliet.  He  en- 
tered the  army  as  sutler,  and,  at  first,  money 
"rolled  in  by  the  bushel,"  and  indicated 
that  his  fortune  was  made  ;  but  these  were 
uncertain  days ;  when  about  thirty-five 
miles  south  of  Louisville,  on  his  way  to 
Bardstown,  John  Morgan,  the  daring, 
dashing  cavalryman  of  Southern  fame, 
despoiled  his  train  of  six  loads  of  sutler's 
goods,  "cabbaged"  his  horses  and  left  him 
with  a  whole  skin,  but  not  money  enough 
to  get  back  to  JoKet ;  again  he  replenished 
his  stock  and  the  same  result  followed  ; 
after  having  once  more  purchased  a 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


667 


full  stock,  he  sold  out,  took  notes  in  pay- 
ment, never  realized  a  cent  from  them,  and 
returned  to  Joliet  as  poor  as  he  was  five 
years  before.     In  1864,  he  began  operating 
the  old  National  Hotel  on  the  west  side  of  , 
the  city  ;  here  he  remained  almost  ten  years 
accumulating  money  as  if  by  magic ;    in  ' 
1873,  he  furnished  the  Robertson  House 
at  an  expense  of  $20,000  ;    in  one  year  ; 
he  lost  half  of  the  amount  accumulated  in 
the  preceding  ten   years ;    he   next   pur- 
chased one-half  interest  in  the  Gait  House, 
Chicago,  and  in  one  year  shelved  the  bal- 
ance ;    he  opened  the  St.   Nicholas   as  a  | 
hotel  June  17,  1875. 

GEORGE  M.  CAMPBELL, Secretary 
and   Treasurer  of  the  Joliet  Stone  Co., 
Joliet ;  was   born   in   Unity,  Waldo    Co.,  | 
Me.,  Jan.  5, 1848  ;  in  early  childhood,  he 
removed  with  his  parents   to  Springfield,   : 
Mass.,  and  lived  there  and  in  that  vicinity 
until  he  was  9  years  of  age  ;  the  family 
then  removed  to  Linn  Co.,  Iowa,  and  five  ' 
years  later,  in  April,  1862,  came  to  Joliet;   : 
his  parents  resided  here   four   years,  and 
then  returned  to   Massachusetts ;  he  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Joliet 
and  at  the  Springfield,  Mass.,  English  and 
Classical  Institute ;  he  followed  the  busi-  ! 
ness   of  clerking  and  book-keeping  until 
May,  1875,  when  the  Joliet  Stone  Co.  was 
organized,  he  being  one  of  the  three  equal 
partners,  and  on  its  incorporation,  Dec.  1,  ; 
1877,  he  became  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
of  the  company.     He  was  married  Dec.  ! 
25,  1873,  to  MissLibbie  R.  §napp,  daugh-  ; 
ter  of  Hon.   Henry  Snapp,  of  Joliet,  and 
has  two  children — Jessie  M.  and  Ida  A. 

M.  B.  CAMPBELL,  M.  D.,  physician 
and  surgeon,  Joliet,  was  born  in  Williston, 
Vt.,  Nov.  29,  1843;  he  received  his  pre- 
paratory education  at  the  Williston  Acade- 
my, after  which  he  studied  medicine  in 
the  office  of  Dr.  E.  A.  Pond,  of  Rutland, 
Vt.,  who  has  since  become  famous  as  the 
inventor  of  the  American  Sphygmograph, 
for  measuring  and  tracing  the  pulsations  i 
of  the  heart ;  from  his  office  he  entered 
the  medical  department  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, where  he  graduated  and  received 
his  degree,  March  7,  1866 ;  during  his 
course  of  studies  he  served  one  year  as 
medical  cadet  in  the  regular  army ;  after 
graduating,  he  spent  one  year  in  practice 
with  Dr.  Pond,  in  Rutland,  and  then  came 
West,  and  located  in  Wilmington,  111.;  he 


practiced  medicine  there  until  1874,  when 
he  removed  to  Joliet;  Dr.  Campbell  was 
thoroughly  educated  as  an  allopathic 
physician,  but,  in  1872.  having  become 
fully  convinced  of  the  superiority  of  the 
law  of  "  Similia  similibus  curantur,"  or 
so-called  homeopathy,  after  thorough  prep- 
aration he  joined  the  Illinois  State  Homeo- 
pathic Medical  Association,  and,  in  1874, 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Homeopathy. 

ROMAINE  J.  CURTISS,  M.  D.,  phy- 
sician and  surgeon,  Joliet;  was  born  in 
Richland  Co.,  Ohio,  Oct.  1,  1840  ;  at  the 
age  of  16  years,  he  entered  Hillsdale  Col- 
lege, Mich.,  and  after  leaving  there  at- 
tended one  course  of  medical  lectures  at 
Buffalo  Medical  College  ;  in  1862,  he  en- 
tered the  Union  army  as  Hospital  Steward 
of  the  123d  Ohio  Vols.,  and  in  April.  1863, 
was  appointed  a  Medical  Cadet  in  the  reg- 
ular army ;  served  on  the  hospital-boat 
which,  during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  con- 
veyed the  wounded  up  the  river  to  Mem- 
phis and  St.  Louis,  and  was  afterward  trans- 
ferred to  the  General  Hospital  at  Cincin- 
nati; in  1864,  he  graduated  and  received 
his  degree  of  M.  D.  from  the  Ohio  Med- 
ical College,  and  was  appointed  Assistant 
Surgeon  in  the  U.  S.  Navy,  serving  till  the 
close  of  the  war ;  he  then  located  in  Erie 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  practiced  medicine 
seven  years,  during  which  time  he  pursued 
a  medical  course  at  the  Bellevue  Hospital 
Medical  College,  graduating  from  that  in- 
stitution in  March,  1868;  from  Erie  Co. 
he  came  to  Joliet  in  1873  ;  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Erie  County  Medical  Society, 
of  the  Will  County  Medical  Society,  and 
also  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Bos- 
ton Gynecological  Society.  He  was  mar- 
ried Nov.  29,  1870,  to  Miss  Sarah  A.Beal, 
of  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y. 

H.  S.  CARPENTER,  of  the  firm  of 
Carpenter  &  Marsh,  grain  merchants  and 
proprietors  of  the  Union  Transfer  Eleva- 
tor, Joliet ;  was  born  in  Orleans  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Nov.  25,  1826  ;  he  resided  there  until 
he  was  nearly  20  years  of  age ;  he  received 
an  academic  education  in  Rochester  and 
Albion,  N.  Y.,  and  in  1846,  came  to  Jol- 
iet; he  taught  school  nine  quarters  in 
Troy  Tp.,and  then  engaged  in  speculating, 
buying  and  selling  property,  etc.;  about 
twenty-five  years  ago,he  engaged  in  the  grain 
business,  being  now  the  oldest  grain  mer- 


668 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


chant  in  Joliet ;  in  the  Spring  of  1874,  the 
firm  of  Carpenter  &  Marsh  was  established 
and  the  Union  Transfer  Elevator  erected,  at 
a  cost,  including  the  mill  and  dock  in  con- 
nection therewith,  of  some  $15,000  ;  they 
now  do  a  yearly  business  of  $1,500,000, 
and  handle  about  five  millions  of  bushels 
of  grain  per  annum.  Mr.  Carpenter  was 
married  Jan.  22,  1850,  to  Miss  Henrietta 
Spencer,  of  Troy  Tp.,  and  has  three  chil- 
dren— Charles  H.,  George  and  Sarah  F. 

CHARLES  CLEMENT,  retired,  Jol- 
iet ;  has  been  a  permanent  resident  of 
Joliet  since  1834,  and  is  the  oldest  living 
inhabitant  of  the  city  ;  he  was  born  in 
Windsor,  Vt.,  Jan.  13, 1810  ;  after  receiv- 
ing a  common-school  education,  he  spent 
some  time  in  an  academy  at  Atkinson,  N. 
H.;  in  1833,  he  came  West,  and  passed 
through  Joliet  (then  containing  but  two 
log  cabins),  on  his  way  to  Peoria  ;  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  he  returned  and  made  his 
home  here,  where  he  has  continued  to  re- 
side ever  since  ;  he  soon  afterward  engaged 
in  mercantile  business,  which  he  continued 
most  of  the  time  until  his  retirement  from 
active  business,  about  1865  ;  in  the  spring 
of  1839,  he,  with  others,  established  the 
first  newspaper  in  Will  Co.,  the  Joliet 
Courier,  which  afterward  became  the  Jolr 
iet  Signal ;  he  has  served  three  years  as  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  be- 
ing the  first  Supervisor  upon  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  township ;  he  has  held  the  offi- 
ces of  Alderman,  School  Inspector,  etc. 
He  was  married  Aug.  5,  1844,  to  Miss 
Cordelia  Wilcox,  of  Elbridge,  N.  Y.,  and 
has  two  children. 

J.  J.  CULVER,  Joliet ;  dealer  in  live 
stock,  and  proprieFor  of  Bluff  Street  Mar- 
ket; was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
N.  Y.,  Dec.  5,  1828  ;  at  the  age  of  14 
years,  he  entered  a  store  as  clerk,  and  at 
the  age  of  20,  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandising for  himself,  which  he  continued 
till  1857  ;  when,  being  in  poor  health  he 
came  West,  bringing  with  him  a  stock  of 
goods,  which  he  traded  off  for  a  farm  in 
Channahon  Tp  ;  he  followed  farming  there 
seven  years,  and  then  removed  to  Joliet 
and  engaged  in  his  present  business,  which 
is  quite  extensive,  as  he  retails  an  average 
of  forty  cattle  per  month.  During  the 
war  he  did  a  large  and  successful  business 
in  buying  and  shipping  stock.  He  has  a 
farm  of  nearly  200  acres  south  of  the  city, 


and  also  rents  some  300  acres  more,  on 
which  he  usually  feeds  100  head  of 
cattle,  or  1,000  sheep.  For  the  past 
four  years,  has  confined  his  attention 
mainly  to  sheep  raising,  shipping  stock, 
and  attending  to  his  business  in  town.  He 
was  married  Oct.  21,  1853,  to  Miss  Lydia 
A.  Knox,  of  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and 
has  four  children — Willie  K.,  Aggie  C., 
Edward  E.  and  Charles  S. 

ABIJAH  CAGWIN,  dealer  in  grain  ; 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Oneida  Co.  N.  Y., 
May  19,  1807  ;  in  1824,  he  removed  with 
his  parents  to  Brockport,  Monroe  Co.,  and 
there  began  business  as  a  tanner  and  cur- 
rier, owning  an  extensive  tannery  which 
burned  down  in  1834;  he  was  also  en- 
gaged in  shoe  manufacturing.  He  came 
to  Will  Co.,  in  1835,  and  settled  about 
two  miles  from  Joliet — then  Juliet — where 
he  built  a  saw-mill,  in  which  he  sawed  the 
lumber  used  in  building  the  first  grain 
warehouse  in  Will  Co.,  which  Mr.  Cagwin 
erected  a  few  years  later.  Here  he  was 
elected  Justice  of  the  Peace,  serving. eight 
years;  in  1839,  he  was  elected  County 
Judge,  and  moved  into  the  city ;  at  the 
expiration  of  his  four  years'  service  as 
County  Judge,  he  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing, afterward  associating  with  him  his 
brother,  Francis  L.  Cagwin ;  in  1856,  he 
with  others,  established  the  Will  County 
Bank,  the  firm  being  Cagwin,  Higinbo- 
tham  &  Co. ;  a  few  years  afterward,  he  en- 
gaged in  the  grain  and  produce  business, 
which  he  has  continued  to  the  present 
time.  He  has  served  three  terms  as  City 
Treasurer ;  one  term  on  the  Board  of 
Supervisors,  and  four  years  as  Supt.  of  the 
Will  County  Alms-house  and  Poor  Farm. 
He  was  married  in  1827,  to  Miss  Hannah 
Scriber,  of  Brockport,  N.  Y.,  but  formerly 
from  Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  and  has  eight 
children — Merritt  0.,  of  Elwood,  111., 
Helen  A.  (Mrs.  Elvis  Harwood.  of  Joliet), 
Sarah  A.  (Mrs.  Barritt,  of  Joliet),  Thomas 
P.,  of  Joliet,  Hamden  A.,  of  Joliet,  Nancy 
A.,  of  Joliet,  Rose  L.  (Mrs.  A.  R.  Briggs, 
of  Joliet),  and  Abijah  S.,  of  Joliet. 

GEORGE  N.  CHAMBERLIN,  of  the 
firm  of  S.  S.  Chamberlin  &  Son,  under- 
takers and  dealers  in  furniture  ;  Joliet ;  was 
born  in  Lockport,  Will  Co.,  111.,  Dec.  20, 
1851  ;  he  is  a  son  of  S.  S.  Chamberlin, 
who  came  to  Will  Co.  at  an  early  day, 
frequent  reference  to  whom  will  be  found 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


669 


in  other  parts  of  this  work.  Mr.  Cham- 
berlin  was  educated  in  the  High  School  in 
his  native  town,  and  when  about  20  years 
of  age,  entered  the  employ  of  the  Lake 
Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  R.  R.  Co.,  in 
Chicago,  in  the  telegraph  department,  re- 
maining with  them  two  years ;  he  then 
spent  some  three  years  in  the  office  of 
Norton  &  Co.,  of  Lockport,  and  in  1876, 
engaged  in  his  present  business  with  his 
father,  who  is  the  oldest  undertaker  and 
furniture  dealer  in  Will  Co.  He  was  mar- 
ried Dec.  5, 1876,  to  Miss  Ella  E.  Munger, 
daughter  of  Charles  E.  Munger,  of  Chicago, 
for  twenty -five  years  a  resident  of  Joliet ; 
they  have  one  child — Fred  M. 

JOHN  R.  CASEY,  M.  D.,  physician 
and  surgeon,  Joliet ;  has  been  a  resident 
and  a  practicing  physician  of  Joliet,  since 
1858 ;  he  is  a  native  of  Illinois,  and  was 
born  in  Jefferson  Co.  Jan.  28,  1835 ;  at 
16  years  of  age,  he  entered  McKendree 
College,  Lebanon,  111.,  where  he  remained 
three  years ;  leaving  College,  he  entered 
upon  the  study  of  medicine  under  the  in- 
struction of  Dr.  Charles  A.  Pope,  at  that 
time  one  of  the  most  prominent  surgeons 
in  the  West.  He  attended  medical  lectures 
in  the  St.  Louis  Medical  College  where  he 
graduated  and  received  his  degree  in  1857. 
After  practicing  medicine  one  year  in  01- 
ney,  Richland  Co.,  111.,  he  located  in  Joliet, 
as  above  stated.  In  May  of  the  same 
year  (1858),  he  was  appointed  physician 
in  charge  of  the  State  Penitentiary  Hos- 
pital in  this  city,  occupying  tHat  position 
ten  years.  He  is  at  present  President  of 
the  Will  County  Medical  Society,  and  also 
holds  the  office  of  City  and  County  Phy-  j 
sician,  to  which  he  was  elected  several 
years  ago ;  he  has  also  served  one  year  on 
the  Board  of  Aldermen.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  June,  1863,  to  Miss  Ada  Vander- 
pool,  of  Joliet ;  a  native  of  New  York 
City,  and  has  four  children — Florida,  Wil- 
lis W.  Dwight  and  Laura. 

CHARLES  W.  CLEGHORN,  proprie- 
tor Joliet  Soap  Works,  Joilet ;  was  born 
in  the  Province  of  Ontario  Aug.  16, 1853. 
He  is  a  son  of  Rev.  Thomas,  a  Methodist 
clergyman,  and  who  was  a  brother  of  Edward 
Cleghorn,  of  this  city.  His  father  was  a 
native  of  New  York  State,  but  lived  in 
Canada  from  the  age  of  5  years  until  1870, 
when  he  removed  to  Michigan,  and  resided 
there  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in 


February,  1878.  After  his  father's  death, 
his  mother,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Williams) 
Cleghorn,  removed  with  her  family  to  Joliet, 
where  they  now  reside.  Charles  W.  came 
to  Joliet  in  1870,  and  learned  the  tanner's 
trade  with  Messrs.  Mack,  Cleghorn  &  Co., 
and  continued  till  July,  1876,  when  he 
engaged  in  his  present  business.  He  manu- 
factures three  brands  of  soap;  the  "Granite," 
he  considers  his  finest  soap ;  is  of  his  own 
invention,  and  unexcelled  for  either  toilet 
or  laundry  purposes  ;  his  two  other  brands, 
the  "  Standard  "  and  "  Boss,"  are  both  ex- 
cellent articles,  and  are  furnished  at  prices 
which  should  induce  the  people  of  Will 
Co.  to  patronize  home  industries,  and  ask 
their  grocers  for  Cleghorn's  soaps. 

WILLIAM  P.  CATON,  retired,  Joliet ; 
one  of  the  pioneers  of  Will  Co. ;  was  born 
in  Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  28,  1815 ; 
he  lived  in  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  until  18 
years  of  age,  being  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  and  attending  school ;  at  the  above 
age,  he  removed  to  Ann  Arbor,  Mich., 
where  he  remained  three  years,  clerking  in 
a  general  store ;  he  then  came  to  Chicago 
in  1836,  clerking  for  a  short  time ;  then 
to  Milwaukee,  clerking  until  the  following 
year ;  he  then  returned  to  Illinois  and  took 
up  2,000  acres  of  Government  land  in  Cook 
Co.,  sixteen  miles  northwest  of  Chicago ; 
here  he  lived  until  1848,  when  he  removed 
to  Chicago,  being  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  and  inspector  of  canal-boats  until 
1856,  when  he  removed  to  Plaiufield,  Will 
Co.,  and  engaged  in  farming  until  1871, 
when  on  account  of  ill  health  he  was 
obliged  to  give  up  farming,  since  which 
time  he  has  lived  in  Joliet,  but  not  engaged 
in  active  business.  He  owns  his  residence 
and  the  one  adjoining  on  Oneida  St.,  Joliet* 
He  married  Nov.  28,  1844,  to  Elizabeth 
Steele  ;  they  are  the  parents  of  five  chil- 
dren now  living — William  E.,  Hannah  E., 
Charles  A.,  Albert  R.  and  Minnie  E. 

JOHN  CLARKSON,  retired  mill- 
wright, Joliet ;  born  in  Lancashire,  England, 
Oct.  25, 1809,  where  he  learned  and  worked 
at  the  millwright  trade  until  28  years  of 
age,  when  he  emigrated  to  America,  land- 
ing in  New  York  July  3, 1837  ;  remaining 
there  three  months,  then  to  Rochester  four 
months ;  then  to  Black  Rock  Dam  during 
the  winter  of  1837-38,  returning  to  Roches- 
ter for  the  summer  following;  then  to 
Rome,  Mich.,  for  eighteen  months  ;  from 


670 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


there  to  Chicago,  and  to  Joliet  by  stage, 
where  he  located  May  20,  1840  ;  he  first 
engaged  here  in  building  Jones'  Steam  Flour- 
Mill,  the  first  of  the  kind  in  Joliet ;  upon 
its  completion,  he  with  Thomas  Keegan, 
went  to  Marseilles  and  built  the  first  flour 
mill  at  that  place  ;  from  there  he  went  to 
Chicago  and  built  the  first  elevator  erected 
in  that  city.  His  reputation  as  a  work- 
man of  superior  skill  at  his  trade  having 
become  generally  established,  he  has  been 
extensively  employed  in  building  mills  and 
elevators  in  all  the  neighboring  towns 
around  Joliet  up  to  the  time  of  his  retiring 
from  active  labor.  He  owns  a  fine  resi- 
dence on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  where 
he  resides.  He  married  in  England  April 

12,  1837,  to  Alice  Hodson  ;  she  was  born 
in  Lancashire,    England,    May  1,  1816  ; 
they  are  the  parents  of  three  children  now 
living,  viz.,  Ellen  J.,  Margaret  A.  and  Mary 
Ann.       Mr.     C.'s     mother   emigrated    to 
America  and  Joliet  in   1844,  being  then 
upward  of  80  years  of  age,  where  she  lived 
until  her  death  in  1848.    Mr.  C.  has  filled 
different    offices   of  trust,     among    them 
School  Trustee  for  eight  years  and  School 
Director  for  three  years. 

CARSON  BROS.,  groceries  and  provis- 
ions, Joliet.  Hugh  H.  Carson,  the  senior 
member  of  the  above  firm,  was  born  Jan. 
1, 1852.  in  Rhode  Island,  where  he  at- 
tended school  and  worked  in  a  cotton-fac- 
tory until  10  years  of  age,  when  he  emi- 
grated with  his  parents  to  Joliet,  locating 
at  this  point  Aug.  1,  1862  ;  at  the  above 
date,  his  father,  James  Carson,  purchased 
the  grocery  and  provision  business  of  W. 
B.  Caswell,  which  business  he  successfully 
continued  until  succeeded  by  his  sons  May 
10,  1875.  Robert  Carson,  the  junior  mem- 
ber of  the  above  firm,  was  born  in  Rhode 
Island  Sept.  18,  1855  ;  emigrating  West 
with  his  parents  to  Joliet ;  he,  with  his 
brother,  was  employed  in  the  store  of  their 
father  when  not  attending  school,  until 
they  succeeded  in  the  business.  The  above 
firm  carry  a  full  and  complete  stock  in  their 
line,  and  have  a  good  trade  which  is  rapidly 
increasing ;  their  success  may  be  attributed 
to  their  thorough  knowledge/close  personal 
attention  and  honest  dealing  in  business. 

H.  W.  COPE,  horse-collar  manufact- 
urer, Joliet ;  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  Dec. 

13,  1843,    where   he  lived   and  attended 
school  until  14  years  of  age,  when  he  im- 


migrated with  his  parents  to  Joliet,  where 
he  lived  two  years ;  in  1859,  he  removed 
to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  he  lived  two 
years  and  commenced  to  learn  his  trade ; 
from  there  he  removed  to  Newark,  N.  J., 
where  he  lived  two  years  ,when  he  returned 
to  Joliet  and  finished  his  trade ;  he  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  his  father  in  July, 
1868 ;  he  confines  business  exclusively  to 
the  manufacture  and  jobbing  of  horse 
collars,  supplying  the  wholesale  trade  largely 
in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Michigan  and  Indiana ; 
he  employs  four  hands  and  such  machinery 
as  can  be  made  practical.  He  married  in 
Joliet  July  6,  1865,  to  Lottie  V.  Cook  ; 
she  was  born  Nov.  23, 1843,  in  New  York  ; 
they  are  the  parents  of  two  children  now 
living,  viz.,  Lottie  A.  and  Henry  L. 

BARBARA  CAMPBELL,  farmer, 
Sec.  28 ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  widow  of  Joseph 
Campbell ;  her  maiden  name  was  Barbara 
Kelly;  she  was  born  in  Scotland  Dec.  13, 
1807.  She  married  Mr.  Campbell  in  Scot- 
land July  12,  1833;  Mr.  Campbell  was 
born  in  Scotland  Sept.  30,  1807,  where  he 
lived  until  28  years  of  age,  when  he  immi- 
grated to  America  and  settled  in 
Joliet  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.,  in  1839,  and  en- 
gaged in  quarrying;  he  was  for  several 
years  in  partnership  with  ex-Gov.  Matte- 
son  in  quarrying  and  contracting,  and  had 
some  contracts  building  the  Canal.  He 
died  June  23,  1858  ;  his  widow,  who  sur- 
vives him,  continues  to  live  at  the  old 
home,  which  contains  195  acres  of  well-im- 
proved land.  They  were  the  parents  of 
five  children  now  living,  viz.,  Joseph,  Rob- 
ert, John,  Annie  and  Barbara. 

THOMAS  CULBERTSON,  retired 
miller,  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  New  Castle  Co.,  Del.,  Aug. 
23,  1814,  where  he  learned  the  trade  of 
milling;  he  removed  to  Joliet  in  1836,  and 
engaged  at  his  trade  for  two  years,  when  the 
dam  was  destroyed  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Canal ;  afterward  worked  at  Norman's 
Island  and  Wilmington  ;  returned  to  Joliet 
in  1839,  and  settled  where  he  now  resides, 
purchasing  what  is  known  as  the  Red  Mill 
in  1849,  which  he  continued  to  run  until 
1867.  He  married  Miss  Martha  M.  Ker- 
cheval  in  Joliet  Nov.  19,  1856:  her  par- 
ents settled  in  Will  Co.,  in  1829  ;  they  are 
parents  of  three  children — Thomas  Edwin, 
born  July  16,  1858  ;  May  Evelyn,  born 
Oct.  23,  1861  ;  Emma  Elizabeth,  born 


(DECEASED)  / 

LOCKPORTTP. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


673 


Jan.  13,  1864,  died  Aug.  28,  1865.  Mr. 
C.  has  filled  the  offices  of  School  Trustee 
and  Director  in  the  town  where  he  lives 
for  several  terms. 

N.  H.  CUTTER,  farmer  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ; 
whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was 
born  in  Jaffrey,  Cheshire  Co.,  N.  H., 
March  12,  1805;  up  to  the  age  of' 21, 
he  was  engaged  in  farming  with  his  par- 
ents, after  which  he  learned  the  trade  of 
joiner  and  carpenter;  in  1828,  he  moved 
to  Lowell,  Mass.,  and  after  being  engaged 
at  his  trade  for  a  short  time,  was  employed 
in  machine  shops  up  to  the  fall  of  1829  ; 
he  then  went  to  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and 
worked  in  Rogers'  Machine  Shops  up  to 
1834 ;  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he 
came  to  Joliet,  where  he  has  resided  ever 
since,  engaged  mostly  in  farming.  Has 
been  Alderman,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
Assessor  and  School  Director.  He  married 
Rebecca  R.  Bailey,  of  East  Hampton, 
Mass.,  Feb.  15,  1838  ;  she  was  born  April 
14,  1805.  Mr.  Cutter,  while  living  in  the 
East  spent  his  winters  in  school  teaching. 

GEORGE  W.  GASSED  AY,  deceased, 
formerly  of  Jolieb,  whose  portrait  appears 
in  this  work,  was  born  in  Bedford  Co.,  Va., 
Dec.  1, 1803.  His  father  dying  when  he  was 
6  months  old,  his  mother  moved  to  St.  Anne, 
Ky.,  where  they  lived  until  he  was  14  years 
of  age,  when  they  moved  to  Troy,  Ohio ; 
at  this  place  he  learned  the  trade  of  carpenter. 
On  January  13,  1824,  he  married  Miss 
Delilah  Murphy,  and  in  the  fall  of  1825 
moved  to  Vermilion  Co.,  [11.,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming  up  to  the  spring  of 
1827,  when  he  moved  to  Edgar  Co.,  111., 
working  at  his  trade  of  carpenter,  and 
also  farming;  in  1829.  he  moved  to  Paris, 
of  the  same  county,  and  remained  there  up 
to  1834,  when  he  returned  to  Vermilion 
county;  in  1851,  he  came  to  Joliet,  where 
he  lived  up  to  his  decease,  July  23,  1863. 
When  he  came  to  Joliet,  having  pur- 
chased a  large  tract  of  land,  he  laid  out 
an  addition  to  the  city  known  as  "  Casse- 
day's  Addition."  He  had  five  children ; 
three  living — Maria  L.  (now  Mrs.  Jo- 
seph G.  English,  of  Danville,  111.),  Mary 
C.  (now  Mrs.  John  Durham,  of  Danville, 
111.),  and  Henry  Clay ;  two  deceased — 
David,  and  Harriet  M. 

MRS.  SOPHIA  (MURRAY)  DEM- 
MOND,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Petersburg, 
N.  Y.,  July  26,  1804 ;  she  is  a  daughter 


of  John  Murray,  who  was  formerly  from 
Bennington,   Vt;    her   mother,    Cynthia 
Weaver,  was  a  native  of  Rhode  Island  ; 
Mrs.    Demmond's    parents     removed    to 
near  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  when  she  was  a  child, 
and  after  five  years  to  Sharon,  in  the  same 
State,  where  they  resided  till  their  death. 
Her  marriage  with  the  late  Martin  H.  Dem- 
mond,  occurred   in    Frankfort,   Herkimer 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  10,  1831.      Mr.  Dem- 
mond  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and 
was  born  March  4,  1803  ;  he  went  with 
his  parents  to  Sangerfield,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  was  apprenticed  to  the  tanner  and  cur- 
rier's trade ;  he,    however,    did    not   find 
this  business  congenial,  and  having  a  taste 
for  mercantile  pursuits,  he  soon  afterward 
engaged     in    merchandising     in    various 
places,  in  which  he  was  quite  successful ; 
he  first  married,  soon   after  becoming  of 
age,  Miss  Adelia  Woodruff,  a   daughter 
of  Theodore  Woodruff,  of  Clinton,  tf  Y.. 
and  a  sister  of  George  H.   Woodruff,  of 
this  city ;    she,  however,  died  during  the 
first  year  of  their  marriage.      While  in 
business   in   Frankfort,  he  married    Miss 
Murray,  as  above  stated,  and,  in  1834,  re- 
moved   to    Joliet;  he   was   so  intimately 
identified     with     the  early    history    and 
growth  of  this   city,   and   his   connection 
therewith  is  so  fully  recorded  in  the  his- 
torical portion  of  this  work,  that  any  fur- 
ther allusion  here  is  unnecessary.    He  was 
a  man  of  pure  morals  and  sterling  integ- 
rity; "his  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond." 
He  died  of  cholera  July  18, 1854,  leaving 
a  wife,  but  no  children.     A  niece  of  Mrs. 
Demmond's,  Miss  Catherine  Murray,  was 
a  member  of  the  family,  from  the  age  of 
10  years  until  her  marriage  with  Freder- 
ick Bartelson,  an  attorney  at  law  in  Joliet, 
who   afterward-  raised  a  company  for  the 
100th  Regiment,  I.   V.  I.,  was  commis- 
sioned   Captain,    afterward   promoted    to 
Colonel,    and  killed   at    Kenesaw   Moun- 
tain.     She  is  now  the  wife  of  J.  R.  Cas- 
selberry,  of  Philadelphia.     Mrs.  Demmond 
continues  to  reside  in  the  old  homestead 
erected    by     her  husband  soon  after  his 
arrival  here. 

R.  DOOLITTLE,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Watertown,  Jefferson 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  15,  1809,  where  he 
resided  until  his  removal  to  Joliet  in  the 
spring  of  1837;  after  following  the 
grocery  business  two  years,  he  was  elected 

3 


6T4 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  held  the  office 
twelve  years,  and  was  also  Assignee  in 
Bankruptcy  during  the  existence  of  the 
old  United  States  bankrupt  law  ;  in  1838, 
he  was  elected  County  Judge,  but  declined 
to  qualify,  and  Geo.  H.  Woodruff  was 
elected  in  his  place;  in  1852,  he  resumed 
business,  the  firm  being  Doolittle  &  Stone, 
who  erected  the  three-story  brick  building 
on  the  south  side  of  Jefferson  street,  the 
second  building  west  of  Ottawa  street ;  the 
same  year,  1852,  he,  with  six  other  citi- 
zens of  Joliet,  was  appointed  by  the  Legis- 
lature to  divide  the  city  into  wards,  and 
call  an  election  for  city  officers.  In  1840, 
previous  to  the  organization  of  the  city,  he 
had  served  on  the  Board  of  Trustees,  of 
which  he  was  the  Treasurer ;  he  remained 
in  the  grocery  business  until  1862,  when 
he  sold  out  to  Mr.  Stone,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  was  engaged  in  railroad  contract- 
ing, merchandising,  etc. ;  he  served  as 
Alderman  from  1862  to  1866  ;  in  1871, 
was  again  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
He  was  married  April  5,  1838,  to  Miss 
Sarah  A.  Boss,  a  native  of  Canada,  and 
has  five  children  living — Theresa  C.,  Eben 
B.,  George  H.  of  Port  Huron,  Mich., 
Georgeana  and  Jesse  A. 

FRANK  DEVINE,  contractor  and 
builder,  Joliet ;  is  a  native  of  Dutchess 
Co.,  N.  Y. ;  he  was  born  at  Fishkill  Land- 
ing, on  the  Hudson  River,  July  3,  1849  ; 
when  he  was  about  18  years  old  he  went  to 
New  York  City  and  worked  at  his  trade  of 
a  carpenter  until  after  the  great  fire  in 
Chicago  in  1871 ;  he  then  went  to  that 
city  and  took  part  in  its  rebuilding  during 
the  next  two  years ;  in  1873,  he  came  to 
Joliet  and  began  business  as  a  contractor 
and  builder ;  he  is  acknowledged  to  be  one 
of  the  most  skillful  and  reliable  workmen 
in  his  line  of  business ;  he  has  built  some 
of  the  best  residences  in  the  city,  besides 
other  buildings,  among  which  may  be 
mentioned  St.  Mary's  Church,  on  which  he 
did  the  carpenter  work.  He  was  married 
June  5,  1876,  to  Miss  Nellie  O'Reilly, 
daughter  of  James  O'Reilly,  of  Joliet ; 
they  have  one  child — James. 

EUGENE  DALY,  undertaker  and 
dealer  in  furniture,  Joliet;  is  a  native  of  the 
county  of  Longford,  Ireland  ;  he  was  born 
on  the  13th  of  May,  1826;  in  1844,  he 
came  to  this  country  and  spent  three  years 
in  Sag  Harbor,  L.  I.,  where  he  learned 


the  trade  of  a  cabinet-maker ;  coming  to 
Chicago,  he  worked  at  his  trade  there 
until  the  fall  of  1850,  when  he  came  to 
Joliet  and  started  in  business  for  himself; 
he  is  the  oldest  undertaker  and  furniture 
man  in  Joliet ;  he  has  held  several  public 
offices,  among  which  may  be  mentioned 
those  of  Coroner  of  the  county,  Super- 
visor and  member  of  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men. He  was  married  in  1852  to  Miss 
Bridget  Thompson,  of  Joliet ;  she  is  also  a 
native  of  the  county  of  Longford,  Ireland; 
they  have  eight  children  living — Margaret, 
Mary  A.,  John,  Catherine,  Joseph  J., 
Ellen,  Charlie  and  Willie. 

JOHN  T.  DON  AHOE,  Joliet;  Treasur- 
er of  Will  Co. ;  was  born  in  Joliet  Oct.  16, 
1855;  he  is  a  son  of  Timothy  Donahoe, 
who  came  to  Joliet  from  Ireland  in  1853y 
and  is  now  a  resident  of  Wilmington.  John 
T.  left  school  at  the  age  of  13,  and  entered 
the  grocery  store  of  his  brother  in  Wil- 
mington as  clerk,  remaining  with  him  until 
he  was  17  years  old ;  they  then  engaged  in 
business  in  partnership  in  Braidwood,  and, 
on  attaining  his  majority,  he  purchased  the 
interest  of  his  brother  and  continued  the 
business  alone  until  his  election  as  County 
Treasurer  in  November,  1877  ;  he  is  the 
youngest  Treasurer  Will  Co.  has  ever  had, 
and  probably  the  youngest  man  ever 
elected  to  that  office  in  this  country. 

J.  C.  D1LLMAN,  proprietor  of  the 
Mansion  House,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Sum- 
I  mit  Co.,  Ohio,  Sept.  7,  1824;  his  early 
:  years  were  passed  upon  the  farm,  his  father 
|  and  grandfather  being  farmers ;  in  the  fall 
I  of  1849,  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  his  father, 
Michael  Dillman.  having  come  with  the 
other  members  of  the  family  the  spring 
before :  the  family  settled  in  Plainfield, 
where  the  father  died  in  1861,  leaving  ten 
children,  five  of  whom  now  live  in  Will 
Co.  ;  Mr.  Dillman  followed  farming  until 
1871,  when  he  removed  to  Joliet;  in 
1 875,  he  became  proprietor  of  the  Mansion 
House,  where  the  traveler  is  always  sure  of 
courteous  treatment  and  good  accommoda- 
tions, at  a  reasonable  price  ;  being  a  strictly 
temperance  house,  it  is  a  desirable  family 
hotel.  Mr.  Dillman  was  married  Feb.  19, 
1846,  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Steese,  of  Summit 
Co.,  Ohio,  and  has  five  children  living — 
Lavina  C.,  Amanda  J.,  Michael  S.,  Edward 
L.  and  Charles  S. ;  one  daughter,  Alice  J.r 
died  Feb.  12,  1861. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


675 


WILLIAM  DAVIDSON,  Joliet ;  born 
in  county  of  Cumberland,  England,  Oct. 
28,  1851,  where  he  lived  until  22  years  of 
age,  when  he  came  to  America ;  he  first 
located  in  Connecticut,  and  from  there  to 
Kankakee,  111.,  in  1850,  where  he  resided 
four  years  ;  then  to  Joliet  in  1854,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  quarry  business,  which 
he  has  continued  to  the  present  time ;  he 
owns  what  is  known  as  Davidson's  Quarry, 
located  one  mile  southwest  of  Joliet,  on  the 
C.,  R.  I.  &  P.  R.  R. 

WILLIAM  DOUGALL,  M.  D.,  phy- 
sician and  surgeon,  Joliet;  was  born  in 
Paisley,  Renfrewshire,  Scotland,  March  1,  j 
1842;  his  father,  John  Dougall,  was  a  I 
leading  cotton-spinner  in  the  west  of  Scot- 
land, and,  in  1858,  came  with  his  family  to 
this  country,  settling  near  New  Haven, 
Ind.,  where  he  died  in  1874  at  the  age  of 
75  years;  his  mother  was  Margaret  Hous- 
toun,  a  descendant  of  the  ancient  Ren- 
frewshire family  of  that  name ;  she  was 
born  in  the  town  of  Houstoun,  Renfrew- 
shire, and  still  survives;  the  son,  William, 
was  educated  in  the  high  school  of  Glas- 
gow. On  the  breaking-out  of  the  rebell- 
ion, he  enlisted  in  Co.  C,  15th  Ind.  V.  I., 
June  1,  1861,  and  participated  in  all  the 
engagements  of  his  regiment  until  Oct.  1, 
1863,  be'ing  severely  wounded  at  the  battle 
of  Stone  River ;  on  the  above-mentioned 
date  he  was  commissioned  Captain  in  the 
13th  U.  S.  Colored  Regiment,  and  served  as 
such  until  April,  1865,  when  the  war, 
having  closed,  he  resigned,  and,  returning 
home,  resumed  the  study  of  medicine  ;  he 
attended  a  course  of  medical  lectures  in 
the  University  of  Michigan,  and  afterward 
in  the  Chicago  Medical  College,  from  which 
institution  he  graduated,  and  receiyed  his 
degree  March  4,  1868,  and  soon  afterward 
began  practice  in  Lemont,  Cook  Co.,  111. ; 
in  1872,  he  located  in  Joliet,  where  he  is 
now  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. He  was  married  Oct.  1,  1872,  to 
Miss  Cassie  Walker,  daughter  of  Edwin 
Walker,  of  Lemont,  and  has  one  child — 
Mamie  C.  Dr.  Dougall  is  a  member  of 
the.  Will  County  Medical  Society,  and  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  and 
was  Secretary  of  the  former  two  years. 

GEORGE  RANDOLPH  DYER,  re- 
tired; Joliet;  was  born  in  Rutland  Co., 
Vt.,  June  13,  1813  ;  his  father,  Daniel 
Dyer,  had  a  State  reputation  as  a  sheep- 


raiser  and  substantial  farmer ;  he  was 
a  soldier  of  the  Revolutionary  war ; 
after  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  commis- 
sioned Major  in  the  Massachusetts  State 
Militia,  and  his  commission,  signed  by 
Gov.  John  Hancock  himself,  is  now  in  the 
possession  of  his  son  George  R. ;  the  ven- 
erable and  well-known  Dr.  Charles  V. 
Dyer,  of  Chicago,  was  his  brother;  his 
mother  was  a  Miss  Olin,  of  the  popular 
Vermont  family  of  that  name.  Capt. 
Dyer  received  an  academic  education  in 
West  Rutland,  Academy,  and  at  the  age  of 
21,  started  West,  and  drove  from  Claren- 
don, Vt.,  to  Chicago,  111.,  alone ;  he  resided 
in  Chicago  and  Milwaukee  till  1841 ;  dur- 
ing this  time,  he  helped  organize  the  Terri- 
tory of  Wisconsin ;  in  1838,  he  assisted  in 
surveying  the  Fox  River,  with  a  view  to 
use  the  same  as  a  feeder  for  the  Illinois 
Canal ;  in  1841,  he  came  to  Will  Co.  and 
engaged  in  farming  and  stock-raising;  in 
his  early  life  in  Will  Co.  he  was  noted  far 
and  wide  for  his  remarkable  energy  and 
success  in  life;  in  1856,  he  was  elected 
Sheriff  of  the  county,  and  after  his  term  of 
office  expired  he  returned  to  his  farm, 
where  he  resided  till  the  breaking-out  of 
the  war  in  1861 ;  when  the  first  gun  was 
fired,  true  to  the  blood  of  his  patriotic 
ancestors,  he,  with  his  two  sons,  went  into 
the  war  for  the  Union ;  his  oldest  son  was 
commissioned  Captain  when  but  17,  and 
served  through  many  a  well-fought  battle  ; 
he  died  Nov.  13,  1863,  from  disease  con- 
tracted in  the  Southern  swamps.  During 
the  last  thirty-five  years  Will  Co.  has 
known  Capt.  Dyer  as  a  citizen  of  note,  not 
a  little  eccentric,  witty, jolly  as  acouipanion, 
and  satirical  in  the  reproving  of  that 
which  had  not  sense  to  recommend  it.  As 
a  defender  of  the  rights  of  man,  he  has 
always  been  distinguished,  and  he  consid- 
ered it  no  disgrace  to  be  called  an  Aboli- 
tionist ;  he  joined  hands  with  them  in  bring- 
ing this  country  to  be  what  it  is  to-day.  In 
bold  activity  and  uncompromising  devotion, 
Capt.  George  R.  Dyer  was  the  undisputed 
pioneer  in  Will  Co.  of  that  enthusiastic 
movement,  as  it  was  called  by  his  friends, 
and  fanatical  movement,  as  it  was  called  by 
his  enemies,  which  ultimately  struck  the 
shackles  from  the  American  slave.  He 
was  married  Jan.  8,  1841,  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth H.  Kimball,  of  Elgin,  a  lady  of  fine 
natural  endowments  and  graceful  manners, 


676 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


whose  excellent  sense,  fine  culture  and 
domestic  accomplishments  eminently  fitted 
her  for  a  helpmate  for  a  young  man  with  a 
full  head  and  an  empty  pocket;  the 
matured  woman  has  more  than  fulfilled  the 
fair  promise  of  the  young  brid^  ;  six  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  them,  four  of 
whom  still  survive — Belle  R.,  Daniel  B., 
Lizzie  L.  and  Ida  May  (now  Mrs.  A.  A. 
Whiting).  George  D.  died  in  1863,  and 
Susie  Olin  (Mrs.  R.  Schermerhorn)  died  in 
1872. 

D.  Gr.  EDGERLY,  agent  M.  C.  R.  R. 
Joliet  Cut-Off,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Perry, 
Genesee  (now  Wyoming  Co.),  N".  Y.,  in 
1831.  At  the  early  age  of  5  years,  he 
lost  his  father,  a  prominent  merchant  of 
the  town.  His  mother  subsequently 
married  a  wealthy  farmer,  and  his  life,  to 
about  the  age  of  16,  was  spent  upon 
his  stepfather's  farm.  On  leaving  home, 
he  spent  one  year  in  a  dry  goods  store  in 
Warsaw  ;  he  next  went  to  Buffalo,  and  was 
employed  as  check  clerk  in  the  firm  of 
Kimberly,  Pease  &  Co.  (late  Pease  &  Beech- 
er),  forwarders  of  general  merchandise. 
This  firm  owned  and  operated  lines  on  the 
lakes  and  Erie  Canal.  The  formation  of 
the  American  Transportation  Co.,  in  1855, 
absorbed  all  the  small  offices  and  companies, 
and  he  next  located  at  Dunkirk,  N.  Y., 
in  the  employ  of  the  N.  Y.  &  Erie  R. 
R.,  under  S.  D.  Caldwell,  now  chief  man- 
ager of  the  Red  Lice;  he  served  eight 
years  as  check  clerk ;  from  Dunkirk  he 
returned  to  Buffalo  and  was  appointed 
assistant  agent ;  here  he  remained  ten 
years.  In  January,  1873,  he  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  33d  station,  New  York  City ; 
this  position  he  held  two  years.  In  1876, 
he  engaged  in  business  in  Buffalo,  but 
only  continued  a  short  time.  In  January, 
1877,  he  came  to  his  present  position  at 
Joliet.  His  tine  business  qualifications 
have  won  for  him  positions  of  honor  and 
trust,  that  do  not  usually  fall  to  men  so 
early  in  life. 

WILLIAM  EVANS,  foreman  roll- 
turning  department,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
England  June  20,  1841 ;  his  family  emi- 
grated to  America  in  1846,  and  settled 
in  Pennsylvania ;  here  his  father  engaged 
in  iron-mining,  and  in  the  mining  districts 
William  passed  his  youth  and  early  man- 
hood ;  in  1862,  he  went  to  his  trade  in  Dan- 
ville, Penn.,  working  five  years  under  the 


instruction  of  Charles  D.  Hunt ;  in  1870, 
he  came  to  Chicago,  and  was  employed  in 
the  roll-turning  department  in  the  North 
Chicago  Rolling-Mills ;  here  he  remained 
one  year  ;  in  June,  1871 ,  he  came  to  Joliet, 
and  entered  the  employ  of  the  Joliet  Iron 
and  Steel  Co. ;  here  he  has  since  resided, 
excepting  a  residence  of  about  six  months 
in  Springfield  in  1873,  when  these  works 
shut  down.  He  was  married  in  December, 
1864.  to  Mary  E.  Propst,  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania ;  has  one  child  living — William 
D. ;  three  died  —  Phillip  D.,  and  two  in 
infancy. 

GEORGE  ERHARD,  Joliet,  whose 
portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was  born 
May  7,  1807,  in  the  town  of  Middlestray, 
Province  of  Milrickstuart,  Lower  Frank, 
Wurtzberg,  kingdom  of  Bavaria ;  he 
emigrated  to  America  in  June,  1832, 
with  his  mother  and  two  sisters,  and  first 
went  to  Detroit,  Mich.,  where  in  August 
of  same  year  his  mother  died  of  cholera ; 
in  October,  1833,  he  moved  to  Chicago,  and 
April  26,  1836,  came  to  Joliet  with  his 
brother-in-law,  John  Belz.  In  1838,  they 
returned  to  Chicago,  and  married  two  sis- 
ters, Louisa  and  Veronica  Periolet ;  Lou- 
isa, the  wife  of  Mr.  Erhard,  was  born  in 
the  town  of  Highfelt,  in  Alsace,  near 
Strasbourg,  in  France;  she  emigrated  to 
Chicago,  with  her  two  brothers  and  sister, 
in  1834.  Mr.  Erhard  returned  to  Joliet, 
and  having  formed  a  copartnership  with 
John  Belz,  built  a  large  brewery  on  Bluff 
street,  West  Side,  Joliet,  being  very  suc- 
cessful until  the  depreciation  of  wildcat 
money  caused  them  to  close  their  business. 
He  had  nine  children,  five  living — George 
C.,  born  Nov.  22,  1838,  now  carrying  on 
an  agricultural  and  seed  store  in  Joliet ; 
Emily,  born  Nov.  11,  1842,  wife  of  J.  C. 
Adler,  of  Joliet ;  Joseph,  now  farming  in 
Troy  Tp.,  Will  Co. ;  Louisa  and  Lawrence  ; 
his  four  younger  children  are  dead,  and 
are  buried  in  the  West  Side  German  bury- 
ing-ground,  in  Joliet.  He  and  his  brother- 
in-law,  John  Belz,  were  the  first  German 
settlers  in  this  county,  and  George  C.,  the 
eldest  son  of  Mr.  Erhard,  was  the  first 
German  male  child  born  in  Will  Co. 

COL.  JOHN  B.  FITHIAN,  of  the  firm 
of  Fithian  &  Avery,  attorneys  at  law, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Oct.  26,  1849  ;  he  is  a  son  of  Dr.  William 
E.  Fithian,  a  physician  and  Presbyterian 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


677 


clergyman  ;  in  1857,  the  family  removed 
to  Iowa  and  resided  in  different  parts  of  the 
State  until  1862,  when  his  father  took 
charge  of  the  Sanitary  Department  at 
Helena,  Ark.,  and  afterward  was  appointed 
Medical  Inspector  of  the  Department  of  the 
Tennessee  ;  during  that  time  John  B.  was 
Chief  Clerk  at  Helena,  and  in  1863,  re- 
ported to  the  Sanitary  Department  at  Vicks- 
burg,  and  was  present  during  the  siege  of 
that  place ;  after  the  war,  he  came  to  Illi- 
nois and  followed  the  newspaper  business 
at  various  points  until  1873  ;  he  then  came 
to  Joliet,  and  was  employed  in  various  ca- 
pacities in  the  Illinois  State  Penetentiary 
until  the  spring  of  1876  ;  in  the  mean  time 
he  had  been  improving  his  spare  time  in 
studying  law  in  the  offices  of  Munn  &  Munn, 
and  C.  B.  Garnsey,  Esq.,  of  Joliet;  he 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  September, 
1876,  and  in  September,  1877,  formed  a 
partnership  with  E.  D.  A  very,  which  still 
continues.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  Citizens'  Corps,  and  on  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  10th  Battalion  I.  N.  G.,  was 
appointed  Adjutant  under  Lt.  Col.  Parsons; 
in  July,  1877,  he  resigned,  but  on  the 
breaking-out  of  the  Braidwood  disturbances, 
he  enlisted  as  a  private,  and  served  during 
the  riot;  on  the  organization  of  the  12th 
Battalion,  Oct.  15,  1877,  he  was  elected 
Major,  and  on  the  9th  of  February,  1878, 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Leiut.  Colonel, 
which  position  he  still  holds.  He  was  mar- 
ried Jan.  18,  1878,  to,  Miss  Edna  E. 
Whittaker,  of  Carlinville,  111. 

JOHN  J.  FLACK  (deceased),  formerly 
of  Joliet,  whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work, 
was  born  on  May  10, 1799,  in  Washington 
Co.,  N.  Y.  He  married  Dec.  24, 1818,  Miss 
Elizabeth  Nelson,  who  was  born  in  same 
county  Dec.  15,  1799.  In  1819,  he  moved 
from  Washington  Co.  to  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y., 
and  was  largely  engaged  in  farming  and  the 
manufacture  of  lumber  and  iron,  also  a  large 
dealer  in  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs. 
He  was  also  for  many  years  an  officer  of 
the  court.  Mr.  Flack  having  in  the  year 
1844,  purchased  large  tracts  of  land  in  the 
State  of  Illinois,  moved  his  family  to  Joliet 
in  1845,  and  became  very  largely  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock-raising ;  he  also  was 
interested  in  property,  both  in  Chicago 
and  Joliet.  He  was  an  officer  of  the  court 
in  Will  Co.,  and  Joliet.  also,  for  many  years. 
He  died  Sept.  25,  1876,  aged  80  years,  5 


!  months  and  15  days;  his  widow  still  sur- 

i  vives  -him,  a  good  wife  and  mother,  and  a 
lady  beloved  by  all.  They  had  eight  chil- 

!  dren,  all  born  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y. — Jane 
A.,  born  Sept.  8,  1819;  W.  Nelson,  Jan. 

;  1,  1821  ;  J.  Alexander,  Aug.  4,  1823  ; 
Mortimer  A.,  May  25,  1825 ;  Maria  A., 
May  15,  1827;  Whalon  J.,  Nov.  23, 
1829;  Washington  J.,  Sept.  19,  1832, 
and  Martha  J.,  born  July  6,  1839. 

0.  FOX,  dealer  in  clothing,  hats,  caps 
and  gents  furnishing  goods,  Joliet ;  has 
been  a  citizen  of  Will  Co.  for  the  past 
twenty-three  years ;  he  was  born  in  Stan- 
stead,  Province  of  Quebec,  Aug.  21,  1828  ; 
when  he  was  about  15  years  of  age,  he  left 
home,  and  going  to  Boston,  Mass.,  engaged 
as  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house ;  about  six 
years  later  he  went  to  New  York  City, 
where  he  remained  the  same  length  of  time ; 
he  came  West  in  1855,  locating  in  Joliet, 
where  he  has  been  in  business  ever  since  ; 
first  in  the  book  and  stationery  business 
for  some  nine  years  ;  then  five  years  as  a  con- 
tractor, employing  the  convict  labor  in  the 
Penitentiary  in  the  manufacturer  of  cigars  ; 
in  1868,  he  engaged  in  his  present  business. 
He  keeps  a  full  supply  of  goods  in  his  line 
at  prices  to  suit  the  times  ;  in  addition  to 
this  business,  he  has  for  the  past  three 
years  carried  on  a  Penitentiary  contract  in 
manufacturing  cigars.  He  was  married 
June  16,  1858,  to  Miss  Anna  J.  White, 
of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  has  four  children 
living — Jennie  A.,  Jessie  B.,  Allie  A.  and 
Mamie  J.  Mr.  Fox  resides  in  a  beautiful 
residence,  one  of  the  finest  in  Joliet,  located 
on  the  blufls  overlooking  the  city.  This 
was  ertcted  by  him  in  1874,  and  is  an 
ornament  to  the  city  and  a  credit  to  its 
builder. 

VALENTINE  FAHRNER,  M.  D., 
physician,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Marienbad, 
a  watering-place  of  Bohemia,  Dec.  9, 
1803  ;  he  was  educated  at  the  Gymnasium 
of  Egra,  after  which  he  pursued  his  pro- 
fessional studies  at  the  University  of  Prague, 
where  he  graduated  and  received  the  degree 
of  M.  D.  in  1833.  He  began  practice  in 
his  native  town,  where  he  continued  until 
1854  ;  he  then  came  to  this  country,  and 
located  in  Chicago;  in  1868,  he  returned 
to  Bohemia,  remaining  one  year,  and  on 
coming  again  to  the  United  States,  spent 
two  years  in  Mokena,  111.,  coming  to  Joliet 
in  1871.  He  was  married  in  1842,  to 


678 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


Miss  Maria  Anna  Tauber,  of  Teschau, 
Bohemia  ;  she  died  May  28, 1873,  leaving 
two  children — John  and  Anna  Catherine 
(now  Mrs.  Henry  Lehuer,  of  Troy  Town- 
ship. John  Fahrner,  son  of  the  above, 
was  born  in  Marienbad,  Bohemia,  Feb,  11, 
1 854,  and  came  with  his  father's  family  to 
this  country,  and  has  continued  with  them 
ever  since.  He  received  his  preparatory 
education  in  the  school  of  the  Benedictine 
Fathers  in  Chicago,  after  which  he  attended 
medical  lectures  in  the  University  of  Prague 
in  Bohemia,  and  has  since  continued 
his  professional  studies  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  his  father,  with  whom  he  is  asso- 
ciated in  practice. 

JOSEPH  FRIEDRICH,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Biul,  Weisserberg,  near  Strasbourg,  Alsace, 
April  25,  1820  ;  he  was  raised  to  the  bus- 
iness of  stock-raising  and  farming,  and  in 
1840,  came  to  the  United  States  ;  he  spent 
about  three  months  at  work  near  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.;  going  from  there  to  Chicago,  and 
shortly  afterward  coming  to  Joliet ;  he 
worked  for  awhile  on  the  dam  at  ihis  place, 
and  in  the  spring  following  went  to  Lock- 
port,  and  was  employed  for  about  five 
months  on  the  Canal ;  thence,  in  the  fall,  to 
Chicago.  The  following  summer,  he  located 
in  Naperville,  111.,  and  resided  there  till  he 
settled  in  Joliet  in  May,  1847,  except  a 
short  time  spent  in  the  South ;  in  the 
spring  of  1848,  he  purchased  his  present 
farm  adjoining  the  city,  where  he  owns 
seventy-six  acres  of  land.  He  was  married 
Feb.  17,  1845,  to  Miss  Sarah  Weis,  a 
native  of  Germany  and  has  eight  children 
— Joseph  E.,  now  in  business  in  Joliet, 
Charles,  Oswell  J.,  Frank  E.,  William, 
Sarah,  Josephine  and  Annie. 

W.  D.  FAY,  photograph  artist,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Northampton  Co.,  Penn.,  May 
23,  1827 ;  he  entered  upon  the  business 
of  photographing  at  the  age  of  20  years, 
previously  to  which  he  had  followed  the 
trade  of  a  tailor ;  he  continued  the  photo- 
graph business  in  his. native  State  until 
1860,  when  he  removed  to  Joliet,  where 
he  has  resided  to  the  present  time  ;  he  is 
the  oldest  photographer  in  Joliet,  and  one 
of  the  oldest  in  the  State.  He  held  the 
office  of  Street  Commissioner  one  year, 
and  in  1869,  was  elected  City  Treasurer, 
holding  the  office  two  years ;  he  is  at 
present  Township  School  Treasurer,  to 


which  he  was  elected  in  June,  1877.  He 
was  married  in  1858,  to  Miss  Catharine 
R.  Waldron,  of  Harford,  Penn.,  and  has 
two  children — Alpha  A.  and  Winnifred 
W. 

JAMES  H.  FERRISS,  P.  0.  Joliet ; 
j  of  Nelson,   Ferriss  &    Co.,  proprietors  of 
the  Joliet  Morning  News  ;  was  born  near 
Oswego,  Kendall  Co.,  111.     He  is  a  son  of 
Wm.  H.  Ferriss,  formerly  of  Clinton  Co., 
N.  Y.     His  mother  was  Eliza  M.  Brown, 
formerly  of  Erie  Co.,  Penn.    The  subject  of 
this  sketch  became  a  resident  of  Bristol 
|  Station,  111.,  where  he  received  a  common 
school  education ;  at  the  age  of  10  years 
i  he  entered  a  store — half  saloon  and  half 
j  grocery — and  tended   bar  till  he  was   14 
years  of  age,  when   he  was   seized    with 
a   spiritual,  or    no-spirit-at-all    turn,    and 
i  joined  the  Good  Templars.     He  afterward 
attended  a  commercial  college,  run  a  butcher- 
shop,  lived  three  years  as  a  Kansas  squatter, 
followed  the  live-stock  trade,  and  was  one 
of  the  proprietors  of  the  Yorkville  News 
during  the  Peter  Cooper  campaign.     He 
also   reported  for  the  Joliet    Sun,  in  an 
obscure  capacity,  in  1874,  and  with  three 
:  others  launched   the  Phoenix   newspaper 
I  enterprise,  in  Will  Co.,  on  Jan.  1,  1877. 
'  In  October,  the  same  year,  he,  with  his 
j  present  associates,  purchased  the  Morning 
\   News,  and  since  then  has  pursued  a  steady 
and   consistent   course.      During   all   his 
eventful  career,  he  has  never  been  mar. 
ried,  had  any  bones  broken,  or  had  his  life 
insured,  but  lives  on  in  hopefulness,  etc. 

JAMES  R.  FLANDERS,  attorney  at 
law,  firm  of  Hagar  &  Flanders,  Joliet; 
was  born  Aug.  27,  1846,  in  Plainfield, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  and  is  a  son  of  Jason  and 
Lucy  Flanders.  He  attended  the  public 
schools  of  Plainfield,  and  the  Northwestern 
College,  located  at  Plainfield,  until  May, 
1864,  working  on  a  farm  during  vacations. 
On  the  10th  of  May,  1864,  he  enlisted  in 
Company  C,  132d  I.  V.  I.,  serving  un- 
til Oct.  17,  1864.  After  his  discharge 
from  the  army,  he  returned  to  school,  and 
remained  in  school  until  the  spring  of  1867; 
he  then  entered  the  law  office  of  Randall 
&  Fuller,  in  Joliet,  and  read  law  until  Oct. 
1 867 ;  he  then  taught  school  in  Henry 
Co.,  111.,  until  the  spring  of  1868 ;  read 
law  during  the  summer,  and  the  following 
winter,  again  taught  school  at  the  same 
place.  During  the  summer  of  1869,  he 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


679 


continued  his  law  studies,  and  in  Septem- 
ber of  that  year,  entered  the  Law  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Michigan,  at 
Ann  Arbor,  where  he  graduated  in  March, 
1871.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Michigan,  April  4,  1871,  and  to  the  bar  of 
Illinois,  June  20,  1871,  and  immediately 
began  practice  in  Joliet.  He  was  elected 
City  Attorney  of  Joliet  in  the  spring  of 
1873,  and  re-elected  in  the  spring  of  1874, 
and  again  elected  in  the  spring  of  1876. 
In  November,  1876,  he  was  elected  State's 
Attorney  of  Will  County,  which  office  he- 
still  holds.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  A.  Arnold,  April  10,  1877. 

JAMES  GOODSPEED,  publisher  and 
proprietor  of  the  Joliet  Republican,  Joliet ; 
was  bora  in  Tioga  Co.,  Penn.,  Dec.  3, 
1836;  he  came  to  Joliet  in  1859;  he 
was  educated  at  Alfred  University,  N.  Y., 
and  after  leaving  college  entered  the  law 
office  of  Goodspeed  &  McRobert  in  Joliet ; 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1861,  and 
continued  in  practice  until  1869,  when  he 
purchased  the  Joliet  Republican,  which 
he  has  continued  to  publish  to  the  present 
time.  The  Republican  is  the  oldest 
Republican  newspaper  in  the  Seventh 
Congressional  District,  and  has  a  larger 
circulation  than  any  other  paper  published 
in  the  district ;  it  is  issued  both  as  a 
weekly  and  semi-weekly,  and  has  a  circu- 
lation of  fully  1,800.  Mr.  Goodspeed  was 
appointed  Postmaster  in  1871,  and  still 
holds  the  office.  » 

C.  B.  GARNSEY  (Garnsey  &  Knox), 
attorney  at  law,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Liv- 
ingston Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  25,  1842;  he 
was  educated  at  the  Genesee  Wesleyan 
Seminary,  and  in  1859  came  to  Will  Co., 
spending  a  year  or  more  in  Wilmington  ; 
in  1861,  he  entered  the  law  department 
of  the  Chicago  University,  graduating  July 
1,  1862.  On  the  30th  of  the  same  month, 
he  enlisted  in  Co.  A,  100th  111.  V.  I.;  was 
soon  afterward  transferred  to  the  non- 
commissioned staff  as  Commissary  Ser- 
geant of  the  regiment,  and  served  as  such 
during  the  war,  being  with  his  regiment 
from  the  time  it  left  home,  until  its  muster 
out  in  July,  1865,  when  he  returned  to 
Joliet,  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  He  was  appointed  Master  in 
Chancery  in  1867,  and  served  four  years, 
resigning  in  1871.  He  is  at  present  Cor- 
poration Counsel  for  the  city  of  Joliet,  to 


which  he  was  appointed  Jan.  1,  1878. 
He  was  married  in  1867  to  Miss  Mary  A. 
Henderson,  of  Wilmington,  111.,  and  has 
two  children. 

W.  D.  GARDNER,  steel-blower,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Portage  Co.,  Ohio,  in  1847  ; 
his  life  was  that  of  a  farmer's  son  until  he 
was  22  years  of  age ;  his  father-in-law,  A. 
S.  Dunning,  was  for  a  number  of  years 
superintendent  of  the  converting  depart- 
ment of  the  Cleveland  Rolling-Mills,  and 
when  in  the  employ  of  the  same  company 
in  1868  he  came  to  Chicago.  Mr.  Gard- 
ner accompanied  him,  and  engaged  in.  the 
manufacture  of  steel  for  the  Union  Rolling- 
Mills  Company ;  in  December,  1872,  his 
father-in-law  took  the  same  position  in  the 
works  at  Joliet,  where  he  remained  till 
1 877.  Mr.  Gardner  came  at  the  same 
time,  and  has  remained  ever  since.  He 
was  married  Dec.  27,  1868,  to  Anna  E. 
Dunning,  a  native  of  Ohio ;  has  one 
daughter — Emma.  He  is  recognized  as 
one  well  qualified  for  the  very  responsible 
position  he  occupies. 

WM.  GRINTON,  JR.,  real  estate  and 
loans,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  the  Province  of 
Ontario  March  17,  1844,  but  came  to 
Plainfield,  Will  Co.,  with  his  parents  when 
less  than  a  year  old,  and,  therefore,  can 
almost  be  said  to  be  a  native  of  Will  Co. ; 
he  is  a  son  of  William  Grinton,  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  the  county,  the  founder  of 
the  village  of  Grinton.  in  Troy  Tp.,  and  the 
builder  of  the  Grinton  Mill,  one  of  the  old 
landmarks.  Mr.  Grinton  came  to  Joliet  in 
1853  ;  was  educated  in  the  public  schools 
of  the  city  and  at  the  Lake  Forest 
Academy,  111.,  and  after  leaving  school 
followed  the  grocery  business  in  Joliet  for 
two  years ;  he  afterward  spent  a  short 
time  in  the  commission  business  in  St. 
Louis ;  he  was  also  engaged  for  two  years 
in  the  grocery  business  in  Morris,  111.,  re- 
turning in  1868  to  Joliet,  and  engaging  in 
his  present  business ;  on  the  organization 
of  the  Stone  City  Bank  he  became  Cashier, 
and  held  that  position  the  first  two  years. 
He  was  married  March  24,  1864,  to  Miss 
Anna  Stevens,  daughter- of  the  late  Robert 
Stevens,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Will 
Co. ;  their  children  are  Robert  W.,  Anna 
L.,  Jessie  and  <irace. 

ALBERT  H.  GREEN,  foreman  of 
the  shoe  department  of  the  Illinois  State 
Penitentiary,  Joliet ;  born  March  10, 1855, 


680 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where  he  lived  until  the 
year  1869,  when  he  came  West  and 
engaged  in  the  shoe  business  at  Marshall-  ; 
town,  Iowa,  for  one  year;  then  returning  to 
New  York  in  1870,  where  he  remained  six 
years,  he  again  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  shoes;  he  emigrated  West  and  to  Joliet 
in  1876,  where  he  has  continued  to  work 
at  the  shoe  business  until  the  present  time ; 
has  been  foreman  of  the  treeing,  packing 
and  shipping  department  since  March, 
1877.  He  married  Aug.  2,  1877,  to 
Miss  Allie  Vanderhoff,  daughter  of  Levi 
Vanderhoff,  of  Joliet ;  they  are  the  par- 
ents of  one  daughter,  born  Sept.  18,  , 
1878. 

JOHN  GREEN,  superintendent  of  the  • 
shoe  department  at  the  Illinois  State  Prison, 
Joliet;  born  in  London,    Eng.,  Dec.  27, 

;  educated  at  the   Clifton  boarding 

school,    Northamptonshire ;     served    two 
years  as  assistant  commercial  traveler  in 
London  and  vicinity;  in  1844,  came  to 
Brooklyn,  N.   Y.,  and  learned  the  shoe  ! 
business  in  all  its  details ;  he  then  visited 
England,   and,    upon    returning,    traveled  , 
through  the  Eastern  States,  and  worked  in  , 
some  of  the  Eastern  factories.     In  1852, 
he  married  Miss  Margaret  Ann  Granger,  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  traveled  one  year 
through  the  Eastern  States  as  salesman,   | 
returning  then  to  the  shoe  manufacture  as  i 
foreman  of  a  fashionable  custom  business ; 
then  traveled  again  three  years  as  salesman, 
when  he   again  returned  to  factory   life, 
first  as  cutter,  then  as  foreman  and  super-  ! 
intendent,  in  which  capacity  he  is  now  en-  ( 
gaged,  and  has  been  for  the  past  twenty  ' 
years.     His  first  wife  died  in  1870,  leaving 
five  children — Albert  H.  (now  foreman  in   , 
the  shoe  department,   who  married  Miss 
Allie  Vanderhoff,  of  Joliet,  and  has  one 
daughter — Carrie  H.,  now  Mrs.  William 
Henderson,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.),  Ida  E., 
William  and  John  (who  died  in  1871).  j 
In  1872,  Mr.  G.  married  Miss  Harriet  A.  ; 
Bazin,  daughter  of  John  H.  Bazin,  Esq., 
and  removed  to  Joliet  in  1874  with  his  i 
family,    excepting    Carrie.      The    factory 
under   his   direction    was    the    first   ever  \ 
started  to  make  exclusively  fine  shoes  with 
convict  labor.      Mr.  Green  has  been  a  fre- 
quent contributor  to  the  shoe  trade  journals 
of  the  country  for  many  years,  in  1872, 
furnishing  one  hundred  and    eighty   col- 
umns, many  of  the  articles  being  repub-   , 


lished  in  the  trade  journals  of  England, 
France  and  Germany. 

ALEXANDER  GROSS,  general  super- 
intendent of  the  stone-cutting  department 
Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  Joliet ;  born  in 
Baden,  Germany,  Jan.  26,  1834,  where 
he  lived  until  20  years  of  age,  learning 
and  working  at  the  trade  of  stone-cutting 
in  his  father's  quarries ;  he  emigrated 
to  America  in  1854,  landing  in  New  York 
July  26,  and  came  to  Chicago  the  follow- 
ing September,  engaging  at  his  trade  for 
two  months,  when  he  went  to  Macon  Co, 
and  worked  at  farming  for  four  months; 
returning  to  Chicago,  he  again  engaged  at 
his  trade  until  the  panic  of  1857,  when  he 
came  to  Joliet,  and  after  working  one 
year  as  foreman  of  the  stone  cutting  de- 
partment of  the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary, 
he  was  appointed  general  superintendent, 
in  1858,  which  position  he  has  filled  with 
credit  since  that  date,  a  period  of  twenty 
years.  Mr.  Gross  married  in  February, 
1868,  Margaret  Vebel ;  she  was  born  in 
Prussia;  they  are  the  parents  of  five 
children,  three  living,  viz.,  Laura,  Theo- 
dore, Rosetta ;  the  deceased  are  Albert 
and  Amelia. 

JOHN  GREENWOOD,  farmer,  Sec. 
25;  P.  0.  Joliet;  born  in  Herefordshire, 
England,  Sept.  29,  1813;  came  to  this 
country  when  18  years  of  age,  living  in 
New  York  State  eight  years,  following 
farming;  removed  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  in 
1840,  where  he  has  continued  the  occupa- 
tion of  farming ;  he  owns  240  acres  of 
land,  worth  $60  per  acre.  Married  Mary 
Ann  Brown,  of  New  York  State,  June  1, 
1836 ;  they  had  thirteen  children  by 
this  union — George,  born  Aug  5,  1838; 
Mary,  May  11,1840;  John  W.,  June  27, 
1842,  deceased  ;  Harvey  B.,  Dec.  26,1844, 
deceased  ;  William,  Nov.  27,  1846  ;  Jane, 
April  11,  1848,  deceased;  Llewellyn, 
November,  1850,  deceased;  Bennett,  Oct. 
23,  1852,  deceased;  Sarah,  April  11, 
1854,  deceased ;  John  Fletcher,  Sept.  2, 
1856,  deceased;  and  three  children  who 
died  in  infancy.  Mrs.  Greenwood  died 
Aug.  27,  1874.  Mr.  Greenwood  mar- 
ried for  his  second  wife  Sarah  A.  Houston 
on  Jan.  23,  1875  ;  she  was  born  in  Huron 
Co.,  Ohio;  they  have  one  child  by  this  un- 
ion— Charles  Albert,  born  April  7,  1877. 
Mr.  Greenwood  has  held  the  office  of  School 
Director  for  more  than  twenty  years. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


681 


FKANK  HAVILAND,  proprietor  of 
livery,  sale  and  boarding  stable,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Ithaca,  Tompkins  Co.,  N.  Y., 
March  15,  1842.  Early  in  1862,  he  en- 
listed in  the  109th  N.  Y.  Vols.,  and  was 
appointed. a  Sergeant  in  Company  A;  he 
served  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
participated  in  all  the  engagements  of 
that  army  until  the  battle  of  Petersburg, 
where  he  was  wonnded  June  17,  1864 ; 
he  received  three  wounds,  one  in  the  left 
band,  by  a  fragment  of  a  shell,  which  car- 
ried away  one  of  his  fingers,  and  at  the  same 
time  two  wounds  in  the  right  leg;  on  his  re- 
covery, he  was  sent  on  detached  duty  to  An- 
napolis, Md.,  where  he  remained  till  his 
discharge  in  August,  1865,  just  previous 
to  which  he  received  an  unsolicited  and 
unexpected  commission  as  First  Lieuten- 
ant. He  came  to  Joliet  in  the  fall  of 
1865,  and  the  next  spring  engaged  in 
his  present  business  ;  he  has  served  one 
year  as  City  Marshal  and  one  term  as 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of 
Joliet.  He  was  married  Dec.  3,  1874,  to 
Miss  Merrion  Millar,  of  the  town  of  Troy, 
Will  Co.,  111. 

H.  HENRY  HAYEN,  blacksmith, 
Joliet;  born  in  Germany  in  1845,  where 
he  lived  until  21  years  of  age,  where  he 
learned  and  worked  at  the  trade  of  black- 
smith until  he  emigrated  to  America, 
landing  in  New  York,  Oct.  29,  1866; 
came  directly  to  Joliet,  Will  Co.,  111., 
and  engaged  in  blacksmithing,  wagon- 
making  and  general  repairing,  and 
manufacturing  all  kinds  of  stone- 
cutters' and  marble-workers'tools,  which 
business  he  has  since  successfully  followed. 
He  was  married  July  16,  1872,  and  has 
two  children  now  living,  viz.,  Francis  and 
Mary.  Mr.  Hayen  owns  his  place  of  busi- 
ness and  residence  located  at  No.  91  Bluff 
street,  which  he  has  made  by  his  own  hard 
labor. 

EDWARD  C.  HAGAR,  attorney  at 
law  (firm  of  Hagar  &  Flanders),  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Plainfield,  Will  Co.,  111.,  April 
19,  1846  ;  he  is  the  «on  of  Jonathan  and 
Catharine  (Goodhue)  Hagar ;  his  father 
came  from  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  settled  in 
Plainfield  in  1835  ;  he  was  the  first 
merchant  in  that  town  ;  his  mother  is  a 
daughter  of  Deacon  Ezra  Goodhue,  and 
came  to  Plainfield  with  her  fathers's  fam- 
ily in  1834.  Mr.  Hagar  was  educated  at 


the  Northwestern  Evangelical  College  in 
his  native  town,  graduating  in  1867  ;  in 
1870.  he  entered  the  Law  Department  of 
the  University  of  Michigan,  completing 
his  course  and  graduating  in  the  spring  of 
1872 ;  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Michigan  in  April,  1872,  and  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  in  June  of  the 
same  year.  In  November,  1872,  he  was 
elected  State's  Attorney,  and  in  December 
following,  he  formed  a  law  partnership 
with  James  R.  Flanders,  which  still  con- 
tinues ;  he  held  the  office  of  State's  At- 
torney four  years.  He  was  married  March 
24, 1875,  to  Miss  Hattie  C.  Gager,  a  native 
of  Warren,  Ohio,  and  has  one  child — 
Elmer  G. 

H.  HOWK,  retired  merchant  and  miller, 
Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
in  Watertown,  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb. 
23,  1806  ;  in  his  early  life  he  engaged  ex- 
tensively in  lumbering  in  his  native  State ; 
in  1851,  he  came  west,  and  located  in  Jol- 
iet, and  in  connection  with  Joel  A.  Matte- 
son,  afterward  Governor  of  the  State,  took 
a  contract  on  the  R.  I.  &  P.  R.  R.,  extend- 
ing from  Blue  Island  to  within  ten  miles 
of  Joliet;  they  graded  and  put  in  the 
culverts  a  distance  of  thirty-four  miles.  His 
son  subsequently  built  a  store-room  on  the 
West  Side,  near  the  lock,  and  engaged  in 
supplying  boats  on  the  Canal.  Mr.  Howk 
built  the  Joliet  Mills,  on  the  lock,  with  six 
runs  of  stone,  and  in  company  with  Mr. 
Hyde,  his  nephew,  and  now  sole  proprietor, 
operated  them  seven  years ;  he  contracted 
all  the  machinery  in  Watertown,  N.  Y. ; 
since  retiring  from  the  mill,  he  has  not 
been  actively  engaged  in  business  pursuits, 
but  is  leading  a  quiet,  retired  life,  enjoying 
the  fruits  of  honest  toil  and  the  compe- 
tency gained  by  a  well-directed  and  well- 
spent  early  manhood. 

H.  D.  HIGINBOTHAM,deceased,for- 
merly  of  Joliet,  whose  portrait  appears  in  this 
work,  was  born  in  Worcester,  Otsego  Co.,  N: 
Y.,  Jan.  10,1806;  he  was  brought  up  upon  a 
farm,  and  had  such  advantages  of  educa- 
tion as  were  offered  at  the  district  school 
of  his  neighborhood ;  his  father's  ancestors 
were  English,  and  settled  in  Barbadoes  in 
the  early  settlement  of  the  American  Col- 
onies ;  his  grandfather  lived  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  married  a  Miss  Lippit,  of 
Providence ;  he  followed  the  sea  for  some 
time,  as  captain  of  a  whaler  from  Newport  -t 


•682 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


Charles  Higinbotham,  the  father  of  H.  D., 
was  born  in  Rhode  Island,  and  came  to  Ot- 
sego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  with  his  parents,  about  the 
year  1800  ;  he  married  Miss  Gertrude  Du- 
mont,  of  Westford,  N.  Y. ;  from  this  mar- 
riage the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born, 
and  in  1831,  married  Miss  RebeccaWheeler, 
of  Westford,  N.  Y. ;  she  was  born  in  Ca- 
naan, Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  soon  after 
their  marriage  they  moved  to  Oneida,  N. 
Y. ;  there  he  engaged  in  the  blacksmith 
business,  and  in  June,  1834,  moved  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  on  Hickory  Creek,  in 
the  now  town  of  Joliet,  and  purchased  a 
farm  of  160  acres;  here  he  engaged  in 
farming  and  blacksmithing,  and  was  very 
successful  in  his  business;  in  1854,  and 
for  some  time  after,  he  was  engaged  in  a 
saw-mill  and  planing-mill,  at  what  is  now 
called  the  Red  Mills  of  Hickory  Creek. 
Here  on  Hickory  Creek  all  their  children 
were  born,  except  Albert  H.,  the  eldest, 
who  was  born  in  New  Lenox,  Madison  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Nov.  5,  1831;  Ambrosia  R.  was 
born  Oct.  1,  1834;  Ann  Eliza,  Dec.  2, 
1836;  HarlowN.,Oct.  10,1838;  Gertrude 
D.,  July  6, 1842 ;  Mary  Ellen,  Sept.  27, 
1845,  and  Charles  S.,  Dec.  24, 1848.  Of 
these,  Albert  H.  married  Elizabeth  Ella 
White,  of  Chicago,  and  are  now  living  in 
Joliet;  Ambrosia  R.  married  M.  0.  Cagwin, 
of  Joliet ;  Ann  Eliza  married  M.  G.  Dem- 
mond,  of  Joliet ;  Harlow  N.  married  Rachael 
Davidson,  of  Joliet ;  he  is  in  the  mercantile 
house  of  Field,  Leiter  &  Co.,  Chicago; 
Gertrude  D.  married  Thomas  Leddy,  of 
Joliet,  both  deceased;  Mary  Ellen  married 
R.  C.  Darwin,  of  Joliet;  she  is  now  de- 
ceased ;  Charles  S.  married  Cynthia  L. 
Kemp,  of  New  Lenox,  now  residing  in 
Kansas.  H.  D.  Higinbotham  and  family 
moved  to  Joliet  in  the  fall  of  1854  ;  he 
built  a  fine  residence  on  Cass  St.,  where 
he  resided  until  his  death  ;  with  his  energy  ! 
and  perseverance,  he  aided  very  much  in  '• 
making  the  city  of  Joliet  what  it  is  to-day,  j 
He  held  several  prominent  offices  under 
the  city  government.  He  died  March  13,  I 
1865,  leaving  a  widow  and  children  and  a 
large  circle  of  friends  to  mourn  his  loss.  J 
His  widow,  Rebecca  Higinbotham,  in  1871,  i 
married  C.  H.  Sutphen,  a  prominent  citi- 
zen of  La  Salle  Co.,  111.,  and  a  cousin  of  ; 
the  late  H.  D.  Higinbotham ;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sutphen  now  reside  at  the  old  Hig- 
inbotham homestead,  on  Cass  St.,  Joliet. 


GEORGE  HOUCK,  of  the  firm  of 
Houck  &  Brown,  tanners  and  curriers, 
wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in  sole-leather 
and  shoe  findings,  etc.,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Hesse  Darmstadt,  Germany,  Dec.  13, 1827  ; 
when  he  was  about  12  years  of  age,  his 
parents  came  to  this  country,  and  pur- 
chased a  farm  in  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  Mr. 
Houck  remained  on  the  farm  until  1846, 
when  he  went  to  Buffalo,  and  entered  the 
employ  of  ex-President  Millard  Fillmore, 
where  he  continued  one  year ;  he  then 
served  three  years  at  the  tanner  and  cur- 
rier's trade,  learning  thoroughly  every 
branch  of  the  business ;  in  1850,  he  came 
to  Chicago,  living  there  until  1853,  when 
he  came  to  Joliet,  and  entered  the  employ 
of  Mack  &  Cleghorn  ;  in  1863  the  firm  of 
Mack,  Cleghorn  &  Co.  was  formed,  Mr. 
Houck  becoming  partner  ;  the  same  year, 
they  built  the  Joliet  Tannery ;  the  present 
firm  of  Houck  &  Brown  was  formed  in 
1876;  they  give  employment  to  twenty 
men.  Mr.  Houck  was  married  in  1853,  to 
Miss  Anna  Hohman,  of  Chicago,  a  native 
of  Hess  Cassel,  Germany ;  they  have  three 
children  living — Mary,  now  Mrs.  William 
Grassley,  of  Chicago ;  Lizzie,  wife  of  Fred- 
erick Steinburn,  of  Joliet,  and  Annie  S. 

HON.  HUGH  HENDERSON,  Joliet; 
deceased ;  was  born  on  the  9th  day  of 
June,  1809,  in  Norway,  Herkimer  Co., 
N.  Y. ;  he  received  his  education  at  Fair- 
field  Seminary,  in  his  native  county  ;  after 
which  he  read  law  in  the  office  of  George 
Feeter,  Esq.,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Little 
Falls,  Herkimer  Co.;  in  1836,  he  came 
to  Joliet,  and  shortly  after  his  arrival  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  at  once  took  high 
rank  among  the  members  of  the  legal  pro- 
fession. He  was  married  Dec.  23,  1837, 
to  Miss  Helen  A.  Myers  of  Herkimer 
Co.,  who  came  to  Joliet  in  the  fall  of  1836, 
and  who  still  survives  him,  living  in  the 
same  house  which  he  built  in  1838.  In 
1837,  he  was  elected  County  Judge,  hold- 
ing the  office  one  year ;  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1845  ; 
in  1849,  he  was  elected  Judge  of  the 
Eleventh  Judicial  Circuit,  and  held  the 
office  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on 
the  19th  of  October,  1854,  while  on  his 
first  visit  to  his  old  home  in  Norway,  N. 
Y.  We  quote  the  following  from  the  re- 
marks of  the  late  Hon.  Uri  Osgood,  on 
the  occasion  of  presenting  to  the  Circuit 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


683 


Court,  the  proceedings  of  the  Will  County 
Bar.  upon  the  death  of  Judge  Henderson  : 
"  By  his  knowledge  of  the  law,    his  un- 
remitting  attention  to   the    duties  of  his 
office,  his  urbanity,   his  sterling  integrity, 
and   accommodating   business   habits,   he 
acquired  the  affections  and  respect  of  the 
members  of  the  bar,  and  the  people  of  the 
circuit ;  he  had  attained  a  high  position  as  , 
a  lawyer  and  a  judge ;  he  was  firm  but 
courteous,  honorable  and  irreproachable  in 
morals,  and  in  all  the  relations  of  private 
life ;  he  was  respected  and  honored,  and 
highly  esteemed   as  a  useful   member  of 
society."     He    left   four    children — Sarah  ' 
Margaret,  who  was  born  Oct.  21,  1839,  j 
and   is  now  the  wife  of  Capt.   John  A. 
Kelly,  of  Lyons,  Mich. ;  Daniel  C.,  who 
was  born  May  31,  1845,  learned  the  print- 
er's trade  in  Joliet,  and  in  1866,  went  to  i 
Chicago,  and  entered  the  employ  of  Hor-  j 
ton  &  Leonard  ;    in  1870,  he  returned  to 
Joliet,  and  in  1871,  established  the  Joliet 
Record,  a  Democratic  weekly  newspaper, 
which  has  steadily  increased  in  circulation  ! 
and  influence,  and  has  a  circulation  of  850  ' 
copies  ;  James  E.,  the  second  son,  was  born 
May  23,  1848,  learned  the  printing  busi-  ' 
ness,     and   is   now    associated   with    his  j 
brothers   on    the  Record;  John  D.,  the  j 
youngest  son,  was  born  Oct.  16,  1851,  en-  j 
tered  the  telegraph  office  of  the  C.,  A.  & 
St.  L.  R.  R.  Co.,  about  ten  years  ago,  re-  ' 
maining   until   some    five   years    ago,    at 
which  time  he  joined  his  brothers  in  the  i 
publication  of  the  Record. 

DR.  M.  F.  HAND,  dental  surgeon; 
Joliet ;  has  been  a  practicing  dentist  in  this 
city  for  the  past  twenty-two  years  ;  he  was 
born  in  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  5,  1834 ; 
he  received  an  academic  education,  and  at 
about  the  age  of  18  years,  began  the  study 
of  dentistry ;  in  1856,  he  came  to  Joliet, 
and  began  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
In  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Co.  H,  100th  111: 
Vols.,  serving  in  the  army  of  the  Cumber- 
land, and  afterward  in  the  Quartermaster's 
Department  of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee, 
under  Capt.  Alexander  Mclntosh,  of  this 
city;  returning  in  July,  1865,  he  resumed 
practice  in  Joliet.  He  was  married  Jan. 
14,  1874,  to  Miss  Harriet  E.  Speer,  of 
Joliet. 

P.  C.  HALEY  (of  the  firm  of  Haley  & 
O'Donnell),  attorney  at  law,  Joliet;  was 
born  in  Saranac,  Clinton  Co.,  N.  Y., 


March  17,  1849,  and  came  to  this  county 
with  his  parents  in  1852  ;  he  was  educated 
in  the  Joliet  Union  School  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Notre  Dame,  Ind.,  reading 
law  during  vacations  in  the  office  of  T.  L. 
Breckenridge,  of  this  city ;  in  1870,  he 
entered  the  law  department  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan,  Ann  Arbor,  Mich., 
where  he  graduated  in  1871 ;  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  October,  1871,  and 
began  practice  in  May,  1872,  in  company 
with  James  H.  Flanders,  having  an  office  in 
Joliet  and  also  in  Wilmington  ;  this  part- 
nership continued  until  December,  1872, 
when  it  was  dissolved,  and  Mr.  Haley  con- 
tinued alone  until  1874,  when  the  present 
firm  of  Haley  &  O'Donnell  was  formed. 
Mr.  Haley  is  at  present  Alderman  from 
the  Fifth  Ward,  being  elected  in  April, 
1878 ;  he  also  served  as  City  Attorney  in 
1874.  He  was  married  Dec.  1,  1875,  to 
Miss  Mary  A.  D'Arcy,  of  Joliet,  and  has 
one  child — Margaret  C. 

OTIS  HARDY;  P.  0.  Joliet;  one  of 
the  early  settlers  of  Will  Co. ;  was  born 
near  Windsor,  Vt.,  Sept.  23,  1810;  in 
1813,  his  parents  left  their  Eastern  home 
and  made  the  journey  to  Marietta,  Ohio, 
descending  the  Alleghany  and  Ohio  Rivers 
on  rafts;  in  1819,  they  removed  to  Meigs 
Co.,  Ohio;  when  he  was  14  years  old,  Mr. 
Hardy  was  apprenticed  to  the  trade  of  a 
carpenter,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of  six 
years,  and  receiving  during  that  time  the 
sum  eighteen  pence ;  he  came  to  Joliet  in 
1836,  making  the  journey  from  Cincin- 
nati on  horse-back,  previous  to  which  he 
spent  about  four  years  in  Louisiana ;  he 
continued  the  carpenter's  trade  until  1848, 
when  he  engaged  in  the  lumber  business 
for  twenty  years,  or  until  1868,  since 
which  time  he  has  been  in  the  banking 
and  gas  business  ;  he  is  one  of  the  original 
stockholders  of  the  First  National  Bank, 
and  a  stockholder  in  the  Joliet  Gas-Light 
Co.  since  1862;  he  has  always  been  an 
active  temperance  man,  and  for  the  past 
two  years  has  been  President  of  the  Joliet 
Reform  Club ;  he  is  a  zealous  member  of 
the  M.  E.  Church,  to  which  he  has  be- 
longed since  he  was  22  years  of  age, 
assisting  liberally  in  the  support  of  ail  its 
enterprises ;  he  built,  at  his  own  expense, 
the  Richards  Street  M.  E.  Church  and 
parsonage  at  a  cost  of  over  $5,000 ;  he 
also  bore  about  half  the  expense  of  build- 


684 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


ing  the  chapel  at  the  Rolling-Mills,  which 
cost  some  $2,000,  besides  contributing 
largely  to  the  building  and  support  of  the 
Ottawa  Street  Church ;  he  has  been  a 
member  of  J.he  Quarterly  Conference  since 
1837,  and  President  of  the  Will  County 
Bible  Society  for  the  past  forty  years.  He 
was  married  Oct.  14,  1838,  to  Miss  An- 
gelia  Hopkins,  of  Joliet,  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont ;  they  have  three  children  living — 
Mrs.  W.  J.  Maclay,  of  Napa  City,  Cal., 
Mrs.  N.  D.  Dyer,  and  Mrs.  T.  H.  Mc- 
Bride,  of  Joliet. 

GEORGE  S.  HOUSE,  attorney  at  law, 
Joliet ;  is  a  native  of  this  State ;  he  was 
born  in  Grundy  Co.,  .then  a  part  of  Cook 
Co.,  March  1,  1837 ;  he  is  a  son  of  Rod- 
ney House,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Will  Co.,  and  now  a  resident  of  Joliet ;  he 
came  with  his  parents  to  Joliet  in  infancy, 
and  this  city  has  been  his  home  ever 
since ;  he  prepared  for  college  in  Utica 
Academy,  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  after  which 
he  entered  Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  N. 
Y.,  in  1856,  graduating  in  1860  ;  he  then 
pursued  the  study  of  law  under  Prof. 
Theodore  W.  Dwight,  now  of  Columbia 
College,  New  York,  receiving  the  degree  of 
B.  L  in  1862 ;  returning  to  Joliet,  he 
entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
in  which  he  still  continues.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1863  to  Miss  Virginia  A.  Osgood, 
daughter  of  the  late  Hon.  Uri  Osgood,  of 
Joliet,  and  has  five  children. 

JOHN  HULSWORTH,  foreman  of 
the  smith-shops,  Joliet;  was  born  March 
2,  1822,  in  Yorkshire,  Eng. ;  he  emi- 
grated to  America  in  1847,  and  first 
labored  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York 
about  one  year;  he  next  went  to  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  and  remained  a  short  time ;  he 
then  made  a  tour  through  the  Southern 
States,  visiting  New  Orleans,  Memphis, 
and  various  other  cities  South  and  West, 
finally  locating  in  St.  Louis  in  the  latter 
part  of  1849  ;  here  he  remained  till  1853  ; 
he  then  came  to  Alton,  on  the  C.,  A.  &  St. 
L.  R.  R.,  where  he  was  foreman  most 
of  the  time  in  the  shops  till  August, 
1859 ;  he  then  came  to  Joliet,  and  was 
eight  years  foreman  in  the  shops  of  the 
State  Prison ;  he  was  next  foreman  for  the 
Dillman  Manufacturing  Company  four 
years;  in  1871,  he  took  the  position  of 
foreman  in  the  shops  of.  the  Joliet  Iron 
and  Steel  Works,  which  he  still  holds. 


He  was  married  in  1854  to  Caroline  P. 
Bryant,  a  native  of  Connecticut ;  had  one 
son — John  H.,  deceased,  and  one,  Edwin 
A.,  living. 

C.  B.  H  A  YWARD,  publisher  and  pro- 
!  prietor  of  the  Joliet  Daily  and  Weekly 
Sun,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Frank- 
lin County,  Ind.,  July  1,  1844;  at  the 
!  age  of  ten  years  he  entered  the  office  of 
|  the  Locomotive,  in  Indianapolis,  completing 
I  his  trade  with  Cameron  &  McNeely,  book 
I  and  job  printers.  In  1860,  he  went  to 
,  Carthage,  Mo.,  where,  with  his  brother, 
he  engaged  in  publishing  The  South- 
west. On  the  breaking-out  of  the  war, 
their  office  was  captured  by  the  rebels,  and 
taken  into  Arkansas.  Mr.  Hay  ward  made 
his  way  to  Fort  Scott,  Kansas,  and  pur- 
chased the  Fort  Scott  Bulletin,  and  a  year 
and  a  half  later  took  a  partner  and 
founded  the  Fort  Scott  Union  Monitor, 
now  one  of  the  leading  papers  of  Kansas, 
which  he  continued  to  publish  about  a 
year  and  a  half.  In  the  mean  time,  he  was 
appointed  U.  S.  Assessor,  for  that  division, 
and  served  about  a  year  and  a  half.  He 
then  came  to  Marseilles,  111.,  where  he  re- 
sided one  year,  and  from  that  place  to 
Joliet,  and  had  charge  of  the  Joliet  Re- 
publican office  about  a  year  and  three 
months.  In  1872,  he  established  the 
Joliet  Sun.  He  has  built  up  an  extensive 
job-printing  business,  and  a  large  and 
healthy  circulation  among  the  best  people 
of  the  county.  The  Daily  Sun  is  the 
oldest  and  largest  daily  published  in  the 
Seventh  Congressional  District.  Mr. 
Hay  ward  was  married  in  April,  1872r 
to  Miss  Mary  E.  Monroe,  daughter 
of  George  Monroe,  of  Joliet,  and  has  three 
children — Josephine,  George  E.  and 
Thomas. 

MRS.  HANNAH  HUTCHINS,  farm- 
er ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  widow  of  Wm. 
H.  Hutchins,  resides  one  mile  north  of 
Joliet;  she  was  born  Aug.  28,  1817,  in 
Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y.  ;  she  was  married 
to  W.  H.  Hutchins  in  1837,  in  New 
York  State.  Mr.  Hutchins  was  born  in 
New  York  City,  Sept.  1,  1817,  where  he 
lived  until  15  years  of  age,  when  he 
removed  to  Northern  New  York,  where  he 
lived  three  years  ;  then  to  Saratoga,  where 
he  was  married,  living  there  nearly  five 
years  ;  thence  to  New  York  City,  living 
there  five  years.  He  removed  to  Will  Co., 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


685 


111.,  in  1847,  and  always  lived  within 
four  miles  of  their  present  home.  In  early 
life,  Mr.  Hutchins  was  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business,  after  coming  West,  he  was 
engaged  in  loaning  money  and  dealing  in 
real  estate.  They  had  seven  children  by 
this  union,  viz. ;  Thomas  HM  George  Ed- 
gar, deceased,  Sarah  E.,  deceased ;  Anna 
M.,  Mary  E.,  Jennie  C.  and  William  J. 
Geo.  Edgar  died  from  wounds  received  in 
the  army.  Mr.  Hutchins  died  July  21, 
1877. 

ELVIS  H ARWOOD,  deceased ;  Joliet ; 
whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was 
born  in  Wilmington,  Ind.,  May  17, 1824;  I 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  sixteen 
years  of  age ;  he  then  commenced  the 
study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Alexander  C. 
Downey,  at  Aurora,  Ind.,  and  was  admitted  | 
to  practice  Dec.  14,  1843;  after  the  end 
of  one  year,  finding  this  profession  unsuited 
to  his  tastes,  he  studied  medicine  with  his 
brother,  John  Harwood,  M.  D.,  and  after 
attending  a  course  of  lectures  in  the  med- 
ical college  of  Ohio,  in  the  years  1846-47, 
practiced  for  three  years  at  Crete  and  New 
Lenox,  in  this  county,  and  in  the  year 
1850,  coming  to  Joliet,  continued  the 
practice  of  his  profession  up  to  1868,  from 
which  time,  up  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
Feb.  1,  1870,  he  was  largely  engaged  in 
the  real  estate  business.  Iu  1361,  he  went 
to  California,  returning  from  there  in  the 
summer  of  1862.  The  same  summer,  he 
was  appointed  Assistant  Surgeon  of  the 
100th  Regiment  I.  V.  I.,  being  afterward 
promoted  to  Surgeon  of  the  "  Pioneer 
Brigade,"  which  position  he  held  until  his 
resignation,  on  account  of  ill  health,  in  the 
spring  of  1863.  He  was  elected  Alder- 
man of  the  city  of  Joliet,  from  1863-67, 
and  Mayor,  1868-69.  He  married  Miss 
Helen  A.  Cagwin  (daughter  of  Abijah 
C/agwin,  of  Joliet),  Jan.  24,  1850  ;  she 
was  born  Oct.  30,  1830;  they  had  five 
children,  three  living — Alma  L.,  William 
E.  and  Bertha  H. ;  and  two  deceased — 
Flora  A.  and  George  T. 

J.    A.    HENRY,   retired,   Joliet;  the  | 
above-named  gentleman  has  been  a  resi-  ! 
dent  of  Joliet  for  the  past  twenty  years;   \ 
he  is  a  native  of  Hunterdon    Co.,  N.  J., 
and  was  born  April  25,  1825  ;  he  began 
railroading  in   1842,  on    the    Hartford  & 
New  Haven  Railroad,  where  he  remained 
four  years,  and  then  spent  four  years  more 


on  the  New  Haven  &  Northampton  Rail- 
road, at  the  end  of  which  time  he  came 
West  and  engaged  in  railroad  contracting 
in  Ohio  and  Indiana  ;  in  the  year  1858,  he 
came  to  Joliet  and  spent  several  years  as 
roadmaster  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton  R.  R., 
after  which  he  built  two  branches  of  the 
road ;  in  1870,  he  went  to  Texas  and  built 
the  Houston  &  Great  Northern  Railroad  ; 
at  the  end  of  three  years,  he  returned  to 
Joliet  and  erected  his  elegant  residence  on 
Eastern  avenue,  the  finest  in  the  city.  He 
was  married  in  Winsted,  Conn.,  April  26, 
1846,  to  Miss  Nancy  Briggs,  of  Winsted  ; 
she  died  Jan.  21,  1878,  leaving  one 
daughter,  wife  of  Dr.  Julius  Folk,  of 
Joliet. 

GEORGE  H.  KOSMER,  M.  D., 
physician  and  surgeon,  Joliet ;  is  the  old- 
est son  of  W.  H.  C.  Hosmer,  the  poet, 
author  and  lecturer  ;  he  traces  his  ancestry 
to  a  period  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  war; 
at  the  battle  of  Concord  the  first  two  who 
fell  by  a  volley  of  British  musketry,  were 
Capt.  Davis  and  Abner  Hosmer,  the  latter 
of  whom  was  a  lineal  ancestor  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch ;  the  Doctor's  great- 
grandfather, Dr.  Timothy  Hosmer,  was 
surgeon  of  the  Sixth  Continental  Regi- 
ment in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and 
afterwards  a  prominent  pioneer  in  the  set- 
tlement of  the  Holland  Purchase,  in 
Western  New  York ;  his  father,  George 
Hosmer,  was  an  aide-de-camp  of  General 
Schuyler  in  the  war  of  1812  ;  a  prominent 
lawyer,  member  of  the  State  Legislature, 
and  for  twenty-one  years  District  Attorney 
of  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.;  Miss  Harriet 
Hosmer,  the  famous  sculptress,  is  also  a 
cousin.  Dr.  Hosmer  was  born  in  Avon, 
Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  23, 1839;  he 
thoroughly  prepared  for  college  at  the 
Owego  Academy,  where  he  spent  -nine 
years ;  he  then  entered  the  University  of 
New  York,  remaining  two  years  in  the 
literary  department,  after  which  he  pur- 
sued a  three-years  course  in  the  medical 
department  of  the  same  institution,  grad- 
uating in  1865  ;  he  practiced  medicine  one 
year  in  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.,  removing 
thence  to  New  Baltimore,  Macomb  Co., 
Mich.,  where  he  remained  until  his  re- 
moval to  Joliet  in  1870.  He  was  married 
in  1866,  to  Miss  Ann  Belford,  of  Boston, 
and  has  one  son — :George  B.  Dr.  Hosmer 
is  a  regular  physician,  but  clings  to  no 


686 


BIOGRAPHIC A.L  SKETCHES: 


dogma,  seizing  upon  any  remedy  from 
whatever  source,  which  will  accomplish  his 
object,  the  relief  of  the  patient  and  the 
cure  of  the  disease ;  he  takes  an  active 
interest  in  educational  matters,  and  is  now 
on  his  second  term  as  a  member  of  the' 
Board  of  School  Inspectors  of  Joliet. 

A.  W.  HEISE,  M.  D.,  physician  and 
surgeon,  Joliet ;  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  prominent  physicians  of  Joliet,  was 
born  in  Bramsche,  in  the  Province  of 
Hanover,  Germany,  Sept.  4,  1823;  he 
received  his  literary  education  at  the 
Gymnasium  of  Osnabruck,  and  entered 
the  University  of  Goettingen,  where  he 
pursued  his  medical  course,  and  graduated 
in  1846  ;  he  then  attended  a  course  of 
medical  lectures  in  the  University  of 
Heidelberg,  receiving  the  ad  eundem  de- 
gree of  M.  D.  from  that  institution,  in 
1847  ;  taking  part  in  the  revolution  of 
1848,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  coun- 
try, and  accordingly  sought  a  home  in 
America;  a  general  pardon  of  all  those 
implicated  was  issued  some  five  years  later 
by  the  German  Government,  but  Dr. 
Hcise  being  then  so  long  in  this  country, 
and  intending  to  make  it  his  permanent 
home,  did  not  care  to  take  advantage  of 
it ;  the  first  year  in  this  country  he  spent 
in  traveling  in  the  Eastern  and  Southern 
States,  supporting  himself  by  correspond- 
ing with  some  of  the  German  newspapers  ; 
in  1849  he  located  in  Du  Page  Co.,  111., 
and  continued  the  practice  of  medicine 
there  until  1856  ;  he  then  went  to  New 
York  as  House  Surgeon  in  the  Marine 
Hospital  on  Ward's  Island,  remaining 
there  until  September,  1857,  when  he 
came  to  Joliet,  and  has  been  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profession  here  ever 
since.  In  1861,  he  entered' the  army  as 
Surgeon  of  the  llth  I.  V.  I.,  and  the 
following  spring  was  appointed  Surgeon  of 
the  100th  I.  V.  I.;  after  the  battle  of 
Murfreesboro,  he  was  promoted  to  Brigade 
Surgeon,  and  after  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga,  was  appointed  Operator  of  the 
Brigade,  with  the  privilege  of  choosing  his 
own  assistants  without  regard  to  rank ; 
owing  to  illness,  he  was  afterward  obliged 
to  retire  from  active  service  in  the  field, 
and  was  appointed  Inspector  of  Hospitals 
and  Consulting  Surgeon  of  the  Corps  ;  in  ] 
1864,  owing  to  continued  ill  health,  he 
tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  finally 


accepted  with  a  great  deal  of  reluctance ; 
his  ability  and  skill  as  an  army  surgeoa 
were  so  apparent  as  to  merit  and  receive 
recognition  and  honorable  mention  in  the 
"  Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion ;"  in  1872,  he  was 
appointed  Physician  in  Charge  of  the 
Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  in  this  city, 
which  position  he  still  holds. 

L.  E.  INGALLS,  real  estate  and  loans, 
Joliet ;  is  a  native  of  Will  Co. ;  he  was 
born  in  the  present  town  of  Du  Page  Oct. 
26,  1839;  he  is  a  son  of  Henry  Ingalls, 
who  came  from  Vermont  and  settled  in 
that  township  in  1837,  and  resided  there 
until  1841,  when  he  removed  across  the 
line  into  Du  Page  Co.,  and  there  lived 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  March  10, 
1876.  He  left  a  family  of  nine  children, 
all  but  one  of  whom  are  now  living.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  remained  at  home 
until  he  was  about  15  years  old  ;  then  after 
spending  three  years  in  this  county,  he 
went  to  Iowa,  and  remained  four  years, 
going  thence  to  Wisconsin,  where  he  spent 
two  years  in  the  lumber  business  ;  return- 
ing to  Illinois,  he  continued  the  same  busi- 
ness in  Lemont,  Cook  Co. ;  he  came  to 
Joliet  in  1870,  and  followed  the  lumber 
business  till  1871,  when  he  disposed  of  his 
business  to  Mason  &  Plants,  and  since  then 
has  been  farming  and  dealing  in  real  estate, 
etc.  He  owns  a  fine  farm  of  260  acres 
on  Sec.  12,  well  improved  with  good  build- 
ings where  he  resides,  and  is  engaged  quite 
extensively  in  stock-raising  and  dairying. 
He  was  married  Oct.  27,  1865,  to  Miss 
Millie  Emmerson,  of  Door  Co.,  Wis. ;  she 
died  March  7,  1868.  Mr.  Ingalls  was 
married  again,  on  Jan.  14,  1870,  to  Miss 
Esther  E.  Bartholmew,  of  Marengo,  Mc- 
Henry  Co.,  Ill ;  they  have  four  children — 
Millie  R.,  Roy  K.,  Myra  B.  H.  and 
Charles  L. 

REV.  SOLOMON  KNAPP,  Joliet; 
one  of  the  pioneer  ministers  of  Will  Co. ; 
was  born  in  Mayfield,  Fulton  Co.,  N.  Y., 
then  a  part  of  Montgomery  Co.,  March  29, 
1803 ;  he  was  brought  up  on  a  farm,  his 
father  being  an  extensive  farmer,  and  em- 
ploying a  large  number  of  men  ;  his  educa- 
tion was  such  as  was  afforded  by  the  com- 
mon schools  up  to  the  time  he  began  study- 
ing for  the  ministry  and  preaching,  which 
was  when  he  was  29  years  of  age.  He 
was  ordained  a  clergyman  of  the  Baptist 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


687 


Church  in  February,  1834,  previous  to 
which,  he  originated  the  Baptist  movement 
in  Grloversville,  N.  Y.,  which  has  since 
grown  to  be  one  of  the  most  important 
Baptist  interests  in  the  State.  At  31,  he 
removed  to  Cayuga  Co.  and  took  charge 
of  a  large  church  in  Cato.  During  his  min- 
istry of  four  years,  he  received  300  new 
members  into  the  church,  183  of  them  by 
baptism  ;  he  afterward  spent  two  years  in 
Port  Byron,  N.  Y.,  coming  to  Will  Co.  in 
1840 ;  he  settled  in  Homer,  and  took 
charge  of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Joliet, 
preaching  in  the  afternoon  in  Lockport,  and 
in  Homer  in  the  evening.  In  1841,  he  be- 
came Pastor  of  the  church  known  as  the  Aux 
Plaines  Church,  now  the  Hadley  Church, 
removing  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  to 
Rockford,  111.,  where  he  became  Pastor  of 
the  First  Baptist  Church  ;  at  the  close  of 
the  first  year,  owing  to  an  adverse  family 
affliction,  he  was  obliged  to  sever  his  con- 
nection with  the  Rockford  Church  and  re- 
turn to  Homer;  in  1843,  he  took  charge 
of  the  church  in  Plainfield,  remaining  two 
years,  during  which  time  he  organized  the 
Baptist  Church  at  Lockport,  having  pastoral 
charge  of  both  churches ;  he  was  afterward 
againj  Pastor  of  the  Hadley  Church,  and 
took  the  preliminary  measures  for  the  erec- 
tion of  their  house  of  worship  ;  in  1854, 
he  removed  to  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  and 
organized  the  Baptist  Church  there,  and 
had  charge  of  the  church  in  Waterloo ;  two 
years  later  he  returned  to  Homer,  broken 
down  in  health,  and  settled  on  a  farm ;  he 
continued  farming  five  years,  and  then  re- 
moved to  the  city  of  Lockport,  residing 
there  two  years,  during  which  time  he 
preached  nine  months  in  Metamora,  111., 
witnessing  a  glorious  ingathering  in  the 
church,  and  some  $75,000  added  to  the 
finances  of  the  church  ;  since  then  he  has 
had  pastoral  charge  of  churches  in  Seneca, 
Morris  Co.,  and  in  Gilman,  Iroquois  Co., 
besides  which,  he  has  supplied  the  churches 
in  the  vicinity  until  his  voice  failing,  he 
was  obliged  to  discontinue  preaching. 
He  was  first  married  in  1823,  to  Miss 
Eliza  E.  Lanfear,  of  his  native  town ; 
she  died  in  Homer  in  February,  1853, 
leaving  six  children.  He  was  married 
again,  in  June,  1853,  to  Miss  Martha  H. 
Cook,  a  native  of  Hadley,  Mass.,  and  who 
was  one  of  the  pioneer  teachers  of  Will 
Co.,  having  come  in  1840;  they  have  one 


daughter — Florence  C.  Mr.  Knapp  unites 
financial  ability  with  power  as  a  preacher, 
and  although  his  benefactions  have  always 
exceeded  any  salary  he  has  received,  he  is 
still  the  possessor  of  a  comfortable  compe- 
tence. 

HENRY  C.  KNOWLTON,  Cashier  of 
the  Will  County  National  Bank,  Joliet ;  is 
a  son  of  Calvin  Knowlton,  President  of  the 
above-named  bank  ;  he  was  born  in  Spen- 
cer, Worcester  Co.,  Mass.,  April  29,1842  ; 
he  lived  in  the  city  of  Worcester  until  he 
was  12  years  of  age,  his  father  being  en- 
gaged in  business  in  that  city  ;  at  the  age 
of  12  years,  he  accompanied  his  parents  to 
New  Albany,  Ind. ;  thence  to  Michigan 
City,  and  in  1856,  to  Joliet ;  he  received 
an  English  education  in  the  public  schools, 
and  in  1 861 ,  entered  the  office  of  his  father, 
then  Assistant  Superintendent  of  the  Michi- 
gan Central  Railroad  ;  he  remained  there 

|  until  the  organization  of  the  Will  County 
National  Bank,  which  he  entered  as  Assist- 

I  ant  Cashier ;  in  1877,  he  was  elected 
Cashier.  He  was  married  on  the  20th  of 

i  November,  1870,  to  Miss  Sophie  Lippen- 
cott,  of  Wilkesbarre,  Penn.,  and  has  one 
child — Joseph  L. 

JULIUS  KRAUSE,  watchmaker  and 

•  jeweler,  dealer  in  watches,  clocks",  silver- 
ware, etc.,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Silesia, 

I  Prussia,  Dec.  2,  1843 ;  he  is  a  son  of 
Julius  Krause,  who  was  an  inspector  and 
general  overseer  of  the  estate  of  one  of  the 
nobility  in  that  country ;  when  he  was 
about  14  years  old,  he  was  apprenticed  to 

:  learn  the  watchmaker's  trade,  and  after 
completing  his  apprenticeship,  he  worked 

!  at  his  trade  in  various  places  until  1868, 
when  he  came  to  this  country,  and  the 
same  year  began  business  in  Joliet.  He 
was  married  Feb.  14,  1871,  to  Miss  Mar- 
garita Young,  daughter  of  Henry  Young, 
of  Joliet ;  she  was  born  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
June  2,  1852,  and  came  to  Joliet  with  her 

'  parents  in  1858  ;  they  have  three  children 
— Henry  A.  G.,  Julius  J.  A.  and  Juaneta 
J.  M. 

CALVIN  KNOWLTON,  President  of 
the  Will  County  National  Bank,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Worcester  Co.,  Mass.,  Jan.  2, 
1817  ;  in  1842,  he  went  into  business  for 
himself  in  Worcester,  where  he  remained 
until  1848  ;  he  then  began  railroading  as 
train-dispatcher  on  the  Worcester  and 
Nashua  Railroad;  in  1853,  he  removed 


688 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


to  New  Albany,  Ind.,  as  Superintendent 
of  the  Louisville,  New  Albany  &  Chicago 
Railroad,  shortly  afterward  changing  his 
residence  to  Michigan  City ;  he  came  to 
Joliet  in  1856,  and  held  the  position  of 
Superintendent  of  the  Joliet  Division  of 
the  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  afterward 
becoming  Assistant  Superintendent  of  the 
entire  road,  and  continued  as  such  until 
1873;  in  1871,  the  Will  County  National 
Bank  was  established,  and,  during  that 
year,  Mr.  Knowlton  was  elected  President. 
He  has  served  two  years  as  Alderman,  but 
with  that  exception  has  avoided  public 
offices  of  all  kinds.  He  was  married  in 
1838  to  Miss  Mary  C.  Warren,  also  a 
native  of  Worcester  Co.,  Mass.,  and  has 
two  sons — Henry  C.,  Cashier  of  the  Will 
County  National  Bank,  and  Edward  R., 
a  grain  dealer  of  Joliet. 

JOHN  P.  KING,  dealer  in  lumber, 
etc.  (King  &  Bishop),  Joliet;  was  born 
near  Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  Dec.  18,  1832 ; 
in  1835,  his  father,  Andrew  King,  came 
to  Will  Co.,  and  opened  up  a  farm  near 
the  present  city  of  Joliet,  on  which  he  re- 
sided until  his  death,  which  occurred  in 
1849  ;  he  left  a  family  of  eleven  children, 
of  whom  eight  are  now  living  in  this  State, 
four  of*  them  being  residents  of  Joliet. 
The  oldest  son  was  John  P.,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  ;  when  he  was  19  years  of 
age,  he  made  the  journey,  via  the  Isthmus, 
to  California,  where  he  followed  mining, 
farming  and  staging  for  twelve  years,  being 
for  three  years  one  of  the  proprietors  of 
the  stage-line  from  Yreka  to  Red  Bluffs ; 
he  returned  to  Joliet  in  1864,  and,  in  1866, 
engaged  in  the  lumber  business,  which  he 
has  continued  ever  since  ;  in  1869,  W. 
W.  Bishop  became  a  partner,  the  firm  now 
being  King  and  Bishop.  He  is  at  present 
Alderman  from  the  Seventh  Ward,  to 
which  he  was  elected  in  April,  1877  ;  he 
was  elected  School  Trustee  in  June,  1877, 
and  still  holds  the  office  ;  he  is  a  prominent 
member  and  Trustee  of  the  Universalist 
Church.  He  was  married  Sept.  12, 
1867,  to  Miss  Hannah  Leonard,  of  Joliet, 
and  has  three  children — Lulu  B.,  Gertie 
and  Harless  W. 

A.  F.  KNOX,  of  the  firm  of  Garnsey 
&  Knox,  attorneys  at  law,  Joliet;  is  a  native 
of  this  State ;  he  was  born  in  Kane  Co., 
on  the  12th  of  January,  1840 ;  on  becom- 
ing of  age,  he  came  to  Joliet  in  1861,  and, 


about  four  years  afterward,  began  the  study 
of  law  in  the  office  of  Messrs.  Goodspeed 
&  Snapp ;  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1867,  and  began  practice  in  Joliet,  form- 
ing a  partnership  with  Messrs.  Goodspeed 
&  Snapp,  which  continued  for  several 
years,  the  firm  being  Goodspeed,  Snapp  & 
Knox  ;  the  present  firm  of  Garnsey  & 
Knox  was  formed  in  1877.  Mr.  Knox 
was  appointed  Master  in  Chancerv  for 
Will  Co.  in  1871,  holding  the  office" until 
1877.  He  was  married  Sept.  2,  1869,  to 
Miss  Jennie  McGovney,  of  Joliet,  and  has 
one  child. 

JOHN  KEYES,  druggist,  Joliet ;  was 
born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  27, 
1841  ;  in  May,  1869,  he  came  West,  and 
in  July  following,  located  in  Lemont,  Cook 
Co.,  111.,  when  he  entered  the  employ  of  B. 
Van  Buren  &  Co.,  as  clerk  in  the  drug  busi- 
ness; in  October,  1869,  he  came  to  Joliet, 
where  he  has  since  resided  ;  here  he  first 
clerked  for  J.  H.  Brown  &  Co.,  druggists, 
remaining  three  years ;  in  April,  1873, 
he  opened  a  store  for  J.  M.  Brown,  having 
general  charge  of  the  business  ;  June  1, 
1874,  he  formed  a  copartnership  with  F. 
W.  Schroeder,  which  continued  three 
years  and  two  months  ;  in  November,  1877, 
he  started  in  business  for  himself.  He 
was  married  Oct.  21,  1872,  to  Beulah  T. 
Thornton,  a  native  of  Troy  Tp.,  Will  Co., 
111. ;  her  father,  Gary  Thornton,  whose 
portrait  appears  in  the  work,  is  one  of  the 
pioneer  settlers  of  Troy  Tp.,  and  is  the 
oldest  living  early  settler  of  that  section. 
Mr.  Keyes  is  thoroughly  versed  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  is  recognized  as  a  man  well 
qualified  in  every  respect  for  his  business. 

THOMAS  J.  KELLY,  dry  goods; 
Joliet ;  born  in  Ireland,  and  emigrated 
when  quite  young  to  America,  landing  in 
New  York  Jan.  8,  1848;  on  account  of 
ill  health  he  remained  with  his  uncle,  the 
Rev.  John  Kelly,  in  Jersey  City,  for  one 
year,  he  then  came  West,  locating  in  Joliet 
May  11,  1849  ;  he  then  lived  upon  his 
father's  farm  until  1854,  when  he  entered 
the  College  of  Notre  Dame,  South  Bend, 
Ind.,  remaining  here  until  February,  1856, 
when,  on  account  of  ill  health,  he  went 
East,  remaining  with  his  uncle,  Eugene 
Kelly,  in  New  York  City,  one  year,  when 
he  went  to  St.  Mary's  College,  Wilmington, 
Del.,  where  he  remained  two  years;  then 
one  year  at  the  College  of  the  Holy  Cross, 


(DECEASED] 
LOCKPORT 


'     : 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


691 


near  Montreal,  Canada  ;  he  then  returned 
to  Joliet,  and  remained  upon  his  father's 
farm  until  1867,  when  he  engaged  in  the 
above  business,  which  he  has  since  success- 
fully followed,  being  the  oldest  continuous 
dry  goods  house  in  Joliet ;  during  the  period 
from  1868  to  1876,  his  junior  brother 
was  associated  with  him ;  at  the  latter  date, 
he  purchased  his  brother's  interest,  since 
which  time  he  has  continued  the  business 
alone.  He  married  Sept.  10,  1868,  to 
Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Patrick  Fitz- 
patrick  of  Lockport,  111.  ;  her  parents 
were  among  the  very  early  settlers  of  Will 
€o.,  settling  in  the  county  before  the 
formation  of  Will  Co.,  upward  of  forty 
years  ago.  Mr.  Kelly  is  a  nephew  of  Eu- 
gene Kelly  of  New  York  City,  who  is  to- 
day the  wealthiest  Catholic  banker  in  the 
United  States ;  he  is  also  a  relative  of  John 
Kelly  the  celebrated  Tammany  sachem,  of 
New  York  City. 

FRED.  KIESSLING,  butcher  and 
stock  dealer,  Joliet ;  born  in  Bavaria,  Ger- 
many June  13.  1850,  where  he  lived  and 
attended  school  until  13  years  of  age,  when 
he  was  apprenticed  in  the  butchering  busi- 
ness for  three  years,  which  time  he  served 
and,  after  successfully  passing  his  examin- 
ation, he  emigrated  to  America,  landing  in 
New  York  Oct.  5,  1866  ;  coming  directly 
West,  he  located  in  Joliet,  Will  Co.,  111., 
where  he  has  since  continued  to  live ;  for 
ten  years  he  resided  on  Summer'st.,  West 
Side.  Joliet ;  being  an  excellent  judge  of 
stock,  he  has  been  engaged  in  buying 
stock  for  other  parties  when  not  engaged 
in  buying  on  his  own  account ;  since  lo- 
cating here  he  has  given  his  exclusive 
attention  to  buying  and  shipping  stock  in 
connection  with  his  butchering  business, 
his  store  and  market  being  located  corner 
Bluff  st.  and  Western  ave.,  West  Side, 
Joliet. 

THOMAS  KEEGAN,  retired  mill- 
wright, Joliet;  born  in  county  of  West 
Meath,  Ireland,  April  11,  1803,  where 
he  learned  and  worked  at  the  millwright 
trade  until  29  years  of  age,  when  he  immi- 
grated to  Canada,  landing  at  Quebec  in 
1832  ;  here  he  engaged  upon  Government 
works  until  the  cholera  forced  him  to  leave, 
when  he  went  to  Toronto  and  engaged  at 
his  trade  for  three  years  ;  next,  to  Roches- 
ter for  three  years,  then  to  Rome,  Mich., 
for  eighteen  months  ;  from  there  he  went 


to  Chicago,  from  which  place  he  came  by 
stage  to  Joliet,  where  he  located  his  family 
May  20,  1840,  which  place  he  has  since 
made  his  home ;  he  owns  a  fine  residence 
on  Centre  st.,  which  he  erected  in  1850; 
Mr.  K.'s  first  work  in  Joliet  was  building 
Jones'  steam  flour-mill  in  1840,  being  the 
first  mill  of  the  kind  in  Joliet ;  from  there 
he,  with  John  Clarkson,  went  to  Marseilles, 
and  built  the  first  flour-mill  of  that  place, 
then  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  remained 
until  being  driven  away  by  the  yellow 
fever,  when  he  came  back  to  Joliet,  since 
which  time  his  skill  and  labor  have  been 
extensively  employed  in  all  the  neighboring 
towns  as  well  as  in  Janesville  and  Watertown, 
Wis.  He  married  May  11,  1835,  to  Ann 
O'Brien,  born  in  Ireland  in  1807  ;  ten 
children  were  the  fruits  of  this  union, 
nine  of  whom  are  deceased  ;  Ellen,  the  one 
living,  now  lives  with  her  parents. 

E.  R.  KNOWLTON,  dealer  in  grain, 
hard  and  soft  coal  and  wood,  Joliet ;  is  a 
son  of  Calvin  Knowlton,  President  of  the 
Will  County  National  Bank  ;  he  was  born 
in  Worcester,  Mass.,  Jan.  23,  1844  ;  at 
the  age  of  7  years,  he  accompanied  his 
parents  to  New  Albany,  Ind. ;  thence 
shortly  afterward  to  Michigan  City,  and,  in 
1856,  to  Joliet ;  he  attended  the  public 
schools  of  this  city.  His  first  business  ex- 
perience was  in  the  hay  business  in  Matte- 
son,  Cook  Co.,  111.,  where  he  remained 
about  two  years  ;  he  then  returned  to  Wor- 
cester Co.,  Mass.,  and  engaged  in  farming, 
and  after  six  years,  came  again  to  Joliet, 
since  which  time  he  has  been  in  the  grain 
business  here.  He  was  married  Jan.  11, 
1865,  to  Miss  Alice  J.  Wheeler,  of  Matte- 
son,  Cook  Co.,  111.,  and  has  one  child — 
Mary  L. 

ALONZO  LEACH,  retired,  Joliet; 
was  born  in  Sangerfield,  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Sept.  28,  1816;  when  he  was  8  years  of 
age,  he  left  his  native  county,  and  went  to 
Eaton,  Madison  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  in  1836,  he 
went  to  Michigan,  and  in  1838,  came  to 
Joliet ;  he  spent  about  a  year  in  charge  of 
a  hotel,  and  then  engaged  in  the  soap  and 
chandlery  business  ;  in  1842,  he  was  elected 
Constable,  and  appointed  Deputy  Sheriff, 
and  served  until  1848,  when  he  was  elected 
Sheriff  of  Will  Co.  The  constitution  not 
allowing  an  incumbent  of  the  office  to  hold 
two  terms  in  succession,  he  retired  at  the 
end  of  his  term,  but  was  again  elected  in 


692 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


1852,  and  again  in  1858  ;  in  the  mean  time 
he  was  engaged  in  farming  and  stock-rais- 
ing. On  the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  he 
was  appointed  sutler  of  the  4th  111.  V.  C., 
under  Col.  Dickey.  After  the  battle  of 
Pittsburg  Landing,  he  sold  out  and  returned 
home,  where  he  engaged  in  dealing  in 
stock.  He  was  appointed  Postmaster  at 
Joliet  in  1867,  and  held  the  office  two 
years.  He  was  married  May  10,  1856,  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Gutterson,  of  Joliet,  who  died 
Nov.  2,  1866.  Mr.  Leach  was  married 
again,  May  8,  1870,  to  Mrs.  Mary  J. 
White,  of  Joliet;  she  died  Jan.  31, 
1871. 

JOHN  LAMBERT,  dealer  in  coal, 
wood,  coke,  etc.,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Lam- 
bertville,  Hunterdon  Go.,  N.  J.,  Jan.  12, 
1847.  In  January,  1862,  at  the  age  of  16 
years,  he  enlisted  in  Co.  D,  1st  New  Jersey 
V.  C. ;  served  one  year  on  detailed  duty 
in  Virginia,  and  was  discharged  by  reason 
of  ill  health  ;  he  again  volunteered  as  a 
Sergeant  in  Co.  A,  3d  N.  J.  V.  C.,  serving 
till  the  close  of  the  war  ;  during  the  first 
year  he  was  detailed  as  private  orderly  to 
Gen.  Burnside ;  afterward,  under  Gen. 
Custer,  he  participated  in  the  Shenandoah 
campaign  of  1864,  including  the  battles 
around  Washington,  the  hattle  of  Win- 
chester, and  terminating  in  the  splendid 
victory  of  Cedar  Creek,  the  occasion  of 
Gen.  Sheridan's  famous  ride  "  From  Win- 
chester twenty  miles  away  ;  "  in  1865,  in 
the  battles  of  Waynesboro,  Ashland, 
Dinwiddie  Court  House  and  Five  Forks, 
where  he  was  wounded  by  a  fragment  of  a 
shell,  losing  a  part  of  his  left  hand,  and 
also  had  his  horse  shot  under  him  ;  after 
this  he  participated  in  all  the  battles  under 
Grant  until  the  surrender  of  Lee,  and  in 
the  grand  review  of  the  army  in  Washing- 
ton, where  his  company  was  reduced  to  but 
four  men  able  to  perform  duty  out  of  the 
original  number  of  101.  Hewas  discharged 
Aug.  9,  1865.  Mr.  Lambert  came  to 
Grundy  Co.,  111.,  in  1867,  and  in  1870,  to 
Joliet.  He  was  for  six  years  an  officer  at 
the  State  Penitentiary,  alter  which  he 
served  as  Deputy  Sheriff  under  Warren  S. 
Noble,  serving  during  the  strike  in  Braid- 
wood  in  1877.  During  the  exciting  polit- 
ical campaign  of  1876,  Mr.  Lambert  organ- 
ized the  Republican  Guards  of  Joliet,  of 
which  he  was  chosen  Captain.  He  was 
married  in  April,  1876,  to  Miss  M.  E. 


Bishop,  of  Joliet,    and    has  one  child — 
Anna  E. 

JOHN  C.  LANG,  editor  of  the  Joliet 
Republican,  Joliet,  is  a  son  of  Thomas  J. 
Lang,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Will 
County,  who  emigrated  from  Groton,  N. 
H.,  to  this  county  in  1836,  and  settled  in 
the  town  of  Frankfort ;  afterward  removed 
to  Plainfield,  where  he  now  resides. 
John  C.  Lang  was  born  in  Frankfort,  Will 
Co.,  March  24,  18'44;  in  1862,  he  entered 
the  Union  army  as  a  member  of  Co.  Dr 
100th  I.  V.  I.,  and  served  till  the  close  of 
the  war,  participating  in  all  the  arduous 
service  and  all  the  battles  of  that  regi- 
ment, and  returning  with  it  in  1865.  He 
then  spent  two  years  on  the  farm,  and,  in 
1867,  made  the  trip  via  the  Isthmus  and 
California,  to  Arizona  Territory,  where  he 
remained  three  years,  engaged  in  mining, 
and  in  the  employ  of  the  Government  in 
the  Quartermaster's  Department ;  in  July, 
1870,  after  his  return  from  the  West,  he 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Illinois  State 
Penitentiary,  in  this  city,  occupying  suc- 
cessively the  positions  of  Guard,  Keeper, 
Assistant  Deputy,  and  Deputy  Warden, 
until  October,  1874;  from  December, 
1874,  to  August,  1875,  he  was  employed 
on  the  Joliet  Record,  since  which  time  he 
has  been  editor  of  the  Republican.  He 
was  married  Nov.  19, 1874,  to  Miss  Emma 
Webster,  of  Joliet,  and  has  two  children — 
Francis  M.  and  Horace  W. 

H.  M.  .LYFORD,  dealer  in  clothing, 
hats,  caps,  furs  and  furnishing  goods, 
Joliet;  has  been  engaged  in  his  present 
business  in  this  city  since  1868;  he  is  a 
native  of  the  Province  of  Quebec ;  he  was 
born  in  Stanstead,  Dec.  3,  1844;  he  lived 
there  until  he  was  about  17  years  of  age, 
when  he  left  home,  and,  going  to  Boston, 
entered  a  wholesale  grocery  house  as  a 
clerk,  remaining  there  four  years  ;  on  com- 
ing West,  he  went  first  to  St.  Louis,  where 
he  remained  about  a  year  and  a  half,  com- 
ing to  Joliet  as  above  stated ;  his  business 
career  in  this  city  has  been  a  successful 
one,  as  he  studies  the  wants  of  his  cus- 
tomers, and  uses  every  endeavor  to  supply 
till-in,  keeping  a  fine  line  of  goods  at  the 
lowest  prices.  Mr.  Lyford  was  married  in 
December,  1865,  to  Miss  Ellen  A.  Ladd, 
of  his  native  town,  a  daughter  of  0.  A. 
Ladd,  now  of  this  city  ;  they  have  one  son — 
Winfield  E.  Lyford.  Mr.  Lyford  is  Col- 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


693 


lector  of  the  city  and  township  of  Joliet,  ' 
to  which  office  he  was  elected  in    June, 
1878. 

JOHN  D.  LELAND,  Steward  of  the 
Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  Joliet.    John 
D.  Leland,  born  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
came  West  in  1868,  and  was  soon  there- 
after, under  Elmer  Washburn,    Warden,  i 
appointed  Steward  of   the    Illinois    State  | 
Penitentiary,  which  position    he   success-  j 
fully  held  until  August,  1872,  when  under  ] 
the  force  of  circumstances  he  was  induced  j 
10  resign ;  after  a  few  years  spent  in  farm-  ; 
ing,  and  on  the  produce  market,  his  well- 
known     qualities     as    to    economy    and 
carefulness   in   performing  the   duties  of 
Steward  of  the  Penitentiary,  gave  reason 
for   a  renewed   call   to   that  position,  in 
1877 ;  under  his  present  supervision,  the 
extensive  commissary  department  of  the 
Penitentiary  has  been  managed  at  less  ex- 
pense  and   to   more   general   satisfaction 
than  at  any  previous  time  in  the  history  of 
the  institution. 

JOHN  LEY,  farmer,  Sec.  18  ;  P.  0. 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Prussia  Oct.  17, 
1823,  where  he  followed  farming  until  19 
years  of  age,  when  he  emigrated  with  his 
parents  to  America  in  1842,  and  settled 
in  Will  Co.,  Joliet  Tp.,  on  Sec.  19, 
living  there  until  1852,  when  he  removed 
two  miles  east  of  Joliet,  near  the  Red 
Mill,  where  he  lived  until  1856,  when  he 
settled  upon  his  present  place ;  he  owns 
220  acres  of  well-improved  land,  which 
he  has  accumulated  by  his  own  energy 
and  industry.  He  married,  in  1847, 
Elizabeth  Magert ;  she  was  born  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  they  have  four  children  living,  viz., 
John,  Valentine,  Frederick  D.  and  Law- 
rence; the  deceased  are  Joseph  and  Hub- 
bert.  Mr.  Ley  has  held  the  office  of 
School  Director  for  three  years ;  also,  as 
Road  Commissioner. 

FRANK  E.  MARSH,  of  the  firm  of  | 
Carpenter  &  Marsh,  grain   merchants  and  j 
proprietors  of  the  Union  Transfer  Elevator, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Joliet  June  27,  1849;  : 
he  is  the  son  of  H.  N.  Marsh,  an  early  set-  I 
tier  of  Will  Co.,  and  for  many  years  past 
the  agent  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  & 
Pacific    Railroad    Company  in    this    city. 
He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  j 
Joliet,  and  at  the  Chicago   Academy;  in 
1868,  he  became  ticket  agent  and  telegraph 
operator  of    the1    C.,  R.  I.   &  P.    R.  R., 


and  continued  till  the  spring  of  1874,  when 
he  entered  into  partnership  with  H.  S. 
Carpenter  in  the  grain  and  elevator  busi- 
ness ;  they  are  now  the  heaviest  dealers  in 
Northern  Illinois  outside  of  Chicago  ;  they 
do  an  extensive  export  business,  about 
three-fourths  of  their  grain  being  pur- 
chased for  foreign  shipment.  Mr.  Marsh 
was  Superintendent  of  the  Will  County 
Historical  Society  in  1871  and  1872,  pre- 
viously to  its  being  merged  into  the  Joliet 
Public  Library.  He  was  married  Feb. 
4,  1873,  to  Miss  Kate  Richmond,  of 
Joliet,  and  has  two  children  —  Horatio 
Richmond  and  Loren  William. 

H.  N.  MARSH,  freight  and  ticket 
agent  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  & 
Pacific  Railroad  Company ;  has  been  a 
resident  of  Joliet  since  1835  ;  he  is  a  native 
of  Franklin  Co.,  Mass.,  and  was  born  Nov. 
15,  1812  ;  about  1828,  his  parents  emi- 
grated to  Western  New  York,  where  they 
resided  until  1835,  when  they  came  to 
Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  what  is  now  Crete 
Tp.,  Mr.  Marsh  at  the  same  time  locating 
in  Joliet ;  he  followed  his  previous  business 
of  cabinet-making  until  the  spring  of  1847, 
when  he  purchased  the  True  Democrat, 
which,  on  the  organization  of  the  Repub- 
lican party,  was  changed  to  the  Joliet 
Republican;  previous  to  this,  he  had 
served  two  years  as  School  Commissioner 
of  the  county ;  he  continued  to  publish 
the  True  Democrat  until  July,  1852,  and 
in  October  of  the  same  year,  on  the  com- 
pletion of  the  C.,  R.  I.  &  P.  Railroad  to 
this  point,  he  took  charge  of  the  office  in 
this  city,  and  has  remained  in  charge  ever 
since,  with  the  exception  of  an  interval  of 
three  years,  from  1864  to  1867,  during 
which  period  he  served  as  Postmaster  of 
Joliet;  in  1850,  he  was  appointed  Asst. 
U.  S.  Marshal,  to  take  the  census  of  Will 
Co.;  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  City 
Council  in  1876,  and  again  in  1878. 

GEORGE  J.  MUNROE,  attorney  at 
law  and  financial  agent,  Joliet ;  was  born 
in  Baraboo,  Sauk  Co.,  Wis.,  Feb.  11, 1853; 
after  receiving  an  English  education  in  his 
native  county,  he  entered  Oberlin  College, 
Ohio,  at  the  age  of  16  years,  and 'after 
spending  two  years  in  that  institution, 
became  a  student  in  the  National  Normal 
School  at  Lebanon,  Ohio,  graduating  from 
the  classical  department  in  1872;  he  had 
previously  been  engaged  in  teaching  during 


694 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


his  vacations,  and  after  graduating  he 
assumed  charge  of  the  public  school  at 
Marlboro,  Stark  Co.,  Ohio,  remaining  one 
year ;  he  then  spent  about  six  months  in 
traveling  in  the  West,  after  which  he  began 
the  study  of  the  law  in  the  office  of  Sleeper 
&  Whiton  in  Chicago,  and  also  attended 
one  course  of  lectures  at  the  Union  College 
of  Law  in  that  city  ;  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  Jan.  15, 1877,  and  practiced  in  Chicago 
until  the  fall  of  the  same  year ;  in  March, 
1878,  he  settled  in  Joliet,  and  entered  upon 
the  practice  of  his  profession  ;  in  addition 
to  his  law  practice,  he  does  quite  an  ex- 
tensive business  in  loaning  money  for 
Eastern  capitalists.  He  was  married  Nov. 
21,  1877,  to  Miss  Addie  P.  Simonds, 
eldest  daughter  of  S.  0.  Simonds,  Esq.,  of 
Joliet. 

G.  MUNROE  &  SON,  wholesale  and 
retail  grocers,  Joliet ;  this  is  the  largest 
grocery  house  in  Will  Co.,  doing  a  business 
of  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars 
per  annum ;  it  was  established  in  1865  ;  | 
George  Munroe,  the  senior  member,  was  j 
born  in  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  4,  j 
1821  ;  he  came  to  Will  Co.  in  1849,  and 
spent  thirteen  years  in  farming  in  Florence 
Tp. ;  previously  to  this,  he  bad  been  en- 
gaged in  the  foundry  business.  He  was 
elected  Sheriff  of  Will  Co.,  in  1862,  and 
served  two  years ;  has  also  served  one 
term  as  School  Trustee,  and  one  term  on 
the  Board  of  Aldermen.  George  H.  Mun- 
roe, son  of  George  Munroe,  is  also  a  native 
of  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born 
Sept.  24,  1844,  and  accompanied  his  par- 
ents to  Will  Co.  in  1849.  On  the  election 
of  his  father  as  Sheriff,  in  1862,  he  en- 
tered the  office  as  Deputy  Sheriff,  remain- 
ing two  years.  In  1865,  he  became  a 
partner  in  the  firm  of  G.  Munroe  &  Son.. 
He  was  married  in  May,  1869,  to  Miss 
Eva  Weeks,  of  Joliet.  In  1875,  the  Joliet 
Stone  Company  was  organized,  and  Mr. 
Munroe,  being  one  of  the  three  equal  stock- 
holders, was  made  President,  which  posi- 
tion he  still  holds  ;  he  is  also  Treasurer  of 
the  Joliet  Opera  House  Company. 

UZIAH  MACK,  manufacturer  and 
wholesale  and  retail  dealer  in  boots  and 
shoes,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Northampton 
Co.,  Penn.,  Jan.  14,  1835 ;  in  early  child- 
hood, he  accompanied  his  parents  to  North- 
umberland Co.,  and  several  years  later,  to 
Montour  Co.,  in  the  same  State,  where  he 


lived  until  he  came  to  Joliet,  in  1858.  In 
July,  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Co.  H,  100th 
111.  Vols. ;  was  appointed  Sergeant,  and 
afterward  promoted  to  Sergeant  Major, 
and  finally  to  First  Lieutenant  of  Co.  K,  in 
which  position  he  served  till  the  close  of 
war ;  he  served  under  Gen.  Thomas  in  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and  with  Sher- 
man in  his  march  through  Georgia,  as  far 
as  Jonesboro  and  Lovejoy ;  he  was  with 
the  command  from  the  time  it  left  home 
until  its  return,  in  1865.  After  the  war, 
he  went  to  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  and  engaged 
in  business,  remaining  there  two  years, 
when  he  sold  out  and  returned  to  Joliet, 
where  he  entered  into  partnership  with  his 
uncle,  Firman  Mack,  in  the  wholesale  and 
retail  boot  and  shoe  business,  the  firm  be- 
ing F.  &  U.  Mack,  which  continued  until 
the  death  of  his  partner,  Aug.  10,  1872, 
since  which  time  he  has  continued  the 
business  alone.  He  was  married  April  19, 
1867,  to  Miss  Jennie  Flemming,  of  Truro, 
Nova  Scotia ;  she  died  Oct.  15,  1876, 
leaving  three  children — Robert  L.,  Mary 
and  Willie. 

ISAAC  T.  MILLSPAUGH,  Police 
Magistrate,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Orange  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Feb.  26, 1820  ;  his  parents  died  when 
he  was  about,  15  years  old,  and  he  then 
went  "out  West"  to  Tompkins  Co.,  N. 
Y. ;  he  made  his  home  there  and  in  Cort- 
land  Co.  until  1844,  when  he  removed  to 
Joliet ;  he  followed  his  trade  of  a  black- 
smith for  a  year  or  more,  and  made  the 
first  steel  plow  in  Joliet ;  he  then  went  to 
Chicago  and  engaged  as  fireman  on  the  old 
Chicago  &  Galena  Union  R.  -R.  (now  a 
branch  of  the  Chicago  &  Northwestern), 
which  extended  at  that  time  but  eight 
miles  west  of  Chicago  ;  he  fired  the  first 
new  locomotive  on  that  road  ;  about  a  year 
later,  he  returned  to  Joliet,  and  run  one 
season  on  the  packet  from  Chicago  to  Peru  ; 
he  then  became  a  fireman  on  the  Chicago 
&  Rock  Island  R.  R.,  and  run  the  first  en- 
gine into  Joliet,  in  1852  ;  he  was  the  first 
blacksmith  in  the  Chicago  &  Alton  round- 
house, where  he  worked  half  a  dozen  years 
or  more.  He  served  for  fourteen  years  as 
Assessor  for  Joliet  Tp. ;  he  was  elected 
Police  Magistrate  in  May,  1878.  He  was 
married  in  March,  1842,  to  Miss  Charlotte 
Elizabeth  Noyes,  of  Cortland  Co.,  N.  Y. ; 
she  died  in  1846,  leaving  one  son,  Charles 
H.,  who  served  through  the  late  war  as  Drum 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


695 


Major  of  the  100th  111.  Vols.,  and  is  now 
a  musician  in  Joliet.  Mr.  Millspaugh  was 
married  again,  in  July,  1852,  to  Miss  Mary 
L.  Roberts,  of  Joliet,  formerly  of  Lock- 
port,  N.  Y. ;  they  have  one  son — Frank 
D.,  a  fireman  on  the  Michigan  Central 
R.  R. 

G.  N.  MARVIN,  keeper,  weighmaster, 
shipper  and  receiver,  State  Prison,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1818  ; 
his  early  life  was  that  of  a  farmer's  son ; 
he  followed  agricultural  pursuits  during 
his  residence  at  the  East;  in  1858,  became 
West  and  located  in  Plainfield,  Will  Co., 
where  he  was  employed  as  foreman  on  the 
farm  of  A.  McAllister  for  one  year ;  he 
then  purchased  a  farm  on  the  Plainfield 
road  two  miles  west  of  Joliet,  which  he 
farmed  two  or  three  years ;  he  next  re- 
turned East  and  &pent  one  or  two  years ; 
after  traveling  some  months,  he  again 
returned  West  to  Joliet,  and  was  en- 
gaged as  foreman  on  the  farm  of  William 
P.  Caton  for  three  seasons ;  he  had  charge  of 
1,500  acres,  harvesting  about  400  acres  of 
meadow  each  season;  Jan.  9,  18H8,  he 
connected  himself  with  the  prison  and  has 
remained  here  ever  since.  His  first  mar- 
riage to  Marietta  Hammond  occurred  in 
1838;  his  second  marriage  to  Laura  C. 
Barber,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  was  cel- 
ebrated in  1873 ;  has  three  children — 
Emma  A.,  George  W.  and  William  A.,  all 
married. 

ALEXANDER  McKEOWN,  rail  in- 
spector, Joliet  Iron  and  Steel  Works,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Antrim  Co.,  Ireland,  Feb. 
2,  1851  ;  he  attended  the  common  schools 
and  besides  was  a  student  in  Kennedy 
College,  Dublin,  nine  months;  he  immi- 
grated to  America  May  1,  1872,  and  first 
settled  in  Joliet,  where  he  engaged  in  learn- 
ing core-making  in  the  Joliet  Foundry;  at 
this  he  spent  eleven  months  and  then  en- 
gaged in  the  steel-rail  mill  as  laborer; 
here  he  worked  two  months,  when  he  was 
promoted  to  the  position  of  rail  inspector, 
night  turn ;  he  served  two  years  and  at 
the  shutting-down  of  the  mills  in  1873,  he 
went  to  Springfield  and  labored  at  general 
work  in  the  mills  there  four  months ; 
subsequently,  he  labored  at  Bridgeport 
mills  seven  months,  and  on  the  re-open- 
ing of  the  Joliet  mills,  returned  and 
was  for  three  years  and  four  mouths  rail 
inspector  on  the  night  turn;  in  1877,  he 


went  to  the  Vulcan  Mills,  in  St.  Louis, 
and  remained  seven  months;  he  then  went 
to  Mississippi  and  was  engaged  at  various 
points  in  State  work  till  March,  1878, 
when  he  returned  to  Joliet  and  was  pro- 
moted May  1  following,  on  the  re-opon- 
ing  of  the  mills,  to  the  position  of  rail 
inspector,  day  turn ;  thus,  by  close  atten- 
tion to  business  and  strict  uprightness  with 
his  employers,  he  has  secured  for  himself  a 
position  of  responsibility  and  trust  which 
he  richly  merits. 

COL.  S.  W.  MUNN,  attorney  at  law, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  May  14,  1824  ;  his  father  was  poor 
and  unable  to  assist  him  in  obtaining  an 
education,  and  he  was,  therefore,  obliged  to 
to  depend  upon  his  own  exertions  for  what 
learning  he  received  ;  he  worked  on  a  farm 
for  $8  per  month,  for  nine  months,  attend- 
ing a  district  school  during  the  remaining 
three  months ;  thus  he  worked  two  years 
for  one  man  ;  he  also  spent  six  months  at 
a  seminary  in  his  native  county ;  in  1845, 
he  left  home  on  foot,  with  carpet-bag  in 
hand  and  $30  in  his  pocket,  and  went  to 
Ashtabula  Co.,  Ohio,  where  he  engaged  in 
teaching  and  attending  school  at  Grand 
River  Institute,  a  Presbyterian  manual- 
labor  school,  where  he  could  pay  his  way 
by  his  industry  ;  here  he  remained  three 
years,  in  the  mean  time  reading  thoroughly 
a  few  of  the  elementary  works  on  law.  In 
1848,  he  married  Miss  Imogene  Mixer 
and  removed  to  Wisconsin,  where  he  com- 
pleted his  law  studies  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  and  began  practice  in  1850;  in 
September  of  the  same  year  his  wife  died, 
leaving  one  child — Charles  W.,  who  is  now 
engaged  in  practice  with  his  father  in 
Joliet ;  in  1852,  he  went  to  California,  and 
engaged  in  mining  and  surveying  for  the 
Government ;  returning,  he  located  in  Wil- 
mington, 111.,  and  resumed  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  In  August,  1861,  he  raised 
a  company  of  volunteers  in  Wilmington, 
of  which  he  was  commissioned  Captain, 
and  which  was  mustered  in  as  Co.  A,  of 
the  39th  I.  V.  I. ;  in  December,  1862,  he 
was  promoted  to  Major,  and  served  till  Janu- 
uary,  1863,  when  he  was  compelled  by 
failing  health  to  resign  ;  he  participated  in 
the  campaign  of  1862,  in  the  Sheoandoah 
Valley,  including  the  battle  of  Winches- 
ter, then  under  Gen.  McClellan  until  the 
army  left  Harrison's  Landing,  in  August, 


696 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


1862,  when  his  Division  was  ordered  to 
Suffolk,  Va.,  where  it  remained  until 
he  resigned.  On  his  return  to  Wilmington, 
he  was  elected  Prosecuting  Attorney  for 
the  then  Ninth  Judicial  Circuit,  serving 
four  years;  in  the  spring  of  1865,  he  re- 
moved to  Joliet,  where  he  has  since  been 
engaged  in  general  practice  of  law,  and  in 
November  last  was  elected  as  Represent- 
ative to  the  Legislature ;  he  served  for  a 
time  on  Governor  Cullom's  Staff,  with  the 
rank  of  Colonel.  Col.  Munn  was  married  in 
1851,  to  Miss  A.  0.  Crocker,  of  Madison, 
Ohio  ;  they  have  two  children — Minnie  I. 
(wife  of  R.  A.  Chapin,  of  Colo.)  and  Frank 
E.,  a  law  student  in  Geneva,  Ohio. 

CAPT.  ALEXANDER  McINTOSH, 
political  editor  of  the  Joliet  Sun,  Joliet ;  was 
born  in  Fulton  Co.,  N.  Y.,  of  Scotch  parent- 
age in  1822  ;  he  was  raised  on  a  farm  ;  when 
he  was  19  years  of  age,  he  entered  the 
academy  at  Galway  Center,  Saratoga  Co., 
N.  Y.,  as  a  student,  and  acquired  a  liberal 
education,  spending  three  years  in  that 
institution ;  he  came  to  Joliet,  111.,  in 
1845,  and,  in  1847,  started  in  Joliet  the 
True  Democrat,  now  the  Joliet  Repub- 
lican] he  sold  out  in  1848,  and,  in  1849, 
went  to  California,  where  he  remained  three 
years;  returning  to  Joliet  in  1852,  he 
repurchased  the  True  Democrat,  which 
he  published  and  edited  until  1857  ;  in 
1856,  he  was  elected  on  the  Republican 
ticket  Circuit  Clerk  and  Recorder  of  Will 
Co.,  for  a  term  of  four  years;  in  1863, 
he  was  appointed  by  President  Lincoln, 
Captain  and  Quartermaster  in  the  United 
States  Army  was  with  Sherman's  army  in 
1864  ;  was  on  the  famous  march  to  the  sea, 
and  up  through  the  Carolinas  and  Virginia 
to  Washington ;  he  was  retained  in  the  serv- 
ice after  the  disbanding  of  the  volunteers, 
being  assigned  to  Mobile  as  Post  Quarter- 
master; in  1866,  he  resigned  this  position 
and  returning  Will  Co.,  embarked  in  mer- 
cantile business  in  Wilmington  ;  in  1869, 
he  purchased  the  Wilmington  Independent, 
which  he  published  until  1873;  in  the 
spring  of  1874,  he  returned  to  Joliet,  and 
in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  became  the 
political  editor  of  the  Joliet  Republican, 
which  position  he  retained  till  January, 
1877  ;  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  he  entered 
upon  the  editorial  management  of  the  Joliet 
Phmnix,  from  which  he  withdrew  in  July, 
1878,  to  assume  the  position  of  political 


editor  of  the  Joliet  Sun  ;  Capt.  Mclntosh 
joined  the  Republican  party  upon  its  organ- 
ization in  1856,  and  has  ever  remained 
true  to  its  principles,  and,  although  a  man 
of  pronounced  views  on  all  political  and 
moral  questions,  and  participating  in  many 
exciting  political  campaigns,  he  retains  the 
entire  respect  and  confidence  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  of  all  parties. 

F.  MUNCH,  dealer  in  coal,  wood,  coke, 
etc.,  Joliet ;  is  a  son  of  F.  X.  Munch,  who 
came  to  this  country  from  Alsace,  settling 
in  Will  Co.,  in  1839 ;  he  served  as  a 
soldier  in  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  is  now 
a  highly  respected  citizen  of  Joliet  Tp. ; 
his  son,  F.  Munch,  was  born  in  Joliet  Tp. 
April  3,  1851,  and  remained  at  home  un- 
til he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  then 
spent  two  summers  in  working  near  Mi- 
nooka;  in  1873,  he  came  to  Joliet  City, 
and  spent  two  years  in  the  employ  of  J. 
Q.  A.  King,  starting  in  business  for  him- 
self in  1875.  He  was  married  Nov.  16, 
]  876,  to  Miss  Jennie  Hurley,  daughter  of 
William  Hurley,  of  Minooka;  they  have 
one  child — Louis  I. 

DAVID  G.  MURPHY,  firm  of  Mur- 
phy Brothers,  livery  and  feed  stable,  Joliet ; 
is  a  native  of  County  Roscommon,  Ireland  ; 
he  was  born  Jan.  14,  1844  ;  his  father,  P. 

F.  Murphy,  came  to  this  country  in  1850, 
settling  in  the  town  of  Troy,  where  he  was 
a    prominent    and    respected    citizen    for 
twenty-seven  years;  he  died  in   1877,  at 
the  age  of  92  years ;  the  family  consisted 
of  fourteen  children,  nine  brothers  and  five 
sisters,  eight  of  whom  are  living;  David 

G.  resided  in  Troy  until  March,  1874;  fol- 
lowed farming,  and  represented  his  town- 
ship in  the  County  Board  of  Supervisors 
for  three  years  ;  on  coming  to  Joliet,  he 
engaged  with  Francis  Murphy  .in  his  pres- 
ent business.      In  1876,  he  was  elected 
Supervisor  in  Joliet  by  a  very  large  ma- 
jority, but   declined    to   serve.     He  was 
married  June    10,   1868,   to    Miss  Mary 
McGuire,  of  Lockport,  111.,  and  has  five 
children  —  Catherine    F.,     Mary     Alice, 
Thomas  B.,  Winnifred  A.  and  Angela  A. 
Mr.  Murphy's  brother,  Father  Thomas  B. 
Murphy,  late  Pastor  of  St.  Mary's  Church, 
in  this  city,  died  April  10,  1878 ;  he  was 
a  gentleman  universally  respected  and  be- 
loved, not  only  by  the  members  of  his  con- 
gregation, but  by  the  entire  population  of 
the  city  and  county. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


697 


C.  W.  MUNN,  of  Munn  &  Munn,  at- 
torneys at  law,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Water- 
loo, Wis.,  Dec.  30, 1848 ;  he  is  the  son  of 
Col.  S.  W.  Munn,  the  senior  member  of 
the  firm  ;  in  early  childhood,  he  accompa- 
nied his  parents  to  Columbus,  Wis. ;  thence 
to  Madison,  Lake  Co.,  Ohio,  where  the 
family  resided  until  March,  1854,  and  then 
removed  to  Wilmington,  Will  Co.,  111., 
coming  to  Joliet  in  March,  1864 ;  after 
receiving  an  English  education,  Mr.  Munn 
entered  the  law  department  of  the  Michi- 
gan University. at  Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  where 
he  graduated  March  29,  1871 ;  he  had 
previously  read  law  in  his  father's  office, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  Aug.  13, 
1870  ;  he  began  practice  in  Joliet  in  April, 
1871,  and  .Deo.  1, 1872,  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  his  father,  which  still  continues. 
He  was  married  in  December.  1871,  to 
Miss  Helen  C.  Matthews,  of  Joliet ;  she 
died  Sept.  26,  1872,  leaving  one  child- 
Helen  I. ;  he  was  married  again  Jan.  19, 
1876,  to  Miss  Lida  M.  Squier,  of  Livings- 
ton, Essex  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  they  have  one 
child — Lulu  L. 

T.  A.  MASON,  dealer  in  lumber,  man- 
ufacturer of  sash,  doors  and  blinds,  pro 
prietor  of  the  Stone  City  Planing-Mill. 
Joliet;  was  born  in  New  Hartford,  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  14,  1846 ;  he  is  a  son 
of  Daniel  C.  Mason,  an  extensive  railroad 
contractor ;  his  grandfather,  Arnold  Ma- 
son, was  one  of  the  original  contractors  of 
the  Croton  Water  Works  in  New  York 
City ;  Mr.  Mason  first  came  to  Illinois  in 
the  spring  of  1867  ;  after  spending  a  few 
months  in  Chicago,  he  returned  East,  and 
engaged  in  the  blank-book  and  stationery 
business  in  Utica ;  in  1870,  he  came  to 
Joliet,  and,  with  F.  W.  and  H.  B.  Plant, 
erected  the  Stone  City  Planing-Mill,  and 
engaged  in  the  lumber  business  ;  he  was 
educated  at  the  Utica  High  School  and  at 
Whitestown  Seminary,  N.  Y.  He  was  mar- 
ried Sept.  25,  1872,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  E. 
Caton,  of  Joliet,  and  has  three  children — 
Cornelia  Louise,  William  Caton  and  Kit- 
tie  Marie.  Mr.  Mason  is  at  present  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  from 
the  Fourth  Ward,  being  elected  in  April, 
1877. 

E.  B.  MASON,  real  estate  and  loans, 
Juliet;  was  born  in  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Nov.  20,  1826 ;  in  1834,  his  father,  Hale 
S.  Mason,  came  with  his  family  to  Will 


Co.,  and  settled  in  Gooding's  Grove,  in 
what  is  now  Homer  Tp. :  he  was  for  a 
good  many  years  Canal  Collector  of  Lock- 
port  ;  for  a  number  of  years  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  is  now  an  honored  resident  of 
the  town  of  Lockport.  Mr.  Mason  con- 
tinued farming  until  the  spring  of  1854 ; 
in  the  fall  of  that  year,  he  came  to  Joliet 
and  spent  the  winter,  removing  the  follow- 
ing spring  to  La  Salle,  111.,  where  he 
resided  for  fourteen  years,  during  eight  of 
which  he  served  as  Postmaster  of  that 
city;  returning  to  Joliet  in  1870,  he 
entered  the  abstract  office  of  George  H. 
Ward,  and,  in  1875,  engaged  in  his 
present  business ;  he  is  Secretary  of  the 
Peoples'  Loan  and  Homestead  Association 
of  Joliet,  which  was  organized  in  1874, 
having  a  capital  stock  of  5,000  shares  of 
$100  each.  He  was  married  in  the  spring 
of  1850  to  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Olney, 
daughter  of  Hiram  Olney,  an  early  settler 
of  Homer  Tp. ;  she  died  in  1858,  leaving 
two  children,  one  of  whom,  Ella  B.,  wife 
of  Leonard  G.  Wilson,  is  now  living. 
Mr.  Mason  was  married  again  in  1864  to 
Miss  Lizzie  L.  Miner,  of  Aurora,  111. 

MAJ.  ROBERT  W.  McCLAUGHRY, 
Warden  of  the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Fountain  Green,  Han- 
cock Co.,  111.,  July  22,  1839  ;  he  remained 
at  home  on  the  fann  until  1856,  when  he 
entered  Monmouth  College,  graduating  in 
1860,  after  which  he  remained  in  the  col- 
lege one  year  as  Professor  of  Latin ;  re- 
turning to  Hancock  Co.  in  1861,  he  settled 
at  Carthage,  and  engaged  in  editing  the 
Carthage  Republican.  In  response  to 
President  Lincoln's  call  for  300,000  men, 
he  enlisted  in  August,  1862,  as  a  private 
in  the  118th  111.  V.  I. ;  was  chosen  Cap- 
tain of  Co.  B,  and  in  November  following, 
was  elected  Major  of  the  regiment;  he 
participated  in  all  the  campaigns  which 
resulted  in  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  in 
the  Gulf  Department  in  the  fall  of  1863, 
and  in  all  the  campaigns  in  Western  Lou- 
isiana until  June,  1864,  when  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Pay  Department  as  Pay- 
master, and  assigned  to  duty  at  Springfield, 
111.;  he  remained  there  until  Oct.  13, 
1865,  when  he  was  mustered  out  to  accept 
the  office  of  County  Clerk  of  Hancock 
Co.,  to  which  he  had  been  elected  ;  he  held 
this  office  until  1869  ;  the  next  two  years 
he  was  engaged  in  the  stone-quarry  busi- 


698 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


ness  in  Sonora,  Hancock  Co.,  and  fur- 
nished the  stone  for  the  railroad  bridge 
over  the  Mississippi  River  at  Keokuk,  and 
for  the  foundations  of  the  new  State  Capi- 
tol at  Springfield;  in  1871,  he  went  to 
St.  Louis  in  charge  of  the  St.  Genevieve 
quarries,  but  the  following  year,  his  health 
failing,  he  returned  to  Moamouth,  111., 
and  entered  the  office  of  Judge  Glenn  to 
attend  to  a  portion  of  his  business,  where 
he  remained  till  Aug.  1,  1874,  when  he 
was  appointed  to  his  present  important  and 
responsible  position.  He  was  married  in 
1862  to  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Madden,  of 
Monmouth,  111.,  and  has  five  children 
living. 

THOMAS  F.  MOHAN,  assistant  su- 
perintendent of  the  Joliet  Gas  Works ; 
born  in  the  county  of  Roscommon,  Ire- 
land, in  1832,  where  he  lived  until  18 
years  of  age,  when  he  emigrated  to  America, 
landing  in  New  York  Jan.  9,  1851,  going 
directly  to  Frostburg,  Md. ;  he  was  en- 
gaged in  the  mining  business  for  two 
years ;  from  there  he  went  to  Philadelphia, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  the  Northern 
Liberty  Gas  Works  for  eight  years,  when, 
in  1861,  he  was  called  to  fill  the  office  of 
Assistant  Superintendent  of  the  Joliet 
Gas  Works,  which  position  he  has  since 
held  during  a  period  of  seventeen  years. 
He  married  in  Philadelphia  in  1853  to 
Mary  Brannan  ;  she  was  born  in  Philadel- 
phia ;  they  have  six  children  now  living, 
viz. :  Edward  V.,  Mary,  Michael  J.,  Agnes, 
Catharine  and  Joseph  L.  Mr.  Moran  has 
held  the  office  of  Alderman  in  the  ward  in 
which  he  lives  in  Joliet. 

JAMES  H.  McFARLIN,  butcher  and 
general  stock  dealer,  Joliet ;  born  in  Troy, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  July  25,  1854,  living  there 
seven  years,  when  he  removed  with  his 
parents  to  Manhattan  Tp.,  where,  after  ob- 
taining a  common-school  education,  he  en- 
gaged in  farming  until  he  removed  to  Jol- 
iet, in  May,  1869,  when  he  commenced 
work  with  J.  Adler  at  butchering,  remain- 
ing in  his  employ  until  October,  1878,  a 
period  of  nine  years  ;  at  the  above  date  he 
engaged  in  the  above  business  upon  his 
own  account  on  Chicago  St.,  corner  of 
Wallace  st. ;  h,e  is  also  engaged  in  the 
stock  business,  buying  and  selling  largely ; 
having  had  an  experience  of  upward  of 
ten  years  in  the  business,  his  judgment  in 
stock  is  considered  sound  and  reliable. 


PETER  MACKIN,  groceries  and  pro- 
visions, flour  and  feed,  Joliet ;  born  in 
Armagh  Co.,  Ireland,  June  24,  1849, 
where  he  lived  until  22  years  of  age,  at- 
tending school  in  his  youth  ;  then  engaged 
in  farming  until  the  above  age,  when  he 
emigrated  to  America,  landing  in  New 
York  March  17,  1871  ;  coming  directly 
West,  he  visited  his  brother  at  Peoria,  111., 
for  a  short  time,  when  he  came  to  Will  Co. 
and  engaged  with  Patrick  Fitzpatrick  in 
Lockport  Tp.  for  one  year,  when  he  came 
to  Joliet  and  engaged  in  business  with 
Thomas  Delaney,  purchasing  the  lot  and 
erecting  a  store  at  No.  33  South  Chicago 
st.,  where  they  engaged  in  the  groceries 
and  provisions,  flour  and  feed  business  for 
three  years,  when  their  store  was  destroyed 
by  fire ;  Mr.  Mackin  then  purchased  his 
partner's  interest  and  rebuilt  his  present 
store  in  1876,  since  which  time  he  has 
been  doing  a  very  successful  and  profitable 
business,  which  may  be  attributed  to  his 
strict  integrity  and  honest  dealing. 

BENJAMIN  L.  MAYHEW,  Deputy 
Warden  of  Illinois  State  Prison,  Joliet^ 
born  in  Dennysville,  Wash.  Co.,  Me.,  June 
16, 1822  ;  his  ancestors  came  from  England 
in  1642,  landing  at  Martha's  Vineyard, 
Mass. ;  Mr.  M.  came  to  Boston  in  1842, 
where  he  lived  and  worked  at  the  trade  of 
machinist  until  1845,  making  one  voyage 
at  sea  during  this  period,  when  he  went  to 
Cambridge,  Mass,  and  was  connected  with 
the  Cambridge  Prison  as  guard  for  two 
years ;  in  1847,  he  was  appointed  Deputy 
Keeper,  which  position  he  held  for  eleven 
years.  On  Dec.  15, 1856,  Deputy  Warden 
Galen  C.  Walker,  of  the  Charlestown  State 
Prison,  was  murdered  in  the  chapel  by  con- 
vict James  Magee,  and  upon  the  29th 
inst.  of  the  same  month,  Warden  Solon  H. 
Tenny  was  murdered  by  convict  Charles  D. 
Decatur  ;  the  two  chief  officers  having  been 
murdered,  Mr.  Mayhew  was  selected  to 
take  full  charge  of  the  Charlestown  State 
Prison,  which  he  did  with  great  credit 
for  twenty-one  days,  till  new  officers  were 
appointed,  Mr.  Mayhew  meanwhile  re- 
taining his  old  position  at  Cambridge ; 
in  1858,  he  was  appointed  Deputy  Warden 
of  the  Charlestown,  Mass.,  State  Prison, 
which  office  he  held  for  ten  years  ;  he  then 
emigrated  to  Illinois,  and  in  the  year  1870, 
was  appointed  Deputy  Warden  of  the  Illi- 
nois State  Penitentiary  at  Joliet,  which. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


699 


position  he  has  since  held,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  four  years'  absence.  Mr.  Mayhew 
married  Oct.  31,  1847,  to  Miss  Frances  J. 
Nickerson  ;  she  was  born  in  Westminster, 
Vt,  May  23,  1821  ;  they  are  the  parents 
of  two  children  now  living,  viz. :  William 
B.,.born  in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Nov.  1, 
1848,  now  serving  his  fifth  year  as  Engi- 
neer in  the  U.  S.  Navy;  Maria  F.,  born 
in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Jan.  11,  1857;  Ed- 
mund L.,  born  in  Charlestown,  Mass.,  Nov. 
8,  1860,  deceased. 

GALLUS  MULLER,  chief  clerk  of 
the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  Joliet ; 
born  in  Switzerland,  Canton  of  St.  Gall 
(Wyl),  June  12,  1841 ;  after  a  collegiate 
education  in  St.  Gall  and  Lucerne,  he 
entered  the  University  of  Munich,  Bavaria, 
in  1860,  and  attended  here  one  year;  the 
next  two  years  were  passed  in  Turin,  Italy, 
when  he  emigrated  to  America  in  1863, 
landing  in  New  York  upon  the  20th  of  De- 
cember ;  coming  directly  to  Chicago,  he 
soon  thereafter  engaged  in  the  music  busi- 
ness, which  he  followed  until  1870,  when 
he  came  to  Joliet  as  book-keeper  for  the 
Illinois  State  Penitentiary ;  after  working 
a  short  time  in  this  capacity,  he  was  ap- 
pointed chief  clerk,  and  has  held  this  office 
since  that  date,  during  a  period  of  eight 
years,  and  under  five  different  administra- 
tions. He  was  married  in  Chicago,  in 
1866,  to  Miss  Marie  De  Hez ;  they  are  the 
parents  of  four  children,  viz.,  Alice,  M. 
Pia,  Walter  and  Ida. 

CAPT.  JAMES  MILLER,  chief  en 
gineer-  of  Illinois  State  Penitentiary,  Joliet; 
born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  March  11, 1826, 
where  he  learned  and  worked  at  the  trade 
of  machinist  until  25  years  of  age,  when 
he  emigrated  to  America,  landing  in  Quebec 
in  1852,  coming  directly  to  Morris,  Grundy 
Co.,  111.,  where  he  engaged  in  the  foundry 
and  machinist  business  during  a  period  of 
ten  years ;  in  1862,  he  raised  a  full  com- 
pany of  102  men  for  the  war,  which  he 
took  to  Chicago,  and  alter  remaining  in 
Camp  Douglas  three  months,  the  regiment 
was  mustered  out  of  service,  the  several 
companies  joining  other  regiments  ;  Mr. 
Miller  then  enlisted  in  the  U.  S.  navy  as 
fireman,  which  position  he  held  for  three 
days,  when  lie  was  promoted  to  Asst.  En- 
gineer, which  office  he  held  seven  months, 
when  he  received  his  commission  as  Chief 
Engineer,  and  held  this  position  for 


three  years  until  the  close  of  the  war  ;  Mr. 
M.  then  returned  to  Morris,  and  again 
engaged  in  the  foundry  and  machinist  busi- 
ness for  a  period  of  two  years,  when  he 
was  appointed,  in  1867,  as  chief  engineer 
of  the  Illinois  State  Penitentiary  at  Joliet, 
which  office  he  still  holds.  He  married 
in  Scotland  in  1852,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  A. 
Miller  ;  she  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1825 ; 
they  are  the  parents  of  five  children — 
James  W.,  John  Edwin,  Frank,  Margaret 
and  Lillie. 

D.  McCANN,  deceased,  farmer ;  P.  0. 
Joliet ;  born  in  Fayette  Co.,  Ind.,  Nov.  3, 
182o,  where  he  lived  and  followed  farm- 
ing until  1864,  when  he  removed  to  Will 
Co.,  and  purchased  the  farm  where  the 
family  now  live,  consisting  of  250  acres 
of  land,  now  valued  at  upward  of  $50 
per  acre;  he  died  here  Oct.  2,  1873. 
He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Honnymon,  of 
Union  Co.,  Ind.,  Sept.  13,1850  ;  they  were 
the  parents  of  six  children — William  W., 
Lycurgus  C.,  Charlie  W.,  Irene  (died  Feb. 
28,  1862),  Ada  and  Lillie  B. 

R.  H.  MAPPS,  farmer  and  auctioneer, 
Sec.  24;  P.  0.  Joliet;  born  in  Cumber- 
land Go.,  Penn.,  July  12,  1819,  where  he 
worked  at  the  cooper's  trade  for  several 
years,  when  he  moved  to  Ohio,  and  worked 
at  his  trade  until  he  moved  to  Joliet  in 
1846,  where  he  followed  his  trade  until  he 
purchased  the  farm  where  he  now  resides  ; 
owns  136  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $55  to 
$60  per  acre.  He  married  Miss  Susanna 
Shoffner,  a  native  of  Ohio ;  they  havs  six, 
children — Albert,  born  March  1,  1849; 
Levi,  June  16, 1852  •  Jesse,  Sept.  9,  1856, 
died  Nov.  5, 1857  ;  John  W.,  born  March 
16,  1859:  Armina,  Oct.  2,  1863;  Lillie 
A.,  Feb.  11,  1867.  Mr.  Mapps  has  filled 
the  offices  of  School  Director  and  Trustee 
in  his  township  several  terms. 

HON.  JESSE  0.  NORTON,  deceased, 
whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was 
born  at  Bennington,  Vt.,  Dec.  25,  1812; 
he  entered  Williams  College  in  1831,  and 
graduated  with  honor  in  1835  ;  he  came 
West  after  graduating,  and  first  taught 
school  at  Wheeling,  Va.,  and  afterward  in 
Missouri;  in  1839,  he  came  to  Joliet  and 
opened  a  law  office  ;  he  was  first  elected 
City  Attorney ;  his  genial  manners  made 
him  popular,  and  the  people  of  his  county 
gave  him  all  the  honors  and  distinction  ia 
their  power;  in  1846,  he  was  elected 


700 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


County  Judge,  and  re-elected  in  1848  ;  he 
was  also  elected  to  the  State  Constitutional 
Convention  in  1848 ;  in  1850,  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Legislature,  and  in 
1852,  he  was  elected  to  represent  this  dis- 
trict in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States ; 
during  that  session,  he  took  an  active  part 
in  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
resisting  that  measure  with  all  his  eloquence 
and  power ;  his  course  was  approved  by  the 
people  of  his  district,  and  he  was  re-elected 
in  1854;  in  1857,  he  was  elected  Judge  of 
the  Circuit  Court ;  he  was  again  elected  to 
Congress  in  1862,  and  served  with  honor 
until  March  5,  1865  ;  in  1866,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Johnson  District 
Attorney  for  the  Northern  District  of  Illi- 
nois, and  removed  to  Chicago.  He  subse- 
quently resumed  the  practice  of  law  in 
company  with  Judge  J.  R.  Doolittle.  He 
died  Aug.  3,  1875,  and  his  remains  were 
interred  in  Oakwood.  He  married  Miss 
Phoabe  Ann  Sheldon  Dec.  25.  1837,  at  the 
residence  of  Gov.  Dunklin,  Potosi,  Mo. ; 
they  had  seven  children,  four  living — Mar- 
tin, Libbie  (now  Mrs.  Gen.  J.  T.  Tor- 
rence),  Annie  and  Jessie  (now  Mrs.  Wal- 
lace C.  Barker),  and  three  who  died  in 
infancy.  Mr.  Norton  in  youth  was  sober, 
industrious,  studious  and  ambitious,  and 
when  he  came  to  man's  estate,  in  every 
office  he  was  called  to  fill  by  his  fellow - 
citizens,  he  performed  its  duties  with  in- 
dustry, promptness,  ability  and  courtesy. 
There  was  in  him  a  genial,  affectionate  and 
loving  nature,  refined,  high-toned  and  ex- 
alted by  a  true  Christian  life,  which  those 
who  knew  him  can  fully  appreciate.  It 
was  in  his  home  that  these  virtues  of  the 
soul  shoae  forth  and  made  a  beauty  of 
character  which  no  wealth  can  purchase 
and  no  intellectual  greatness  can  supply. 

ROBERT  W.  NELSON,  Joliet ;  born 
in  Granville,  Washington  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept. 
20, 1851 ;  at  the  age  of  15,  he  moved  to 
.Scnenectady,  N.  Y.,  and  entered  the  Union 
School,  where  he  remained  for  two  years  ; 
he  then  entered  the  dry  goods  store  of  H. 
Ostrom  &  Co.,  and,  after  a  few  months'  stay 
there,  obtained  a  situation  in  the  drug 
store  of  A.  Truax  &  Co.,  where  he  remained 
for  two  years ;  by  that  time  he  was  taken 
with  the  Western  fever,  and  followed  the 
advice  of  that  astute  philosopher,  Horace 
Greeley ,  went  West,  and  located  in  Chicago 
in  the  spring  of  1871  ;  here,  in  conjunction 


with  his  brother,  he  started  in  the  coal 
trade,  and  afterward  added  that  of  clothing : 
the  clothing  store  was  moved  to  Braid- 
wood  in  1875  ;  in  1876,  he  withdrew  from 
the  firm  of  Nelson  Brothers  &  Barhgdt. 
they  continuing  in  the  coal  trade  in  Chicago, 
while  he  continued  the  clothing  business  at 
Braidwood  until  the  fall  of  1877,  when  he 
closed  up  that  business,  and  commenced 
the  publication  of  the  Joliet  News. 

M.  B.  OGDEN,  M.  D.,  homeopathic 
physician  and  surgeon,  Joliet ;  has  practiced 
medicine  in  Joliet  for  the  past  thirteen 
years;  he  is  a  son  of  Dr.  S.  G.  Ogden, 
late  of  Cherry  Valley,  111.,  and  who  died 
in  1874,  at  the  age  of  75  years  ;  he  be- 
longs to  a  family  of  physicians,  his  great- 
grandfather, grandfather,  father,  two  broth- 
ers and  some  ten  cousins  being  members 
of  the  medical  profession.  Dr.  Ogden  was 
born  in  Toronto,  Province  of  Ontario,  Oct. 
24,  1834 ;  he  received  his  general  educa- 
tion at  the  University  of  Toronto,  and  then 
pursued  a  medical  course  of  three  years  at 
Ralph's  Medical  School  in  that  city.  In 
,  1858,  he  went  to  Wisconsin  and  practiced 
nearly  five  years  in  Fond  du  Lac,  where 
he  was  largely  interested  in  flour  manufact- 
uring ;  thence  he  removed  to  Rockford, 
111.,  and  during  the  winter  of  1863—64, 
attended  the  Hahnemann  (Homeopathic) 
Medical  College  in  Chicago ;  in  1865,  he 
located  in  Joliet,  where  he  still  remains ;  in 
the  winter  of  1867-8.  he  pursued  his  second 
course  of  lectures  at  the  Hahnemann  Med- 
ical College,  graduating  in  February,  1868. 
Associated  with  him  in  practice"  is  his 
brother,  E.  J.  Ogden,  of  Chicago,  who 
visits  Joliet  once  a  week.  Dr.  Ogden  was 
married  in  August,  1859,  to  Miss  S.  M. 
Pitcher,  of  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis.,  and  has 
one  son — Edward  C.,  now  a  student  in  the 
Hahnemann  Medical  College,  in  Chicago. 

HON.  BENJAMIN  OLIN,  attorney  at 
law,  Joliet;  was  born  in  Allegany  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Aug.  12,  1838;  when  he  was  quite 
young,  his  parents  came  West,  and  settled 
in  La  Salle  Co.,  afterward  removing  into 
Kendall  Co. ;  after  receiving  an  English 
education,  he  spent  awhile  in  Beloit  Col- 
lege, and  then  entered  the  law  office  of 
M  -srs.  Gray  &  Bushnell  in  Ottawa,  HI., 
afterward  continuing  his  studies  with  John 
Cruthers.  Esq.,  of  Oswego,  Kendall  Co. 
On  the  breaking-out  of  the  war  in  April. 
1861,  he  assisted  in  enrolling  Co.  K,  20th 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


701 


I.  V.  I.  ;  was  elected  First  Lieutenant,  and 
served  about  a  year,  when  he  was  obliged 
to  resign  owing  to  ill  health  ;  returning,  he 
spent  some  time  in  Colorado  recruiting  his 
health,  after  which  he  reviewed  his  law 
studies  in  the  office  of  Mather,  Taft  &  Bates 
in  Chicago.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
the  winter  of  1862-63,  and  began  the  active 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Morris,  111.;  he 
afterward  formed  a  partnership  with  Hon. 
Perry  A.  Armstrong,  of  that  place,  which 
continued  until  the  removal  of  Judge  Olin 
to  Joliet  in  1870.  While  in  Morris,  he 
served  as  Alderman  and  School  Inspector. 
About  a  year  after  coming  to  Joliet,  he 
entered  into  copartnership  with  Capt. 
Egbert  Phelps,  which  lasted  until  1873, 
when  he  was  elected  County  Judge,  and  in 
1877,  was  re-elected  for  another  term  of 
four  years.  He  has  held  the  office  of 
School  Inspector  in  this  city,  and  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the 
Joliet  Public  Library  since  its  organiza- 
tion in  1875.  He  was  married  in  Septem- 
ber, 1865,  to  Miss  Julia  A.  Schauber,  of 
Schenectady,  N.  Y. 

C.  C.  OLNEY,  manufacturer  and  dealer 
in  marble  and  granite  monuments,  tomb-  t 
stones,   etc.,   Joliet ;  was  born  in  Perry,  | 
Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  15,  1833  ;  he  is 
a  son  of  Hiram  Olney,  who  came  to  Will  i 
Co.  in  the  fall  of  1835,  and  settled  in  what 
is  now  Homer  Tp.,  and  who  afterward  re-  i 
moved  to   Manhattan  Tp.,  where  he  now  \ 
resides  at  the  age  of  78  years.    Mr.  Olney  : 
remained  at  home  until  he  was  19  years  of 
age,  and  then  came  to  Joliet  and  began 
working  at  the  marble-cutter's  trade,  which 
has  been  his  business  ever  since  ;  he  is  there- 
fore, the  oldest  marble  dealer  now  in  Joliet, 
having   followed   the  business   either  for  j 
himself  or  in  the  employ  of  others  for  the  \ 
past    twenty-six  years.      His  business  is 
not  confined  to  Will  Co.,  but  extends  into  , 
Cook,  Iroquois,  Livingston,  Grundy,  Ken-  j 
dall,  Kankakee  and  Du  Page  Cos.,  111.,  and  • 
Lake  Co.,  Ind.     He  was  married  in  Jan- 
uary, 1868. 

J.  L.   O'DONNELL.    of  the   firm  of 
Haley  &  Donnell,  attorneys  at  law,  Joliet ;  j 
is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Illinois  ;  he  was 
born  in  La  Salle  Co.  Aug.  10,  1849;  he 
was  educated  in  St.  Mary's  College,  Niagara 
Falls,  X.   Y.  ;  after  which  he  read  law  in  j 
the  office  of  Glover,  Cook  &  Campbell,  of 
Ottawa,  111.,  and  with  Mayo  &  Widmer,  of 


the  same  place.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Springfield,  111.,  in  January,  1874, 
and  the  1st  of  August  following,  formed  a 
law  partnership  with  P.  C.  Haley,  Esq., 
which  still  continues.  He  was  married  on 
the  19th  of  September,  1877,  to  Miss  M. 
C.  Edgerly,  of  Putnam  Co.,  111. 

A.  A.  OSGOOD,  real  estate  and  loans, 
Joliet ;  is  a  native  of  Joliet ;  he  was  born- 
Sept.  29,  1839.  His  father,  Hon.  Uri 
Osgood,  came  to  Joliet  in  1836,  from 
Oxford,  Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
was  born  Dec.  22,  1809 ;  he  studied  law 
with  Hon.  Henry  R.  Mygatt,  of  his  native 
town,  taking  a  seven-years  course,  and  at 
once  came  West,  stopping  in  Chicago  long 
enough  to  obtain  his  license  to  practice  in 
this  State,  and  then  settled  in  Joliet,  where 
he  was  a  prominent  and  wealthy  citizen 
and  a  leading  attorney  for  thirty-five  years. 
He  at  one  time  purchased  all  of  Jefferson 
St.,  from  Ottawa  st.  to  the  river  for  two 
black  horses  and  $50  in  money.  He  es- 
tablished the  first  bank  in  Joliet  about 
1850,  which  he  continued  until  1861 ;  in 
1852,  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate, 
serving  two  years,  and  in  1856,  was  a  can- 
didate for  Congress  against  the  Hon.  Owen 
Lovcjoy.  He  also  held  various  offices  of 
trust  and  responsibility  in  this  city  and 
county,  among  them  that  of  District  At- 
torney. He  died  in  1871,  leaving  a  wife 
and  five  children,  of  whom  Augustus  A.  is 
the  oldest.  He  was  educated  at. Russell's 
Military  Institute,  and  at  Yale  College. 
In  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  100th  111.  V. 
I.,  and  was  elected  First  Lieutenant  of  Co. 
B. ;  served  as  Aide-de-camp  on  Gen.  Has- 
kell's  staff,  and  after  the  battle  of  Stone 
River,  he  resigned  owing  to  ill  health. 
After  spending  a  few  weeks  at  home  he 
entered  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
under  Capt  J.  M.  Huntington,  and  three 
months  later  was  made  Chief  Clerk  under 
Capt.  G.  M.  Smith,  Chief  Quartermaster 
of  the  Cavalry  Corps  of  East  Tennessee ; 
he  afterward  held  the  same  position  with 
Capt.  Thos.  D.  Fitch,  Chief  Quartermas- 
ter of  the  Department  of  Kentucky,  re- 
maining till  the  close  of  the  war.  He 
afterward  read  law  in  his  father's  office ; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  Oct.  29,  1868,  and 
practiced  with  his  father  until  the  death  of 
the  latter  in  1871.  In  1873,  he  purchased 
the  insurance  business  ot  W.  W.  Stevens, 
which  he  continued  till  September,  1877, 


702 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged  in 
the  real  estate  and  loan  business.  . 

F.  W.  PLANT,  of  the  firm  of  Mason 
&  Plant,  lumber  dealers,  manufacurers  of 
sash,  doors  and  blinds,  and  proprietors  of 
the  Stone  City  Planing-Mill,  Joliet; 
was  born  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  13,  1843. 
His  father,  James  Plant,  was  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  of  that  city,  and,  at  his 
death,  in  1859,  left  but  two  older  settlers 
than  himself;  he  was  from  Brandford, 
Conn.;  he  left  two  children — one  daughter, 
now  living  in  Ottawa,  111.,  and  one  son, 
Francis  W.  He  prepared  for  college  in 
the  Utica  Academy,  and,  in  1860,  entered 
Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  gradu- 
ating  in  1864  ;  he  then  entered  the  em- 
ploy  of  the  Oneida  Bank,  in  his  native 
town,  and  shortly  afterward  engaged  in  the 
book  and  stationery  business;  in  1871, 
he  came  to  Joliet,  and  with  F.  A.  Mason 
and  H.  B.  Plant,  established  the  lumber 
firm  of  Mason  &  Plant ;  they  'erected 
their  storehouse  on  Des  Plaines  street, 
and  the  Stone  City  Planing-Mill,  a  two- 
story  building,  on  Joliet  street,  and  are 
undoubtedly  the  heaviest  lumber  deal- 
ers in  the  city ;  Mr.  Plant  is  a 
Director  and  Treasurer  of  the  Peo- 
ple's Loan  and  Homestead  Association 
of  Joliet.  He  was  married  Oct.  16, 
1867,  to  Miss  Lizzie  Merle,  of  Brooklyn, 
L.  I.,  and  has  four  children — Helen  M., 
Laura  M.,  Grace  M.  and  James. M. 

JOHN  PETTIGREW,  foreman  of 
the  molding  department,  Joliet ;  was 
born  in  New  Lanark,  Scotland,  March  2, 
1842  ;  at  the  age  of  17  years,  he  went  to 
his  trade,  in  Glasgow,  working  under  in- 
structions  seven  years;  Sept.  12,  1866,  he 
emigrated  to  America,  first  settling  in 
Chicago,  where  he  labored  for  Carlisle, 
Mason  &  Co.,  for  a  periad  of  five  years ; 
in  May,  1871,  he  came  to  Joliet,  and  en- 
tered  the  employ  of  the  Joliet  Iron  and 
Steel  Co.;  during  the  latter  part  of  1873 
and  the  first  part  of  1874,  he  worked  at 
Marseilles  and  Rockford,  and,  on  the  re- 
opening of  the  Joliet  works,  in  October, 
1874,  he  returned,  and  was  employed  as 
foreman  in  the  molding  department — his 
present  position.  He  was  married  in  1864 
to  Agnes  Robertson,  a  native  of  New 
Lanark,  Scotland  ;  has  six  children — John, 
Jane,  Thomas,  Charles,  Agnes  and 
William. 


CHARLES  PETTIGREW,  master 
mechanic,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  New  Lan- 
ark, Scotland,  Feb.  4,  1844;  in  1862,  he 
went  to  his  trade,  in  the  Scotland  Street 
Iron  Works,  at  Glasgow ;  here  he  served 
an  apprenticeship  of  five  years  ;  in  May, 
1867,  he  emigrated  to  America,  first  set- 
tling in  Chicago,  where  he  was  employed 
as  machinist  in  the  Excelsior  Iron  Works  ; 
in  1870,  he  came  to  Joliet,  and  was  em- 
ployed as  machinist  two  years ;  next,  he 
was  foreman  in  the  machine-shops  eighteen 
months;  in  August,  1873,  he  took  his 
present  position,  that  of  master  mechanic 
in  the  Joliet  Steel  and  Iron  Works.  He 
was  married  in  1868,  to  Agnes  Cameron, 
a  native  of  New  Lanark,  Scotland ;  they 
have  three  daughters — Edith  S.,  Agnes 
M.,  and  Clara  B. 

J.  F.  PERRY,  County  Superintendent 
of  Schools,  Joliet ;  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Joseph, 
of  Crete ;  he  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Conn., 
June  21,  1846 ;  his  father  was  a  teacher 
in  the  public  schools  of  New  York  City, 
and  the  family  resided,  a  portion  of  the 
time,  on  the  old  homestead  in  Fairfield, 
and  the  balance  in  New  York ;  in  1854, 
the  family  removed  to  Will  Co.,  settling 
in  Crete  ;  Mr.  Perry  prepared  for  college 
principally  in  a  classical  institution  in 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  and,  in  1866,  entered 
Yale  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1870  ; 
after  graduating,  he  taught  a  year  in  the 
East,  and  then  returned  to  Illinois ;  he 
taught,  one  year,  as  Principal  of  the  pub- 
lic school  in  Madison,  Cook,  Co.,  and  two 
years,  in  the  same  capacity,  at  Dalton  ;  in 
1874  he  came  to  Joliet  as  Superintendent 
of  the  East  Side  Schools,  continuing  as 
such  until  Jan.  1,  1878;  in  November, 
1877,  he  was  elected  County  Superintend- 
ent of  Schools,  which  position  he  now 
holds. 

CAPT.  ANSON  PATTERSON,  mail 
agent  and  express  messenger  of  the  Joliet 
branch  Michigan  Central  Railroad,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Cayuga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  14, 
1830  ;  when  he  was  about  4  years  old,  his 
parents  removed  to  Seneca  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in 
1845  to  Seneca  Co.,  Ohio,  and,  in  1847,  to 
Will  Co.,  111. ;  his  father,  Joseph  Patter- 
son, still  resides  in  Joliet  Tp.  Until  the 
breaking-out  of  the  war,  Capt.  Patterson 
followed  farming,  being  engaged  for  nine 
years,  during  the  winters,  teaching,  eight  of 
which  he  taught  in  one  district.  In  1862, 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


703 


he  entered  the  100th  111.  V.  I.  as  First 
Lieutenant  of  Co.  E,  and,  after  the  battle 
of  Chickamauga,  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  Captain,  serving  till  June,  1865  ;  among 
the  principal  engagements  in  which  he 
participated  were  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga, siege  of  Atlanta,  battles  of  Johes- 
boro',  Spring  Hill,  Franklin,  and  Nash- 
ville, besides  several  minor  engagements ; 
he  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga Sept.  20,  1863.  Returning  to 
Joliet,  he  was  engaged  in  various  kinds  of 
business  until  1869,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster  at  Joliet,  holding  the 
office  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
he  entered  upon  his  present  position.  He 
was  married  in  1851  to  Miss  Helen  M. 
McClure,  of  Joliet;  they  have  had  ten 
children,  seven  of  whom  are  now  living. 

JAMES  G.  PATTERSON,  of  the  firm 
of  James  G.  Patterson  &  Sou,  grocers  and 
news-dealers,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  County 
Tyrone,  Ireland,  in  1831,  and  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1851,  settling  in  Haver- 
straw,  Rockland  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  three  years 
years  later  he  went  to  Newburg,  thence  to 
New  York  City,  coming  to  Joliet  in  the 
spring  of  1855  ;  he  was  engaged  in  manu- 
facturing wagons  and  carriages,  and  fol- 
lowed that  business  until  1862,  when  he 
engaged  in  his  present  business.  He  was 
married  April  23,  1855,  to  Miss  Mary  A. 
Harris,  of  New  York  City,  also  a  native  of 
County  Tyrone,  Ireland ;  tHey  have  seven 
children — William  A.,  Margaret  J.,  Lillie 
M.,  James  C.,  Eliza  E.,  Emma  K.  and 
John  H. 

J.  D.  PAIGE,  proprietor  of  Paige's 
Bottling  House,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Onei- 
da  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  27,  1837  ;  in  1844, 
he  accompanied  his  parents  to  Jefferson 
Co.,  Wis. ;  in  1857,  he  left  home  and 
came  on  foot  to  Joliet,  with  $1  in  his 
pocket ;  he  went  at  once  to  work,  and  has 
been  at  work  ever  since  ;  he  has  now  one 
of  the  largest  and  best-appointed  houses  in 
his  line  of  business  in  the  West ;  besides 
which  he  has  established  -branches  of  his 
business  in  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  Mar- 
shalltown,  Iowa.,  and  Braidwood,  111. ;  he 
was  appointed  Fire  Marshal  of  Joliet  in 
May,  1877,  and  has  given  much  study  and 
his  best  efforts  to  the  Department ;  during 
his  administration  the  Department  has 
been  changed  from  a  voluntary  to  a  paid 
organization,  the  Gamewell  fire-alarm  tele- 


graph has  been  introduced,  the  horses  are 
now  owned  by  the  Department  (instead  of 
being  hired  wherever  opportunity  occurred, 
as  was  previously  done),  and  are  kept  at 
all  times  in  the  engine-houses,  with  har- 
ness on,  ready  to  be  hitched  up  at  ten  sec- 
onds' notice ;  many  other  improvements 
have  been  added,  and  the  proficiency  to 
which  the  Joliet  Fire  Department  has  at- 
tained under  the  administration  of  Mr. 
Paige  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  at  the 
National  Firemen's  Tournament  in  Chi- 
cago, in  September,  1878,  the  Joliet 
Steamer  Company  No.  1  carried  off  first 
honors  in  extinguishing  burning  buildings, 
with  a  prize  of  $350  cash  and  an  elegant 
silver  set,  and  also  took  two  other  prizes, 
one  of  SI 00  and  the  other  $75  ;  Mr.  Paige 
is  at  present  Township  Assessor,  to  which 
office  he  was  elected  in  April,  1878. 

CHRISTIAN    FERDINAND    PAS- 
OLD,  manufacturer  and  dealer  in    boots 
and  shoes,  Joliet;  this  gentleman  is  a  na- 
tive of  Fleiszen,  Bohemia,  and  was  born 
July  10,  1830  ;  he  began  learning  his  trade 
with  his  father  when  about  12  years  old  ; 
in  1852,  he  came  to  this  country,  spending 
one  year  in  New  York  City,  and  locating 
in  Joliet  in  1 853  ;  the  first  eight  years  he 
was  employed  as  foreman  for  Firman  Mack, 
and  in  the  fall  of  18GO,  started  in  business 
|  for  himself.     He  was  married  April  13, 
1857,  to  Mrs.  Catherine  Sesser,  of  Joliet; 
'  she  was  born   in    Baireuth,  Kingdom  of 
!  Bavaria,  June  5,  1837,  and  came  to  Joliet 
with  her  parents  in  1854;  they  have  eight 
i  children — Rosetta,    Christian   Ferdinand, 
i  Jr.,  Charles  Wilhelm,  Joseph  Friederich, 
Henry  Herman,  Oliver  George,  Flora  El- 
vira and  Martin  Julius.      Mr.  Pasold  has 
1  served  two  terms  in  the  City  Council,  from 
i  the   Third  Ward    (now   the  Fourth) ;  in 
'  1869,  he  was  elected  City  Collector,  and, 
the  same   year,  Town   Collector,  holding 
those  offices  one  year. 

HON.  EDWIN  PORTER,  proprietor 
of  the  Eagle  Brewery,  and  manufacturer 
of  Porter's  Joliet  Ale  and  Lager  Beer, 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Granger,  Medina  Co., 
Ohio,  April  19,  1828;  went  to  Cleveland 
when  quite  young,  and  there  received  an 
academic  education  ;  in  1856,  he  came  to 
Joliet,  and  engaged  for  two  years  in  man- 
ufacturing malt;  in  1858,  he  erected  his 
first  brewery,  which  was  burned  down  in 
!  1868,  and,  the  same  year,  he  erected  his 


704 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


present  extensive  buildings.  He  was  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Fire  Department  for  five 
years,  beginning  in  March,  1861  ;  he  has 
served  three  years  as  member  of  the  City 
Council,  and,  in  1863,  was  elected  Mayor, 
re-elected  in  1864,  and  again  in  1871. 

REV.  WALTER  HENRY  POWER, 
Pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  Catholic  Church, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Waterford,  Ireland,  in 
May,  1830  ;  he  received  his  classical  edu- 
cation at  Trainore,  a  celebrated  watering- 
place  near  Waterford  ;  in  March,  1849,  he 
came  to  America,  and  entered  the  Semi- 
nary of  St.  Charles  Borromeo,  on  Logan 
Square,  Philadelphia,  where  he  spent  five 
years,  and  completed  his  theological  stud- 
ies ;  he  was  ordained  a  clergyman  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  December,  1853,  by 
Bishop  Neumann,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
was  appointed  Assistant  Pastor  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's Church,  of  that  city,  and  was  short- 
ly afterward  transferred  to  St.  Philip's 
Church,  Southwark,  Philadelphia  ;  he  aft- 
erward spent  a  year  as  assistant  to  the 
Foreign  Vicar  General  of  the  Diocese  of 
Philadelphia  ;  from  there  he  went  to  Ham- 
ilton, C.  W.,  as  assistant  to  the  Bishop, 
where  he  remained  two  years ;  in  March, 

1859,  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  located  at 
Lacon,  Marshall  Co.,  where  his  jurisdic- 
tion extended  over  five  counties,  embra- 
cing some  half  a  dozen  churches ;  in  June, 

1860,  he  was  transferred  to  Aurora,  and 
in  May,  1861,  became  Pastor  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's Church,  in  Chicago ;  in  November, 
the  same  year,  he  assumed  the  pastoral 
charge  of  St.  Michael's  Church,  in  Galena, 
where  he  remained  eight  years,  coming  to 
Joliet,  as  Pastor  of  St.  Patrick's  Church, 
in  September,  1869. 

J.  W.  PATTERSON,  of  the  firm  of 
Patterson  &  Longley,  dealers  in  coal,  wood 
and  coke,  Joliet ;  is  a  native  of  Newburg, 
N.  Y.;  he  was  born  Sept.  12,  1853  ;  he  is 
a  son  of  Thomas  H.  Patterson,  of  this  city  ; 
in  early  childhood  he  moved  with  parents 
to  Haverstraw,  N.  Y.,  near  the  battle 
ground  of  Stony  Point,  and  there  lived 
until, the  spring  of  1865,  when  the  family 
came  to  Joliet ;  he  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  and  at  Russell's  Business 
College  in  Joliet ;  he  also  attended  the 
Chicago  University  for  a  time ;  in  1875, 
he  began  keeping  books  for  his  father  and 
the  firm  of  Lyons  &  Patterson,  and  con- 
tinued at  this  until  1877,  when  he  engaged 


in  the  coal  business  for  himself.  He  was 
married  Oct.  18,  1876,  to  Miss  Hattie  A. 
Strickland,  daughter  of  the  late  Henry 
Strickland,  an  early  settler  of  Joliet ;  they 
have  one  child — Claire. 

JUDSON  C.  PORTER,  local  editor  of 
the  Joliet  Republican,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Fairfield  Co.,  Conn.,  July  27, 1846 ;  when 
he  was  3  years  old,  his  parents  removed  to 
Litchfield  Co.,  in  the  same  State ;  at  the 
age  of  15,  he  left  home,  and  went  to  New 
Britain,  Hartford  Co.,  where  he  spent  two 
years  in  the  Connecticut  State  Normal 
School,  after  which  he  engaged  in  clerking  ; 
in  1868,  he  came  West,  and  taught  one 
year  in  Kankakee ;  in  1869,  he  removed 
to  Aurora  ;  thence,  in  1872,  to  Joliet,  and 
in  1875,  became  local  editor  of  the  Joliet 
Republican.  He  was  married  in  New 
Britain,  Conn.,  Oct.  8.  1867,  to  Miss  Mar- 
tha J.  Holmes,  of  Hartford  Co. ;  they  have 
two  children — Edith  May  and  George  E. 

FRANK  ROBESSON,  dealer  in  gro- 
ceries, liquors,  flour,  feed,  etc.,  and  propri- 
etor of  Robesson's  Hall,  Joliet ;  was  born 
on  the  24th  of  June,  1828,  in  that  portion 
of  Italy  then  adjoining  and  now  a  part  of 
France  ;  at  the  age  of  18  years  he  was  ap- 
prenticed to  learn  the  shoemaker's  trade, 
and  two  years  later  (1848),  he  became  a 
cavalry  soldier  in  Victor  Emanuel's  Italian 
army,  >  where  he  served  eight  years ;  after 
this,  he  spent  one  year  in  Lyons,  and,  in 
1857,  came  to  America  ;  in  1858,  he  came 
to  Will  Co.,  and  worked  three  months  for 
Thomas  Mapps  for  his  board;  after  this, 
he  built  a  small  shanty  in  Joliet  and  began 
working  at  his  trade  ;  he  was  so  poor  then 
that  for  two  days  he  had  nothing  to  eat ; 
he  followed  shoemaking  about  a  year,  in 
the  mean  time  selling  a  little  confectionery, 
etc.,  when,  having  accumulated  a  little 
money,  he  started  in  a  small  way  selling 
liquors,  groceries,  etc.;  he  now  owns  four 
buildings  in  Joliet,  besides  other 'property; 
in  1875,  he  built  Robesson's  Hall,  at  a  cost, 
including  lot,  of  $31,000.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1862  to  Miss  Josephine  St.  AngieT 
of  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  and  has  one  child — 
Josephine. 

DAVID  ROSENHEIM,  dealer  in  cloth- 
ing, hats,  caps,  gents'  furnishing  goods, 
trunks,  valises,  etc.,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Wurtemberg,  Germany,  Dec.  11,  1847  ; 
he  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
iiis  native  country ;  on  arriving  at  the  age 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


705 


of  15  years,  he  left  home  and  came  to  this 
country ;  his  father  had  died  but  a  short 
time  before ;  his  mother  followed  her  son 
about  twelve  years  ago,  and  now  resides  in 
Chicago ;  on  arriving  in  Joliet,  young 
Rosenheim  entered  the  employ  of  Morris 
Einstein,  with  whom  he  remained  until 
1869,  when  he  became  a  partner  in  the 
firm  ;  in  1875,  he  purchased  his  partner's 
interest  in  the  business,  which  he  has  since 
continued  alone  ;  he  carries  a  well-selected 
stock  of  about  $12,000 — the  largest  in  his 
line  in  the  county-^-consisting  of  all  grades 
of  men's,  youths',  boys'  and  children's  cloth- 
ing, furnishing  goods,  hats,  caps,  trunks, 
valises,  etc.,  at  prices  to  suit  the  times  ; 
he  is  courteous  in  manner  and  honorable 
in  his  dealings,  and  it  is  these  qualities 
that  have  contributed  largely  to  his  success, 
He  was  married  June  18, 1878,  to  Miss 
Augusta  Lindaur,  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Rosen- 
heim is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  having  taken  all  the  Con- 
sistory degrees  of  Scottish  Rite  Masonry, 
and  for  the  past  year  has  held  the  office  of 
High  Priest  of  Joliet  Chapter,  No.  27.  R. 
A.  M. 

F.  J.  RAPPLE,  dealer  in  live  stock 
and  proprietor  of  Joliet  Street  Market, 
Joliet ;  was  born  near  Strasbourg,  Alsace, 
France,  Dec.  19, 1837  ;  in  1845,  he  came 
with  his  parents  to  this  country,  coming 
direct  to  Joliet,wherehe  has  lived  for  thirty- 
three  years.  His  father,  Simon  Rapple,  a 
highly-respected  farmer  of  Will  Co.,  died 
in  1877,  leaving  five  children,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  being  the  third  in  age ;  for 
the  past  fifteen  years,  Mr.  Rapple's  busi- 
ness has  been  farming,  dealing  in  stock, 
etc.  He  was  married  Nov.  13,  1856,  to 
Miss  Margaret  Adler,  daughter  of  Michael 
Adler,  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Joliet ; 
they  have  ten  children  living — Lawrence 
L.,  Fred  J.,  Jr.,  Veronica,  John  M., 
Louise  B.,  Simon  P.,  Angie  M.,  Theresa, 
Ella  and  Frankie  C.;  one  daughter,  Louise, 
died  in  1862.  Mr.  Rapple  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Beard  of  Supervisors  in 
1877,  and  re-elected  in  1878. 

BARBER,  RANDALL  &  FULLER, 
attorneys  at  law,  Joliet;  this  firm,  although 
existing  as  a  firm  only  since  January, 
1877,  is  composed  of  some  of  the  oldest 
and  most  prominent  members  of  the  Will 
County  bar.  Hon.  R.  E.  Barber  was  born 
in  Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  in  1822  ;  at  the  age* 


of  10  years,  he  came  with  his  father's 
family  to  Will  Co.;  he  read  law  in  Joliet, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1847  ;  in 
1852,  he  was  elected  Clerk  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Will  County,  holding  the 
office  until  1856  ;  he  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  School  Inspectors  some  ten 
years ;  in  1876,  he  was  chosen  Mayor  of 
Joliet,  and  served  one  term.  Hon.  S.  W. 
Randall  is  a  native  of  Hoosick  Falls,  Rens- 
selaer  Co.,  N.  Y.;  he  was  born  March  23, 
1808,  but  removed  to  Fredonia,  Chautauqua 
Co.,  when  about  9  years  of  age ;  he  was 
educated  at  the  public  schools  and  at  Fre- 
donia Academy ;  at  the  age  of  16,  he  began 
as  an  apprentice  to  learn  the  printer's  trade, 
and  worked  two  years  on  the '  Fredonia 
Censor ;  he  afterward  removed  to  Frank- 
lin, Venango  Co.,  Penn.,  and  began  read- 
ing law  in  the  office  of  Judge  Galbraith, 
and  afterward  with  the  late  Chief  Justice 
Thompson,  in  the  mean  time  teaching  school 
and  working  at  the  printer's  trade  ;  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1834,  and,  in  1835, 
removed  to  Erie,  Penn.,  and  engaged  in 
practicing  law  and  in  editing  the  Erie 
Observer;  in  1843,  he  came  to  Joliet,  and 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  ; 
he  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court 

in ,  and  served years  ;  in  1850y 

he  was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature, 
and  has  held  other  offices  of  trust  and  re- 
sponsibility. Buel  A.  Fuller  was  born  in 
Coles  Co.,  111.,  Aug.  8,  1833;  his  parents 
removed  to  Danville,  111.,  in  1835,  and 
about  five  years  later  to  Perryville,  Ind.j 
there  he  entered  a  printing  office,  working 
during  the  day,  and  attending  school  even- 
ings ;  about  1848,  at  the  age  of  15,  he  en- 
gaged in  publishing  the  Temperance  Jour- 
nal and  Sons  Companion  in  Danville, 
111.,  the  first  temperance  paper  in  the  State  •, 
he  afterward  went  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  and 
thence  to  Madison,  Ind.,  as  foremun  on 
the  Madison  Courier;  in  1852,  he  came 
to  Joliet,  and  became  joint-owner  and  pub- 
lisher of  the  True  Democrat  with  Alex- 
ander Mclntosh  ;  after  awhile,  his  health 
failing,  he  retired  from  the  newspaper 
business,  but  resumed  it  again  in  1856  as 
publisher  of  the  Kankakee  Democrat;  in 
the  mean  time  he  had  been  pursuing  the 
study  of  law,  and,  in  1857,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  Joliet ;  the  next  year  he  was 
elected  City  Attorney,  serving  two  terms. 
The  integrity,  affability  and  modesty  of  all 


706 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


these  gentlemen  are  so  well  known  in  Will 
Co.,  as  to  require  no  mention  here. 

CHARLES  RICHARDS,  M.  D.,  phy- 
sician and  surgeon,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Newport,  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  26, 
1832  ;  at  the  age  of  10  years,  he  removed 
with  his  parents  to  New  Haven,  Huron  Co., 
Ohio ;  after  receiving  an  English  educa- 
tion, he  began  the  study  of  medicine  in  the 
office  of*  Dr.  F.  Gr.  Armstrong,  of  New 
Haven,  Ohio  ;  he  attended  medical  lectures 
at  the  Albany  Medical  College,  where  he 
graduated  in  1855 ;  he  then  located 
in  New  Haven,  Ohio,  and  practiced  medi- 
cine there  until  1868,  when  he  came  to 
Joliet,  and  has  been  a  practicing  physician 
here  ever  since.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Will  County  Medical  Society,  of  which  he 
was  formerly  Secretary ;  he  held  the  office 
of  Coroner  of  Will  County  from  1870  to 
1874.  He  was  married  on  the  25th  of 
March,  1858,  to  Miss  Harriet  Mulford,  of 
New  Haven,  Ohio. 

DAVID  RICHARDS,  farmer  and 
stock -raiser,  P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  27,  1813 ; 
he  was  raised  to  the  dairying  business, 
which  he  followed  until  he  came  West  in 
1837,  making  the  journey  with  a  team, 
and  settling  in  Joliet ;  the  first  three  years 
he  spent  in  handling  stock  through  the 
West,  buying  principally  in  Illinois  and 
driving  to  Wisconsin  and  selling  to  the 
settlers  ;  he  then  engaged  in  the  meat  bus- 
iness in  Joliet,  handling  stock  at  the  same 
time  ;  in  1842.  the  State  became  bankrupt 
and  all  internal  improvements  ceasing,  Mr. 
Richards  being  engaged  in  supplying  the 
contractors  on  the  Canal,  became  involved 
in  the  financial  wreck,  and  although  he 
paid  in  full,  lost  the  accumulation  of  years ; 
in  1844,  he  engaged  in  farming  and  rais- 
ing and  dealing  in  stock,  in  which  he  has 
continued  with  good  success  to  the  present 
time ;  he  was  one  of  the  parties  engaged 
in  the  Joliet  Woolen-Mill  enterprise  which 
was  started  in  1866  ;  he  had  the  manage- 
ment of  the  feeding  department  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Stock-Yards,  for  seven- 
teen years,  and  received  the  first  car-load 
of  stock  which  was  shipped  into  Joliet  by 
rail ;  he  subdivided  and  sold  the  east  half 
of  the  northwest  quarter  of  Section  15, 
known  as  the  Canal  Trustees'  Subdivision, 
and  embracing  a  part  of  the  best-settled 
portion  of  the  city  at  the  present  time  ; 


he  still  owns  a  large  amount  of  real  estate 
in  the  city,  besides  about  seven  hundred 
acres  of  farm  lands  in  the  county ;  he 
erected  his  fine  residence  on  the  corner  of 
Washington  and  Richards  streets  in  1860. 
He  has  been  too  much  engaged  in  his 
own  business  to  seek  or  accept  public  office 
of  any  kind.  Mr.  Richards  was  married 
Jan.  16,  1840,  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Larraway, 
of  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.;  they  have  six 
children  living — Mary,  now  Mrs.  T.  H. 
Ingersoll,  of  Joliet ;  Nancy  Jeanette,  wife 
of  J.  D.  Smith,  of  Omaha,  Neb.;  John, 
Newton,  William  M.  and  Anson. 

JOSEPH  REICHMAN,  of  the  firm  of 
J.  and  J.  Reichman,  proprietors  of  the 
Joliet  Meat  Market,  No.  4,  Chicago  street, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  Feb. 
13,  1836  ;  in  that  country  it  is  necessary 
for  every  boy  or  young  man  to  serve  an 
apprenticeship  to  whatever  business  he  in- 
tends to  follow  through  life  ;  Mr.  Reich- 
man  remained  on  the  farm  until  he  was 
about  16  years  of  age,  and  then  began 
learning  his  present  business  ;  in  1855,  he 
came  to  this  country,  and  after  spending  a 
few  months  in  Erie,  Penn.,  came  to  Chi- 
cago ;  in  1857,  he  settled  in  Joliet  and  en- 
gaged in  his  present  business,  being  the 
oldest  in  the  business  in  the  city ;  he  has 
attended  strictly  to  business  and  enjoys 
the  results  of  his  labors  in  a  fine  home 
adjoining  the  city.  He  was  married  in 
July,  1869,  to  Miss  Annie  Koch,  of  Joliet ; 
they  have  had  five  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living — Anton,  Mary  and  Albert. 

JOSEPH  J.  REICH  MAN,  of  the  above 
firm  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  March  1 7 , 
1851,  and  lived  there  until  he  was  17 
years  old  ;  in  1868,  he  eame  to  the  United 
States,  coming  direct  to  Joliet,  where  he 
entered  the  employ  of  his  uncle,  Joseph 
Reichman,  in  the  market  business,  and,  in 
1874,  became  a  partner  in  the  firm.  He 
was  married  Jan.  14,  1872,  to  Miss  Chris- 
tina Wucherpfening,  of  Mokena,  Will  Co., 
and  has  three  children  living — Regina, 
J  ulius  and  Amalia  ;  his  oldest  child,  Jose- 
phina,  died  in  infancy. 

JOHN  H.  RAPPLE,  dealer  in  live- 
stock and  proprietor  of  Rapple's  meat  mar- 
ket. No.  3,  North  Bluff  street,  Joliet;  is  a 
native  of  this  county ;  he  was  born  in 
Joliet  Township,  on  the  20th  of  January, 
1848  ;  he  is  a  son  of  Simon  Rapple,  who 
came  to  Will  County  from  Alsace,  in  1S45  ; 


(DECEASED) 
LOCKPORT 


IK  LiOiiASY 
OF  THE 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


709 


"he  was  educated  in  the  parish  schools  of  | 
Joliet ;  he  followed  farming   until   1870, 
when  he  engaged  in  business  for  himself  j 
in  the  confectionery  trade;  in  July,  1874,  i 
he    went    to    Southwestern    Kansas   and 
opened  a  farm  and  remained   there  until 
the  summer  of  1877,  when  he  returned  to  : 
Joliet  and  engaged  in  his  present  business.  l 

HOPKINS  ROWELL,  contractor, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Hopkinton,  N.  H.. 
May  16,  1810  ;  removed,  in  infancy,  with 
his  parents,  to  Clarkson,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  i 
Y.  (then  part  of  Genesee  Co.),  and  there  j 
lived  until  he  first  came  West,  in  1834 ; 
he  followed  the  business  of  brickrnaking  i 
and  farming,  receiving  an  academic  educa 
tion  in  the  Clarkson  Academy  ;  he  came 
West,  as  an  explorer,  in  1834  and  1835, 
and  on  his  latter  visit  purchased  from  the 
Government  80  acres  of  land,  containing 
the  gravel-pit  adjoining  the  city  on  the 
east,  first  buying  the  claim  of  John  Cook, 
an  old  Revolutionary  soldier,  who  had  set- 
tled there  in  1832  ;  he  also  purchased  an- 
other tract,  of  160  acres,  near  by  ;  he  still, 
retains  his  original  purchases,  on  one  of 
which  he  began  about  twelve  years  ago  to 
develop  the  extensive  gravel-pit  above  al- 
luded to  ;  in  1847,  Mr.  Rowell  again  came 
West,  as  the  General  Agent  for  C.  H. 
McCormick  for  this  region  of  country,  in- 
cluding Wisconsin,  Northern  Indiana  and 
Northern  Illinois ;  he  was  the  first  to 
introduce  the  McCormitk  Reaper  in  Joliet, 
selling  it  to  Robert  Stevens,  Henry  D. 
Higinbotham  and  Mansfield  Wheeler  ;  this 
reaper  was  in  existence  until  a  few  years 
ago,  when  it  was  allowed  to  be  destroyed, 
much  to  Mr.  Rowell's  regret;  in  1857, 
Mr.  Rowell  located  here,  with  his  family, 
and  has  since  been  a  permanent  resident; 
he  is  the  author  of  a  pamphlet  entitled, 
"  The  Great  Resources  and  Superior  Ad- 
vantages of  Joliet,"  published  in  1871, 
of  which  20,000  copies  were  circulated, 
and  did  much  toward  bringing  the  nat- 
ural resources  of  Joliet  to  the  attention 
of  capitalists  and  others,  in  the  East ;  he 
also  furnished  numerous  articles  on  the 
subject  to  the  Eastern  papers,  besides  per- 
sonally visiting,  on  the  part  of  the  city, 
several  .of  the  Eastern  cities.  He  was 
married  in  1848,  in  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  to 
Miss  Mary  E.  Blood,  of  that  city,  and  has 
five  children — Jacob  H.,  of  Minneapolis, 
Minn.,  Annie  J.,  Nathaniel  J.,  Laura  J. 


and  S.  Jennie.  Mr.  Rowell  has  absolutely 
declined  being  a  candidate  for  any  office, 
both  before  and  since  coming  to  Joliet. 

R.  ROBERTSON,  proprietor  of  the 
Robertson  House,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Fifeshire,  on  the  Firth  of  Forth,  Scotland, 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  City  of  Edin- 
burgh, May  16,  1822  ;  he  was  raised  to 
the  business  of  flour-milling,  and,  at  the 
age  of  20  years,  came  to  America,  and 
settled  in  New  York  City  ;  there  he  en- 
gaged in  the  distillery  business,  which  he 
continued  until  1864,  and  then  came  to 
Joliet  and  purchased  the  Joliet  Distillery, 
which  he  run  for  two  years  ;  in  1872,  he 
built  the  Robertson  House,  which  burned 
down  in  1874 ;  the  following  year,  he 
erected  the  present  elegant  four-story-and- 
basement  building,  containing  seventy-two 
sleeping-rooms  above  the  office  floor,  com- 
modious and  spacious  parlors,  etc. ;  this  is 
the  largest  hotel  within  a  circuit  of  forty 
miles.  Mr.  Robertson  was  married,  previ- 
ously to  coming  to  this  country,  to  Miss 
Margaret  Duncan,  of  Alloway,  Scotland, 
and  has  six  children  living. 

ERNEST  RUDD,  farmer,  Sec.  22,  P. 
0.  Joliet;  born  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  Aug. 
24,  1854,  where  he  has  always  lived,  and 
followed  the  occupation  of  farming  upon 
the  place  where  he  now  resides;  he  owns 
50  acres  of  land,  two  and  one-half  miles 
from  Joliet,  valued  at  $60  per  acre.  Mar- 
ried Martha  M.  Miller,  May  21, 1875 ;  she 
she  was  born  in  Niagara  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March 
20, 1853  ;  they  have  two  children — George 
Sanford,  born  Dec.  12,  1876 ;  David  Clar- 
ence, born  Aug.  11,  1878. 

MRS.  PHCEBE  RUSSELL;  P.  0. 
Joliet ;  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Will 
County ;  was  born  in  Onondaga  County, 
N.  Y.,  Nov.  1,  1812.  She  is  a  daughter 
of  Benjamin  and  Phoebe  Weaver,  and 
came  to  Homer  Tp.  with  them  in  1833. 
Her  father  was  familiarly  known  as 
"  Uncle  Ben  Weaver,"  and  was  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  Homer  till  his  death  in 
March,  1872,  at  the  age  of  91  years.  Her 
mother  had  died  ten  years  previously. 
Miss  Weaver  was  first  married  Dec.  12, 
1833,  to  Chester  Ingersoll,  a  native  of 
Vermont,  who  settled  in  Will  County  in 
1828,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war.  After  their  marriage,  they 
removed  to  Chicago  and  kept  the  first 
hotel  kept  by  an  American  in  that  city ; 

5 


BKWKAFH1UAL  SKETCHES  : 


returning  after  two  years,  they  settled  in 
Plainfield ;  and,  seven  years  later,  re- 
moved to  Lockport,  thence  to  Wheatland, 
and,  in  1847,  removed  to  California;  Mr. 
Ingersoll  died  in  San  Francisco  in  Sept. 
1850,  and  Mrs.  Ingersoll  returned  with 
her  family  in  Will  County  ;  the  family  con- 
sisted of  four  children — Chester,  now  of 
Kansas  ;  Benjamin  F,,  who  served  through 
the  war,  and  now  resides  in  Joliet ;  Josiah, 
who  also  served  through  the  war,  and  died 
in  January,  1871,  from  disease  contracted 
in  the  service  of  his  country ;  and  James 
K.  P.,  now  of  this  city.  In  July,  1851, 
Mrs.  Ingersoll  married  the  late  Benjamin 
F.  Kussell,  of  Steuben  Co.,  N.  Y.,  a  native 
of  New  Hampshire ;  they  resided  in  Homer 
until  Mr.  Russell's  election  as  Circuit 
Clerk  and  Recorder  of  Will  County,  in 
1859,  and  then  they  removed  to  Joliet; 
Mr.  Russell  held  the  office  two  terms  of 
four  years  each,  making  one  of  the  most 
efficient  officers  the  county  ever  had ;  he  | 
also  held  the  office  of  Assistant  Assessor  of 
Internal  Revenue  two  terms ;  he  died  Sept. 
12,  1874,  and  in  his  death  Will  County 
lost  one  of  her  most  honored  citizens.  He 
left  three  daughters — Emily  J.,  Ida  M. 
and  Mary  W.;  but  one  of  whom  is  now 
living — Ida  May,  now  Mrs.  J.  J.  La  Fon- 
taine, of  Joliet ;  he  also  left  one  son  of  a 
former  marriage — Francis  A.,  now  of 
Michigan.  Mrs.  Russell  was  on  the  first 
stage  ever  run  from  Chicago  to  Plain- 
field,  when  there  was  but  one  house 
between  the  two  places. 

ROSITER  RUDD,  farmer,  Sec.  24 ;  P. 
0.  Joliet;  was  born  in  Lafayette,  Ind., 
Nov.  3,  1840 ;  removed  with  his  father's 
family  to  Joliet  Township,  Will  Co.,  111., 
when  1  year  old ;  he  worked  upon  his  \ 
father's  farm  until  24  years  of  age,  when 
his  father  died  and  Mr.  Rudd  became  the 
possessor  of  his  present  farm,  which  con- 
sists of  sixty  acres  of  well-improved  land, 
valued  at  $50  per  acre.  Married  Aug. 
15,  1860,  Miss  Jane  Gregg;  she  was  a 
native  of  Canada  ;  they  are  the  parents  of 
five  children — Luly,  Fayty,  Harriet,  Free- 
man and  Mansfield,  all  living  ;  Mr.  Rudd 
has  filled  the  office  of  School  Director  for 
six  years  with  entire  satisfaction. 

MOTHER  M.  FRANCIS  SHANA- 
HAN,  Joliet ;  Superior  of  the  Convent  of 
the  Sisters  of  St.  Francis  ;  is  a  native  of 
County  Limerick,  Ireland ;  when  quite 


young,  she  came  to  this  country  with  her 
parents,  who  settled  in  New  York  State, 
residing  in  Cold  Spring  and  Hudson,  and 
afterward  removed  to  Chicago ;  she  was 
educated  in  St.  Patrick's  School,  in 
Chicago,  completing  her  studies  there 
when  about  17  years  of  age  ;  she  remained 
with  her  parents  until  she  entered  into 
religion  at  the  age  of  24 ;  after  completing 
her  novitiate,  she  was  made  Directress  of 
the  school  of  St.  Boniface  in  Chicago  ;  one 
year  later,  she  was  transferred  to  Freeport, 
111.,  returning  thence  to  Chicago,  from 
which  city  she  went  to  Mansfield,  Ohio, 
as  Directress  of  St.  Peter's  School,  and  in 
June,  1877,  came  to  Joliet  as  Superior  of 
the  Convent  here ;  this  is  the  mother 
house  of  the  order  in  this  portion  of  the 
country,  having  twenty-one  missions  in 
Illinois,  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  Nebraska  and 
Missouri ;  there  are  eight  teachers  in  the 
home  institution,  five  of  whom  are 
engaged  in  teaching  in  the  academy,  and 
throe  in  Father  Gerardus'  Parochial 
School. 

W.  W.  STEVENS,  attorney  at  law, 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Oxford  Co.,  Maine, 
July  14,  1832  ;  when  he  was  but  two 
years  of  age,  his  parents  removed  to 
Dover,  thence  to  Sullivan  Co.,  N.  H., 
where  he  made  his  home  until  1 855.  He 
received  an  academic  education  at  the 
Andover  Academy,  N.  H.,  where  he  grad- 
uated in  July,  1854;  the  following  year 
he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  engaged  in 
teaching,  soon  afterward  settling  in  Joliet, 
where  he  studied  law  in  the  office  of 
Parks  &  Elwood;  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  March,  1859,  and  has  contin- 
ued the  practice  of  his  profession  ever 
since;  he  formerly  did  an  extensive  in- 
surance business,  having  the  largest  agency 
in  the  city;  but  in  1873,  he  disposed  of 
that  branch  of  his  business  to  A.  A. 
Osgood ;  he  was  elected  City  Attorney  in 
1863,  and  has  been  several  times  re- 
elected  to  the  same  office ;  he  has,  also, 
served  three  years  on  the  Board  of  School 
Inspectors.  He  was  married  Sept.  6, 
1859,  to  Miss  Althea  H.  Hawley,  daugh- 
ter of  Oscar  L.  Hawley,  one  of  the  earliest 
settlers  of  Will  Co.,  and  has  seven  children. 

HON.  HENRY  SNAPP,  attorney  at 
law,  of  the  firm  of  Snapp  &  Snapp,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June 
30,  1822 ;  when  he  was  but  3  years- 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


711 


old,  his  father's  family  removed  to  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.,and,  in  1833,  came  to  Will  Co. 
and  settled  in  what  is  known  as  "  Yankee 
Settlement,"  in  Homer  Tp.;  his  father, 
Abram  Snapp,  was  a  farmer,  a  man  of 
inflexible  will,  of  sterling  and  uncompro- 
mising integrity,  of  commanding  presence, 
and,  thSugh  of  unassuming  manners,  a 
man  of  great  talent,  and  a  highly  respected 
citizen;  he  died  in  1865,  leaving  four 
children — three  daughters  and  one  son, 
Henry,  who  inherited,  to  a  large  extent, 
the  characteristics  of  his  father ;  he 
remained  at  home,  on  the  farm,  until  he 
became  of  age,  when  he  came  to  Joliet 
and  read  law  in  the  offices  of  E.  C.  Fel-  I 
lows,  Esq.,  and  Hon.  S.  W.  Randall ;  he  | 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1843,  but  did 
not  begin  practice  until  1850;  he  started 
out  in  his  profession  with  a  determination 
to  make  an  able  lawyer  ;  he  relied  not 
upon  natural  ability,  but  applied  himself 
to  study,  and  has  been  a  close  student 
ever  since ;  being  a  ready  speaker,  and  a 
man  of  brilliant  imagination,  and  of  pro- 
nounced opinions  on  all  moral  and  political 
questions,  it  is  not  strange  that  he  should 
be  selected  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  repre- 
sent them  in  the  councils  of  state  ;  he  was 
elected  to  the  State  Senate  in  the  fall  of 
1868,  and  in  1872  resigned  the  office  to 
accept  the  nomination  as  Representative  in 
Congress,  from  the  Sixth  Congressional 
District  (now  the  Seventh);  he  was  elected 
for  the  unexpired  term  of  Hon.  B.  C. 
Cook,  who  had  resigned,  and  having  served 
out  his  term,  declining  a  renomination,  he 
returned  to  Joliet  and  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  ;  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  in  1854  he  held  the  office  of  City 
Attorney;  was  for  eight  years  a  partner 
of  Hon.  Francis  Goodspeed,  now  Judge  of 
the  Ninth  Judicial  Circuit  of  Illinois.  He 
was  married  in  January,  1847,  to  Miss 
Adeline  Broadie,  of  Joliet,  and  has  five 
children — Sarah,  wife  of  Dorrance  Dibell, 
of  Joliet ;  Elizabeth  (now  Mrs.  George  M. 
Campbell,  of  Joliet),  Henry  D.,  (engaged 
in  practice  with  his  father),  Howard  M. 
(attorney  at  law  in  Joliet),  and  Charles  D. 
C.  W.  STAEHLE,  bookbinder,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Tubingen,  Kingdom  of  Wur- 
temberg,  Germany,  March  13,  1825  ;  he 
was  educated  at  the  University  of  Tubing- 
en, and  afterward  learned  the  book- 
binder's trade,  which  he  followed  until  he 


was  26  years  of  age,  when  he  came  to  the 
United  States;  this  was  in  1851  ;  he 
spent  four  years  in  New  York  City,  work- 
ing at  different  trades,  the  last  year  as 
draughtsman  for  Elias  Howe,  the  inventor 
of  the  sewing  machine  ;  from  New  York, 
he  came  directly  to  Joliet,  and  for  eight 
years  was  engaged  as  pattern-maker  in 
Jones'  agricultural  foundry  ;  in  1 859,  he 
established  his  present  business  in  a  small 
way,  having  no  capita),  afterward  combin- 
ing the  picture-frame  business  ;  by  atten- 
tion to  business  and  the  wants  of  his 
customers,  his  business  has  steadily  in- 
creased, until  now  his  house  is  the  leading 
one  in  his  line  in  the  city.  Mr.  Staehle 
has  been  Notary  Public  for  the  past  nine 
years ;  in  1868,  he  was  elected  City  Col- 
lector, serving  one  year ;  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  School  Inspect- 
ors constantly  since  1868,  the  past  six 
years  being  Clerk  of  the  Board.  He  waf 
married  in  1849  to  Miss  Mary  Bertsch,  os 
Wurtemberg,  Germany,  and  has  seven 
children  living — Christian,  Louise,  Otto, 
Albert,  Edwin,  Fred  and  Martha. 

COL.  LORENZO  P.  SANGER  (de- 
ceased), Joliet ;  was  born  in  Littleton,  N. 
H.,  March  2,  1809.  When  but  a  small 
boy,  he  accompanied  his  father's  family  to 
Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.,  at  that  time  a  vast 
wilderness  in  the  then  Far  West,  and,  like 
other  pioneers,  could  only  obtain  the  com- 
mon log  schoolhouse  education  in  the  win- 
ter, and  in  summer  worked  on  a  farm  or 
in  a  saw-mill.  When  the  Erie  Canal 
(termed  at  that  time,  in  derision,  "  Clin- 
ton's Ditch")  was  begun, his  father,  David 
Sanger,  took  a  contract  on  the  Canal,  at 
Rochester,  and  afterward  at  Black  Rock, 
about  1824,  where  he  remained  until  the 
Erie  Canal  was  completed.  At  this  time 
but  three  steamboats  were  running  on  Lake 
Erie,  and  Lorenzo  P.  Sanger  went  on  the 
Pioneer  as  steward.  In  the  fall  of  1826, 
hisfatherremovedto  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,and 
engaged  in  heavy  contracts  on  the  Penn- 
sylvania Canal,  and  continued  until  com- 
pleted, finishing  near  Johnstown,  Lorenzo 
having  charge  of  a  part  of  the  work. 
When  about  20,  he  took  a  contract  to 
build  a  lock  near  Livermore,  Penn.,  and 
was  known  as  the  "  boy  contractor."  When 
this  was  finished,  he  went  into  the  mer- 
cantile business  at  Blairsville,  Penn.  He 
married  Rachel  Mary  Denniston,  of  Den- 


niston's  Town,  Westmoreland  Co.,  Penn., 
Feb.  3,  1830,  and,  the  same  year,  removed 
his  store  to  that  place.  About  1831,  he 
joined  J.  Noble  Nesbit  at  Freeport,  Penn., 
in  sinking  a  salt-well.  After  drilling  sev- 
eral hundred  feet,  they  struck  a  large  flow 
of  salt  water,  and  with  it  what  the  salt 
men  termed  "that  infernal  American  or 
Seneca  oil,"  since  known  as  petroleum;  and 
as  the  value  of  the  oil  was  not  then  known, 
the  well  was  abandoned  and  he  lost  all. 
From  Freeport  he  went  on  the  Beaver  Ca- 
nal and  built  a  lock  and  dam  twelve  miles 
above  Beaver,  at  the  mouth  of  Kanakanes- 
sing  Creek.  When  this  was  completed,  he 
removed  to  Miamisport,  Ind.,  and  engaged 
in  heavy  contracts  on  the  Indiana  Canal. 
His  work  was  on  the  Indian  Reservation, 
and  was  completed  amid  many  discourage- 
ments, the  country  being  almost  a  wilder- 
ness and  very  unhealthy.  In  1835,  he 
started  in  the  then  fashionable  way  of 
traveling,  viz.,  on  horseback,  to  St.  Joseph, 
Mich.,  and  joined  Gen.  Hart  L.  Stewart, 
now  of  Chicago,  in  merchandising  and 
warehouse  business,  and  steamboating  on 
the  St.  Joseph  River.  At  the  letting  of  the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  in  June,  1836, 
Stewart,  Sanger  &  Wallace  contracted  to  dig 
Sections  156  and  157,  on  the  heavy  rock  ex- 
cavation above  Lockport,  111.  The  next 
season,  he  removed  permanently  to  Illinois, 
and  followed  the  Canal  to  La  Salle,  where 
he  built  lock  No.  15.  He  next  formed  a 
company  and  took  the  contract  to  improve 
the 'rapids  of  Rock  River  at  Sterling,  111. 
In  March,  1843,  he  joined  Smith  Gal- 
braith  in  a  line  of  stages  from  Chicago  to 
Galena,  via  Dixon,  and  the  next  year  pur- 
chased Galbraith's  interest.  While  at  Ga- 
lena, he  was  elected  State  Senator.  In 
1847,  Frink  &  Walker,  Sanger  &  Co.,  Da- 
vis &  Moore,  and  Neil,  Moore  &  Co.  united 
and  formed  the  Northwestern  Stage  Co., 
embracing  Michigan,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wis- 
consin, Iowa  and  Missouri,  Mr.  Sanger 
removing  to  St.  Louis  and  taking  charge 
of  the  western  division  until  1851,  at 
which  time  the  firm  of  Sanger,  Camp  & 
Co.  contracted  to  build  the  western  division 
of  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad,  after 
completing  which,  Sanger,  Stewart  & 
Truesdail  took  the  contract  for  building 
the  North  Missouri  Railroad  from  St.  Louis 
to  Macon,  Mo.  Both  of  these  roads  were 
heavy  enterprises,  through  comparatively 


new  countries,  and  involved  the  engaging 
of  hundreds  of  subcontractors.  Both 
have  become"  important  trunk  lines.  In 
1857,  the  State  of  Illinois  let  to  Lorenzo 
P.  Sanger  and  Samuel  K.  Casey,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Sanger  &  Casey,  the  con- 
tract to  build  the  State  Penitentiary  at 
Joliet,  and  in  June,  1858,  leased  to  them 
the  convict  labor  of  the  State,  the  convicts 
being  then  confined  in  the  Penitentiary  at 
Alton,  the  commerce  and  discipline  of  the 
latter  being  in  charge  of  W.  A.  Steel  until 
July,  1860,  when  the  last  of  the  convicts 
were  removed  by  him  to  the  new  Peniten- 
tiary at  Joliet.  During  the  last  named 
year,  he  removed  to  Joliet,  and,  in  1862,  to 
a  farm  one  mile  northwest  of  the  city. 
Having,  during  his  busy  life,  been  the  em- 
ployer of  tens  of  thousands  of  men,  and 
the  nation  at  this  time  being  in  the  midst 
of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  President  Lin- 
coln wrote  to  Gov.  Yates  to  send  Mr. 
Sanger  a  commission  as  Colonel  and  request 
him  to  join  the  army  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky  for  staff  duty  or  whatever  his 
health  would  enable  him  to  do.  This  was 
done,  and  Col.  Sanger  immediately  threw 
up  his  business  and  joined  the  army  in 
Kentucky,  where  he  remained  until  his 
health  was  almost  entirely  gone,  when  he 
was  compelled  to  return  home  in  a  prostra- 
ted condition,  from  which  he  never  fully 
recovered.  In  1865,  Col.  Sauger  and  W. 
A.  Steel,  under  the  firm  name  of  Sanger 
&  Steel,  opened  quarries  north  of  and  ad- 
jacent to  Joliet,  which  proved  to  be  the 
best  limestone  yet  found  in  America,  and 
which  they  developed  into  a  very  large 
business,  employing  from  three  to  four 
hundred  men  and  a  hundred  horses,  the 
canal  and  railroad  also  passing  through 
their  works.  Though  Missouri,  Wiscon- 
sin, Michigan,  Indiana  and  Illinois  patron- 
ized their  works  largely,  the  United  States 
Government  was  their  heaviest  customer 
for  material  to  build  the  Rock  Island  Ar- 
senal. Marine  Hospital  in  Chicago,  Custom 
Houses  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  and  Madison, 
Wis.,  etc.  The  same  year,  1865,  Sanger, 
Steel  &  Co.  took  the  contract  to  deepen 
the  twenty-one  rock  sections  of  the  Illinois 
&  Michigan  Canal.  This  was  to  remove 
solid  limestone  sixty  feet  wide  and  ten  feet 
deep,  the  object  being  to  remove  perma- 
nently the  lift-lock  in  Chicago  and  Jack's 
lock  near  Lockport.  Col.  Sanger  died  in 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


713 


Oakland,  Cal.,  where  he  had  gone  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health,  on  March  23,  1875, 
and  was  buried  in  Oakwood  Cemetery  in 
Joliet.  He  had  three  children — Maj.  W. 
D.  Sanger,  who  served  as  an  aid  on  Gen. 
Sherman's  staff  in  the  late  war,  and  died 
in  St.  Louis  in  November,  1873;  Frances 
Louise,  wife  of  Hon.  W.  A.  Steel,  of  Jol- 
iet, and  Henry  A.  Sanger,  now  of  Flor- 
ence, Ala.  Col.  Sanger,  although  a  man 
of  unyielding  purpose  and  rugged  charac- 
ter, was  kind-hearted  in  his  public  dealings, 
and  exceedingly  tender  in  the  private  and 
domestic  relations  of  life. 

HON.  W.  A.  STEEL,  proprietor  of  the 
Joliet  Stone  Quarries,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Blairsville,  Penn.,  Oct.  11,  1836;  his 
father,  Hon.  Stewart  Steel,  was  a  lawyer  of 
eminence  in  that  State ;  Mr.  Steel,  when 
about  1 7  years  of  age,  spent  a  short  time 
in  mercantile  business  in  Cumberland,  Md., 
an'd  Pittsburgh,  Penn. ;  in  1855,  he  came 
West  and  spent  a  short  time  in  Joliet  on 
his  way  to  Missouri,  where  he  built  six 
miles  of  the  North  Missouri  Railroad,  and 
there  made  his  first  start  in  a  business 
career  which  has  been  so  eminently  suc- 
cessful ;  in  1857,  he  returned  to  Joliet, 
which  since  that  time  has  been  his  perma- 
nent home.  He  became  cashier  for  Messrs. 
Sanger  &  Casey,  who  had  just  obtainedthe 
contract  for  building  the  State  Peniten- 
tiary. In  1858,  he  went  to  Alton  as  Dep- 
uty Warden  of  the  State  Penitentiary  ; 
then  located  in  that  city,  the  Warden  be- 
ing Samuel  K.  Casey,  who  resided  in  Joli- 
et, and  remained  in  the  sole  charge  of  the 
commerce  and  discipline  of  that  institution 
until  July,  1860,  at  which  time  he  re- 
moved the  last  of  the  convicts  to  the  new 
institution  at  Joliet ;  he  then  entered  the 
law  office  of  Judge  Newton  D.  Strong,  of 
St.  Louis,  having  previously  pursued  his 
law  studies  in  private  ;  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  St.  Louis  on  the  4th  of  April, 
1861.  On  the  breaking-out  of  the  rebell- 
ion, he  engaged  in  the  construction  of 
four  monitors  for  the  Government,  viz. : 
the  Tuscumbia,  Indianola,  Chillicothe  and 
the  Etlah,  the  last  being  a  full-blooded 
monitor ;  he  afterward  enrolled  a  battalion 
of  450  men,  called  the  National  Iron 
Works  Battalion  ;  was  commissioned  Major 
and  placed  in  command  of  the  battalion, 
and  stationed  in  St.  Louis  for  the  defense 
of  that  city,  where  he  remained  until  after 


the  close  of  the  war.     In  July,  1865,  Mr. 
Steel  engaged  witJi  his  father-in-law,  Col. 
Lorenzo  P.  Sanger,  in  opening  his  present 
extensive  quarries,  the  largest  in  the  coun- 
try, the  firm  being  Sanger  &  Steel,  and  so 
continued  till  March   1,   1871,  when  he 
purchased   Mr.  Sanger's  interest,   and  is 
now  the  sole  proprietor.  Among  the  prom- 
inent buildings  for  which  Mr.  Steel  has 
furnished  the  stone  may  be  mentioned  the 
Custom-houses  at  Madison,  Wis.  and  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  about  sixty  Court  Houses 
and  Jails  in  Illinois,  Indiana  and  Michigan, 
among   them   the    new    Court    House  at 
Rockford,  111.,  the  finest  in  the  State  out- 
side of  Chicago,  and  the  St.  Louis  Four 
Courts ;    the    Government    buildings    at 
Rock  Island,  for  which  he  furnished  fully 
30,000    car-loads    of  stone ;    the  railroad 
bridge  over  the  Mississippi  River  at  Du- 
buque,  the  United  States  Marine  Hospital 
at  Chicago,  and  a  portion  of  the  stone  for 
new  State  Capitols  of  Illinois  and  Michi- 
gan, besides  which  are  churches  and  private 
I  buildings  without  number.     Stone  from  his 
quarries  is  to  be  found  in  the  cemeteries 
'  throughout  all  of  the  Northwestern  States. 
Besides  his  quarry  interests,  he  sank  and 
,  worked  the  first  shafts  in  the  Wilmington 
coal  region.     In  March,   1870,  Mr.  Steel 
was  licensed  to  practice  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the   State,  and  on  the  22d   of 
April  following,  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  and  in  the  United  States 
Court  of  Claims,  Jan.  10,  1871  ;  he  has 
not  followed  the  practice  of  the  law  except 
in  the  United  States  Courts  at  Washing- 
ton, and  then  only  attending  the  cases  of 
himself  and  friends.     He  led  the  move- 
ment which  procured  the  passage  of  an  act  of 
the   Legislature    empowering  the  city  of 
Joliet  to  make  an  appropriation  for  the 
building   of  the  Joliet   Iron    and    Steel 
Works,   the  largest  in   this  country,  and 
with   two   exceptions,  the  largest  in   the 
world ;  this  was  accomplished  in  the  face 
of  the  most  violent  opposition,  not  the  least 
being  the  Governor's  veto.     He  was  mar- 
ried Jan.  16,  1862,  to  Miss  Frances  Louise 
Sanger,  daughter  of  the  late  Col.  Lorenzo 
P.  Sanger,  of  Joliet,  and  has  three  children 
— Sanger  (now  a  student  in  Racine  Col- 
lege), Louise  and  Frances.     Mr.  Steel  has 
collected  a  very  valuable  library  of  6,000 
volumes,  including  works  on  law,  medicine, 
theology,  science  and   general   literature, 


714 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


among  which  are  many  old  and  rare  vol-  ! 
umes,  some  of  which  were  printed  as  long 
ago  as  1537  ;  a  further  notice  of  this 
library  may  be  found  in  the  history  of  the 
city,  in  another  part  of  this  work  ;  he  also 
inaugurated  the  first  public  library  in  Jol- 
iet,  in  1867.  Mr.  Steel  was  first  elected 
Mayor  of  Joliet  in  1869,  and  has  three 
times  since  been  elected  to  the  same  office. 

HENRY  SCHIEK,  dealer  in  wines 
and  liquors,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Carlsruhe, 
Baden  Baden,  Germany,  Oct.  25,  1842 ; 
in  1848,  the  family  came  to  America  and 
located  in  Frankfort  Tp.,  Will  Co. ;  here 
he  grew  to  manhood,  and  was  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits  for  about  twenty-six 
years;  in  1874,  he  moved  to  Joliet  and 
engaged  in  his  present  occupation.  He 
was  married  March  12,  1866,  to  Henrietta 
Mueller,  a  native  of  Germany ;  has  three 
children — Matilda,  Emma,  Edward.  Owns 
120  acres  in  Frankfort  Tp. 

ROBERT  L.  SEWARD,  retired  farmer; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Otsego  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  in  1828 ;  his  early  life  was  that  of  a 
farmer's  son  ;  he  enjoyed  the  advantages  of 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  State ;  in 
1847,  he  began  the  trade  of  wagon-making 
in  Portlandville,  on  the  Susquehanna  River, 
and  worked  under  instructions  three  years ; 
in  August^  1850,  he  came  West  to  Illinois, 
and  first  engaged  in  working  for  Rodney 
House,  and  continued  with  him  two  years  ; 
he  then  engaged  in  carpentering  about  one 
year,  and,  in  1854,  purchased  a  farm  in 
New  Lenox  Tp.,  and  followed  agricultural 
pursuits  about  eleven  years  ;  in  1865,  hav- 
ing sold  out,  he  moved  to  Jackson  Tp., 
where  he  farmed  six  years;  in  1871,  he 
moved  to  Joliet,  and  has  since  not  been 
actively  engaged  in  business,  except  some 
transactions  in  real  estate  and  loaning 
money.  He  was  married  in  April,  1853, 
to  Sarah  M.  Moore,  a  native  of  Otsego  Co., 
N.  Y. ;  she  died  in  January,  1859.  His 
second  marriage,  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Ger- 
man, was  celebrated  in  June,  1861 ;  her 
maiden  name  was  Brown,  a  daughter  of 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Will  Co.  From 
the  first  wedlock  two  children  were  born — 
Eugene  W.,  of  Russell  Co.,  Kan. ;  Cora 
S.  His  father  came  with  him  to  Illinois, 
and  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  89  years. 

CHARLES  H.  SUTPHEN,  retired; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Cherry  Valley, 
Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  15,  1806;  hi.s 


father,  Gilbert  Sutphen,  was  a  native  of 
New  Jersey,  and  was  of  Dutch  and  Irish 
descent,  his  father,  John  Sutphen,  having 
come  from  Holland  some  time  before  the 
Revolutionary  war,  and  his  mother  being 
of  one  of  the  first  families  of  Dublin,  and 
came  with  her  parents  to  America  and  set- 
tled in  New  Jersey  about  the  same  time. 
Shortly  after  the  Revolutionary  war  the 
family  removed  to  Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y., 
and  settled  on  a  farm  about  four  miles 
south  of  the  village;  on  this  farm  Gilbert 
Sutphen,  the  father  of  Charles  H.,  grew  to 
manhood,  and  married  Mary  Higinbotham 
in  Worcester,  Otsego  Co. ;  she  was  of 
English  descent,  born  in  Rhode  Island, 
and  removed  to  Worcester,  N.  Y.  with  her 
parents  when  quite  young.  After  their 
marriage,  Mr.  Sutphen's  parents  continued 
to  reside  in  Cherry  Valley  until  the  break- 
ing-out of  the  war  of  1812;  his  father 
was  called  upon  to  help  defend  his  country, 
and  joining  the  army,  fell  at  the  battle  of 
Lundy's  Lane;  his  family  consisted  of 
five  children — Julia  Ann,  Mary  Ann, 
Charles  H.,  Sarah  and  Jane,  of  whom  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  only  one  now 
living.  After  his  father's  death,  Charles 
H.,  then  8  years  of  age,  was  sent  to  live 
with  his  grandfather,  Higinbotham,  in 
Cazenovia,  Madison  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  re- 
mained two  years,  attending  school  a  por- 
tion of  the  time ;  he  afterward  lived  three 
years  with  one  James  Cagwin  in  the  same 
county  ;  his  mother  then  marrying  Thomas 
South  worth,  of  Sherburne,  Chenango  Co., 
N.  Y.,  he  lived  on  the  farm  with  them 
until  the  age  of  21,  with  the  exception  of 
one  year  spent  in  attending  an  academy ; 
his  health  being  impaired,  he,  on  the 
advice  of  a  physician,  went  to  Boston,  and 
took  a  voyage  on  a  cod-fishing  vessel  up 
the  Straits ;  returning  with  his  health 
somewhat  improved,  he  shipped'  as  Cap- 
tain's clerk  with  Capt.  Law  on  board  the 
ship  Concordia  in  the  merchant  service, 
making  one  voyage,  and  on  his  return  to 
Boston,  Capt.  Law  obtained  him  a  situation 
in  the  Custom-house  as  messenger  to  the 
Surveyor  of  Customs — Elbridge  Gerry, 
son  of  the  late  Elbridge  Gerry,  Governor 
of  Massachusetts  and  late  Vice  President 
ot  the  United  States  ;  in  this  office  he  re- 
mained two  years,  spending  his  evenings  in 
the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge.  Mr. 
Gerry  then  secured  him  a  situation  in  the 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


715 


Pay  Department   of    the   U.    S.    Army, 
where  he  remained  eight  years,  or  until 
Sept.  1,  1834.      He  was  married  in  1831 
to  Elizabeth  H.  Dow,  of  Boston,  and,  in 
April,  1834,  came  to  Illinois  and  selected 
A   claim    at   the    head    of    Indian    Creek   ! 
(timber),  in  La  Salle  Co. ;   on  a  portion  of  i 
his  claim  now  stands  the  village  of  Earl-  j 
ville  ;  he  returned  for  his  family  in  May ;   ' 
left  the  army  office  Sept.  1,  and  started  for 
Illinois,  arriving  safely  with  his  family  in  i 
his  new  home  in  October,  1834  ;  he  built  | 
a    double    log  house   on  the  site   of   the  < 
present  village  of  Earlville  and   went  to 
farming ;    in    1835,    the   land   came   into 
market,     and,    in     1839,    he    purchased  i 
1,000   acres,   and  occupied  it  as  a  stock  i 
farm  for  over  twenty  years;  in  1853,  he  ; 
built  a  large  brick  house  near  where  the  | 
log  one  stood ;  he   was   one   of  the  first  j 
Justices  of  the  Peace  in  Indian  Precinct,  j 
Earl  Tp.,  and  held  the  office  continuously 
for  fifteen  years,  when  he  resigned  ;  he  was 
also   Postmaster   of    Earlville    for    seven 
years ;    he   held    many    other    prominent 
offices,  including  that  of  Supervisor  from 
that  town.      He  had  a  family  of  six  sons 
and  three  daughters.     Charles  T.  Sutphen 
was  the  first  white  male  child  born  in  the 
township  ;  he  and  Albert  are  in  California  ; 
George    is   in   Aurora,  111.,  Frederick   in 
Missouri,  and  Gilbert  and  William  are  in 
Iowa.     Sarah  married  S.   Cook,  of  Earl, 
now   deceased.     Carrie    T.   was    the    first 
white  female  child  born  in  the  township, 
and  married  W.  H.  Graham,  of  St.  Louis. 
Mary   married   O.    S.    Gray,  of  Ottawa. 
They  are  now  both  deceased.      Mr.  Sut- 
phen's  wife  died  April  6,  1870,  and,  in 
1871,  he  removed  to  Joliet,  where  he  still 
resides,  and  married  the  widow  of  the  late 
H.  D.  Higinbotham. 

DR.  GEORGE  B.  SALTER,  dentist, 
Joliet;  came  to  Joliet  in  1860;  he  was 
born  in  Stark  Co.,  Ohio,  Oct.  6,  1837 ;  in 
1845,  his  parents  removed  to  Monroe, 
Mich.,  and  there  he  lived  until  1857,  when 
he  went  to  Freeport,  111.,  and  there  learned 
dentistry  ;  in  1859,  he  removed  to  White- 
water, Wis.,  and  one  year  later  came  to 
Joliet,  as  above  stated,  and  has  practiced 
dentistry  here  ever  since ;  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  State  Dental  Association 
since  1867,  and  in  1877,  was  a  delegate  to 
the  American  Dental  Association.  He 
served  one  term  as  Vice  President  of  the 


Joliet  Library  and  Historical  Society.  He 
was  married  Jan.  13,  1864,  to  Miss  Mat- 
tie  Ellis,  of  Whitewater,  Wis.,  and  has 
one  daughter,  Viola  B. 

HON.  ANTON  SCHEIDT,  dealer  in 
hardware,  tinware,  stoves  and  house-fur- 
nishing goods  (Scheldt  &  Smith),  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  Schoenenburg,  Alsace,  France, 
Jan.  30,  1827 ;  in  1849,  he  came  to  the 
United  States ;  spent  one  year  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  then  came  West,  re- 
maining a  short  time  in  Chicago,  and  com- 
ing to  Joliet  in  1850 ;  the  first  two  years 
he  worked  in  a  wagon  and  plow  shop  in 
Homer  Tp.,  and  in  April,  1852,  was 
married  to  Elizabeth  Palmer,  of  Joliet, 
who  was  born  in  Harthaem,  in  the  King- 
dom of  Baden,  Germany,  in  1824,  by 
whom  he  has  four  children  ;  the  same  year 
(1852),  he  built  the  Chicago  House,  on 
Bluff  St.,  and  kept  it  as  a  boarding-house 
until  1862.  In  1857,  he  entered  into 
partnership  with  Sebastian  Stephen  in  the 
brewery  business ;  in  1862,  he  purchased 
his  partner's  interest,  enlarged  the  brew- 
ery, and  run  it  until  1874,  when  he  leased 
it  to  Henry  Eider,  the  present  occupant. 
In  187 5,  he  entered  upon  his  present  busi- 
ness, with  his  son-in-law,  Paul  Smith ; 
besides  their  regular  line  of  hardware  busi- 
ness, they  are  large  contractors  and  manu- 
facturers of  all  kinds  of  galvanized-iron 
work,  etc.  Mr.  Scheldt  has  served  eleven 
years  on  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  being 
first  elected  in  1861  ;  in  1874,  he  was 
chosen  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Joliet,  holding 
the  office  one  year ;  he  has  also  served 
three  terms  on  the  Board  of  Supervisors. 

JOSEPH  STEPHEN,  manufacturer 
and  dealer  in  harness,  saddles,  etc.,  Joliet , 
is  a  son  of  John  Stephens,  who  came"  to 
Joliet  in  1846,  and  is  now  a  resident  of 
this  city;  he  was  born  in  Grassendorf, 
Alsace,  France,  Feb.  17,  1837,  and  came, 
with  his  father's  family,  to  this  country  in 
1845,  and,  after  spending  one  year  in 
Ohio,  came  to  Joliet  as  above  stated ;  he 
learned  his  trade  of  a  harness-maker  with 
John  Bergen,  in  Joliet,  completing  his 
apprenticeship  when  he  was  15  years  old, 
after  which  he  worked  at  his  trade  in 
various  places  in  this  State  and  Iowa 
for  six  years ;  he  then  went  to  Waco, 
Texas,  where  he  remained  till  the  break- 
ing-out of  the  rebellion,  when  he  found 
himself  obliged  to  either  take  sides  with 


the  South  or  leave  the  .  country ;  he 
chose  the  latter  alternative,  and  returned 
to  Joliet;  in  the  fall  of  1861 ,  he  began  his 
present  business.  He  was  married  Nov. 
12,  1861,  to  Miss  Antonette  Helmel,  who 
was  born  in  Rinough,  Alsace,  Aug.  4, 
1832,  and  came  to  this  country,  with  her 
parents,  in  early  childhood ;  they  have 
five  children  :  Lottie  L.,  Oscar  J.,  Ed- 
mund R.,  Herman  and  Bertram.  Mr. 
Stephen  is  at  present  School  Trustee,  to 
which  office  he  was  elected  in  April,  1877. 

JOHN  SCHEIDT,  manufacturer  and 
dealer  in  pure  candies  and  dealer  in  fruits, 
nuts,  etc.,  Joliet ;  was  born  near  Stras- 
bourg, Alsace,  Jan.  1,  1829 ;  he  came  to 
this  .country  at  the  age  of  15,  with  his 
parents,  who  settled  in  Bloom,  Cook  Co., 
111. ;  he  continued  to  reside  in  Bloom  un- 
til 1856,  when  he  came  to  Joliet,  and  kept 
a  boarding-house  up  to  1864,  after  which 
he  engaged  in  his  trade  of  a  carpenter. 
He  was  elected  City  Marshal  in  1863,  and 
served  two  years  ;  he  has  twice  been  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  is 
now  on  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  having 
been  elected  in  April,  1878.  Mr.  Scheldt 
erected  his  store  and  established  his  pres- 
ent business  in  1877.  He  was  married 
Aug.  6,  1850,  to  Miss  Catherine  Clos,  of 
Crete  Tp. ;  she  was  born  in  Prussia  Feb. 
22,  1831,  and  came  to  Will  Co.,  with  her 
parents,  in  1840 ;  they  have  nine  children — 
Frank  A.,  Mary  A.,  John,  Peter  A., 
Michael,  Edward,  Henry  B.,  George  and 
Katrina  A. 

G.  SCHULTE,  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  Wochenblatt fur  Nord-lttinois,  Joliet ; 
was  born  in  the  Province  of  Westphalia, 
Germany.  Feb.  25,  1841 ;  he  was  educated 
as  a  civil  engineer  in  the  Academy  of  Ber- 
lin, where  he  graduated  in  1862  ;  in  1865,   j 
he  came  to  America,  and  for  two  years  was  \ 
connected  with    the  Abend  Zeitung,  Chi- 
cago ;  he  was  then  engaged  for  a  year  as 
a  civil  engineer  on  the  Hell  Gate  excava-  ' 
tions  in   the  East  River,   New  York  ;  he   j 
then  returned   to    Chicago,  and    was  em-  \ 
ployed  by  Cook  Co.   for  three  years  as  a 
civil  engineer  in  the    preparation  of  the  j 
"  Cook  County  Atlas  ;"  then,  after  spending 
a  short  time  on  the  Illinois  Stoats  Zeitung,  \ 
he  came  to  Joliet  and  purchased  the  Woch-  • 
enblatt,  a  live  German   newspaper,  estab-  \ 
lished  in  November,  1877,  and  having  a  j 
circulation  of  some  two  thousand  copies. 


J.  B.  SOLLITT,  Jr.,  Deputy  Sheriff  of 
Will  Co.,  Joliet;  was  born  in  Yorkshire, 
England,  Sept.  9,  1843;  when  he  was 
about  6  years  old,  his  parents  came  to  this 
country  and  settled  in  Chicago,  where  they 
resided  until  1855  ;  they  then  came  to  Will 
Co.  and  settled  in  the  township  of  Will,  be- 
ing among  the  early  settlers  of  that  town- 
ship ;  they  now  reside  in  Peotone  ;  Mr.  Sol- 
litt  followed  farming  until  March,  1877, 
when  he  engaged  in  business  in  Peotone ;  in 
March,  1878,  he  was  appointed  to  his 
present  position.  He  was  married  Feb. 
26,  1868,  to  Miss  Jennie  E.  Sollitt,  of 
Chicago,  and  has  three  children  living — 
Delia  E.,  Elmer  A.  and  Beatrice  V.  In 
1874,  Mr.  Sollitt  was  elected  Supervisor, 
and  served  three  years,  until  his  removal 
from  the  town,  when  he  resigned  the  office  -r 
he  served  nearly  three  years  as  Township 
Treasurer,  two  years  as  Commissioner  of 
Highways  and  about  three  year,s  as  School 
Director. 

HON.  W.  A. STRONG,  President  of  the 
Joliet  Gas- Light  Co.,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Waterloo,  Seneca  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  3, 1828  ; 
he  made  his  home  there  until  1850,  when 
he  came  to  Illinois,  settling  in  Joliet,  where 
he  shortly  afterward  engaged  in  the  hard- 
ware business  ;  in  1863,  he  was  elected 
Mayor  of  the  city  of  Joliet,  holding  the 
office  one  year ;  he  has  served  several  years 
as  member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  ; 
he  was  at  one  time  engaged  in  the  stone- 
quarrying  business,  the  firm  being  Strong 
&  Davidson,  and  owning  and  operating  the 
quarry  formerly  known  as  the  Wilson 
Quarry  ;  he  continued  this  business  three 
years ;  in  1865,  he  was  elected  President 
of  the  Joliet  Gas-Light  Co.,  which  had 
been  organized  in  1858. 

FREDERICK  SEHRING,  proprietor 
of  the  Columbia  Brewery,  Joliet;  has  lived 
in  Will  Co.  since  1847 ;  he  came  with 
his  parents  from  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Ger- 
many, where  he  was  born  on  the  19th  of 
December,  1834;  the  family  settled  first  in 
Frankfort  Tp.,  and,  in  1854,  came  to  Jol- 
iet and  engaged  in  the  hotel  business  ;  Mr. 
Sehring  remained  in  the  hotel  until  1860, 
when  he  entered  the  office  of  the  Circuit 
Clerk  as  Deputy  under  B.  F.  Russell ;  in 
1863,  he  was  elected  Treasurer  of  Will 
Co.,  and  re-elected  in  1865  ;  in  1868,  he 
purchased  the.  Columbia  Brewery,  which 
he  has  since  remodeled,  putting  in  steam- 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


71T 


power  and  all  the  modern  improved  ma- 
chinery ;  it  is  now  one  of  the  largest  and 
finest  breweries  in  the  State,  outside  of 
Chicago  ;  Mr.  Sehring  has  been  Alderman 
from  the  Second  Ward  for  the  past  five 
years.  He  was  married  Jan.  16,  1865,  to 
Miss  Louise  Bez,  of  Wurtemberg,  Ger- 
many, and  has  seven  children  living — Su- 
san E.,  Louis  J.,  Margaret,  Henry,  Her- 
man F.,  Annie  and  George. 

P.  SHUTTS,  of  the  firm  of  Zarley 
&  Co.,  publishers  of  the  Joliet  Signal, 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Ulster  Co.,  N.  Y. 
Oct.  7,  1849;  when  he  was  about  5  years 
of  age,  he  accompanied  his  parents  to  Co- 
lumbia Co.,  N.  Y.,  when  they  spent  a  year 
in  preparation  for  their  departure  for  the 
West ;  in  1855,  they  came  to  Will  Co.,  and 
settled  about  two  and  a  half  miles  south- 
east of  Joliet;  Mr.  Shutts  received  an 
English  education  in  the  old  Babylon  stone 
schoolhouse,  and  in  the  fall  of  1872,  en- 
tered the  Signal  office  to  learn  the  print- 
er's trade.  He  became  one  of  the  propri- 
etors in  March,  1876. 

D.  Y.  SMITH,  foreman  of  the  car  re- 
pairs, Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad,  Joliet; 
was  born  in  Fallsbury,  Sullivan  Co., 
N.  Y.,  June  9,  1833 ;  he  remained  on  the 
farm  until  he  was  16  years  old,  and  then 
learned  the  carriage  and  sleigh  making 
business,  which  he  followed  until  1856, 
he  then  went  to  Scranton,  Pa.,  and  was 
employed  for  a  year  in  the  car  shops  of  the 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western  Railroad 
Co., from  which  place  he  went  to  Dubuque, 
Iowa,  in  the  car  department  of  the  Du- 
buque &  Pacific  Railroad  Co.  (now  the 
Illinois  Central)  ;  in  July,  1860,  he  came 
to  Joliet,  and  was  employed  under  the 
master  mechanic  until  1863,  when  he  be- 
came foreman  of  the  car  repairs,  which 
position  he  still  occupies.  He  was  married 
Jan.  21,  1863,  to  Mrs.  R.  E.  Tullock,  of 
Joliet ;  she  is  a  native  of  Delaware  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  and  has  been  a  resident  of  Joliet  for 
the  past  thirty-three  years ;  they  have  one 
daughter — Zuleika  Y.  Mrs.  Smith  has 
also  three  children  of  her  former  marriage 
— Jannette  A.  Tullock  (now  Mrs.  Hurd), 
Avalena  (wife  of  L.  P.  Baker,  of  Winter- 
set,  Iowa)  and  George  A.,  of  Joliet. 

F.  G.  SMITH,  carriage  manufacturer, 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Walpole  Co.,  N.  H., 
May  1,  1837  ;  when  he  was  about  12  years 
of  age,  he  removed  with  his  parents  to 


Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.;  at  the  age  of  13,  he 
entered  his  father's  carriage  manufactory, 
and  there  thoroughly  learned  every  branch 
of  the  carriage  business,  which  he  con- 
tinued in  Essex  Co.  until  1876,  when  he 
came  to  Joliet ;  he  first  located  at  54  and 
56  Bluff  street,  and  recently  removed  to 
Van  Buren  street,  opposite  the  Episcopal 
Church  ;  he  was  the  first  to  introduce  the 
Concord  side-spring  in  Joliet,  and  is  also 
the  sole  manufacturer  in  this  city  of  the 
New  Empire  cross-spring  buggy.  Mr. 
Smith  was  married  in  October,  1855,  to 
Miss  Abbie  R.  -  — ,  of  Mont- 

pelier;  she  died  in  March,  1875,  leaving 
one  son,  Franklin  A.,  now  engaged  with 
his  lather.  He  was  married  again  Oct.  1 1 , 
1877,  to  Miss  Ella  A.  Hay  wood,  of  Will 
Co. 

JOHN  I.  ST.  JULIEN,  manufacturer 
and  dealer  in  harness,  saddles  etc.,  Joliet; 
was  born  near  Strasbourg,  Alsace,  on  the 
15th  of  February,  1840;  in  the  fall  of 
1854,  he  came  to  this  country  in  company 
with  his  uncle,  who  settled  in  Naperville, 
Du  Page  Co.,  111.;  he  remained  with  his 
uncle  two  years,  and  in  1856.  came  to 
Joliet,  and  learned  the  harness  maker's  trade 
with  Henry  Schrader,  and  worked  at  that 
until  May,  1870,  when  he  started  in  busi- 
ness for  himself.  He  was  married  Oct.  6, 
1869,  to  Miss  Helen  Stephen,  daughter  of 
John  Stephen,  of  Joliet,  who  came  in 
infancy  with  her  parents  from  Alsace  ;  they 
have  four  children — Albert  J.,  Frank  E., 
Adelia  M.  and  Ida  L. 

CONRAD  SCHWEIZER,  wholesale 
dealer  in  wines  and  liquors,  Joliet ;  is  a 
native  of  Switzerland  ;  he  was  born  Nov. 
25,  1838,  and  resided  there  until  1859, 
when  he  came  to  the  United  States,  com- 
ing direct  to  Joliet ;  he  had  previously 
learned  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  and,  after 
reaching  Joliet,  he  followed  carpentering 
and  farming  till  1863,  when  he  went  to 
California  and  remained  until  the  spring  of 
1870  ;  while  there  he  was  engaged  in  min- 
ing and  working  at  his  trade;  on  his 
return  to  Joliet,  he  engaged  in  his  present 
business. 

JOSEPH  STOOS,  retired,  Joliet ;  wu* 
born  near  Strasbourg,  Alsace,  May  28, 
1826 ;  his  father  was  an  extensive  con- 
tractor, employing  as  many  as  300  men  ; 
his  son  Joseph  remained  at  home  and 
learned  thoroughly  every  branch  of  the 


i  10 


"builder's  art;  in  1855,  he  came  to  America, 
locating  at  once  in  Joliet ;  he  followed  his 
trade  here  for  about  two  years  when  he 
began  contracting  for  himself;  he  did  the 
carpenter  work  on  St.  John  the  Baptist's 
Church,  and  superintended  the  building  of 
Porter's  brewery,  Werner's  Hall,  the  Jeff- 
erson Street  Bridge  and  Scheldt's  brewery, 
besides  erecting  over  two  hundred  other 
buildings  in  Joliet,  which  stand  as  monu- 
ments of  his  skill ;  in  1876,  having  ac- 
quired a  comfortable  fortune,  he  retired  to 
give  place  to  younger  men  and  those  more 
needy  of  employment.  Mr.  Stoos  has 
served  two  years  in  the  City  Council  of 
Joliet.  He  was  married  Feb.  29,  1857, 
to  Miss  Mary  Hossinger,  who  was  born 
near  Strasbourg  Dec.  14,  1837,  and  came 
to  this  country  with  her  parents  when  8 
years  of  age.  They  have  had  eight  chil- 
dren, four  of  whom  are  living — Theresa 
A.,  Mary  E.,  Josephine  M.  and  Alfred  P. 
MRS.  MAGDALENA  STEPHEN, 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Schoenenburg,  Can- 
ton Sultz,  Alsace,  Feb.  24,  1826 ;  she  is  a 
daughter  of  Peter  and  Barbara  Weishaar, 
and  came  to  this  country  with  her  parents, 
who  settled  in  Madison,  Cook  Co.,  Til.,  in 
1844;  her  father  died  April  15, 1862;  her 
mother  is  still  living  in  the  full  possession 
of  her  health  and  faculties,  at  the  age  of 
88  years ;  she  was  married  July  12,  1851, 
to  Michael  Blattner,  of  Madison.  He  was 
a  native  of  Schoenenburg,  Alsace,  and 
came  to  this  country  at  the  same  time  with 
the  Weishaar  family ;  he  died  Oct.  2, 1852, 
leaving  one  daughter,  Mary  Philomena, 
wife  of  Dr.  John  Scheuber,  of  Fond  du 
Lac,  Wis.  On  the  14th  of  July,  1853, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  married  the  late 
Sebastian  Stephen,  an  early  and  respected 
citizen  of  Joliet.  He  was  born  in  Dower- 
dorf,  Alsace,  on  the  8th  of  September,  1810 ; 
was  apprenticed  to  the  tailor's  trade  at  the 
age  of  14  years,  and  at  22  entered  the 
French  army  and  served  seven  years  ;  in 
the  spring  of  1843,  he  came  to  this  coun- 
try, and  the  following  year,  1844,  settled 
in  Joliet ;  he  followed  the  merchant  tailor- 
ing business  until  about  1857,  when  he 
engaged  in  the  brewery  business;  in  1862, 
he  resumed  merchant  tailoring,  which  he 
continued  till  his  death,  which  occurred 
July  4,  1873 ;  he  was  first  married  in 
1845,  to  Miss  Angeline  Orte,  who  died  in 
December,  1852,  leaving  three  sons — Se- 


bastian, Aliosius  and  Henry.  Mrs.  Ste- 
phen still  resides  in  Joliet,  surrounded  by 
her  family  of  six  children — Frances  C. 
|  (now  Mrs.  Michael  Meyer,  of  Joliet),  Mary 
E.,  Theresa  J.,  Joseph  A.,  Rosa  K.  and 
Jennie  A.;  one  daughter,  Mary  Magdalena, 
died  in  February,  1857. 

FRED  X.  STUFFLER,  hardware  mer- 
chant, Joli  t;  was  born  in  Wilmington, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  April  1,  1848  ;  when  he  was 
1  year  old,  the  family  moved  to  Joliet ; 
here  he  grew  to  manhood,  attending  the 
city  schools  until  he  began  the  active  duties 
of  life  ;  at  the  age  of  18  years,  he  left  home 
and  engaged  in  learning  the  tinner's  trade  ; 
in  this  he  served  an  apprenticeship  for  three 
years ;  in  1874,  he  engaged  in  business  for 
himself  at  his  present  location.  He  was 
married  April  23,  1872,  to  Mary  A.  Bar- 
thelme,  a  native  of  Joliet,  Will  Co. ;  has 
two  children — Josephine,  Laura.  Mr. 
Stuffier  started  in  life  with  limited  means, 
and  what  property  he  now  owns  has  been 
accumulated  by  personal  industry  and  good 
management ;  he  has  a  good  and  growing 
trade  ;  he  handles  only  the  best  of  material, 
and  suffers  no  work  to  go  out  from  his  es- 
tablishment without'his  personal  inspection. 
I.  D.  STEVENS,  secretary  Solar  Stove 
Works,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Joliet,  Will 
Co.,  111.,  in  1851 ;  he  enjoyed  the  advan- 
tages of  the  public  schools  of  his  native 
town,  gaining  thereby  a  good  common- 
school  education  ;  in  1863,  he  entered  the 
employ  of  John  Virgil,  now  of  Chicago, 
as  clerk  in  his  confectionery  store ;  here  he 
remained  two  years  ;  he  next  clerked  one 
year  for  W.  R.  Ramsdell,  in  his  grocery 
store  ;  in  1868,  he  and  his  brother  W.  D., 
purchased  the  lumber-yard  of  Otis  Hardy, 
and  conducted  the  business  two  years  ;  he 
|  next  entered  the  employ  of  the  U.  S.  Ex- 
I  press  Co.,  and  labored  for  it  about  two  and 
i  one- half  years;  he  then  engaged  as  clerk 
for  the  Solar  Stove  Works,  and  at  the 
death  of  the  late  William  N.  Moore,  the 
founder  of  the  establishment,  'Mr.  Stevens 
was  chosen  Secretary,  a  position  he  still 
holds  ;  these  Works  employ  some  40  men, 
i  turning  out  annually  3,000  cook-stoves, 
I  40,000  pieces  of  hollow-ware,  consuming 
|  3,000  tons  of  the  best  pig-iron  in  their 
production.  Mr.  Stevens  was  married  in 
1872,  to  Kate  Flack,  a  native  of  .Aurora, 
Kane  Co.,  111. ;  has  two  children — Morti- 
i  iner  and  Jennie. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


719 


F.  W.  SCHROEDER,  grocery  mer- 
chant, Joliet ;  was  born  in  Hesse  Cassel, 
Oermany,  April  30,  1848 ;  when  but  3  or 
4  years  of  age,  he  came,  with  his  family, 
to  America,  his  father  first  settling  in  New 
York,  where  he  engaged  in  the  tannery 
business  ;  about  the  year  1854,  the  family 
came  West  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  here  Mr. 
Schroeder  attended  school  a  number  of 
years;  at  the  age  of  14,  he  went  to  Toledo, 
and  engaged  in  learning  the  drug  business; 
at  the  age  of  20  or  21,  he  went  to  Kala- 
mazoo,  Mich.,  and  took  a  course  in  Par- 
sons' Business  College  ;  he  next  located  in 
Lemont,  Cook  Co.,  and  entered  the  employ 
of  B.  Van  Buren,  having  general  charge 
of  the  drug  store,  post  office,  etc. ;  in  1872, 
he  opened  a  drug  establishment  in  Joliet ; 
in  the  fall  of  1873,  he  bought  his  present 
place  of  business,  and,  in  the  fall  of  1874, 
formed  a  copartnership  with  John  Keyes 
for  three  years ;  in  1877,  he  bought  out 
his  partner,  and,  since  that  time,  has  con- 
ducted the  grocery  trade  alone.  He  was 
married  June  1,  1872,  to  Mrs.  Alice  M. 
Ireson,  a  native  of  England ;  she  has  one 
child  by  her  former  husband.  Mr.  Schroe- 
der, though  comparatively  a  young  man, 
has  gained  for  himself  a  fine  reputation  as 
a  thorough  business  man,  and  his  trade  is 
almost  double  that  of  any  other  business 
house  on  the  East  Side ;  the  stock  is  full 
and  complete  at  all  times. 

HENRY  SCHOETTES,  wines  and 
liquors,  Joliet ;  born  in  Westphalia,  Ger- 
many, July  11,  1842,  where  he  lived  un- 
til 26  years  of  age,  when,  after  receiving  a 
common-school  education,  he  learned  and 
worked  at  the  cigar  trade,  until  he  emi- 
grated to  America,  landing  in  New  York  in 
1868;  coming  directly  West,  he  located 
in  St.  Louis  for  three  years,  being  engaged 
in  manufacturing  of  cigars ;  from  there  he 
removed  to  Streator,  111.,  and  engaged  in 
in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  cigars, 
when  he  came  to  Joliet  in  1871,  and  was 
employed  as  foreman  in  J.  Beohenberger's 
cigar-factory  for  one  year;  in  1872,  he 
engaged  in  the  saloon  business,  on  Bluff 
St.,  for  one  year,  when,  in  1873,  he  pur- 
chased his  present  place  of  business  and 
residence,  at  No.  159  South  Chicago  St. 
Mr.  Schoettes  was  elected  Alderman  of  the 
ward  in  which  he  lives,  at  the  last  munici- 
pal election  of  Joliet.  He  was  married  in 
1873,  to  Elizabeth  Moder  ;  they  were  the 


parents  of  two  children,  one  of  whom  is 
deceased ;  the  name  of  the  one  now  living 
is  Mary  F. 

BENJAMIN  STEVENS,  butcher, 
Sec.  21  ;  P.  0.  Joliet;  born  in  Winslow, 
Buckinghamshire,  England,  Oct.  16,  1824, 
where  he  learned  and  followed  the  slaughter- 
ing busines  until  he  came  to  America,  in 
1854,  and  settled  in  Joliet  the  same  year  and 
engaged  in  the  slaughtering  business,  which 
business  he  has  since  followed ;  Mr.  Stevens 

'  has  slaughtered  nearly  all  the  meat  used  in 
Joliet  for  nearly  twenty  years.  He  mar- 

,  ried,  July  18,  1857,  Miss  Elizabeth  Bos- 
som ;  she  was  born  in  Oxford,  England, 
June  23,  1831  ;  she  came,  with  her 
parents,  to  America  in  1854.  Mr.  Stevens 
has  about  thirty  acres  of  land  one  mile 
south  of  Joliet.  They  have  one  child  liv- 

!  ing — Ann,  born  Oct.  3,  1858. 

WILLIAM  SYMINGTON,  farmer, 
Sec.  39;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  born  in  Lancaster 

i  Co.,  Penn.,  in  January,  1811,  where  he 
lived  until  14  years  of  age,  when  he  re- 

1  he  moved  to  Erie  County,  living  there  until 
came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  in  November,  1837; 
on  April  2,  1850,  he  started  overland  for 
California,  arriving  at  Sacramento  Aug. 
10;  he  went  directly  to  the  mines  and 
followed  mining  for  six  months,  meeting 
with  good  success  ;  on  Feb.  22,  1851,  he 
sailed  from  San  Francisco  and  arrived  home 

I  the  15th  of  May;  he  settled  upon  his 
present  place  in  1852  ;  he  has  150  acres  of 
well-improved  land,  which  he  has  accumu- 
lated by  his  own  energy  and  industry. 
He  married.  June  12,  1837,  Dorothy 
Haarer;  she  was  born  in  Wurtemberg, 
Germany,  Oct.  8,  1815,  and  came  to  this 
country  when  1 6  years  of  age  ;  they  are 
the  parents  of  seven  children — Sophia, 
Charles  W.,  William  H.,  Dolly,  Rosa  E. 

.  A.,  Alice  A.  Warren  A.;  two  deceased 
were  Margaret  and  Catharine.  Mr.  S.  has 
been  School  Director  for  more  than  twenty 
years. 

DANIEL  C.  SLEEPER,  Assistant 
Deputy  Warden  Illinois  State  Peniten- 
tiary, Joliet;  born  in  Sandown,  Rocking- 
ham  Co.,  N.  H.,  July  5,  1832,  where  he 
lived  until  13  years  of  age,  when  he  went 
to  Methuen,  Mass.,  learning  the  trade  of 
hatter;  which  trade  he  followed  until  1854, 
when  he  emigrated  West  and  settled  in 
Joliet  as  clerk  for  Hayden  Bros.,  in  the 
grocery  business,  for  two  years  ;  then  one 


720 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


year  in  the  same  business  with  S.  0. 
Simonds  ;  in  1858,  he  was  appointed,  by 
Warden  S.  K.  Casey,  as  keeper  and  assist- 
ent  book-keeper  of  the  Illinois  State  Peni- 
tentiary ;  in  the  spring  of  1864,  he  visited 
Montana  for  his  health  and  engaged  in 
mining  for  three  and  a  half  years,  when  he 
returned  to  Joliet  and  was  again  appointed 
keeper  until  1 869,  when  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Deputy  Warden,  which  office  he 
has  since  held,  with  the  exception  of  nine 
months,  from  July,  1871  to  April,  1872, 
when  he  was  Assistant  Superintendent  of 
the  Reform  School,  at  Pontiac,  111.  Mar- 
ried, June  20,  1861,  to  Alice  M.  Richard- 
son; she  was  born  in  Joliet  April  11, 
1839  ;  they  are  the  parents  of  three  chil- 
dren—Kate  '  F.,  born  May  1,  1862; 
George  B.,  born  May  29,  1864;  Daniel 
C.,  Jr.,  born  May  19,  1874. 

MRS.  NANCY  STEVENS,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Joliet ;  the  widow  of  Robert  Stevens,  re- 
sides just  ease  of  the  limits  of  the  city  of 
Joliet ;  she  was  the  daughter  of  Lewis 
Kercheval  and  was  born  in  Ohio,  and  came 
to  Illinois  when  16  years  old,  with  her 
father's  family,  in  the  fall  of  1830  ;  she 
remembers  vividly  the  winter  of  the 
"deep  snow''  and  its  accompaniment  of 
severity.  In  1835,  she  was  married  to 
Robert  Stevens,  whose  portrait  is  found  on 
another  page  of  this  work ;  Mr.  Stevens 
was  born  in  Kentucky,  but  reared  mostly 
in  Ohio,  and  at  an  early  age  immigrated  to 
Indiana,  where  he  remained  several  years, 
coming  to  Illinois,  and  to  Joliet  Tp.,  in 
1831,  and  settled  upon  the  place  where  his 
widow  still  lives;  Mr.  S.  was  Captain  of  a 
military  company  in  Bartholomew  Co., 
Ind.,  until  he  removed  to  Illinois,  in  1831, 
and  retained  his  sword  and  uniform  until 
the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  Jan. 
6,  1864 ;  he  was  elected  the  first  Sheriff 
of  Will  County,  but,  not  desiring  office, 
refused  to  qualify  ;  during  the  fright  occa- 
sioned by  the  Sac  war  of  1832,  Mr.  S.  took 
his  family  to  Danville,  111.,  and  sent  them, 
under  safe  escort  to  the  Indiana  settle- 
ments, while  he  returned  and  raised  a 
crpp  on  his  claim.  Mr.  S.  was  twice  mar- 
ried, his  first  wife  was  Lydia  Ann  Pence, 
and  three  children  were  the  fruit  of  this 
marriage — all  dead  ;  by  his  last  wife,  who 
survives  him,  he  had  six  children — Lewis 
K.,  Thomas  J.,  James,  Sarah  Ann,  Mary 
A.  and  Albert. 


M.  W.  SHURTS,  railroad  contractor, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Hunterdon  Co.,  N.  J., 
Aug.  29,  1820 ;  in  1846,  he  left  New 
York  for  California,  being  a  member  of 
the  1st  N.  Y.  Regt.  I.  V.,  raised  for  the 
Mexican  war,  Col.  J.  D.  Stevens  command- 
ing ;  they  were  five  months  and  eight  days 
making  the  voyage,  and  on  reaching  San 
Francisco,  theirs  was  the  only  vessel  in 
the  harbor;  at  that  date,  there  were  just 
six  houses  in  the  now  prosperous  city  of 
San  Francisco,  and  these  were  unworthy 
the  name;  the  regiment  was  not  actively 
engaged  in  the  war,  though  it  made  sev- 
eral excursions  after  the  Indians ;  in  1849, 
he  returned  to  New  York,  occupying  seven 
months  on  the  eastern  passage  ;  in  1850, 
he  came  West,  and  located  in  Fulton  Co., 
111.,  where  he  engaged  in  various  pursuits  ; 
in  1859,  he  returned  East,  and  subse- 
quently went  to  Virginia;  here  he  con- 
tracted on  the  Richmond  &  York  River 
R.  R.;  afterward,  he  contracted  work  on 
Long  Island  and  on  the  south  side  of 
Long  Island ;  in  1870,  he  again  came 
West,  and  subsequently  went  to  Texas  and 
engaged  two  years  in  railroading ;  he  built 
240  miles  of  the  Houston  &  Texas  Cen- 
tral R.  R.;  in  1875,  he  made  a  trip  to 
Europe,  and  since  then  has  spent  much 
time  in  pleasure-seeking.  His  first  wife 
was  Agnes  Hageman,  a  native  of  New 
Jersey  ;  his  second  marriage  was  to  Maria 
Simonds,  a  native  of  New  York  State. 
For  the  past  few  years  Mr.  Shurts  has 
led  a  retired  life,  and  is  now  devoting  him- 
self to  the  improvement  of  his  farm,  near 
the  limits  of  the  city,  on  which  he  hopes 
to  lead  a  quiet  and  happy  life  during  his 
declining  years. 

CONRAD  TATGE,  Joliet;  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Hesse- 
Cassel,  Germany,  May  26,  1827  ;  he  was 
raised  to  farming  pursuits,  and,  in  1848, 
came  to  this  country,  remaining  in  Chi- 
cago until  1851,  when  he  came  to  Will 
Co.  and  settled  in  the  town  of  Crete ;  he 
purchased  land  from  the  Government  and 
opened  a  farm  ;  he  was  the  first  German 
to  settle  upon  the  open  prairie  ;  those  who 
had  come  previously  had  located  in  the 
timber  along  the  creek ;  he  remained  on 
his  farm  until  1865,  when  he  rented  it 
out,  and  purchased  another  adjoining  the 
village  of  Crete,  to  which  place  he  removed ;. 
he  was  elected  Commissioner  of  Highways 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


721 


in  1853,  and  Township  Collector  in  1854  ; 
in  1858,  he  was  chosen  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and  held  that  office  ten  years,  re- 
signing in  1868,  upon  being  elected 
Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Will  Co.; 
he  then  removed  to  Joliet,  and,  in  1872, 
was  re-elected  to  the  same  office,  serving 
until  1876 ;  he  joined  the  Republican 
party  on  its  organization,  in  1856,  and 
has  been  a  member  ever  since  ;  he  was 
married  Nov.  11,  1851,  to  Miss  Sophia 
Wassmann,  of  Hanover,  Germany;  they 
have  had  twelve  children,  eight  of  whom 
are  living,  viz.,  Caroline,  Sophia,  William 
H.,  Emrnilia,  Gustavus,  Emma,  Amanda 
and  Juliana. 

WILLIAM  TONNER,  City  Clerk, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Centre  Co.,  Penn.,  June 
24,  1816  ;  he  was  raised  on  a  farm,  re- 
ceived a  thorough  English  education,  and, 
at  the  age  of  16  years,  engaged  in  teach- 
ing ;  he  taught  about  twelve  years,  six  of 
which  he  taught  in  one  school ;  in  1846, 
he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, in  Plainfield  ;  in  1850,  he  made  the 
overland  trip  to  California,  where  he  spent 
two  years  in  mining,  returning  in  1852  ; 
in  1857,  he  was  elected  County  Clerk,  and 
removed  to  Joliet ;  he  held  the  office  for 
eight  years;  from  1865  until  1877,  he 
was  engaged  in  investing  money,  buying 
and  selling  property,  etc. ,  also  having  con- 
siderable interests  in  the  oil  regions  of 
Pennsylvania  ;  he  was  elected  City  Clerk 
in  December,  1877.  He  was  married 
Feb.  5,  1839,  to  Miss  Catherine  J.  Shref- 
fler,  of  Centre  Co.  Pa.,  and  has  one 
daughter  living — Mary  Alice  (now  Mrs. 
Henry  A.  Sanger,  of  Florence,  Ala.);  one 
daushter,  Myra  J.,  wife  of  R.  H.  Willis, 
died  in  Omaha,  Neb.,  Oct.  31,  1867. 

CARY  THORNTON,  retired,  Joliet, 
whose  portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was 
born  in  Bucks  Co.,  Penn.,  Oct.  3,  1800; 
his  ancestors  were  Quakers,  and  came  to 
Pennsylvania  with  Wm.  Penn  in  1681 ;  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  lived  with  his  parents 
until  he  was  23  years  of  age,  assist- 
ing upon  the  farm  ;  in  1823  he  moved  to 
Michigan,  and,  after  remaining  one  year, 
moved  to  Rochester,  N.  Y. ;  engaged  in  trade 
of  carpenter  and  joiner  up  to  1836,  when 
he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  .Troy  Tp., 
on  Sec.  34,  farming  up  to  the  time  of  his 
removal  to  Joliet,  in  1866,  where  he  still 
resides,  at  the  good  old  age  of  79.  He 


has  been  Commissioner  of  Highways,  and 
although  repeatedly  solicited,  he  would 
never  accept  of  any  other  office  in  the  gift 
of  his  neighbors.  He  married  Miss  Lucy 
Ware  (the  daughter  of  Benjamin  and  Betsy 
Ware),  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  21, 
1832 ;  she  was  born  in  Putnam  Co.,  Vt., 
July  18,  1810;  they  had  three  children, 
two  living — Rutledge,  born  Aug.  1,  1834, 
and  Beulah,  born  Oct.  15,  1839,  and  mar- 
ried to  John  Keyes,  of  Joliet,  Oct.  21, 
1872;  and  one  deceased,  Sidney,  born 
June  22,  1846,  and  died  April  4,  1848. 
Mr.  Thornton  is  the  oldest  living  settler  of 
Troy  Tp. 

CORNELIUS  C.  VAN  HORNE,  de- 
ceased, formerly  of  Joliet  Tp.,  was  born  in 
Hunterdon  Co.,  N.  J.,  April  13,  1794; 
shortly  afterward,  his  parents  removed  to 
Amsterdam,  N.  Y.,  where  his  father,  a 
widely-known  clergyman  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church,  lived  many  years.  In 
the  spring  of  1832,  Mr.  Van  Home 
came  to  Illinois  and  located  in  Will 
(then  Cook)  Co.  He  died  in  Joliet 
July  7,  1854.  In  1813,  he  married 
Elizabeth  Veeder,  who  died,  in  Will  Co., 
in  1838 ;  in  1842,  he  married  Mary  M. 
Richards,  who  is  still  living ;  by  his  first 
marriage  he  had  seven  children — Abra- 
ham C.,  born  in  1815 ;  Simon  V.,  born  in 
18i8  ;  Anne,  born  in  1822  ;  Cornelius  P., 
born  in  1824  ;  Margaret  C.,  born  in  1826  ; 
Barney  W.,  born  in  1829,  and  Andrew  J., 
born  in  1832 ;  by  his  second  marriage  he 
had  five  children — William  C.,  born  in 
1843;  Augustus,  born  in  1844  ;  Elizabeth, 
born  in  1846;  Theodore  C.,born  in  1849, 
and  Mary,  born  in  1852 — all  now  living. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  force  of  character, 
and  of  liberal  education,  and  had  much  to 
do  with  the  shaping  of  events  in  the  early 
days  of  Will  Co.,  in  the  history  of  which 
his  name  occurs  often  and  very  prominent- 
ly ;  he  gave  his  name  to  the  locality  known 
as  Van  Home's  Point.  He  was  succes- 
sively a  Postmaster  and  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  and,  upon  the  incorporation  of  Joliet 
as  a  city,  he  was  chosen  its  first  Mayor ; 
after  a  long,  active  and  useful  life,  he  died 
in  1854,  one  of  the  victims  of  cholera. 

F.  E.  VOIGT,  foreman  Motive-Power 
Joliet  Cut-off  R.  R.,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Leipsic,  Saxony,  Germany,  Aug.  23,  1841  ; 
the  family  emigrated  to  America  in  1846, 
and  stopped  in  Chicago  a  short  time ; 


DlU!ilX>JlJ!iO  : 


thence  to  Michigan  City,  Ind.,  and  was 
the  first  German  family  settling  in  the  vil- 
lage and  vicinity ;  here,  F.  E.  grew  to 
manhood,  ani  learned  his  trade;  in  1858, 
he  started  to  California  on  foot,  taking  the 
overland  route  and  the  life  of  a  pioneer 
and  adventurer  ;  in  the  latter  part  of  1859, 
he  reached  his  destination,  having  spent 
almost  two  years  with  the  Indians,  making 
his  way  from  tribe  to  tribe ;  the  winter  of 
1858,  he  spent  in  Salt  Lake  City ;  after 
reaching  California,  he  engaged  in  mining, 
and  was  very  successful,  making  some 
$4,000 ;  leaving  the  mines,  he  went  to 
San  Francisco,  and,  on  account  of  a  rheu- 
matic affection,  he  sailed  to  Honolulu,  in 
the  Sandwich  Islands:  here,  after  a  so- 
journ of  some  months,  having  effected  a 
cure,  he  visited  the  West  India  Isles. 
During  the  late  war,  he  was  in  the  employ 
of  the  Government,  in  the  locomotive  de- 
partment of  the  Nashville  &  Chattanooga 
R.  R.  He  was  afterward  engaged  in  con- 
structing and  rebuilding  locomotives  at 
Nashville,  Tenn. ;  subsequently,  he  was 
engaged  as  roundhouse  foreman  on  the  A. 
&  M.  R.  R.,  at  Vincennes,  Ind. ;  here  he 
remained  four  years;  thence  to  Seymour, 
Ind.,  where  he  had  charge  of  the  shops  as 
master  machinist  two  years;  he  then  went 
to  Europe,  and  remained  one  year;  in  the 
fall  of  1872,  he  returned,  and  took  the 
position  of  roundhouse  foreman  at  Michi- 
gan City,  on  the  M.  C.  R.  R. ;  in  1877, 
he  came  to  his  present  position.  He  was 
married  July  16,  1872,  to  Emma  Theme, 
a  native  of  Germany.  Owns  real  estate  in 
Michigan  City  and  Vincennes,  valued  at 
85,000. 

GEORGE  L.  VANCE,  manufacturer 
and  dealer  in  furniture,  Joliet ;  was  born 
in  Caledonia  Co.,  Vt.,  March  13,  1840  ; 
he  received  an  academic  education  at  the 
Newbury  Seminary,  teaching  school  during 
the  winter  vacations  ;  on  becoming  of  age, 
he  engaged  in  the  boot  and  shoe  business 
in  Rutland,  Vt. ;  in  1864,  he  went  to 
Washington,  as  corresponding  clerk  in  the 
Internal  Revenue  Bureau,  remaining  until 
1870 ;  in  the  mean  time,  he  pursued  a 
course  of  law  studies  in  the  law  depart- 
ment of  Columbia  College,  in  Washington, 
graduating,  and  receiving  his  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Laws,  in  1867.  The  same 
year,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lizzie  K. 
Fowler,  of  Brooklyn,  L.  L,  who  died  in 


1873,  leaving  two  children — George 
and  Gracie  F.  In  1870,  he  removed 
Houston  Co.,  Minn.,  and  engaged  in  busi- 
ness. He  held  the  office  of  Postmaster 
three  years  and  Justice  of  the  Peace  two 
years ;  in  1873,  he  resigned  these  offices, 
disposed  of  his  business  and  removed  to 
Joliet,  and  entered  upon  his  present  busi- 
ness. He  is  an  active  Sunday-school 
worker,  has  been  Superintendent  of  the 
Baptist  Sunday  school  for  the  past  five 
years  and  President  of  the  Will  Co.  Sun- 
day School  Association  for  the  past  two 
years. 

CHARLES  WERNER,  proprietor  of 
Werner's  Hall  and  Werner's  stone  quarry, 
Joliet ;  has  been  a  resident  of  this  city  for  the 
past  twenty-seven  years,  having  come  direct 
from  Germany  in  1851  ;  he  was  born  at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,in  Hesse-Darmstadt 
Sept.  14, 1828  ;  when  about  15  years  old, 
he  was  apprenticed  to  the  mason's  trade, 
which  he  continued  until  1851,  when  he 
came  to  this  country,  landing  in  New  York 
in  July,  and  coming  direct  to  Joliet ;  he 
soon  afterward  engaged  in  working  at  his 
trade,  and,  in  1865,  engaged  in  the  stone- 
quarrying  business,  which  he  still  continues; 
he,  with  his  brother,  built  the  Will 
County  Jail  and  Sheriff's  house,  the 
Joliet  Union  Schoolhouse,  St.  Mary's  Cath- 
olic Church,  besides  a  large  number  of 
prominent  buildings  in  different  parts  of 
the  city;  in  1868,  Mr.  Werner  purchased 
Young's  Hall,  on  Chicago  street,  which 
burned  down  in  1874,  and  the  following 
year  he  erected  Werner's  Hall  on  the  same 
site,  at  a  cost  of  $20,000 ;  he  served  as 
Town  Collector  in  1877.  He  was  mar- 
ried July  17,  1853,  to  Miss  Mary  A. 
Goeble,  of  Joliet,  a  native  of  Prussia  ;  they 
have  one  child — Bertha. 

0.  R.  WESTMANN,  photograph  artist, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
Germany,  Feb.  18, 1833  ;  his  father,  0.  R. 
Westmann,  Sr.,  was  the  Russian  Envoy  to 
the  Court  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  and  died 
when  Orloff  R.  was  but  two  years  of  age  ; 
the  family  remained  in  Darmstadt ;  he  was 
educated  in  the  Gymnasium  of  Darmstadt, 
graduating  when  about  15  years  of  age; 
he  then  entered  the  German  army  as  a 
cadet,  and,  after  the  revolution  of  1849, 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant  in 
the  1st  Infantry  ;  he  served  until  1853, 
when  he  came  to  this  country  ;  he  first 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


723 


engaged  in  clerking  in  Chicago ;  in  1855, 
he  purchased  a  farm  in  Du  Page  Co.,  and 
engaged  in  forming  for  two  years  ;  in  1 857, 
he  went  West,  and  spent  fifteen  years  in 
Iowa,  Nebraska,  Colorado  and  New  Mexico, 
engaged  in  merchandising  and  mining,  and, 
during  the  last  few  years,  in  photographing, 
making  views  for  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution at  Washington  ;  returning  in  1872, 
he  spent  two  years  in  Ottawa,  and,  in 
1874,  came  to  Joliet,  and  purchased  the 
gallery  of  Mr.  John  Edgworth,  the  oldest 
gallery  in  the  city,  where  he  does  as  fine 
work  as  can  be  found  in  this  country  or 
Europe;  he  makes  all  kinds  of  pictures, 
large  and  small,  and  guarantees  satisfaction 
to  his  customers. 

S.  H.  WH1TED,  retired,  Joliet;  was  i 
born  in  Albany  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  24, 1808 ; 
when  he  was    19  years   old,  he  went  to 
Herkimer    Co..    and  there    learned    the 
painter's  trade  ;  he  worked  for  three  years  j 
for  $30  a  year,  and  clothed  himself,  and  ! 
at  the  end  of  that  time  had  $50  laid  by,  i 
principally  the  result  of  extra  work  ;  this 
illustrates  the  habits  of  industry  and  econ- 
omy which  have  been  characteristic  of  his 
whole  life;  in  1852,  he  came  to  Chicago, 
settling  in  Joliet  the  following  year ;  he 
worked  at  his  trade  till  1855,  when  he  pur- 
chased a  farm  at  Twelve-Mile  Grove,  and 
followed  farming  two  years,  at  the  end  of  ; 
which  time   he   returned  to   Joliet.      In 
October,  1861,  he  volunteered  in  Col.  Wil-  i 
son's  Mechanics'  Fusileers  in  Chicago,  and  i 
remained  until  the  disbanding  of  the  regi- 
ment in  February  following ;  about  three  i 
months  later,  he  again  enlisted  in   Capt.   [ 
Ford's  cavalry  company,  attached  to  Cush- 
man's  regiment,  serving  three  years,  prin- 
cipally   engaged    in    scouting   service ;  in 
1865,  he  returned  to  Joliet.     It  should  be 
mentioned  that  while  living  in  Herkimer 
Co.,   he   held   successively  the  offices   of 
Corporal,  Sergeant,  First   Lieutenant  and 
Captain  in  the  New  York  State  Militia, 
holding  a  commission  five  years.     He  was 
married  in  1832  to  Miss  Sarah  Hinchman, 
of  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.;  they  have  five  chil- 
dren living — Elias  H.,  ticket  agent  of  the 
Michigan  Southern  and  C.,  R.  I.  &  P.  Rail- 
road  Companies  in  Chicago ;   Harriet  A., 
Charles  W.,  Jessie  0.,  also  in  the  office  with 
his  brother  in  Chicago;  and  Jerry  H.,  train 
dispatcher  and    division  operator   on   the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad  at  Carlin,  Nevada. 


CHARLES  W.  WHITED,  Joliet; 
son  of  S.  H.  Whited ;  was  born  in  Little 
Falls,  N.  Y.,  March  17,  1842,  and  came  to 
Joliet  with  his  father's  family,  and,  at  the 
age  of  15,  entered  the  office  of  the  Joliet 
Republican  to  learn  the  printer's  trade.  In 
June,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  Capt.  Dan- 
forth's  company,  which  was  first  a  portion 
of  the  4th  Mo.  Cav.,  then  was  attached  to 
the  53d  111.  I.  V.,  and  finally  became  Co.  F, 
13th  111.  Cav. ;  he  served  two  years,  and 
was  discharged  by  reason  of  ill  health.  He 
then  entered  the  employ  of  the  C.,  R.  I.  & 
P.  R.  R.  Co.  as  fireman,  and  afterward  on 
the  Chicago  &  Galena  Railroad;  he  then 
went  south  as  a  bridge  carpenter  with 
Sherman's  army,  returning  at  the  close  of 
the  war ;  since  then  he  has  had  charge  of 
the  telegraph  repairs  on  the  C.  &  A.  R.  R. 
three  years;  on  the  C.,  C.-&  I.  C.  R.  R. 
two  years ;  five  years  on  the  U.  P.  R.  R. 
from  Omaha  to  Ogden ;  since  1873,  he 
has  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Co.  He  was  married 
June  12,  1871,  to  Miss  E.  W.  Putnam,  of 
Little  Falls,  N.  Y.,  and  has  one  child — 
Samuel  C. 

E.  H.  WEBB,  dealer  in  dry  goods  and 
notions  (firm  of  Chittenden,  Northrup  & 
Co.),  Joliet;  was  born  in  Columbia  Co., 
N.  Y.,  May  20,  1844;  when  he  was  but 
2  years  old  his  parents  removed  to 
Columbia  Co.,  Wis. ;  he  received  his  edu- 
cation in  a  select  school  at  Poynette,  Wis., 
and  at  the  State  University  at  Madison  ;  in 
February,  1 863,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
Co.  H,  36th  Wis.  V.  I.,  and  served  eight 
months  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  par- 
ticipating in  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness, 
Spottsylvania  Court  House,  North  Anna 
and  Cold  Harbor,  besides  smaller  battles 
and  skirmishes;  at  Cold  Harbor  he  was 
disabled,  and  while  lying  in  the  hospital  he 
received  a  commission  as  Second  Lieutenant 
of  Co.  A,  51st  Wis.  V.  I.,  and  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Western  army  in  Missouri ; 
returning  from  the  war,  he  entered  the 
dry  goods  business  at  Portage  City,  Wis. ; 
he  afterward  spent  three  years  in  business 
in  Dakota  Territory,  and,  in  1871,  came  to 
Joliet  and  engaged  in  his  present  business. 
He  was  married  May  20,  1874,  to  Miss 
Mary  Chittenden,  of  Plainfield,  111.,  daugh- 
ter of  George  N.  Chittenden,  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Will  Co. ;  they  have  two 
children — Elizabeth  W.  and  Winnifred. 


Mr.  Webb  is  an  active  worker  in  the  M.  E. 
Church,  of  which  he  has  been  a  member 
for  the  past  eight  years. 

EDMUND  WILCOX,  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  Joliet ;  is  one  of  the  early  settlers  of 
Will    Co. ;  he   came   here  in   1836  from 
Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  born 
Sept.   18,   1816.     After  receiving  a  pre-  ' 
paratory  education  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
he  entered  Hamilton  College,  Clinton,  N. 
Y.,  when  15  years  of  age,  graduating  in 
1835 ;    the   following  year,  he   came   to 
Joliet,  and  was  employed  as  a  clerk  one  j 
year,  until  he  became  of  age,  when  he  | 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  in  com-  ! 
pany  with  Charles  Clement,  and  two  years 
later  purchased  the  interest  of  Mr.  Clem- 
ent, and  afterward   changed  to  an  exclu- 
sively dry  goods  business;    in   1858,    he  \ 
sold  out  and  became  one  of  the  originators  j 
of  the  Joliet  Gas-Light  Company  ;  was  its  i 
first    President,    and    superintended    the  ! 
erection  of  the  works  ;  he  personally  super-  j 
intended  the  gas  works-  for  five  years,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  he  resumed  mer- 
chandising, which  he  continued  until  1870  ; 
he  was  one  of  the  gentlemen  designated  by  , 
the  act  of  the  Legislature   incorporating  ; 
the  city  of  Joliet  in  1852,  to  lay  off  the 
wards  and  organize  the  city  government; 
he  was  chosen  the  first  Alderman  from  the 
Third  Ward  (now  the    Fourth) ;    served 
four  years,  and  was  again  elected  in  1870, 
serving  two  years;  in  1854,  the  year  of 
the  cholera,  he  served  the  city  as  Mayor 
pro  tern,  in  the  absence  of   the  Mayor ;  he  | 
has  been  repeatedly  solicited  to  become  a  't 
candidate   for   Mayor,   but   has  as   often  ; 
declined ;  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  ! 
of  Supervisors  in  1856, 1857  and  1859 ;  he  i 
was  prominent  in  obtaining  the  charter  of  j 
the  C.,  R.  I.  &  P.  R.  R.,  and  was  one  of  the  ' 
committee  appointed  to  confer  with  Eastern 
capitalists,   their  efforts   resulting  in    the  : 
building  of  the  road  by  the  owner  of  the  \ 
Michigan  Southern  Railroad.     Mr.  Wil-  j 
cox  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  I 
1877.      He  was  married  March  23,  1845,  i 
to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Green,  of  Washington  ! 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  has  three  children  living —  i 
William  G.,  Fred  C.  and  Charles  C. 

GEORGE  H.  WOODRUFF,  dealer  in 
drugs,   medicines,   books,  stationery,  etc.,  ' 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Clinton,  Oneida  Co.,  N.   ; 
Y.,  Aug.  16,  1814,  and  resided  there  until 
1834 ;  he  entered  Hamilton  College,  CHn- 


ton,  N.  Y.,  in  1829,  at  the  age  of  15  years, 
and  graduated  four  years  later ;  he  then 
entered  the  law  office  of  Hon.  Daniel  Gott, 
in  Pompey  Hill,  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and 
remained  one  year,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  he  came  West,  as  the  clerk  of  M.  H. 
Demmond,  Esq.,  the  original  proprietor  of 
the  western  portion  of  the  city  of  Joliet ; 
he  remained  with  him  until  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  county  in  1836,  when  he  was 
elected  County  Recorder,  and  re-elected  in 
1839  ;  on  leaving  the  Recorder's  office,  in 
1843,  he  entered  upon  his  present  business ; 
in  1838,  he  was  elected  County  Judge,  but 
resigned  the  office  at  the  end  of  one  year  ; 
he  served  one  term  as  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  under  the  village  organi- 
zation ;  Mr.  Woodruff  is  the  author  of 
"  Fifteen  Years  Ago  ;  or,  The  Patriotism 
of  Will  County,"  and  of  two  very  admir- 
able lectures,  entitled  "  Forty  Years  Ago," 
and  consisting  of  reminiscences  of  early 
times  in  Joliet ;  he  is  the  author  of  the 
"  General  History  of  Will  County"  in  this 
work,  besides  which  he  has  been  an  occa- 
sional lecturer  and  contributor  to  news- 
papers and  periodicals  for  many  years. 

GEORGE  WOODRUFF,  President  of 
the  First  .National  Bank,  Joliet ;  was  born 
in  Watertown,  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec. 
7,  1812,  and  lived  there  until  his  removal 
to  Will  Co.  in  1836  ;  on  his  arrival  in  Jol- 
iet, he  engaged  in  the  grocery  and  provis- 
ion trade,  which  he  continued  until  1841  ; 
he  the  spent  two  years  in  farming  in  Plain- 
field  Tp.;  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  re- 
turned to  Joliet  and  resumed  trade  ;  in 
1852,  he  built  an  elevator  and  engaged  in 
the  grain  business,  in  which  hu  continued 
until  1864;  some  time  after  engaging  in 
the  grain  business,  he  sold  out  his  store, 
and  about  1857  or  1858,  associated  him- 
self with  F.  L.  Cagwin  and  others  in  estab- 
lishing the  Joliet  Bank  ;  he  afterward  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  his  partners,  and  in 
1864,  the  First  National  Bank  was  organ- 
ized with  Mr.  Woodruff  as  President  and 
his  son,  Frederick  W.  Woodruff,  as  Cash- 
ier ;  he  was  a  partner  with  others  in  build- 
ing and  operating  the  Joliet  Woolen-Mill, 
which  was  burned  down  after  running  sev- 
eral years  ;  he  is  one  of  the  original  stock- 
holders of  the  Joliet  Gas-Light  Co.,  of 
which  he  has  been  Treasurer  for  a  number 
of  years ;  he  has  served  one  term  on  the 
Board  of  Supervisors  and  one  or  two  terms 


f«X&&&A**S*»*^^ 


>l 

OF  THE 
• 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


727 


as  Alderman.  He  was  married  May  9, 
1838,  to  Miss  Dorothy  Smith,  a  native  of 
Rutland,  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  has  two 
children  living — Frederick  W.  and  Mary 
C.  (now  Mrs.  J.  F.  Wilcox,  of  Joliet) ; 
one  daughter — Cornelia  M.,  wife  of  J.  E. 
Bush,  of  Joliet,  died  in  January,  1876. 

J.  F.  WILSON,  Cashier  Joliet  Iron  and 
Steel  Works,  Joliet ;  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Canda,  N.  H.,  in.  1846 ;  in  1850,  his 
father,  George  Wilson,  came  West  to  Illi- 
nois, and  settled  on  a  farm  near  the  present 
village  of  Monee  ;  in  1857,  the  family 
moved  to  Joliet ;  here,  at  the-  age  of  14 
years,  J.  F.  began  the  work  of  life  for  him- 
self in  the  capacity  of  clerk  ;  he  enjoyed 
the  advantages  of  the  city  schools,  and  his 
early  training  in  business  life  gave  him 
those  necessary  qualifications  which  come 
to  one  only  through  the  channels  of  per- 
sonal experience,  and  which  have  so  well 
qualified  him  for  his  position  of  trust  and 
responsibility;  in  1874,  at  the  re-opening 
and  re-organization  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Works,  he  was  chosen  to  the  position  he 
now  occupies. 

HORACE  WEEKS,  attorney  at  law, 
Joliet;  was  born  in  Homer  Tp.,  Will  Co., 
111.,  Sept.  20,  1837  ;  he  is  the  fifth  son  of 
Dr.  Nathaniel  Weeks,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Will  Co.,  who  came  West  in  1833  and 
located  in  what  was  called  Yankee  Settle- 
ment ;  his  father  moved  to  Lockport  when 
Horace  was  quite  a  small  boy  ;  here  he  re- 
ceived his  education  and  grew  to  manhood ; 
at  the  age  of  13,  he  was  employed  in  the 
office  of  the  Lockport  Telegraph,  edited 
and  published  by  Dr.  J.  F.  Daggett  and 
C.  D.  Holcomb,  and  played  the  "  devil " 
for  about  two  years ;  in  the  summer  of 
1854,  he  learned  the  art  of  telegraphy  and 
had  charge  of  the  office  at  Sheffield,  on  the 
C.  &  R.  I.  R.  R.;  here  he  continued  about 
six  months,  and  then  returned  to  Lockport, 
and  was  engaged  in  the  drug  business  in 
connection  with  his  father  two  years ;  he 
was  next  employed  as  book-keeper  in  the 
banking  house  of  J.  S.  McDonald  till  1859, 
when  he  entered  upon  a  course  of  legal 
study  under  the  direction  of  E.  C.  Fel- 
lows ;  this  he  prosecuted  two  years ;  sub- 
sequently, he  was  clerk  in  the  post  office  at 
La  Salle  one  year,  was  clerk  in  the  Canal 
office  at  Chicago  one  year  and  held  the  same 
position  in  the  Provost  Marshal's  office  at 
Joliet  two  years  ;  in  1865,  he  was  employed 


as  ticket  agent  and  operator  on  the  C.  &  R. 
I.  R.  R.  at  Joliet  three  years  ;  in  1868,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  the  same  year 
was  employed  as  Deputy  Circuit  Clerk,  a 
position  he  held  until  1872 ;  in  February, 
1872,  he  was  appointed  Collector  of  In- 
ternal Revenue  for  the  Sixth  District,  and 
occupied  the  office  till  January,  1876  ;  in 
1877,  he  was  appointed  Master  in  Chan- 
cery, and  still  occupies  the  office.  He  was 
married  in  1862  to  Mary  Munson,  a  native 
of  Illinois ;  has  five  children — Fannie  E., 
Fred  B.,  Kittie,  Curtis  M.  and  Henry  S. 
WILLIAM  WERNER,  contractor  and 
stone  quarryman,  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  in  Hesse-Darm- 
stadt, G-ermany,  Feb.  5,  1831 ;  at  the  age 
of  16,  he  was  apprenticed  to  the  mason's 
trade,  and,  at  the  age  of  20,  came  to  the 
United  States  ;  he  spent  three  months  in 
Stroutsburg,  Penn. ;  when,  his  brother 
Charles  having  come  to  Chicago,  he  came 
West  and  joined  in  the  Hickory  Creek 
Settlement,  in  the  town  of  Frank  fort,  in 
October,  1851  ;  the  Rock  Island  Railroad 
had  just  begun  building  and  Mr.  Werner 
began  work  on  it  as  a  mason,  continuing 
during  the  winter  as  a  laborer ;  in  the 
spring  of  1852,  he  settled  in  Joliet  and 
began  business  as  a  contractor,  the  first 
building  he  built  being  for  the  late  Deacon 
John  Beaumont;  he  engaged  in  the 
quarry  business  about  twenty  years  ago, 
and  has  built  nearly  all  the  prominent 
stone  buildings  in  Joliet,  among  which 
may  be  named  the  Will  County  Jail, 
Union  Schoolhouse,  West  Side  Presby- 
terian and  St.  Mary's  Catholic  Churches, 
etc.;  in  1856,  he  was  elected  Commis- 
sioner of  Highways  and  Treasurer,  serving 
three  years;  in  1861,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and 
served  four  years ;  he  was  chosen  one  of 
the  Draft  Commissioners  in  1863,  to  fill 
the  quota  of  the  town ;  he  served  on  the 
Board  of  Supervisors  seven  years,  from 
1867  to  1874.  He  was  married  Dec.  7, 
1853,  to  Miss  Barbara  Goeble,  a  native  of 
Prussia ;  they  have  four  sons  living — Fred- 
erick Wilhelm,  now  a  medical  student  at 
the  University  of  Michigan;  Frederick 
Carl,  George  Washington  and  Edwart. 
Mr.  Werner  is  a  leading  member  of  the 
German  Lutheran  Church  in  Joliet,  of 
which  he  has  been  President  for  the  past 

fifteen  years. 

6 


728 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


GEORGE  WHITTIER,  manufact- 
urer of  lime,  Joliet ;  born  in  Sommers- 
worth,  N.  H.,  Nov.  27,  1830,  where  he 
lived  until  6  years  of  age,  when  he  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  Philadelphia, 
living  there  one  year,  then  to  Penobscot 
Co.,  Me.,  where  he  lived  until  1861, 
being  engaged  in  milling,  lumbering  and 
farming ;  at  the  above  date,  he  came  to 
Illinois  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  where 
he  has  since  resided  ;  he  owns  one-half 
interest  in  the  limekiln,  which  is  operated 
under  the  firm  name  of  J.  Whittier  &  Co.; 
the  above  firm  manufacture  and  ship  large 
quantities  of  lime  to  points  further  south. 
He  married,  Feb.  10,  1854,  Sarah  M. 
Lindsay ;  she  was  born  in  Chester, 
Penobscot  Co.,  Me.,  Jan.  16,  1832; 
they  are  the  parents  of  three  children  now 
living,  viz.,  Angeline,  Lucy  M.  and 
Clare. 

DR.  FRANCIS  WOERNDLE,  drug- 
gist and  chemist,  Joliet ;  born  in  Austria, 
April  14,  1817 ;  he  is  a  graduate  of 
pharmacy  and  chemistry  of  the  University 
of  Vienna,  Austria,  known  as  one  of  the 
first  in  Europe,  and  has  had  many  years' 
experience  as  a  practical  apothecary  and 
chemist  in  different  cities  in  Europe  and 
America ;  he  emigrated  to  America,  land- 
ing in  New  York  in  1849  ;  after  spending 
seven  years  in  the  East,  a  portion  of  which 
time  he  was  engaged  in  business  and  the 
balance  in  traveling  and  visiting  different 
cities,  he  came  West,  and,  in  1857,  he 
engaged  in  Joliet  in  the  drug  business,  in 
which  he  has  been  very  successful  for  a 
period  of  twenty-one  years;  his  success 
may  be  attributed  to  his  thorough  practical 
knowledge  of  his  business  and  the  close 
personal  attention  he  has  always  given  to 
the  same. 

JOHN  YOUNG,  retired;  P.  0.  Joliet; 
was  born  in  Ulster  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  18, 
1798  ;  he  remained  at  home  on  his  father's 
farm  until  he  was  1 5  years  of  age,  when  he 
went  to  work  at  the  milling  business  under 
his  father,  who  was  also  a  mill  proprietor ; 
he  followed  this  business  until  the  age  of 
22,  and  then  engaged  in  general  merchan- 
dising in  the  village  of  Esopus,  Ulster  Co., 
and  afterward  removed  to  Greene  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  where  he  was  married,  in  1825,  to  Miss 
Caroline  Thompson,  daughter  of  Rev. 
James  Thompson,  an  Episcopal  clergyman 
of  Greene  Co.  He  continued  in  the  mer- 


cantile business  eight  years,  and  then- 
moved  to  Brooklyn  and  established  the 
Brooklyn  Collegiate  Institute,  which  he 
continued  till  1844,  when  he  removed  to- 
New  York  City  and  opened  a  private  select 
school.  In  1849,  he  came  to  Will  Co. 
and  entered  560  acres  of  land  from  the 
Government  in  the  present  township  of 
Manhattan,  to  which  he  added  by  purchase, 
from  time  to  time,  until  at  one  time  he 
owned  over  nineteen  hundred  acres,  being 
one  of  the  largest  land  owners  in  the  town- 
ship ;  on  the  organization  of  the  township 
in  1850,  there  were  but  ten  voters  living 
in  the  township,  the  most  of  whom  were 
from  New  York ;  Mr.  Young  proposed 
Manhattan  as  the  name  of  the  new  town- 
ship, and  it  was  immediately  adopted.  He 
was  chosen  the  first  Supervisor,  and  held 
the  office  eight  years ;  in  1851,  he  became 
President  of  the  Will  Co.  Agricultural 
Society,  serving  until  1859  ;  he  has  also 
held  several  subordinate  offices,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  School  Trustee 
Commissioner  of  Highways,  etc.  His 
wife  died  in  1858,  leaving  a  very  promis- 
ing family  of  three  sons  and  one  daughter 
— James  T.,  now  President  of  the  New 
York  Printing  and  Dyeing  Company ; 
Mansfield  and  Edward,  now  among  the 
substantial  business  men  of  Joliet,  and 
Caroline  E.,  wife  of  Francis  L.  Cagwin,  of 
Joliet.  Mr.  Young  continued  to  reside  in 
Manhattan  until  May,  1876,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Joliet,  and  now  resides  with  his 
son  Mansfield. 

HENRY  YOUNG,  dealer  in  cigars  and 
tobacco,  Joliet;  was  born  in  the  Province 
of  Lorraine,  France,  Nov.  17,  1825  ;  he 
came  to  this  country  in  1847,  landing  in 
New  York  August  2 ;  he  resided  eleven 
years  in  Buffalo  and  vicinity,  coming  to 
Joliet  in  1858  ;  he  engaged  in  keeping  a 
public  house,  which  he  continued  until  the 
fall  of  1874,  when  he  engaged  in  his  pres- 
ent business.  He  held  the  office  of  Con- 
stable for  eight  years,  first  being  elected 
about  1860  ;  in  1863,  he  was  elected  Street 
Commissioner,  and,  in  1873,  Alderman 
from  the  Fourth  Ward  (now  the  Second), 
serving  two  years.  He  was  married  Oct. 
13,  1849,  to  Miss  Mary  Brack  ;  she  was 
born  in  Luxemburg,  Germany,  May  5, 
1832  ;  they  tiave  had  ten  children,  eight 
of  whom  are  now  living — Margarita  (Mrs. 
Julius  Krause,  of  Joliet),  Catherine,  Henry 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


729 


J.,  Charles  J.,  Emma,  Rosa,  Elizabeth 
and  Joseph ;  one  son,  Nicholas,  lost  his 
life,  with  several  others,  by  lightning  while 
attending  worship  in  St.  John  the  Baptist's 
Church,  July  31,  1864;  another  son, 
Henry,  died  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  1854. 

MANSFIELD  YOUNG,  tea  merchant, 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
Dec.  26,  1830;  at  the  age  of  18,  he  came 
West  with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Man- 
hattan Tp.,  in  this  county,  in  1849,  where 
he  assisted  his  parents  in  farming  up  to 
1854,  when  he  came  to  Joliet  and  engaged 
in  the  grain  trade  for  a  year,  when  he  re- 
turned to  New  York,  remaining  there  until 
1864.  engaged  in  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  hats ;  in  January  of  the  same  year,  he 
went  to  California  by  way  of  the  Isthmus, 
and  was  engaged  in  the  hat  business  in 
San  Francisco  up  to  September,  1865, 
when  he  returned  to  New  York  ;  in  June, 
1868,  he  came  to  Joliet,  where  he  has 
since  resided  ;  he  is  at  present  engaged  in 
the  tea  business.  Was  Town  Clerk  and 
Road  Commissioner  at  different  times 
during  his  residence  in  Manhattan  Tp., 
and  also  one  of  the  Supervisors.  He 
married  Miss  Sarah  Walker,  daughter  of 
Joseph  Walker,  of  New  York  City,  May 
6,  1863;  she  died  in  Joliet  on  Ascension 
Day,  May  25,  1876,  and  now  sleeps 
in  Oakwood  Cemetery ;  she  was  a  lady 
universally  beloved,  and  her  early  death 
was  greatly  deplored  by  a  large  circle  of 
friends  and  acquaintances.  Mr.  Young 
was  a  member  of  the  famous  7th  Regiment 
N.  Y.  N.  G.,  and,  in  1861,  went  with  that 
regiment  to  the  seat  of  war,  being  the  first 
regiment  to  march. 

CALNEH  ZARLEY,  of  the  firm  of 
Zarley  &  Co.,  publishers  of  the  Joliet 
Signal,  Joliet ;  among  the  very  earliest 
settlers  of  Will  Co.,  was  the  family  of 
Reason  Zarley,  who  emigrated  from  Pike 
Co.,  Ohio,  in  1829,  and,  after  spending 
two  years  in  Vermilion  Co.,  111.,  settled  in 
Joliet  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  in  1831,  where  he 
resided  until  his  death,  in  1859;  his 
widow  still  lives  on  the  original  farm, 
being  the  oldest  living  inhabitant  of  the 
township  ;  of  the  eight  children  living  at 
the  time  of  their  father's  decease,  three 
have  since  died,  and  the  remaining  five 
are  all  residents  of  Will  Co.;  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Pike  Co.,  Ohio, 
April  21,  1825,  and  came  to  Illinois  with 


the  family,  as  above  stated  ;  he  remained 
at  home  on  the  farm  until  he  attained  his 
majority,  in  1846;  he  then  entered  upon 
his  editorial  career  as  one  of  the*  editors 
and  proprietors  of  the  Joliet  Signal,  in 
which  capacity  he  has  continued  for  the 
past  thirty-two  years,  during  which  time 
the  Signal  has  continued  to  increase  in 
circulation,  popularity  and  influence :  in 
politics,  it  has  always  been  Democratic ;  it 
now  has  a  bona-fide  circulation  of  1,200 
copies  weekly ;  Mr.  Zarley  held  the  office 
of  Postmaster  of  Joliet  during  the  admin- 
istration of  Presidents  Pierce  and  Bu- 
chanan, and  has  served  for  the  past  nine 
years  on  the  Board  of  School  Inspectors. 
He  was  married  in  1862,  to  Miss  Annie 
Keegan,  of  Joliet,  and  has  five  children — 
Katie,  Edwin  C.,  Sarah,  Frank  W.  and 
Thomas  K. 

W.  H.  ZARLEY,  Clerk  of  the  County 
Court,  Joliet;  a  son  of  Reason  and  Sarah 
Zarley ;  was  born  on  the  Zarley  home- 
stead, in  the  town  of  Joliet,  on  the  21st 
of  February,  1837 ;  he  remained  at  home 
until  he  was  17  years  old,  when  he  entered 
the  Joliet  Postoffice  as  Deputy  Post- 
master, under  his  brother,  Calneh  Zarley, 
serving  under  him  seven  years,  and,  on 
the  appointment  of  J.  L.  Braden  as  Post- 
master, in  1861,  he  was  retained  as  deputy 
for  two  years,  until  his  election  as  City 
Clerk,  in  1863;  he  held  that  office  for 
fourteen  years,  until  1877,  when  he  was 
elected  County  Clerk.  He  was  married 
Jan.  30,  1860,  to  Miss  Helen  M.  Patrick, 
daughter  of  Jacob  Patrick,  of  Joliet,  and 
has  three  children — Charles  H.,  George 
P.  and  Ida. 

SARAH  ZARLEY,  Joliet.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir,  Sarah  Zarley,  was 
born  in  Pike  Co.,  Ohio,  Oct.  25, 1794 ;  her 
maiden  name  was  Sarah  Mustard,  being 
the  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Mustard, 
one  of  the  pioneer  Methodists  of  that 
State,  and  is  of  the  same  faith  still ;  in 
1814,  she  was  married  to  Reason' Zarley, 
and  in  1828,  with  her  husband  and  fami- 
ly, she  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  near 
Danville,  where  she  resided  until  1831, 
when  the  family  moved  to  Joliet  and  set- 
tled on  what  is  known  as  the  Zarley  farm, 
two  miles  south  of  the  city,  where  she  is 
residing  at  present,  and  has  resided  for  the 
last  forty-seven  years.  Mrs.  Zarley  is  the  old- 
est resident  of  Joliet,  as  well  as  the  oldest 


730 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


living  resident .  of  Will  Co ;  when  she 
came  here,  Northern  Illinois  was  a  wilder- 
ness, inhabited  only  by  Indians  and  wild 
beasts ;  with  her  husband,  she  bravely 
withstood  the  dangers  and  hardships  of 
frontier  life,  and  aided  in  rearing  a  large 
family  of  children ;  though  84  years  of 
age,  she  is  yet  in  the  full  possession  of  her 
mental  faculties,  and  has  a  vivid  remem- 
brance of  the  past ;  her  husband  died  in 


1859,  leaving  her  in  charge  of  the  farm 
and  property,  which  she  yet  possesses ;  she 
is  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  to  wit, 
W.  M.,  Lydia,  John  W.,  Susan,  Calneh. 
Calvin,  Linton,  Sarah,  Elizabeth  D, 
James  C.  and  William  H.;  of  whom  Su- 
san, Calneh,  Elizabeth,  James  C.  and 
William  H.  are  living,  and  reside  in  Will 
Co.  Indeed,  few  live  to  so  ripe  an  age 
and  have  filled  all  the  duties  of  life  so  well. 


LOCKPORT    TOWNSHIP. 


JAMES  L.  ALEXANDER,  farmer, 
P.  0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  New  Marl- 
boro, Mass.,  Aug.  22,  1805.  He  was 
married  to  Betsy  Healy,  of  Elbridge,  On- 
ondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  17,  1834;  after 
marriage,  he  lived  three  years  in  Sodus, 
Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  engaged  in 
farming;  in  1837,  he  came  West  and  set- 
tled near  Lockport,  taking  contracts  on  the 
I.  &  M.  Canal  on  the  section  at  Kankakee, 
and  subsequently  on  Sees.  62  and  45 ;  after 
the  completion  of  the  canal,  he  purchased  a 
farm  in  the  present  limits  of  Dupage  Tp., 
and  occupied  it  in  1841;  in  1860,  he 
moved  to  the  farm  now  owned  and  operated 
by  his  widow  and  son,  James  H. ;  he  died 
Dec.  29,  1876;  has  two  children  living — 
James  H.  and  Sarah  E.  (now  wife  of  C. 
W.  Rathburn,  of  Joliet).  The  home  farm 
contains  382  acres,  worth  $70  per  acre. 
Never  having  sought  political  preferment, 
he  held  no  offices  higher  than  those  of 
School  Trustee  and  School  Director.  He 
was  a  well-read,  thorough-going  business 
man  ;  perhaps  no  man  in  the  communities 
in  which  he  lived  enjoyed  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  neighbors  to  a  fuller  ex- 
tent than  did  Mr.  Alexander;  starting  in 
life  a  poor  boy,  he,  by  manly  exertions,  ac- 
cumulated a  competency  for  his  family, 
and,  at  his  death,  no  man  could  truthfully 
say  that  he  had  accumulated  one  cent  in  a 
dishonest  manner. 

MORGAN  ASHLEY,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Lockport;  was  born  in  Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Jan.  29,  1818 ;  at  the  age  of  17,  he  left  the 
East  and  came  West  to  Illinois,  settling  in 
Plainfield;  here  he  remained  two  years, 
and  then  moved  north  of  the  village  one 
mile,  to  a  farm,  remaining  six  years  ;  he 


next  moved  to  Dupage  Tp.,  purchased  a 
farm  and  remained  there  seven  years  ;  he 
next  moved  to  Lockport  Tp.,  and  located 
where  he  at  present  resides.  He  was  mar- 
ried Jan.  21,  1843,  to  Emily  R.  Norton,  a 
native  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y. ;  has  seven  children 
— Lourina,  Eli,  Annie  (now  wife  of  Alva 
Culver),  Harvey  L.,  Gilbert  M.,  Riley  T., 
Preston  D.  Owns  200  acres,  worth  $12,- 

000.  Held  the  ofiices  of  Constable  and 
Collector  in  Plainfield  ;  was  Justice  of  the 
Peace  ten  years  in  Dupage;    he  was  ap- 
pointed  Postmaster  at  Dupage  under  the 
administration  of  Andy  Johnson;  this  po- 
sition he  held  about  two  years ;  is  at  present 
School  Trustee.     In  addition  to  his  com- 
mon school  education,  he  attended  for  a 
time  a  select  school  at  Martinsburg,  Lewis 
Co.,  N.  Y.     Poor  when  he  came  West,  he 
has  accumulated  his  property  through  his 
own  personal  exertions,  seconded  by  the  aid 
of  his  faithful  companion. 

C.  ADELM  ANN,  farmer;  P.O.  Lock- 
port  ;  was  born  in  Bavaria,  Germany,  May 

1,  1817  ;    he  immigrated  to   America  in 
August,   1846,  and  settled   in  Lockport, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  where  he  has  resided  ever 
since,  excepting  a   temporary  absence  of 
about  six  months  on  the  Au  Sable ;  he  was 
a  stone  cutter  by  trade,  and  has  erected  a 
number  of  fine  buildings  in  Lockport,  and 
now  owns  some  of  the  best  and  most  eligi- 
bly situated  business  houses  in  town  ;   this 
he  followed  about   twenty  years  and   then 
bought  and  operated  the  tannery  located 
in  the  south  part  of  the  village  ;  Jan.  11, 
1878,  he  sold    out  his  business  and    has 
since  lived    a   retired  life    on    his    farm ; 
own     forty   acres     adjoining    the     corpo- 
ration, adorned    with    a    fine    stone    res- 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


731 


idence.  He  was  married  in  March,  1847, 
to  Mary  Koumeyer,  a  native  of  Germany  ; 
has  six  children — Peter,  Mary,  Charlie, 
Francis,  China,  Georgia. 

JAMES  BAKER,  farmer;  P.O.  Lock- 
port  was  born  in  Nottinghamshire,  Eng., 
Nov.  2, 1830;  May  29, 1858,  he  immigrated 
to  America  and  first  settled  in  Lockport, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  where  he  engaged  in  laboring 
for  John  Fiddyment ;  here  he  remained 
one  year  and  then  moved  to  Wilmington  ; 
after  a  residence  of  two  years,  he  returned 
to  Lockport  and  entered  again  the  employ- 
ment of  Mr.  Fiddyment ;  after  three  or 
four  years  service,  he  next  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Norton  &  Co.,  for  whom  he  labored 
five  or  six  years ;  in  1867,  he  moved  to 
the  farm  of  S.  Wilson,  which  he  cul- 
tivated two  years  ;  next,  to  that  of 
James  Baker,  and  remained  five  years; 
in  1874,  he  moved  to  his  present 
place  of  residence,  three  miles  south 
of  Lockport.  He  was  married  Dec. 
27,  1853,  to  Eliza  Baker,  a  native  of 
England  ;  has  eight  children — Thomas, 
Joseph,  Mary  A.,  Emeline,  Elizabeth, 
James  J.,  William  and  George.  Possessed 
of  a  goodly  amount  of  property,  which  he 
has  gained  by  industry  and  hard  toil,  and 
largely  deprived,  through  want  of  means,  of 
an  education  himself,  he  provides  as  best 
he  can  the  means  for  educating  his  chil- 
dren, and  fitting  them  for  useful  citizens. 

J.  A.  BOYER,  proprietor  Lemont 
stone  quarries,  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Lock- 
port,  Will  Co.,  111.,  Oct.  30, 1850 ;  on  leaving 
the  schools  of  his  native  village  at  the  age 
of  12,  he  attended  a  select  school  at  Chi- 
cago for  some  time,  and  also  was  a  member 
of  Bryant  &  Stratton's  Business  College 
two  winters  ;  the  last  school  he  attended 
was  kept  by  Dr.  Parks,  of  Chicago,  located 
near  Graceland  Cemetery ;  at  the  age  of 
16,  he  left  off  attending  school,  and  his 
father  having  a  contract  on  the  deepening 
of  the  I.  &  M.  Canal,  young  J.  A.  acted 
in  the  capacit}'  of  clerk  for  him ;  his  father 
having  died  in  1868,  he  finished  his  con- 
tract and  then  engaged  in  opening  up  a 
stone  quarry;  in  the  spring  of  1869,  he 
opened  a  quarry  just  north  of  Lockport, 
but  finding  it  would  not  pay,  he  abandoned 
it;  in  the  spring  of  1871,  he  began  oper- 
ations at  Lemont ;  he  operates  three  quar- 
ries with  a  large  force,  and  finds  ready  sale 
for  all  his  material.  He  was  married  Nov. 


25,  1874,  to  Helen  C.  Cook,  a  native  of 
Chicago,  111.;  has  two  children — Julius  A. 
and  Charles  E.  The  Catholic  Church,  the 
finest  and  most  costly  of  any  in  the  town, 
is  constructed  out  of  material  fiom  his 
quarries. 

A.  S.  BROWN,  salesman,  with 
Norton  &  Co.,  Lockport;  was  born 
in  Lancaster,  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  May 
18,  1831  ;  when  6  years  of  age,  he  came 
with  the  family  to  Ohio,  his  father  settling 
near  Canton,  in  Stark  Co.;  here  he  en- 
gaged in  the  coopering  business,  and  his  son 
under  his  tuition  also  learned  the  cooper's 
trade ;  after  abandoning  the  trade,  they 
engaged  in  farming ;  in  1849,  the  family 
came  West,  and  settled  in  Wheatland  Tp., 
Will  Co.,  111.;  at  the  age  of  22,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  left  home^nd  began  farming 
for  himself;  this  he  followed  about  twelve 
years  ;  he  then  sold  his  farm  and  came  to 
Lockport  and  opened  a  grocery  store ; 
this  he  operated  four  years;  July  13, 
1868,  he  entered  the  employ  of  Norton  & 
Co.  as  salesman,  which  position  he  still 
occupies.  He  was  married  Oct.  27,  1853, 
to  Susan  Snyder,  a  native  of  Ohio  ;  has 
four  children  living — Franklin,  Eda,  Will- 
iam and  Carrie  ;  six  deceased.  Mr.  Brown 
is  courteous  and  accommodating,  and  is 
justly  popular  as  a  business  man. 

JAMES  BRUCE,  quarryman;  P.  0. 
Joliet;  born  in  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland, 
Oct.  11,  1823,  where  he  lived  until  20  years 
of  age,  and  followed  the  millwright  business 
until  he  emigrated  to  America,  in  1844, 
and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  engaged 
as  foreman  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal  until  its  completion,  when  he  en- 
gaged with  Norton  &  Co.,  at  Lockport,  as 
millwright,  following  this  business  two 
years,  when  he  engaged  in  the  quarry 
business,  which  he  has  since  followed.  He 
owns  one-half  of  what  is  known  as  Bruce 
&  Co.'s  quarry,  situated  just  east  of  the 
Illinois  Penitentiary  in  Joliet.  He  was 
married  July  12,  1852,  to  Jane  Stephen  ; 
she  was  born  in  Scotland,  Oct.  8,  1833  ; 
they  are  the  parents  of  nine  children  ;  the 
living  are  Bella  G.,  William,  Margaret, 
Ebenezer,  James  and  Harry  ;  the  deceased 
are  Georgiana,  Frank  and  Jennie. 

WILLIAM  BRADLEY,  M.  D.,  physi- 
cian and  surgeon,  Lockport ;  was  born  in 
West  Greece,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept. 
17,  1837  ;  in  1860,  he  matriculated  in  the 


732 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


Geneva  Medical  College,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1864,  having  completed  a 
full  course  of  study ;  he  then  returned 
home,  and,  in  connection  with  his  father, 
practiced  his  profession  one  year  ;  in  1865, 
he  came  West  and  located  in  Lock  port,  his 
present  place  of  residence,  entering  the 
employ  of  W.  H.  Kezler  as  clerk  in  his 
drug  store  ;  he  also  served  Probert  and  Dr. 
Daggett,  successive  owners  of  the  store,  in 
the  same  capacity  ;  in  1868,  he  opened  a 
drug  store  for  himself.  Was  married  May 
11,  1876,  to  Julia  Parker,  a  native  of  New 
York ;  has  two  children — Gertrude  and 
William.  Republican ;  Congregation- 
alist.  He  has  practiced  ever  since  he  lo- 
cated in  the  town,  but  much  of  his  practice 
has  been  confined  to  the  office.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  fine  social  qualities,  of  a 
genial  disposition,  such  as  is  calculated  to 
draw  about  him  a  host  of  friends,  and  is 
deservedly  popular. 

C.  H.  BACON,  M.  D.,  physician  and 
surgeon ;  Lockport,  was  born  in  Albion, 
Orleans  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  12, 1834 ;  in  1849, 
entered  the  High  School  at  Rochester ;  he 
remained  three  years,  completing  the  full 
course  ;  at  the  age  of  18,  he  began  the  study 
of  medicine  with  Dr.  Moore  at  Lockport, 
N.  Y. ;  a  year  later,  entered  the  New  York 
Medical  University  and  remained  two  years ; 
at  the  age  of  22,  came  West  and  located  in 
Mokena;  Will  Co.,  and  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  his  profession  ;  here  he  remained 
two  years  and  then  came  to  Lockport ;  in 
the  winter  of  1860-61,  he  attended  the 
Chicago  Medical  College,  from  which  he 
graduated  March  4,  1862  ;  he  then  re- 
turned to  Lockport,  his  present  place  of 
residence;  in  the  summer  of  1862,  he 
raised  a  company  of  voluuteers  and  enlisted 
in  the  U.  S.  army  as  Captain  of  Co.  C, 
100th  Regiment  Til.  V.  I. ;  resigned  his 
position  at  the  end  of  three  months'  service, 
and  was  appointed  Assistant  Surgeon  of 
the  U.  S.  Vol.  Corps  ;  he  was  promoted  to 
full  Surgeon  August,  1863,  and  served 
until  Nov.  21,  1865;  during  this  period 
he  served  most  of  the  time  as  Post  Surgeon 
at  Johnsonville,  Tenn.  ;  he  was  appointed 
Physician  and  Surgeon  of  the  State  Prison 
at  Joliet,  July  1,  1869,  which  position  he 
he  held  till  July  15,  1874.  He  was  mar- 
ried Feb  14,  1854,  to  Mary  L.  Moore,  a 
native  of  New  York  ;  has  one  daughter — 
Clara.  Owns  a  fruit  farm  of  eighty  acres 


in  New  York.  In  1876,  he  erected  a  fine 
three-story  brick  business  house  at  a  cost 
of  $7,000.  Dec.  15, 1876,  opened  his  drug 
store,  the  finest  in  the  city.  Republican ; 
Methodist.  Lockport  Lodge,  No.  538,  of 
A.,  F.  &  A.  M.,  occupies  the  third  story  of 
his  building.  Dr.  Bacon  was  the  first  Mas- 
ter of  the  Lodge,  and  held  the  position  a 
number  of  years  in  succession.  He  and 
Dr.  Daggett  do  the  leading  practice  of  the 
city  and  srrounding  country. 

CHARLES  E.  BOYER,  contractor; 
Lockport.  Mr.  Boyer  was  born  June 
5,  1813,  in  Reading,  Penn.;  in  1837, 
he  came  West,  and  located  in  Chicago, 
engaging  at  once  in  mercantile  life ;  in 
1839,  he  came  to  Lockport  and  com- 
menced business  in  connection  with  Messrs. 
Ayers  &  Iliff,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Ayers,  Iliff  &  Co.;  he  soon  withdrew  from 
the  firm,  and  took  a  contract  on  the  I.  & 
M.  Canal;  in  the  Fall  of  1844,  he  went  to 
Galva,  and  engaged  in  a  similar  work  ;  in 
1850,  he  went  to  California  and  remained 
two  years  ;  during  his  stay,  he  took  a  con- 
tract on  the  Bear  River  Canal,  and  later, 
on  the  levee  at  Sacramento  City  ;  return- 
ing to  Lockport  in  the  summer  of  1852, 
he  was  appointed  Assistant  Superintendent 
of  the  I.  &  M.  Canal,  and  had  charge  of 
the  Eastern  Division  ;  this  position  he  held 
some  ten  or  twelve  years ;  the  last  years  of 
his  life  were  devoted  mostly  to  dealing  in 
real  estate  ;  the  Jacksonville  Division  of 
the  A.  &  St.  Louis  R.  R.,  extending  from 
Bloomington  to  Jacksonville,  was  built 
under  his  immediate  supervision.  He  was 
married  April  14,  1840,  to  Elizabeth  Run- 
yon,  a  native  of  Ohio ;  has  had  five  chil- 
dren, three  living — Erurna  B.,  Julius  A. 
and  Florence  G.  Owns  263  acres.  Mr. 
Boyer  was  a  stanch  Democrat,  though  he 
took  but  little  active  interest  in  politics. 
He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture in  1863,  and  at  the  time  of  his  de- 
cease, which  occurred  Sept.  21,  1868,  he 
was  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  State 
Senate.  His  accomplished  wife  and  family 
reside  in  one  of  the  most  eligible  properties 
in  the  city. 

WILLIAM  CAMERON,  Superinten- 
dent State  Machine  Shops,  Lockport ;  was 
born  in  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  Jan.  20, 1836 ; 
he  came  with  the  family  in  1848  or  1849 
to  Hamilton,  Canada  ;  here  his  father  re- 
mained about  twelve  years,  and  then  moved 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


733 


to  London,  Canada,  where  he  died ;  about 
the  age  of  16,  William  left  home,  and  en- 
gaged in  learning  his  trade  at  Kingston  ; 
was  an  apprentice  four  years  ;  after  acquir- 
ing his  trade,  he  worked  in  the  shops  of 
the  Great  Western  R.  R.  at  Hamilton  three 
or  four  years ;  he  then  went  to  the  State 
of  New  York,  and  worked  in  various  places  ; 
In  1861,  he  came  West,  locating  in  Otta- 
wa, where  he  labored  for  Henry  Foy  in  his 
machine  shops;  from  there,  in  1866,  he 
came  to  work  on  the  I.  &  M.  Canal,  when 
the  work  of  deepening  the  canal  was  be- 
gun ;  in  1875,  he  came  to  Lockport,  hav- 
ing been  appointed  to  his  present  position. 
He  was  married  in  March,  1856,  to  Ann 
Beattie,  a  native  of  Canada;  has  two  chil- 
dren— Andrew  and  Jane.  Owns  property 
in  Lockport  and  some  near  London,  Can- 
ada. 

HARVEY  W.  CHAMBERLAIN, 
blacksmith,  Lockport;  was  born  in  Essex, 
Essex  Co.,  N.Y.,  Feb.  22, 1843 ;  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  same  year,  the  family  came  West 
and  settled  in  Dupage  Township,  Will  Co. 
In  1853,  his  father,  a  carpenter  by  trade, 
moved  to  Lockport  and  worked  for  Norton 
&  Co.,  in  erecting  their  mill.  At  the  age 
of  14,  H.  W.  went  to  work  at  his  trade, 
serving  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years ; 
he  followed  his  trade  until  1862,  when  he 
enlisted  in  Co.  C,  100th  Regiment  I.  V. 
I. ;  he  participated  in  the  battles  of  Stone 
River,  Chickamauga,  Missionary  Ridge, 
Resaca,  Dalton,  Lookout  Mountain,  New 
Hope  Church,  Franklin,  Nashville  and 
others ;  in  the  battle  of  Peach  Tree  Creek, 
fought  July  22,  1864,  he  was  wounded  in 
the  left  shoulder  and  disabled  for  six 
montbs ;  on  returning  from  the  army  he 
again  went  to  his  trade  in  Lockport.  He 
was  married  May  7,  1868,  to  Asenath 
Johnson,  of  Lockport ;  has  four  children 
— Fred,  Willie,  Flora  and  Jessie. 

B.  B.  CLARK,  merchant,  Lockport ; 
Mr.  Clark,  who  is,  one  among  the  earliest  set- 
tlers of  Will  County,  was  born  in  Trumbull 
Co.,  Ohio,  Feb.  9, 1814;  in  1820,  his  father 
moved  to  Illinois  and  settled  about  mid- 
way between  Vincennes,  Ind.,  and  Mt. 
Carmel,  111. ;  a  sketch  of  the  family's  re- 
movals and  locations  will  be  found  in  de- 
tail in  the  body  of  the  work  ;  in  1835,  B. 
B.  purchased  a  portion  of  the  home  place, 
northeast  of  Plainfield,  and  went  to  work 
for  himself;  that  land  he  owns  to-day  ;  in 


1850,  he  went  to  California;  five  months 
were  occupied  in  crossing  the  plains  ;  dur- 
ing the  trip  they  ran  short  of  provisions, 
and  lived  on  bran-bread  three  days  ;  on 
arriving  at  Sacramento  City  he  engaged  to 
furnish  and  superintend  teams  on  the 
levee ;  this  employment  gave  him  the 
handsome  income  of  855  per  day ;  after- 
ward, purchasing  a  stock  of  provisions,  he 
went  back  into  the  mining  districts  and 
engaged  in  trade  ;  in  1852.  he  returned  to 
Illinois,  being  considerably  ahead  in  a  pe- 
cuniary point  of  view  ;  he  continued  ac- 
tively engaged  in  farming  until  1868,  when 
he  moved  into  Lockport  and  engaged  in 
the  dry  goods  and  clothing  business  early 
in  1869.  He  was  married  Dec.  16,  1848, 
to  Harriet  M.  Bartlett,  a  native  of  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  has  had  six  children,  three  liv- 
ing and  three  dead.  Owns  315  acres  in 
Dupage  Township,  valued  at  875  per  acre. 

S.  S.  CHAMBERLAIN,  furniture  and 
undertaker,  Lockport;  was  born  in  Mon- 
roe Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  19,  1817;  his 
father  was  amons  the  earliest  settlers  in 
what  is  now  Will  Co. ;  he  left  New  York  in 
January,  1833,  and  on  the  27th  of  Feb- 
ruary, arrived  at  the  head  of  Hickory 
Creek,  now  in  New  Lenox  Tp.,  Will  Co. ; 
Mr.  S.  S.  Chamberlain,  a  boy  of  15  Sum- 
mers, rode  the  entire  distance  on  an  Indian 
pony;  a  detailed  account  of  their  journey 
will  be  found  in  the  body  of  the  history  ;  in 
1837,  his  father  sold  his  farm  and  moved  to 
Peoria  Co.,  not  far  from  the  present  site  of 
Peoria  City;  in  1844,  S.  S.  returned  to 
Lockport  and  engaged  in  house  carpenter- 
ing; in  1857,  he  opened  his  furniture 
store  and  undertaker's  business.  He  was 
married  in  1841  to  Elizabeth  Gray,  a 
native  of  New  York,  sister  of  Charles  M. 
and  Capt.  George  M.  Gray,  the  latter  con- 
nected with  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Line, 
and  the  former  for  many  years  general 
freight  agent  of  the  M.  S.  R.  R. ;  has  two 
sons — George  M.,  Charles  G.  In  connec- 
tion with  his  son  George  M.,  has  the  only 
undertaker's  establishment  in  Joliet, 
operated  by  an  American  or  Protestant. 

GEORGE  B.  COOK,  salesman  for 
Gay  lord  &  Co.,  Lockport;  was  born 
in  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  13, 
1838 ;  in  1845,  the  family  left  New  York 
State  and  settled  near  London,  Can.;  his 
father  was  traveling  salesman  for  the 
wholesale  firm  of  Murray  &  Anderson;  in 


SKETCHES: 


July,  1851,  his  father  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  near  Morris,  on  the  Au  Sable ;  in 
March,  1852,  he  moved  to  Chicago  and 
took  charge  of  the  lock  at  the  head  of  the 
I.  &  M.  Canal ;  on  the  9th  of  June 
following  he  died  of  cholera ;  George  B. 
remained  with  the  family,  and  in  the 
Spring  of  1854,  they  moved  to  Lockport; 
here,  in  connection  with  an  older  brother, 
he  attended  the  lock  and  provided  for  the 
family;  in  1861,  he  went  to  Channahon 
and  followed  various  pursuits  ;  in  August, 
1869,  he  took  charge  of  a  force  of  men 
engaged  in  the  improvement  of  the  Kan- 
kakee  River,  and  afterward  was  engaged  in 
the  construction  of  the  feeder  to  the  I.  & 
M.  Canal  on  the  same  river;  in  1871,  in 
connection  with  C.  E.  Fowler,  he  opened  a 
general  merchandise  store  at  the  village  of 
Shermanville,  on  the  Kankakee  River ;  at 
the  end  of  eight  months,  they  closed 
out  their  stock,  and  he  returned  to  Lock- 
port;  his  family  remained  here,  and  he 
went  to  Chicago  as  foreman  in  the  packing- 
house of  Col.  Hancock  ;  here  he  remained 
until  May,  1873,  when  he  entered  the 
employ  of  J.  A.  Boyer  as  foreman  in  his 
quarries  at  Lemont ;  in  the  Fall  of  1873, 
he  was  employed  as  salesman  by  James  E. 
Casey,  of  Lockport ;  then  in  the  grocery 
trade ;  December,  1875,  he  took  the  posi- 
tion he  now  occupies.  He  was  married 
March  3,  1859,  to  Eliza  Killeen,  a  native 
of  Ireland;  has  two  children — James  R., 
born  Dec.  3,  1859 ;  George  B.,  born  Dec. 
9,  1864. 

JOHN  F.  DAGGETT,  M.  D.,  physi- 
cian and  surgeon,  Lockport.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Charlotte,  Chit- 
tenden  Co.,  Vt.,  Feb.  19,  1815;  with  a 
good  common  school  education,  he  began 
teaching  at  the  age  of  16  ;  he  entered  upon 
his  professional  studies  at  the  age  of  19, 
attending  the  medical  college  at  Woodstock, 
Vt.,  in  the  Spring,  and  that  of  Pittsfield, 
Mass.,  during  the  Fall;  he  graduated  from 
Woodstock  in  1836,  and  commenced  the 
practice  of  medicine  in  1838,  at  Lockport, 
his  present  home ;  for  forty  years  he  has 
had  the  leading  practice  of  the  town  and 
vicinity.  He  was  married  in  1842,  to 
Angeline  Talco"tt,  a  native  of  New  York  ; 
she  came  to  Illinois  in  1834;  was  sister  of 
the  late  Mancel  Talcott,  of  Chicago ;  her 
brother,  Edward  B.  Talcott,  assisted  in 
surveying  and  laying  out  the  [llinois  & 


Michigan  Canal ;  subsequently,  he  was- 
Superintendent  of  the  St.  Jo  &  Hannibal 
R.  R.,  and  at  a  later  period,  held  the  same 
position  on  the  Chicago  &  Galena  R.  R. ; 
Mrs.  Daggett  died  in  1844,  without  issue ; 
his  second  marriage,  to  Cleora  M.  Parsons, 
of  Marcellus,  N.  Y.,  occurred  in  184(1 ; 
has  had  five  children,  three  dead,  two  liv- 
ing— Belle  F..wife  of  Hugo  VonBoehme, 
of  Joliet  (City  Surveyor  and  Architect), 
and  Clara  P.  Owns  500  acres  in  Lockport 
Tp. ;  also  a  mill  on  the  Des  Plaines  River, 
just  below  the  town  of  Lockport ;  this  mill 
was  built  in  1836  or  '37,  and  operates  four 
run  of  stone.  For  many  years  Dr.  Dag- 
gett did  all  the  practical  operative  surgery 
of  the  surrounding  country.  In  1871,  he 
was  chosen  to  the  Senate  to  represent  the 
district  composed  of  Will,  Kankakee, 
Grundy  and  Kendall  Counties.  Repub- 
lican ;  Episcopalian.  Though  63  years 
of  age,  the  Doctor  bids  fair  to  lead 
an  active  busy  life  l;>r  many  years  to 
come. 

REV.  FATHKR  M.  J.  DORNEY, 
Pastor  of  St.  Dennis'  Catholic  Church, 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Springfield,  Mass., 
March  11,  1851 ;  at  the  age  of  9  years,  he 
entered  the  University  of  St.  Mary's  of 
the  Lake,  situated  in  Chicago,  in  which  he 
remained  a  student  seven  years  ;  leaving 
there,  he  entered  the  college  at  Suspension 
Bridge,  N.  Y. ;  here  he  remained  three 
years,  completing  his  literary  course,  and 
received  the  degree  of  A.  B. ;  one  year 
after,  that  of  A.  M. ;  he  next  entered  up- 
on his  theological  course  in  St.  Mary's 
Seminary,  located  in  Baltimore ;  this  insti- 
tution is  one  among  the  oldest  in  our  land, 
the  grant  of  land  on  which  it  is  situated 
having  been  made  by  Chas.  Carroll,  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence ;  he  finished  the  course  in  December, 
her,  1873,  and  Jan.  27, 1874,  was  ordained 
a  priest  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church.  By 
appointment  from  the  Bishop,  he  was  sent 
to  St.  John's  Catholic  Church,  in  Chicago, 
to  assist  Father  Waldron  in  the  ministra- 
tions of  the  Church  ;  here  he  remained  two 
and  one-half  years.  Aug.  29,  1876,  he 
came  to  his  charge  in  Lockport ;  under  his 
direct  supervision,  a  splendid  stone  church 
is  now  being  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $30,000, 
and  which  when  completed  will  far  surpass 
in  size  and  beauty  all  other  churches  in, 
Lockport. 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


ARTHUR  R.  DEEMING,  foreman 
grocery  store,  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Lie- 
cestershire,  England,  May  31,  1843;  in 
1855,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  settled 
in  Lockport,  111. ;  he  entered  the  employ 
of  Stephen  Dowse  as  clerk  in  his  grocery 
store,  and  remained  in  his  employ  about 
nine  years ;  leaving  Lockport,  he  next 
located  in  Ottawa,  La  Salle  Co.,  remaining, 
however,  but  a  few  months ;  he  next 
engaged  in  carpentering  for  a  short  time  ; 
in  1865,  he  engaged  with  Norton  &  Co., 
and  at  the  end  of  six  months  took  charge 
of  their  large  grocery  and  boat  stores,  which 
position  he  now  holds.  He  was  married 
Dec.  26, 1868,  to  Annie  M.  Smith,  a  native 
of  Illinois ;  has  one  child — Leonora  M., 
born  Oct.  21,  1869.  Mr.  Deeming  is  at 
present  Superintendent  of  the  M.  E. 
Church  Sabbath  school. 

H.  G.  EDDY,  foreman  I.  &  M.  Canal 
yards,  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Oxford, 
Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  19,  1829  ; 
at  the  age  of  9,  he  came  with  the  family  to 
Lockport,  his  father  having  come  the  year 
before.  His  father  was  a  mason  by  trade, 
and  during  the  construction  of  the  canal, 
worked  upon  it.  At  the  age  of  16,  H.  G. 
went  to  his  trade,  serving  an  apprentice- 
ship of  five  years ;  in  1850,  he  went  to 
California ;  engaged  in  mining  a  short  time ; 
in  the  winter  of  1850-51,  aided  in  putting 
up  a  mill  on  the  North  Fork  of  the  Yuba 
River;  he  returned  to  Lockport  about  the 
1st  or'  July,  1851  ;  here  his  home  has 
been  ever  since.  April  19,  1861,  he  en- 
listed in  the  three  months  service,  and  on 
the  22d  was  in  Cairo,  where  he  superin- 
tended the  mounting  of  all  the  guns  of  the 
battery,  under  Gen.  Wagner,  Chief  of 
Artillery.  This  was  the  first  battery  that 
blockaded  the  Mississippi  and  brought  to 
the  first  rebel  boat.  Capt.  Eddy  was  most 
of  the  time  in  command  of  the  fort.  Novem- 
ber 22,  1 864,  he  re-enlisted  in  Coggswell's 
1st  111.  Indp.  Battery,  and  served  during 
the  war ;  was  actively  engaged  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Jackson,  seige  of  Vicksburg,  Mis- 
sionary Ridge,  Cold  Water,  and  went  with 
Sherman  through  the  Atlanta  campaign. 
Since  1865,  he  has  been  in  the  employ  of 
the  canal  company  most  of  the  time. 
Beginning  in  1868,  he  spent  some  time  in 
contracting  and  building  bridges  on  va- 
rious railroads  in  the  State  ;  in  1873,  he 
came  to  the  position  he  now  occupies.  He 


superintended  the  laying  of  the  foundation 
of  the  Copperas  Creek  Lock  on  the  Illinois 
River,  a  work  of  no  small  moment.  He 
was  married  Sept.  12,  1852,  to  Mary  J. 
Eyer,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania  ;  has  two 
children — Lizzie  J.  (now  wife  of  H.  R. 
Osgood,  of  Chicago),  and  Marcia  E.  M. 

H.  W.  EMERY,  lumber  merchant, 
Lockport;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Ellsworth,  Hancock  Co.,  Maine, 
Dec.  18,  1821 ;  at  the  age  of  21,  he  left 

I  home  and  went  to  Boston,  Mass.,  where 

i  he    engaged  in   the  trade  of  house  car- 

;  pentering;  in  1846,  returned  to  Maine, 
and  back  again  to  Boston  in  1849;  in 

;  April,  1849,  he  went  to  California,  and 
engaged  one  year  in  mining ;  he  next  set- 
tled in  Oregon  City,  where  he  engaged  in 

,  house  building ;  in  1854.  returned  to 
Boston,  and  in  1855,  came  West  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Lockport;  in  I860,  he 
opened  a  lumber  yard,  and  has  continued 

I  the  business  ever  since.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1860  to  Sarah  F.  Bartlett,  a  native 

!  of  Maine ;  she  died  without  issue.  Re- 
publican ;  Congregationalist.  Mr.  Emery 

'  is  a  member  of  the  City  Council ;  he  is 
highly  esteemed  as  a  man  for  his  many 
good  qualities,  and  is  strictly  upright 

j  and  honest  in  all  his  business  transac- 
tions. 

J.  J.  FOWSER,  farmer;  P.O.Plainfield; 
was  born  in  Stark  Co.,  Ohio,  Aug.  13, 
1827  ;  he  remained  with  his  parents  till 
his  majority,  attending  school  winters,  and 
farming  summers  ;  in  the  spring  of  1854, 
he  came  West,  and  settled  on  the  north  end 
of  his  present  farm.  He  was  married 
April  11,  1848,  to  Esther  Ream,  a  native 
of  Summit  Co.,  Ohio  ;  she  was  born  Oct. 
16,1827;  nine  children  have  been  born 
to  them,  of  which  five  are  living,  and  four 
are  deceased — Elmira  (now  wife  of  G.  W. 
Waisner,  of  South  Bend,  Ind.),  Daniel 
F.,  Edwin  T.,  Emma,  Clara,  living;  Solo- 
mon, Newton,  Diana  and  an  infant  son 
deceased ;  his  present  residence  on  the 
southern  extremity  of  his  farm  was  erected 
in  1856,  and  occupied  in  1857  ;  he  owns 
186  acres  in  Sec.  6,  Lockport  Tp.,  valued 
at  $70  per  acre.  Has  held  the  offices  of 
School  Director  and  Pathmaster.  He  deals 
largely  in  horses,  cattle,  hogs  and  mules. 
Mr.  Fowser  is  the  heaviest,  if  not  the 
largest  farmer  in  his  section,  and  is  socially 
as  jolly  as  he  is  large,  and  his  presence  is 


736 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES: 


a  synonym  with  his  neighbors  for  mirth 
and  jocularity. 

JOHN  A.  FRASER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Plainfield ;  was  born  in  Sullivan  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  July  30,  1823;  he  remained  with  his 
parents  until  his  majority,  working  on  the 
farm  summers,  and  attending  school  dur- 
ing the  Winter  months ;  in  the  Fall  of 
1849,  he  came  West,  and  settled  in  Plain- 
field  Tp.,  and  engaged  in  farming ;  he 
erected  his  present  desirable  residence  in 
1854,  aud  in  the  spring  of  1855,  occupied 
the  same ;  here  he  has  lived  ever  since. 
He  was  married  March  27,  1855,  to  Mary 
A.  Van  Horn,  a  native  of  New  Jersey, 
Orange  Co.,  N.  Y.;  has  four  children — 
Alice  J.,  Edsel  H.,  Clara  B.,  Wilbur  J. 
Owns  120  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $8,400. 
Has  held  the  office  of  School  Director. 
Mr.  Fraser  is  Republican  in  politics  and  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  Church. 
His  well-cultivated  farm,  adorned  with  his 
neat  and  comfortable  residence  and  out- 
buildings, breathes  a  spirit  of  thrift  and 
enterprise.  As  an  upright,  square-dealing, 
honest  and  enterprising  farmer,  Mr.  Fraser 
stands  without  a  peer  in  his  vicinity. 

EDWARD  P.  FARLEY,  retired  farm- 
er; P.  0.  Lockport;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Cortland  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  21,  1816;  in  1836,  he  left  New 
York,  stopping  a  short  time  in  Ohio,  and 
in  February,  1837,  came  to  Illinois  and  set- 
tled in  Lockport ;  soon  after  coming  to  Lock- 
port,  he  bought  claims  in  Lake  Co.,  Ind., 
and  after  improving  them  settled  there  and, 
and  at  the  Government  land  sale,  at  La 
Porte,  bought  a  quarter-section.  He  was 
married  in  1845,  to  Mary  A.  Lotts,  a  na- 
tive of  Pennsylvania ;  he  lost  his  wife  by 
death  in  the  early  part  of  1873,  and  No- 
vember of  the  same  year,  contracted  his  sec- 
ond marriage  with  Elizabeth  Bartlett,  a  na- 
tive of  Maine  ;  had  one  child  by  first  mar- 
riage— Henry  ;  he  died  at  the  age  of  9. 
Owned  at  one  time  240  acres.  Was  Post- 
master at  West  Creek,  Lake  Co.,  Ind., 
twenty  years ;  Justice  of  the  Peace  twelve 
years,  and  County  Assessor  two  years. 
Republican  ;  Congregationalist.  He  has  re- 
tired from  active  business  life  to  enjoy  the 
honest  rewards  of  a  well-spent  early  life. 

JOHN  FIDDYMENT,  farmer;  P.O. 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Ashwellthorp, 
Norfolk  Co.,  Eng.,  July  11,  1809  ;  he  im- 
migrated to  America  in  1837,  and  settled 


some  three  miles  south  of  Joliet ;  here  he 
engaged  in  farming  the  first  year  for  Es- 
quire Half;  the  following  year,  he  rented  the 
farm  and  managed  for  himself;  in  the 
latter  part  of  1839,  he  moved  to  Joliet 
and  engaged  in  brewing  for  Wade  &  Wood- 
ruff, remaining  in  their  employ  three 
years  ;  he  then  went  into  the  distillery  and 
was  thus  engaged  until  1849,  being  a  part 
of  the  time  in  company  with  Woodruff ;  in 
1849,  he  came  to  Lockport,  bought  a  dis- 
tillery and  operated  it  until  the  spring  of 
1865.  In  the  fall  of  1839,  his  wife  and 
only  son  eame  over  and  joined  the  hus- 
band and  father  at  Joliet.  In  1843,  he  pur- 
chased a  farm  on  Flag  Creek  which  he  op- 
erated for  some  years.  He  was  married  in 
January,  1836,  to  Sophia  Blogg,  a  native  of 
England.  The  last  years  of  his  life  were 
devoted  to  superintending  his  farm.  At 
the  time  of  his  decease,  Jan.  17,  1874,  he 
owned  280  acres  of  fine  farming  land  just 
outside  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city  of 
Lockport.  He  held  the  office  of  Super- 
visor three  terms. 

WALTER  J.  FIDDYMENT,  farmer; 
P.  0.  Lockport ;  only  son  of  John  and 
Sophia  (Blogg)  Fiddyment,  was  born  in 
the  parish  of  Great  Milton,  England, 
April  3,  1837  ;  he  was  but  2  years  of  age 
when  his  mother  crossed  the  ocean  for 
America,  his  father  having  come  the  same 
year  in  which  he  was  born ;  he  has  always 
lived  with  his  parents ;  since  his  majority  has 
done  business  in  company  with  his  father. 
He  was  married  July  3, 1862,  to  Ellen  J. 
Clarkson,  a  native  of  Joliet,  Will  Co.  ; 
has  had  nine  children,  eight  living,  one 
deceased.  At  present  he  is  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  stock  raising.  Has  held  the 
offices  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Town  Clerk, 
School  Director,  etc. 

J.  E.  GIFFIN,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Lock- 
port  ;  was  born  in  Cumberland  Co.,  Penn., 
near  Carlisle,  Aug.  7,  1814;  in  1833,  he 
came  to  Montgomery  Co.,  Ohio,  and  re- 
mained two  or  three  years ;  he  next  stopped 
at  Oxford,  Ohio,  a  short  time  ;  he  spent 
the  winter  of  1842,  at  the  rapids  of  Rock 
River,  in  Whiteside  Co.,  111.,  engaged  in 
feeding  sheep;  in  the  spring  of  1843,  he 
purchased  a  large  drove  of  sheep  and 
brought  them  to  Oswego,  and  there  laid  a 
claim  of  eighty  acres,  which  he  afterward 
entered  and  improved.  He  was  married 
March  11,  1847,  to  Cynthia  C.  Rodgers,  a 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


737 


•native  of  Ashtabula,  Ohio;  she  was  born 
Feb.  2,  1828,  and  came  West  with  the 
family  in  1832.  In  the  Fall  of  1850,  he 
settled  where  he  now  lives,  and  opened  up 
his  farm.  They  have  had  six  children 
born  to  them — Almira  E.,  Martha  I.,  El- 
liott R.,  Mary  H.,  John  E.  and  Cynthia 
A.;  of  these  John  E.,  died  March  17, 
1862.  Owns  eighty  acres,  valued  at 
85,6.00.  Mrs.  Giffin  remembers  the  days 
of  the  small  beginnings  of  Joliet,  Lock- 
port,  Plainfield  and  other  surrounding  vil- 
lages :  she  has  lived  to  see  the  wild, 
unbroken  prairie  converted  into  fertile 
farms,  and  thickly  studded  with  fine  resi- 
dences ;  vast  areas,  which,  in  her  girlhood 
days,  yielded  naught  but  wild  grass  and 
countless  flowers  of  sweetest  perfume,  now 
teeming  with  the  rich  golden  harvest. 

JOHN  GEDDES,  City  Meat  Market, 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Watervliet,  N.  Y., 
April  18,  1831 ;  at  the  age  of  12  or  13, 
he  oame  West  to  Illinois  with  the  family ; 
his  father  settled  in  Homer  Tp.,  Will  Co., 
and  engaged  in  farming  ;  he  remained  at 
home  till  18  years  of  age,  when  he  com- 
menced the  trade  of  carpenter  and  joiner ; 
this  he  followed  between  two  and  three 
years;  at  the  age  of  21,  he  commenced 
boating  on  the  I.  &  M.  Canal,  and  was 
thus  engaged  three  seasons ;  a  portion  of  | 
the  time  in  the  employ  of  a  Mr.  Fish,  of 
Joliet,  and  afterward  in  the  employ  of  D. 
C.  Norton,  of  Lockport ;  about  1854,  he 
opened  his  meat  market  in  Lockport,  and 
has  been  thus  engaged  ever  since.  He 
was  married  Dec.  24,  1850,  to  Martha  R. 
Burdick,a  native  of  New  York;  has  three 
daughters — Maria,  Ada .  and  Mary  E. 
Owns  twenty-two  acres,  adjoining  the  town, 
and  a  block  of  lots,  together  with  a  fine 
residence ;  his  is  the  oldest  established 
meat  market  in  the  town  ;  his  social  quali- 
ties are  excellent,  and  he  has  a  host  of 
friends. 

A.  L.  GAINES,  Foreman  George  B. 
Norton's  dry  goods  store,  Lockport ;  was 
born  in  Castleton,  Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  Sept. 
llth,  1843  ;  his  boyhood  days  were  passed 
in  attendance  upon  the  schools,  and  his 
early  manhood  years  either  as  a  student  or 
teacher;  about  the  age  of  19,  he  entered 
Commercial  College  at  New  Haven,  Conn., 
in  which  he  completed  a  business  course ; 
in  1866,  he  came  West  and  located  in 
Morris,  Grundy  Co.,  111.,  where  he  engaged 


in  the  sale  of  dry  goods  ;  in  February, 
1873,  he  came  to  Lockport  and  entered 
the  employ  of  George  B.  Norton  as  fore- 
man in  his  dry  goods  establishment;  a  po- 
sition he  still  holds.  He  was  married  Oct. 
21,  1871,  to  Mary  E.  Allen,  a  native  of 
Troy,  N.  Y.;  has  two  children — Hallie  H., 
born  Dec.  11,  1872,  and  Lula  M.,  born 
Feb.  4,  1876. 

GEORGE  GAYLORD,  merchant  and 
grain  dealer,  Lockport ;  was  born  Feb. 
24,  1820,  in  Washington  Co.,  N.  Y.:  he 
remained  at  home  on  the  farm  until  1839; 
when  he  went  to  Illinois,  and  stopped  at 
Warrenville,  Du  Page  Co.,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  farm  work  ;  during  the  Winter  of 
1843-4,  he  taught  school ;  in  1845  he  com- 
menced blacksmithing  in  Warrenville,  and 
continued  the  business  two  years  ;  in  1847, 
he  came  to  Lockport,  and  engaged  in  the 
sale  of  dry  goods,  forming  a  copartnership 
with  Dennis  Smith,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Gaylord  &  Smith  ;  in  the  Fall  of  1849, 
the  firm  was  dissolved,  Mr.  Smith  retiring ; 
Mr.  Gaylord  conducted  the  business  alone 
until  1853,  when  the  present  firm  of  Geo. 
Gaylord  &  Co,  was  formed.  A.  J.  Ewen 
becoming  a  partner ;  in  1863,  they 
built  their  large  and  commodious  ele- 
vators, and  commenced  the  handling  of 
grain.  He  was  married  in  May,  1846, 
to  Ann  A.  Lull,  a  native  of  Vermont ;  has 
eight  children — Henry  G.,  Frankie  A., 
Albin  P.,  Willard,  Edward  L.,  Clarissa 
J.,  Laura  E.  and  Robert.  In  1868,  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Legislature 
from  the  43d  District,  and  was "  made 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Canals ;  the 
law  authorizing  the  erection  of  a  lock  and 
dam  across  the  Illinois  River  at  Henry, 
and  one  establishing  the  rolling  mills  at 
Joliet,  was  passed  during  the  session  of 
which  he  wtis  a  member.  Republican ; 
Baptist. 

P.  N.  HART  WELL,  architect  and 
builder/  Lockport ;  born  in  West- 
port,  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  1,  1825; 
his  education  is  quite  complete,  comprising 
a  full  academic  course  in  the  County  Acad 
emy;  his  father  was  a  mechanic,  and  into  the 
profession  the  son  naturally  grew  up,  spend- 
ing his  vacation  at  work  in  the  shop  so  that 
by  the  time  his  education  was  completed, 
he  was  also  well  advanced  in  his  trade  ;  in 
1855,  he  came  West,  and  settled  in  Lock- 
port,  remaining  about  six  months,  he  then 


7  38 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


moved  to  Marion,  Linn  Co.,  Iowa,  where 
he  remained  until  1864,  when  he  returned 
to  Lockport,  since  which  time  he  has  been 
doing  business  in  Lockport  and  Chicago, 
his  home  remaining  at  Lockport.  He  was 
married  May  29, 1849,  to  Elmina  Jackson, 
a  native  of  Vergennes,  Vt.:  has  three  sons 
—John  J.,  Harold  W.  and  Fred  W.  Held 
the  office  of  County  Superintendent  of 
Schools  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  seived 
five  years  as  Assessor  in  Marion,  Iowa ; 
was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education 
eleven  years  in  Lockport. 

WARREN  HAWLEY,  farmer  ;  P.  0. 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y., 
July  8,  1812  ;  his  father,  Lyman  Hawley, 
was  born  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont, Aug.  4,  1782  ;  his  mother,  Althea 
H.  Moore,  was  born  in  West  Hartford, 
Conn.,  Sept.  3,  1787.  Lyman  Hawley 
was  among  the  eaily  pioneers  of  Will  Co., 
having  come  with,  his  family  in  the  Fall  of 
1835  ;  he  settled  just  south  of  where  his 
son  Warren  now  resides  ;  here  he  led  a 
quiet,  useful  life  until  April  29,  1844, 
when  he  rested  from  his  labors.  Warren 
Hawley  was  married  in  Elgin,  111.,  Feb. 
14,  1839,  to  Louisa  S.  Heath,  a  native  of 
Connecticut ;  she  came  West  in  1836 ; 
May  13,  1871,  she  passed  peacefully  away, 
leaving  a  devoted  husband,  two  daughters 
and  a  son  to  mourn  her  loss — Mary  L. 
(wife  of  Selah  P.  North),  Harriet  L.  (wife 
of  Horace  Cadwallader,  of"  Dwight,  Liv- 
ingston Co.),  and  Edward  W.  (now  ship- 
ping clerk  for  Ingraham,  Corbin  &  May, 
of  Chicago ;  Edward  married  Katie  French, 
of  Madison,  Wis.  Warren,  like  his  father, 
Lyman,  has  never  changed  his  residence 
since  he  came  to  Illinois  ;  the  land  he  owns 
to-day,  130  acres,  passed  from  the  Govern- 
ment into  the  hands  of  his  father,  and 
from  his  father  to  himself;  here  he  has 
lived  to  see  the  ''  Star  of  Empire  "  west- 
ward take  its  way,  and  the  wave  of  emi- 
gration spread  over  the  fair  prairies  beyond 
him,  converting  them  into  rich,  productive 
farms,  and  where  now  an  hundred  fine  res- 
idences adorn  as  many  farms,  when  he  first 
settled  the  eye  could  rest  on  no  habitation 
of  man  ;  from  his  home  west  to  Plainfield, 
a  distance  of  eight  or  nine  miles,  not  a 
house  was  to  be  seen,  but  all  was  a  vast 
stretch  of  unbroken  prairie.  He  held  the 
office  of  Assessor  one  year.  He  owns  130 
acres,  valued  at  $8,000.  Though  past  his 


three  score  years,  he  bids  fair  to  live  many 
years  yet. 

HENRY  HOPKINS,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Lockport ;  was  bora  in  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y., 
May  3,  1826;  he  remained  at  home  till  he 
was  18  years  of  age  ;  his  early  life  was  that 
!  of  a  farmer's  son  ;  in  February,  I* 65,  he 
came  West  to  Illinois  and  settled  near  his 
present  residence;  in  December,  1874,  he 
purchased  his  house,  and  occupied  it  the 
following  February.  He  was  married  April 
12,  1853,  to  Caroline  M.  Sly,  a  native  of 
New  York  ;  has  had  three  children — Irv- 
ing W.,  Eugene  S.,  Lillian  D. ;  of  these, 
Irving  W.  died  in  November,  1875.  Mr. 
Hopkins  has  been  very  successful  in  his 
business  transactions  ;  what  he  possesses 
to-day,  he  has  accumulated  through  honest 
toil  and  well-directed  energy.  In  the  death 
of  his  eldest  son  he  lost  a  most  valuable 
factor  from  his  working  and  his  accumu- 
lating force  ;  he  was  a  young  man  of  more 
than  ordinary  promise.  Mr.  Hopkins  owns 
160  acres,  with  fine  improvements,  valued 
at  $15,000.  In  early  life,  he  worked  on 
the  farm  during  the  summer,  and  engaged 
in  teaching  school  during  the  winter  for 
six  terms ;  in  this  way,  he  saved  about 
$600,  a  sum  which,  when  he  came  Westr 
started  him  on  the  road  to  success  and 
competency. 

FRED.  H.  JACOBUS,  Lockport  Meat 
Market,  Lockport;  was  born  Aug.  18, 1848, 
in  Kcenigsburg,  East  Prussia ;  he  immi- 
grated to  America  April  1, 1871,  stopping 
a  short  time  in  Boston,  and  from  thence 
came  to  Chicago,  where  he  remained  two 
years,  engaged  in  working  in  the  meat 
market ;  subsequently,  he  was  engaged  in 
the  same  business  in  Joliet,  Wilmington 
and  Mokena,  in  Will  Co.,  in  the  latter 
place  starting  for  himself;  Sept.  15,  1877, 
he  opened  his  present  place  of  business  in 
Lockport.  He  was  married  Nov.  23, 
1873,  to  Julia  Scheer,  a  native  of  Will 
Co.,  111. ;  have  two  children — Ida  and 
Frank.  By  giving  strict  personal  attention 
to  business,  and  furnishing  at  all  times  the 
best  the  market  affords,  his  is  fast  becoming 
the  leading  market  of  the  town. 

M.  P.  JOHNSON,  meat  market; 
Lockport;  was  born  in  Lockport,  Will  Co., 
111.,  July  14, 1851 ;  until  15  years  of  age, 
he  attended  upon  the  public  schools  ;  after 
leaving  school  he  was  employed  as  clerk  in 
the  office  of  the  I.  &  M.  Canal  at  Lockport, 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


739 


for  two  years;  in  1869,  he  went  to  the 
office  at  Bridgeport  and  remained  about 
five  years;  he  was  next  employed  in  the 
office  of  J.  J.  S.  Wilson,  General  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  and  remained  about  eight 
months;  he  next  engaged  as  ticket  agent  at 
Lockport,  on  the  Chicago,  Alton  &  St. 
Louis  Railroad ;  during  the  winter  of 
1871-72,  he  was  agent  at  Dwight,  Living- 
ston Co.;  Sept.  20,  1873,  he  opened  the 
City  Meat  Market  in  Lockport.  He  was 
married  July  20,  1873,  to  Emma  Parks,  a 
native  of  New  York  State ;  has  two  chil- 
dren— Mabel,  born  Aug.  9,  1874,  and 
Bertie,  born  July  31,  1876. 

OTTO  JOHNSON,  boot  and  shoe  shop, 
Lockport;  was  born  in  Farnabo  Co., 
Sweden,  May  8,  1838 ;  he  immigrated 
to  America  in  1868,  and  settled  in  Lock- 
port,  111.,  where  he  has  resided  ever  since; 
Mr.  Johnson  has  resided  in  the  same 
house  ever  since  he  came  to  Lockport,  first 
entering  it  as  a  boarder,  and,  later,  pur- 
chasing it  for  himself.  He  was  married 
Nov.  2,  1871,  to  Lizzie  Matthews,  a  native 
of  England :  has  two  children — Louie  G-., 
John  H.  Republican ;  member  of  the 
Swede  Lutheran  Church.  Besides  work 
of  his  own  manufacture,  he  keeps  on  hand 
a  fine  assortment  of  ladies'  and  children's 
ready-made  wear ;  he  uses  nothing  but  the 
best  of  stock  in  the  manufacture  of  his 
boots  and  shoes,  and  warrants  entire  satis- 
faction. 

GEORGE  LYNN,  rnnfr.  of  boots  and 
shoes,  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Leicester- 
shire, Eng.,  in  the  early  part  of  February, 
1822 ;  in  1832,  he  came  with  his  family 
to  America,  his  father  settling  first  at 
Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. ;  in  the  fall  of  1836, 
the  family  moved  to  Schuylkill  Co.,  Penn., 
whither  George  followed  in  the  spring  of 
1837  ;  in  the  Fall  of  1844,  he  returned  to 
Poughkeepsie,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1852,  came  West  and  located  in  Lockport, 
where  he  has  since  lived.  At  the  age  of  14, 
he  went  to  Pottsville,  Penn.,  to  learn  the 
iron-molder's  trade  ;  followed  it  one  year, 
when  he  met  with  an  accident  that  dis- 
abled him  from  prosecuting  the  work  fur- 
ther ;  he  next  engaged  in  boating  for  two 
or  three  summers  and  finally  began  the 
trade  of  shoemaking,  though  he  never 
served  an  apprenticeship.  He  was  married 
Dec.  28,  1843,  to  Ann  Allison,  a  native  of 


England;  has  eight  children — Elizabeth 
A.,  Louisa  F.,  Kate  A.,  Emma  L.,  Elmira 
R,  William  H.,  Loyd  G.  and  George  H. 
While  Mr.  Lynn  is  not  a  man  of  finished 
education,  yet  from  a  course  of  extensive 
reading  and  research  he  has  accumulated  a 
vast  amount  of  valuable  information,  and 
writes  many  and  very  acceptable  articles 
for  the  county  papers. 

GEORGE  M.  LYND,  merchant,  Lock- 
port  ;  born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  March  8, 
1833 ;  his  father,  Rev.  S.  W.  Lynd,  was  a 
distinguished  Baptist  minister  and  held 
leading  positions  in  the  Church  in  the  West, 
being  at  one  time  President  of  the  Western 
Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  located  in 
Covington,  Ky.  ;  afteward  removed  to 
Georgetown,  Ky.,  Dr.  Lynd  still  retaining 
the  Presidency;  he  was  Pastor  of  the 
Church  in  Cincinnati  nineteen  years;  sub- 
sequently of  the  Church  in  St.  Louis,  and 
later  in  Chicago.  Tn  1852,  George  M. 
became  a  student  in  Georgetown  College 
and  remained  three  years,  not,  however, 
completing  a  full  course;  in  1856,  he 
came  West  with  his  family  to  Illinois,  and 
settled  at  Gooding's  Grove,  Will  Co.,  and 
engaged  in  farming ;  this  he  pursued  for 
two  years,  when  he  took  the  position  of 
preceptor  in  the  family  of  George  Barnett. 
of  Lockport,  and  was  thus  engaged  for  two 
years;  in  1860,  he  entered  the  employ  of 
S.  W.  Lull,  as  clerk  in  his  grocery  store. 
In  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Co.  C,  100th 
Regiment  I.  V.  I.,  and  remained  in  the 
service  till  the  close  of  the  war ;  he  was 
mustered  in  as  Orderly  Sergeant,  but  by 
successive  promotions  arose  to  the  highest 
position  in  his  company,  that  of  Captain  ; 
on  his  return  home,  he  formed  a  copart- 
nership with  S.  W.  Lull  for  the  purchase 
and  sale  of  groceries  ;  this  he  continued 
until  June,  1877,  when  the  firm  was  .dis- 
solved, Mr.  Lull  taking  the  dry  goods  de- 
partment, added  in  1872,  and  Mr.  Lynd 
the  grocery  department.  He  was  married 
May  4,  1874,  to  Mary  Blount,  a  native 
of  Illinois ;  one  child — Carrie.  Republican ; 
Baptist.  During  his  term  of  service  as  a 
soldier,  he  participated  in  the  important 
battles  of  Stone  River,  Chickamauga,  Look- 
out Mountain,  and  in  all  the  engagements 
in  Sherman's  march  to  Atlanta ;  was  at 
the  battle  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  and  many 
minor  engagements;  was  present  in  every 
battle  in  which  the  regiment  was  engaged 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  : 


during  the    term  of  service    and    escaped 
being  wounded. 

JACOB  F.  LOTZ,  receiver  and  shipper 
for  Norton  &  Co.,  Lockport ;  born  in 
Blair  Co.,  Penn.,  May  18,  1824;  at  the 
age  of  17,  he  worked  in  the  Arch  Spring 
Mills;  in  1846,  he  worked  in  the  Logan's 
Valley  Mills  one  year;  in  1847,  in  the 
Scotch  Valley  Mills ;  in  1848,  he  came 
West,  and  settled  in  West  Creek,  Lake 
Co.,  Ind.;  thence  to  Dixon,  Lee  Co.,  111.; 
in  1858,  he  came  to  Lockport ;  entered  the 
employ  of  Norton  &  Co.,  for  whom  he  has 
labored  ever  since  ;  he  was  Foreman  in 
their  mills  for  fifteen  years  ;  for  the  past 
five  years  he  has  occupied  the  position  of 
receiver  and  shipper.  He  has  been  mar- 
ried twice.  In  July,  1848,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Elizabeth  Ramsay,  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania;  she  died  Jan.  24,  1866; 
his  second  marriage  occurred  Nov.  13, 
1868,  to  Lucinda  Ramsay,  also  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania  ;  three  children  were  born  to 
him  from  first  wedlock,  and  four  from 
second.  He  has  been  City  Alderman  two 
or  three  terms,  and  is  at  present  School 
Trustee. 

JOHN  H.  MILLER,  tonsorial  artist, 
Lockport ;  wa?  born  in  Norderdeich,  Ger- 
many, Nov.  1,  1854;  till  he  was  14  years 
of  age  he  attended  school  most  of  the  time 
in  his  native  country ;  about  the  first  of 
June,  1868,  he  immigrated  with  the  family 
to  America,  his  father  settling  in  Lcckport, 
Will  Co.,  111.;  immediately  after  coming, 
John  entered  the  employ  of  Louis  Braum 
to  learn  the  trade  of  barbering;  he  re- 
mained with  him  between  three  and  four 
years  .  he  next  worked  for  Henry  Falken- 
hagen,  of  Lockport,  and  subsequently  fol- 
lowed his  trade  in  Joliet  for  some  months ; 
in  February.  1874,  he  formed  a  copartner- 
ship with  Louis  Braum,  and  carried  on  the 
business  in  Lockport  until  the  following 
September  or  October,  when  he  bought 
out  his  partner's  interest,  and  has  since 
conducted  the  business  alone ;  his  shop  is 
well  located  in  the  business  part  of  the  town, 
complete  in  all  its  appointments;  he  is 
polite  and  obliging,  always  at  his  post,  and 
for  an  easy  shave  or  anything  in  his  line 
of  business,  we  commend  you  to  John. 

FRED.  MULLER,  miller,  Lockport; 
was  born  in  Prussia,  Germany,  Aug.  16, 
1827  ;  he  immigrated  to  America  in  1854, 
and  stopped  first  in  Chicago,  but  soon 


came  to  Lockport,  and  was  employed  at 
general  work  one  year;  in  1855,  he  en- 
gaged in  work  for  Norton  &  Co.;  in  1859, 
he  went  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  worked  at 
gardening.  When  the  first  call  was  made 
for  troops  he  enlisted  May  8,  1861,  in  Co. 
H,  5th  Regt.  Mo.  V.  I,,  and  served  three 
and  a  half  months;  participated  in  the 
battle  of  Wilson's  Creek,  Mo.,  in  which 
Gen.  Lyon  was  killed ;  returning,  he  re- 
mained a  short  time  in  St.  Louis,  and  then 
came  again  to  Lockport ;  he  worked  for 
Norton  &  Co.  a  second  time  until  June 
1874,  when  he  leased  the  old  mill,  now 
owned  by  Dr.  J.  F.  Daggett,  which  he  is 
now  operating.  In  the  fall  of  1863,  he 
was  drafted,  but  employed  a  substitute. 
He  was  married  Nov.  10,  1865,  to  Eliza- 
beth Brinkey,  a  native  of  Bohemia ;  has 
five  children — Elizabeth,  William,  Mary, 
John,  August.  He  is  familiarly  known, 
as  Honest  Fred,  the  miller  on  the  Dea 
Plaines. 

HALE  S.  MASON,  farmer,  P.  0.  Lock- 
port  ;  born  in  Attleboro,  Bristol  Co.,  Mass., 
March  30,  1804;  when  he  was  12  years 
of  age,  his  father  moved  to  Ontario  Co.r 
N.  Y.;  in  1833,  young  Mason  came  West 
to  Illinois,  to  prospect  the  country,  return- 
ing home  on  the  6th  of  May,  1 834  ;  he  took 
up  his  line  of  march  in  a  two  horse  covered 
wagon  to  the  far  West,  his  family  consist- 
ing of  himself,  his  wife,  and  three  little 
boys,  the  oldest  about  7  years  of  age  ;  June 
6,  one  month  from  the  date  of  starting 
they  landed  at  Gooding's  Grove,  Will  Co.; 
here  he  remained  engaged  in  farming  till 
1846,  when  he  removed  to  the  village  of 
Lockport,  and  in  company  with  his  brother, 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  boots  and 
shoes  ;  in  1849,  he  moved  to  the  farm  upon 
which  he  now  resides,  and  engaged  in  the 
nursery  business.  He  was  married  Jan.  5, 
1826,  to  Sabrina  A.  Codding,  a  native  of 
Bristol,  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.;  has  had  seven 
sons — Edwin  B.,  William  T.,  Stephen  C., 
John  Q.,  Charles  T.,  living ;  Hale  S.,  and 
George  H.,  deceased  ;  the  latter  was  killed 
while  in  the  United  States'  service,  Dec.  13, 
1863  ;  he  was  a  member  of  the  14th  I.  V. 
C.,  and  was  Color  Bearer  of  the  regiment. 
Mr.  Mason  owns  180  acres  of  land  in  Lock- 
port  Township. 

WILLIAM  S.  MYERS,  attorney  at  law, 
Lockport  ;  was  born  in  Rensselaer  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Oct.  29,  1815;  in  1818,  his  father 


LOCKPORT   TOWNSHIP. 


741 


moved  to  Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y.;  in  May,  1841, 
he  left  home  and  came  to  Lockport,  111,, 
entering  the  employ  of  H.  Norton  as  clerk 
in  his  general  merchandise  establishment ; 
the  spring  of  1844,  he  went  into  business 
for  himself;  in  the  fall  of  1859,  he  left 
the  counting-room,  and  in  March,  1861, 
went  to  St.  Louis  as  the  representative  of 
the  American  Wine  Company,  where  he  re- 
mained until  July,  1865  ;  largely  through 
his  influence  and  good  management,  the 
goods  were  placed  upon  the  market,  and 
the  business  established  on  a  sound  basis ; 
after  his  return,  he  began  dealing  exten- 
sively in  real  estate,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  March  18,  1869.  He  was  mar- 
ried Sept.  28,  1843,  to  Gertrude  Norton, 
a  native  of  New  York  ;  has  had  two  chil- 
dren ;  both  died  in  infancy.  Republican ; 
Episcopalian.  Has  held  the  office  of  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  seven  years,  and  has  held 
the  office  of  Township  Assessor.  Mr- 
Myers  does  a  large  business  in  collections 
of  every  kind ;  he  is  one  of  the  solid  busi- 
ness men  of  the  town. 

JOHN  MACKIE,  miller,  Lockport; 
was  born  in  Perthshire,  Scotland,  March 
7, 1842  ;  he  immigrated  to  America  in  May, 
1865,  and  first  settled  in  Gallipolis,  Ohio  ; 
here  he  entered  the  employ  of  W.  H.  Lang- 
ley,  remaining  about  fifteen  months,  at  which 
time  Langley  failed  for  a  large  amount ; 
he  next  came  to  Chicago,  and  worked  for  a 
short  time  in  the  City  Mills ;  in  the  latter 
part  of  1867,  he  came  to  Lockport,  and 
entered  the  employ  of  Norton  &  Co.;  he  next 
located  in  Pittsburgh,  Penn.,  and  worked 
in  the  City  Mills  ;  in  1871,  he  returred  to 
Lockport,  and  again  entered  the  employ  of 
Norton  &  Co.,  until  the  great  fire  in  Chicago; 
a  portion  of  his  time  was  spent  in  their 
mills  here  and  the  remainder  in  their  mills 
at  Chicago.  He  was  married  in  November, 
1868,  to  Elizabeth  Doran,  of  Canada  ;  has 
three  children — Ella,  Rachel  and  Thomas. 

ROBERT    MILNE,    farmer;    P.    0. 
Lockport;  was  born   in  Banffshire,  Scot- 
land, Feb.  14,  1805  ;  in  August,  1836,  he 
immigrated  to  America  and  settled  in  Chi- 
cago, engaging  in  the  lumber  trade,  buying 
out  the  first  lumber  merchant  in  Chicago ; 
in  the  fall  of   1839,  he  returned  to  Scot-  j 
land,  and  came  again  to  America  in  1840;  j 
soon  after  his  return,  sold  out  his  business  ' 
in    Chicago,    and    took    contracts  on    the 
Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  building  five  of  | 


the  locks;  in  1846,  settled  in  Lockport; 
here  he  remained  till  1849,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Chicago,  and  engaged  again 
in  the  lumber  trade,  a  full  partner  in  the 
firm  of  Milne,  Fergueson  &  Co. ;  this 
firm  established  an  agency  at  Lockport  for 
the  sale  of  lumber,  buying  the  saw-mills 
formerly  erected,  and  established  a  planing- 
mill  in  connection  with  them  ;  in  1850,  he 
returned  to  Lockport,  and  has  resided  here 
ever  since;  in  1854,  he  sold  out  his  interest 
in  the  mills  and  lumber  trade  and  pur- 
chased the  farm  on  which  he  now  resides. 
Was  married  in  December,  1846,  to  Itabell 
Maitland,  a  native  of  Scotland;  has  nine 
children.  In  1869,  was  appointed  Canal 
Commissioner  by  Gov.  Palmer  and  served 
four  years;  in  1874,  revisited  Scotland, 
and  while  there  purchased  some  thorough- 
bred cattle,  in  the  rearing  of  which  he  has 
since  engaged.  Owns  242  acres  in  Lock- 
port  Tp.  and  100  acres  in  Homer  Tp. 
Republican  ;  Congregationalist.  Mr.  Milne 
is  a  very  influential  and  deservedly  popular 
citizen. 

JONATHAN  S.  McDONALD,  editor 
Phoenix,  Lockport;  born  April  17,1829, 
in  the  town  of  Salina,  Onondaga  Co.,  N. 
Y. ;  his  father,  Asa  McDonald,  Esq.,  set- 
tled, with  his  family,  in  Joliet  in  1838, 
and,  the  following  year,  rented  the  farm 
under  the  bluff",  east  of  the  Penitentiary,  of 
Dr.  A.  W.  Bowen  (now  a  resident  of  Wil- 
mington), and,  soon  after,  became  a  tenant,, 
at  Five-Mile  Grove,  on  land  belonging  to 
Edward,  Ephraim  and  Pliny  Perkins ;  he 
afterward  purchased  a  farm  on  Maple  St., 
in  New  Lenox,  on  which  he  died,  Dec.  4,. 
1857  ;  at  the  age  of  20,  J.  S.  McDonald 
started  from  home,  and  crossed  the  plains, 
in  search  of  California  gold ;  he  returned 
in  1854,  and  attempted  to  acquire  a  col- 
legiate education  by  entering  the  University 
of  Oberlin  in  1855;  within  a  couple  of 
weeks,  he  found  the  undertaking  altogether 
too  irksome,  and  left  that  institution,  to 
eventually  establish  a  banking-house  in 
Lockport ;  in  this  new,  and  to  him  strange, 
business  of  banking  he  prospered  indiffer- 
ently well,  and  found  himself  involved  in 
the  general  suspension  of  1858-59  ;  after  a 
trip  to  the  gold-mines  of  Colorado,  he  re- 
turned to  Lockport,  raised  a  company  for 
the  war,  with  Dr.  Charles  H.  Bacon,  and 
entered  the  service  in  the  100th  I.  V. 
Regiment,  as  a  Second  Lieutenant ;  while 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKKTCHKK: 


in  the  service,  he  took  an  active  part  in  all 
the  campaigns  and  battles  in  which  the 
regiment  was  engaged,  except  the  fight  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  and  resigned  at  the 
opening  of  the  Atlanta  campaign,  having 
been  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Captain.  In 
1854,  Capt.  McDonald  bought  a  controlling 
interest  in  the  Will  County  Courier,  and 
sold  out  after  a  brilliant  career  of  six 
months ;  he  then,  in  the  following  year, 
started  the  Lockport  Phoenix,  and,  soon 
after,  enlarged  the  enterprise  to  what  is 
termed  "  The  Family  of  Phoenixes,"  in 
Joliet,  Wilmington,  Lockport  and  Lemont. 
In  1857,  he  married  Louisa,  daughter  of 
Col.  George  Snoad. 

HIRAM  NORTON,  proprietor  of  the 
Lockport  Carriage  Factory,  Lockport ;  born 
in  Prince  Edward  Peninsula,  Can.,  Oct.  3, 
1828 ;  his  schoolboy  days  closed  at  the  age 
of  11  years,  and  from  that  date  until 
he  arrived  at  the  age  of  18  years,  he 
was  completely  disabled  by  rheumatism 
from  engaging  in  any  active  pursuits  ;  after 
recovering  his  health,  he  was  three  years  on 
the  farm,  and,  at  the  age  of  21,  went 
to  his  trade  at  Demorestville ;  in  October, 
1860,  he  came  to  Lockport  and  opened  up 
his  carriage  factory.  He  was  married  in 
January,  1865,  to  Catharine  Banner,  a 
native  of  England ;  has  four  children — 
Mary,  Benjamin  F.,  Charles  B.  and  John. 
Mr.  Norton  uses  nothing  but  the  best 
of  material,  employs  none  but  the  best  of 
workmen,  and  fully  warrants  every  vehicle 
sent  forth  from  his  establishment. 

ISAAC  NOBES,  proprietor  Oak  Hill 
quarries ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  on  the  Isle 
Wight  Feb.  28,  1822;  at  the  age  of  13, 
he  was  apprenticed  to  sea  and  served  four 
years ;  he  then  went  as    able  seaman  on 
board  the  clipper  schooner  Susan  ;  engaged 
in  the  fruit  trade  up  the  Levant ;  he  re- 
mained at  sea  nine  years  ;  three  years  of  that 
time  he  was  on  board  the  Ganges,  an  84- 
gun  ship  of  the  British  navy,  and  was  pres-  | 
ent  at  the  destruction  of  the  forts  along  the  j 
coast  oT  Syria  in  1841,  the  last  fort  de-  ; 
stroyed  being  that  of  San  Juan  Diego  ;  in  i 
the  taking  of  this  fort,  it  was  estimated 
that  the  Egyptian  forces  lost  in  killed,  15,- 
000  in  two  and  a  half  hours.  The  Admiral 
of  the   British  forces  was  Sir  Charles  Na- 
pier.     Mr.    Nobes    came   to  Quebec  in 
1843,  on   board  a  timber  vessel ;  he  spent 
one  summer  on  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario, 


sailing  out  from  Gordon  Island  in  the  em- 
ploy of  Cook  &  Calvin,  in  the  lumber 
trade ;  in  June  or  July,  1845,  he  came  to 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  engaged  in  sailing  on  ' 
the  lakes  ;  during  the  summer  of  1846,  he  " 
sailed  from  Buffalo  to  Chicago ;  Jan.  7, 
1847,  he  came  to  Joliet  and  engaged  in 
hauling  sand  for  the  court  house  that  win- 
ter ;  in  the  spring,  returned  to  Chicago  and 
sailed  upon  the  lakes.  Mr.  Nobes  states 
that  upon  this  trip  he  paid  $2.00  fare, 
walked  a  good  part  of  the  way,  and  carried 
a  rail  to  help  the  coach  out  of  bad  places, 
and  was  on  the  road  from  8  o'clock  A.  M. 
until  4  P.  M.  of  the  following  day  before 
reaching  Chicago,  a  distance  of  38  miles ; 
the  following  winter,  he  returned  to  Joliet 
and  soon  went  to  Lockport,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  caulking  the  Gen.  Fry,  the  first 
boat  ever  run  on  the  I.  &  M.  Canal,  between 
Lockport  and  Chicago ;  he  engaged  in 
caulking  and  building  boats  one  year  ;  in 
the  Spring  of  1848,  he  purchased  ten  acres 
near  his  present  location,  and  in  March, 
1851,  opened  his  present  quarries  in  con- 
nection with  G.  A.  Cousens  &  Co.  A  diffi- 
culty having  arisen  among  the  partners, 
he  abandoned  the  quarries  and  went  again 
to  t  he  boat  yards  at  Lockport.  After  twelve 
years  litigation,  he  obtained  entire  possess- 
ion of  them  ia  1868.  since  which  time  he 
has  successfully  operated  them.  He  was 
married  Jan.  4,  1846,  to  Ann  J.  Haughey, 
a  native  of  Ireland  ;  has  seven  children — 
Joseph,  Charles  J.,  Sarah,  Ann  I.,  Will- 
iam I.  R.,  Elizabeth  J.  and  Elizabeth  J. 
(deceased)  ;  owns  eighty-six  acres  includ- 
ing his  quarries.  In  1874,  he  erected  his 
large  stone  residence  at  a  cost  of  nearly 
$20,000,  the  finest  in  all  this  section  of 
country. 

NELSON  H.  PEASE,  assistant  book- 
keeper for  J.  L.  Norton  &  Co. ,  Lockport ; 
was  born  in  Brasher,  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N. 
Y.',  Dec.  9,  1844;  at  the  age  of  15,  he  left 
home  and  entered  the  academy  at  Laurence- 
ville,  remaining  two  years.  September, 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  Co.  I,  60th  Regt.  N. 
Y.  V.  I.  ;  Jan.  23,  1863,  was  discharged 
at  Harper's  Ferry  on  account  of  disability. 
Returning  home,  he  engaged  for  a  short  time 
in  farming  ;  Feb.  28, 1864,  he  came  West, 
and  stopping  in  Chicago,  attended  Bryant 
&  Stratton's  Business  College.  Re-enlisted 
in  the  100  days'  service,  in  Co.  F,  134th 
111.  V.  I.,  and  served  140  days.  Next 


PLAINFIELD 


1Kb 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


745 


located  in  Dwight,  Livingston  Co.,  enter- 
ing the  employ  of  J.  C.  Hertzel  as  clerk  in 
his  dry  goods  and  grocery  store ;  at  the 
expiration  of  five  months,  engaged  in  the 
service  of  the  C.  &  A.  R.  R.  as  baggage 
master  at  the  same  place  ;  this  position  he 
held  sixteen  months ;  he  was  next  placed 
in  charge  of  the  station  at  Carrollton  on  the 
Jacksonville  &  Chicago  line ;  here  he  re- 
mained one  and  a  half  years  ;  was  night 
operator  on  the  Union  Pacific  at  Elm 
Creek,  Neb.,  and  at  a  later  date  at  Jules- 
burg  as  agent  six  months ;  returned  to 
Dwight  as  night  operator,  remaining  three 
months ;  in  1869,  he  was  appointed  agent 
at  Lock  port,  and  remained  one  and  a  half 
years ;  then  returned  to  Dwight,  and  was 
agent  two  and  a  half  years  ;  in  1872,  took 
charge  of  Odell  Station,  remaining  two 
years;  in  1874,  he  abandoned  railroad- 
ing, and  entered  the  employ  of  J.  L. 
Norton  &  Co.,  in  the  position  he  now  holds. 
Was  married  March  22,  1866,  to  Irene  i 
C.  Riggs,  a  native  of  Dwight,  111.  ;  has  i 
two  children  —  Alice  L.  and  Myrtle 
K.  Rep. ;  attends  the  Congregational 
Church. 

WILLIAM  W.  PRINDLE,  manufac- 
turer of  wagons   and  buggies,  Lockport ;  ; 
was    born    in    Prince   Edward    District,  ] 
Canada,  Sept.   30,  1823,  in  the  town  of  ! 
Hollowell   (now    Picton)  ;  at  the  age   of 
3  years,  he  went  with  the  family  to  Oswego,  ! 
N.  Y.;  here  he  spent  his  boyhood   days;  | 
in  the  spring  of  1837,  he  went  to  sea  and  ; 
remained   till    21    years   of  age ;  coming  | 
home  again,  he  found  the  family  located  at 
Logansport,  Ind.,  and  here  he  remained  one 
year;  he  next  moved  to  La  Fayette,  Ind., 
and  in  connection  with  his  father  engaged 
in  the  hotel  business  ;  this  they  carried  on 
one  year,  and  in  the  fell  of  1846,  came  to 
Joliet.     Mr.  Prindle  laid  the  cut  stone  in 
the  court  house,  working  for  the  contract-  | 
ors,    Shepard   &   Brown.     In    the  spring  j 
of  1847,  he  came  to  Lockport,  where  he  j 
has  since  resided.     He  was  married  July  ! 
25,  1847,  to  Mary  A.  Button,  a  native  of  j 
Oxford,     England ;    has   two    children  — 
Louisa  and  Ada.     He  opened  up  his  pre- 
sent shop  about   1873,  and  has  met  with 
good   success.      He  is  a  first  class  work- 
man.    Uses  nothing    but  the  best  mate- 
rial,   and    gives    his   personal   supervision 
to  all  the  work  going  out  from  his  estab- 
lishment. 


ISAAC  PRESTON,  Lockport,  whose 
portrait  appears  in  this  work,  was  born  in 
Fairfield,  Cumberland  Co.,  N.  J.,  in  1792  ; 
he  was  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  6,  and 
at  the  age  of  7,  went  to  Vermont;  at  15, 
he  began  a  six-years'  apprenticeship  at  the 
tanning  trade.  In  1815,  he  was  married 
at  Grauville,  Washington  Co.,  N.  Y.,  to 
Miss  Betsy  Walker.  Following  his  trade 
in  the  State  of  New  York  until  1836,  he 
emigrated  with  his  family  to  Illinois,  and 
settled  at  Hadley,  in  Will  Co.,  where  he 
remained  four  years,  during  which  time  he 
opened  and  improved  a  farm  of  200  acres  ; 
in  1840,  he  moved  to  Kane  Co.,  in  this 
State,  where  he  lived  twenty-five  years,  re- 
moving to  Lockport,  in  this  county,  in 
1865,  where  he  still  resides.  Mr.  Preston 
has  been  for  more  than  half  a  century  a 
firm  and  unalterable  friend  in  the  cause  of 
human  freedom,  being  among  the  first  to 
espouse  the  Abolition  cause  in  Western 
New  York.  He  was  a  small  stockholder 
in,  and  occasionally  a  conductor  on  the  un- 
derground railroad,  but  never  ran  a  night 
train,  always  taking  his  passengers  through 
in  open  day  before  the  taces  and  eyes  of 
his  neighbors  (many  of  whom  were  the 
abject  minions  of  the  slave-holders),  and 
frequently  employing  the  fugitive  on  his 
farm.  Mr.  Preston  became  a  total  ab- 
stainer before  the  first  move  was  made  in 
the  temperance  cause  in  Western  New 
York.  He  was  the  first  employer  in  the 
city  of  Rochester  who  expelled  liquor  from 
his  workshop,  and  has  since  that  time  in 
his  own  way  used  his  best  endeavors  to 
discountenance  the  sale  and  use  of  all  in- 
toxicants and  narcotics.  He  has  also  for 
more  than  fifty  years  been  an  open  and 
persistent  opponent  of  all  oath  bound  secret 
societies,  Freemasonry  in  particular,  be- 
lieving their  tendency  to  be  hostile  to  the 
best  interests  of  morality,  religion  and  civil 
government.  Mrs.  Preston  is  still  living, 
and  their  combined  ages  aggregate  over 
172  years;  they  are  as  healthy,  active  and 
industrious  as  most  people  at  70  ;  they 
have  raised  a  family  of  five  children — the 
late  John  B.,  Elizabeth  L.  (Mrs.  Dr.  Dan- 
iels), Mariah  P.  (Mrs.  Codding),  Julia 
M.  (late  Mrs.  Bourland)and  JosiahW.,  three 
of  whom,  Josiah  W.,  Mrs.  Daniels  and  Mrs. 
Codding,  are  still  living.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pres- 
ton have  shared  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  con- 
uu'  ial  life  for  more  than  sixty-three  years. 


AMOS  C.  PAXSON,  farmer;  P.  O. 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania Nov.  21,  1810  ;  his  father  moved  to 
the  western  part  of  New  York,  near  Buffa- 
lo, in  1818,  settling  on  what  was  called  the 
Holland  Purchase  ;  in  the  Spring  of  1838, 
young  Paxson  came  West  and  settled  in 
Dupage  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  working  at  his  trade, 
that  of  carpentering,  for  five  years ;  in 
1843,  he  purchased  100  acres  of  land  and 
engaged  in  farming;  in  1868,  sold  out  and 
moved  into  Lockport,  his  present  place  of 
residence.  In  April,  1871,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster,  and  occupied  the  posi- 
tion four  years.  His  first  marriage,  to 
Sabra  L.  Boardma-n,  a  native  of  New  York 
State,  occurred  Nov.  18.  1841 ;  she  died 
Oct.  8,  1852;  his  second  marriage,  to 
Elizabeth  Killmer,  also  a  native  of  New 
York,  was  celebrated  July  10,  1854  ;  five 
children  were  born  from  first  wedlock — 
Luther  B.,  born  Feb.  12,  1843;  Peninah 
L.,  born  Aug.  4,  1844  ;  Charles  C.,  born 
Feb.  27,  1847;  Julia  E.,  born  Dec.  6, 
1849 ;  Sabra  I.,  born  Dec.  23,  1851 ;  from 
second  wedlock  one  child  was  born — 
Minora  C.,  born  July  11, 3855.  Peninah 
L.  (wife  of  Robert  Strong),  died  Dec.  22, 
1871  ;  Charles  C.  died  March  6,  1873; 
Sabra  I.  (wife  of  Samuel  Buttles),  died 
Jan.  1,  1876.  Mr.  Paxson  has  held  the 
office  of  Supervisor  three  terms  ;  been  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace,  Assessor,  School  Treas- 
urer, etc.  Owns  town  property,  and  104 
acres  in  Lockport  Tp. 

FREDRICK  RELF,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Joliet ;  was  born  in  East  Kent  Co.,  Eng., 
April  27, 1827 ;  in  March,  1849,  he  landed 
in  New  York  City,  and  first  settled  in 
Vernon,  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  here  he 
engaged  in  farming  for  three  years  ;  in  the 
Fall  of  1852,  he  came  West  to  Illinois; 
settled  in  Joliet,  and  for  a  time  engaged  in 
labor  on  the  Chicago  &  Rock  Island  Rail- 
road; in  February,  1866,  he  moved  to 
Bureau  Co.,  where  he  remained  four  years; 
in  1870,  he  returned  to  Will  Co.,  and 
located  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  the 
heirs  of  Edw.  Kelley;  in  1872,  he 
moved  to  his  present  place  of  residence. 
He  was  married  Oct.  2,  1852,  to  Sarah 
Beeching,  a  native  of  England ;  nine  chil- 
dren have  been  born  to  them — Emma  J., 
Clara,  Thomas  H.,  Rosa,  Laura,  Julia,  Allie, 
Charles  H.,  Cora.  When  he  came  to 
America  he  was  possessed  of  little  or  no 


means,  but  by  industry  and  frugality- 
he  has  reared  his  family  and  accumulated 
considerable  property;  he  is  a  thorough- 
going, energetiq  farmer,  and  is  highly 
esteemed  for  his  many  good  qualities  by 
his  friends  and  acquaintances. 

HENRY  RIPSOM,  Superintendent  of 
cooper  shop,  Lockport;  was  born  in  Gene- 
see  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  15,  1809;  in  1811, 
his  father  moved  to  Syracuse,  Onondaga 
Co. ;  at  that  time  but  two  or  three  houses 
were  standing  where  Syracuse  now  is ;  at 
the  age  of  15,  he  ran  away  from  home,  and 
coming  to  Lower  Sandusky,  Ohio,  engaged 
in  learning  his  trade ;  he  afterward  re- 
turned home,  but  at  the  age  of  20  settled 
in  Clarkson,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.;  in  1848, 
he  came  West,  settled  in  Lockport,  enter- 
ing the  employ  of  Norton  &  Co. ;  in 
March,  1850,  he  took  the  position  of 
Superintendent  of  the  cooper  shop,  and  has 
been  continued  in  that  position  ever  since. 
He  was  married  in  August,  1832,  to  Eliza 
Coleson,  a  native  of  New  York  State ;  has 
had  eight  children — Nancy,  Isabel,  Ursula, 
Alice  (living),  Elizabeth.  Sarah,  Clarkson, 
Cora  (deceased).  From'  1832  to  1846,  he 
was  engaged  in  boating  on  the  Erie  Canal 
in  the  employ  of  the  Merchants'  line. 
The  shadows  of  two  great  afflictions  have 
rested  upon  the  family  hearthstone  during 
the  past  ten  years,  that  of  the  untimely 
death  of  the  only  son  Clarkson,  as  also 
that  of  the  sudden  decease  of  the  youngest 
daughter,  Cora;  in  the  early  part  of  the 
winter  of  1868,  Clarkson,  a  young  man  of 
19  summers,  while  coasting  with  young 
friends  on  the  streets  of  Lockport,  was 
almost  instantly  killed  by  coming  in  con- 
tact with  a  team  standing  in  the  street; 
a  few  years  later  little  Cora,  a  bright 
and  interesting  child  9  years  of  age,  fell 
from  the  suspension  bridge  into  the  canal 
and  was  drowned,  her  body  being  res- 
cued in  about  one  hour  from  the  time 
the  accident.  Mr.  Ripsom  at  present 
holds  the  office  of  Township  Collector. 

N.  S.  RAFFERTY,  groceries  and  con- 
fectionery, Lockport;  was  born  in  Sligo 
Co.,  Ireland,  Nov.  5,  1823  ;  he  immigrated 
to  America  Sept.  14,  1837,  and  settled  in 
Hamilton,  Canada  West,  and  engaged  in 
the  merchant  tailoring  trade ;  in  1840,  he 
moved  to  Jackson,  Mich. ;  here  he  re- 
mained two  years;  in  1842,  located  in 
Chicago,  and  in  1845,  came  to  Lockport,- 


LOCKPORT   TOWNSHIP. 


74T 


his  present  home;  in  1868,  he  opened  out 
a  full  line  of  confectionery,  and  later  added 
a  small  stock  of  groceries;  in  1876,  he 
purchased  a  full  line  of  groceries,  and 
at  present  (1878)  has  a  large  and  growing 
trade ;  his  fruit  and  confectionery  trade  is 
the  most  extensive  of  any  in  the  city.  He 
was  married  Jan.  22,  1856,  to  Catharine 
Behind,  a  native  of  Tipperary  Co.,  Ireland. 
Was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
the  Spring  of  1877,  which  office  he  now 
holds. 

WM.  M.  STOWE,  farmer;  P.  0.  Lock- 
port;  was  born  in  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  5,  1842 ;  he  is  the  youngest  son  of 
Nathaniel  H.  and  Eliza  (Partridge)  Stowe; 
in  1858,  the  family  moved  to  Erie  Co., 
Penn. ;  in  addition  to  his  common  school 
education,  he  attended  for  some  time  an 
academy  in  Waterford,  Penn. ;  he  re- 
mained at  home  farming  till  he  was  24 
years  of  age;  in  1868,  he  came  west 
to  Illinois  and  settled  two  miles  north  of 
Lockport,  where  he  engaged  in  farming 
and  the  dairy  business;  this  he  followed 
six  years;  in  1874,  he  purchased  the  farm 
on  which  he  now  resides,  being  the  west 
half  of  the  southwest  quarter  of  Sec.  17, 
Lockport  Tp.  He  was  married  Oct.  26, 
1865,  to  Laura  Barnard,  a  native  of  New 
York ;  has  two  children — Frank  J.,  born 
May  11,  1868;  Howard  D.,  born  May  9, 
1877  ;  owns  eighty  acres,  valued  at  $5,000. 

MRS.  KATHARINE  SANBORN, 
farming ;  P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in 
Schoharie  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  22,  1809 ; 
her  maiden  name  was  Smith.  She  was 
married  Sept.  16,  1823,  to  Justin  Taylor, 
a  native  of  New  York  State  ;  he  was  born 
Oct.  25,  1801  ;  in  1833,  Mr.  Taylor  came 
West  to  prospect  the  country  and  returning 
East,  in  1834,  brought  his  family  and 
erected  a  log  cabin  on  the  identical  spot 
where  the  family  residence  now  stands  ;  in 
1833,  he  laid  a  claim  of  500  acres,  which 
he  afterward  purchased  at  the  Government 
land  sale  in  1835  ;  this  he  improved  and 
occupied  till  the  date  of  his  decease,  which 
occurred  Nov.  14,  1847.  From  first 
wedlock,  she  had  eight  children — Harriet, 
Francis.  Smith,  Sacia,  Grosvenor,  Harry, 
Justin  and  James  L.;  of  these,  Harriet, 
Smith,  Sacia  and  James  L.  are  deceased. 
Four  of  her  sons  went  forth  to  battle  for 
their  country's  honor,  and  two  of  them 
rest  from  toil  far  down  in  the  Sunny  South. 


He  second  marriage,  to  William  Sanborn, 
occurred  July  4,  1850  ;  one  son,  William, 
has  been  born  to  them,  and  still  lives  with 
his  parents.  Her  first  husband  was  pres- 
ent in  Chicago  at  the  treaty  made  with  the 
Indians  in  1833.  Mrs.  Sanborn  says  she 
has  seen  400  or  500  Indians  at  her  house 
at  one  time,  when  on  their  way  to  the  Far 
West.  Mr.  Taylor  held  the  offices  of 
Supervisor,  School  Trustee,  School  Director 
and  various  other  offices.  Owns  155  acres 
in  Lockport  Tp.,  valued  at  $9,000. 

GEORGE  SPANGLER,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Center  Co., 
Penn.,  May  18,  1826  ;  he  remained  with 
his  parents  till  about  19  years  of  age,  en- 
gaged in  farming;  in  1846,  he  left  home 
and  came  to  Germantown,  Montgomery 
Co.,  Ohio,  where  he  engaged  in  peddling 
pottery  for  a  cousin,  in  whose  employ  he 
remained  about  two  years.  In  1848,  he 
returned  home,  and  May  17  of  that  year 
was  married  to  Catharine  Kopp,  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania;  as  a  result  of  this  union, 
ten  children  have  been  born — George  F., 
Allie  A.,  Wilson,  Oliver  Z.,  Elmore  E., 
Howard,  Agnes  A.,  Mary  C.,  Emma  and 
Allie.  Owns  400  acres  of  land  in  Lock- 
port  Tp.,  worth  $60  per  acre ;  his  farms 
are  well  improved,  and  ornamented  with 
good,  substantial  dwellings  and  barns. 
Most  of  his  sons  are  married  and  started  in 
Hie  for  themselves.  Mr.  Spangler  was  not 
by  any  means  wealthy  when  he  came 
West,  but,  by  industry  and  good  manage- 
ment, he  has  reared  his  large  family  and 
secured  a  fine  competency  for  them  all ; 
he  is  recognized  in  his  community  as  a 
very  successful  farmer. 

MRS.  JACOB  SMITH,  farmer  and 
fruit  grower ;  P.  0.  Lockport.  Mrs.  Smith 
was  born  in  Ripley,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  25, 1816; 
she  is  the  daughter  of  Martin  and  Mar- 
garet (Sacia)  Smith.  She  was  married 
first  to  Almon  Taylor,  a  native  of  Chenan- 
go,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  26,  1832.  In  the  fall  of 
1835,  she  came  with  her  husband  to  Illi- 
nois, and  settled  in  Lockport  Tp.,  Will 
Co.,  on  the  farm  just  north  of  that  now 
owned  by  Patrick  Fitzpatrick ;  in  1850, 
Mr.  Taylor  went  to  California  and  engaged 
in  mining ;  while  there,  he  met  with  a  se 
vere  accident,  from  the  effects  of  which  he 
died  Oct.  31,  1850.  Mrs.  Taylor  was 
married  a  second  time,  March  26,  1852, 
to  Jacob  Smith,  a  native  of  Tennessee ; 


from  first  wedlock,  four  children  were  born 
— Katie,  Marcus  M.,  Martin  S.,  Horace 
A. ;  of  these,  Marcus  and  Martin  are  dead  ; 
from  second  wedlock,  she  has  two  children 
— George  B.  and  Jennie  L.  Owns  fifty 
acres  in  Lockport  Tp.,  forty  of  which  is 
set  in  fruit.  Mrs.  Smith  has  seen  much  of 
pioneer  life  in  the  West,  and  is  one  of  the 
few  that  is  left  wJio  settled  here  in  those 
early  days. 

JULIUS  SCHEIBE,  dealer  in  boots 
and  shoes,  Lockport.  To  the  handiwork 
of  no  one  individual  is  Lockport  more  in- 
debted for  her  first-class  buildings  than  to 
Mr.  Scheibe.  Under  his  immediate  super- 
vision was  erected  the  stone  business 
houses  of  Messrs.  Myers,  Col.  Martin,  Lull 
&  Lynd ;  the  M.  E.  Church,  the  brick 
business  house  of  Dr.  Bacon  ;  in  1871,  he 
built  the  Northwestern  College,  at  Naper- 
ville.  He  was  born  in  Saxony,  Germany, 
Jan.  20,  1828;  immigrated  to  America  in 
1850,  and  first  settled  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.; 
in  1851,  he  came  to  Lockport,  and  worked 
a  short  time  for  Robert  Milne  in  the  saw- 
mill; in  the  Fall  of  1851,  engaged  at  his 
trade,  that  of  stone  and  brick  mason  ;  was 
engaged  on  the  work  of  deepening  the 
canal  in  1864  and  1865  ;  in  the  winter  of 
1873,  engaged  in  the  sale  of  boots  and 
shoes,  his  present  occupation.  He  was 
married  in  1854,  to  Elizabeth  Fickensher, 
a  native  of  Germany ;  has  six  children.  The 
large  and  commodious  stone  school-building, 
.an  ornament  to  the  city  and  a  monument 
to  the  liberality  and  enterprise  of  its  citi- 
zens, was  erected  by  Mr.  Scheibe  ;  this 
structure  cost  the  district  the  snug  sum  of 
$40,000. 

FRED'K  W.  SCHOOP,  M.  D.,  physi- 
cian and  surgeon,  Lockport;  was  born 
in  Mecklenburg,  Germany,  Feb.  20,  1849  ; 
his  father's  family  immigrated  to  Amer- 
ica in  1852,  and  settled  at  Blue  Island, 
111.  ;  here  he  engaged  in  farming,  but 
soon  abandoned  it  and  moved  to  Chicago, 
where  he  now  resides  engaged  in  the 
real  estate  business;  at  the  age  of  12, 
young  Schoop  left  home  and  engaged  in 
various  pursuits  till  he  was  17,  when  he 
located  at  the  Grand  Crossing,  near  Chi- 
cago, and  entered  the  employ  of  the  I.  C. 
R.  R.  Co.,  working  at  night  and  attending 
school  during  the  day;  in  June,  1874, 
he  graduated  from  the  Englewood  High 
School,  and  the  following  October,  began  a 


course  of  study  in  the  Chicago  Medical 
College,  which  he  completed  March  20, 
1877  ;  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Chicago,  where  he  remained 
four  months  ;  October  2,  1877,  he  located 
at  Lockport.  He  was  married  March  27, 
1878,  to  Ida  0.  Johnson,  a  native  of  Illi- 
nois. Rep. ;  Episcopalian.  Dr.  Schoop 
is  the  first  German  practitioner  ever  lo- 
cated in  Lockport,  and  is  rapidly  building 
up  a  fine  paying  practice ;  being  a  thor- 
ough scholar  and  polished  gentleman  he  is 
worthy  the  support  and  confidence  of  the 
people. 

F.  F.  STOWE,  merchant,  Lockport; 
was  born  in  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  July  11, 
1834  ;  his  early  life  was  such  as  is  com- 
mon to  most  farmer's  sons  ;  beginning  in 
1850,  he  attended  the  High  School  at 
Jamestown  for  three  years  completing,  the 
course  in  1854  ;  soon  after  finishing  his 
studies,  he  came  West  and  settled,  pur- 
chasing 240  acres  in  Clayton  Co., 'Iowa, 
which  he  improved  ;  having  sold  out  his 
farm,  in  1856,  he  went  to  Erie  Co.,  Penn., 
and  purchasing  100  acres,  engaged  in 
farming  and  the  dairy  business ;  in  1869, 
he  came  to  Lockport  and  engaged  in  his 
present  business,  that  of  the  retail  grocery 
trade.  He  was  married  Oct.  27,  1855,  to 
Sophia  F.  Barnard,  a  native  of  New  York 
State ;  has  three  children — Fred  W., 
Grace  E.  and  Wayne  B.  Much  of  his 
early  life  was  spent  in  teaching,  thus  ac- 
quiring means  to  complete  his  education. 
While  a  citizen  of  Erie  Co.,  Penn.,  he 
served  the  county  as  Auditor  for  a  term 
of  three  years  ;  he  is  at  present  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace ;  has  held  the  office  six  years  ; 
is  Master  of  Lockport  Lodge,  A.,  F.  &  A. 
M.,  No.  538.  His  son,  Fred  W.,  con- 
ducts the  news  office  of  the  city. 

JUSTIN  TAYLOR,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Lockport  Town- 
ship, Will  Co.,  Jan.  24,  1843  ;  he  is  the 
son  of  Justin  and  Katharine  (Smith)  Tay- 
lor ;  he  has  lived  all  his  life  on  the  farm 
on  which  he  was  born,  excepting  his  tempo- 
rary absence  in  the  army.  He  enlisted  in 
the  service  Aug.  20,  1862,  in  Co.  C, 
100th  Regiment,  I.  V.  I. ;  he  remained  in 
the  service  three  and  one-half  years,  and 
participated  in  the  battles  of  Stone  River 
and  Chickamauga ;  was  in  Sherman's  cam- 
paign to  Atlanta ;  was  also  in  the  battle  of 
Nashville  and  in  the  campaign  of  Gen. 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


749 


Thomas ;  he  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in  July,  1865. 
On  returning  from  the  army,  he  again  en- 
gaged in  farming,  and  was  married  March 
7,  1866,  to  Marian  Stewart,  a  native  of 
Illinois ;  she  died  in  Nov.  1874  ;  his  sec- 
ond marriage,  to  Catharine  Chapin,  a 
native  of  Michigan,  was  celebrated  Aug. 
13,  1876  ;  has  two  children  from  first  wed- 
lock— Lizzie  and  Gracie.  Owns  160  acres, 
valued  at  $9,600.  In  connection  with  his 
farming,  he  keeps  a  large  number  of  milch 
cows  and  ships  milk  daily  to  Chicago ;  he 
has  been  engaged  in  the  milk  trade  for  the 
past  ten  years. 

WILLIAM    THOMAS,    Geperal    Su- 
perintendent of  the  Illinios  &  Michigan 
Canal,    Lockport ;    was    born   in    Bristol, 
Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  20,  1821  ;    his 
opportunities  for  acquiring  an   education 
were  limited ;  at  the  age  of  14,  he  came 
West  to   Michigan,    engaging  in   various 
pursuits  to  obtain  a  livelihood  ;    in  1840, 
he  returned  to  Western  New  York,  and 
learned  the  trade  of  house  carpentering ; 
here  he  remained  till  1857,  when  he  came 
West  again  to  Lockport,  111.,  and  served 
four   years   as    Master    Mechanic  on    the 
canal;  in  1862,  he  was    appointed  Assist- 
ant Superintendent,  and   placed  in  charge 
of  the  Western   Division,  with  headquar-  j 
ters  at  Ottawa,  La  Salle  Co. ;  this  position  | 
he  held  till  Dec.  1871,  when  he  was  ap-  j 
pointed     General     Superintendent,    with  ! 
headquarters  at  Lockport,  a  position  he  j 
at  present  holds.    He  was  married  Feb.  22,  \ 
1844,   to    Phebe  D.  Wilder,   a   native  of  j 
New   York ;     has    one    child — Ella   P., 
wife  of   Col.    D.    Hapeman,  of    Ottawa. 
Rep. ;  Cong.     Mr.  Thomas  is  altogether 
a  self-made  man   and  has  attained  to  his 
present  important  position  through  indus- 
try and  correct  business  habits. 

STEPHEN  J.  WILLIAMS,  fanner 
and  dairy ;  P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in 
Dupage  Township,  Will  Co.,  111.,  Sept. 
22,  1845  ;  his  literary  attainments  were  so 
far  advanced  that  at  the  early  age  of  15  he 
entered  Wheaton  and  completed  the  full 
course,  graduating  in  the  second  class 
sent  out  from  the  Institution,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1863;  in  1864,  he  went  with  the 
force  sent  out  to  survey  the  Union  Pacific 
R.  R.,  and  accompanied  it  as  far  west  as 
Salt  Lake  City ;  here  he  left  the  force 
and  returning  to  Omaha,  spent  some  time 


prospecting  with  a  view  to  speculating  in 
property  ;  in  1866,  he  returned  home  and 
engaged  in  farming  and  raising  stock. 
He  was  married  Feb.  14,  1866,  to  Mary 
E.  Burns,  a  native  of  Grundy  Co.,  111.  ; 
he  lost  his  wife  Jan.  22,  1876  ;  has  three 
children — James,  Thomas  C.  and  Maud 
C.  Owns  263  acres  in  Lockport  Town- 
ship. In  addition  to  his  farming  opera- 
tions, he  keeps  on  hand  about  eighty 
milch  cows ;  at  present  he  is  milking  47 
cows  and  ships  the  milk  daily  to  Chicago  ; 
this  he  finds  more  lucrative  than  raising 
grain  at  present  low  rates. 

GEORGE  WIGHTMAN,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Rome,  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  15,  1821 ;  at  the  age  of 
12  years,  he  came  West  with  the  family; 
his  father  settled  on  the  Au  Sable  in  La 
Salle  Co.  (now  Kendall) ;  here  they  re- 
mained two  years ;  then  moved  to  Plain- 
field  Tp.,  and  at  the  end  of  two  years 
moved  to  Wheatland  Tp.,  where  they  re- 
mained until  1868,  when  they  located  in 
Dupage  Tp.,  where  his  father  now  re- 
sides, at  the  advanced  age  of  78  years. 
George  remained  at  home  till  20  years  of 
age.  He  was  married  Sept.  18.  1850,  to 
Susan  E.  Sisson,  daughter  of  Capt.  Holder 
Sisson,  one  of  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Will 
Co.;  she  was  born  June  7,  1831  ;  after 
marriage  he  settled  on  his  farm  in  Wheat- 
land  Tp.,  where  he  remained  fifteen  years; 
in  March.  1865,  he  moved  to  his  present 
place  of  residence  near  Lockport ;  twelve 
children  have  blessed  their  union  ;  ten — 
Annie  B.,  Frank  H.,  Josiah  W.,  George 
S.,  Silas  F.,  Clara  S.,  Ella  M.,  Mary  P., 
Percy  R.,  Clarence  C. — are  living ;  two — 
Holder  J.  and  HattieS. — are  dead.  Owns 
250  acres  in  Lockport  Tp.,  valued  at 
$18,000.  Has  held  the  offices  of  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  Constable,  School  Director, 
etc.  Though  bordering  on  threescore 
years,  Mr.  Wightman  bids  fair  to  be  an 
active  and  useful  member  of  society  for 
many  years  to  come. 

G.  H.  WEEKS,  Foreman  lumber  yard, 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Homer  Tp.,  Will 
Co.,  111.,  March  10,  1836;  his  father  was 
among  the  earliest  settlers  of  the  county, 
having  come  to  Illinois  in  June,  1833 ; 
although  a  successful  practitioner  of  the 
healing  art,  he  purchased  a  farm,  on  which 
he  remained  until  1843  or  1844,  when  he 
removed  to  the  village  of  Lockport,  and 


SKUTUHKS: 


devoted  himself  altogether  to  his  profession. 
At  the  age  of  16,  George  began  the  trade 
of  painting,  which  he  followed  about  four 
years ;  in  1856,  he  bought  a  boat  and  en- 
gaged in  boating  on  the  canal  from  Lock- 
port  to  various  points ;  in  1864,  he  left  off 
boating,  and  engaged  in  various  pursuits 
until  June  17,  1868,  when  he  entered  the 
employ  of  Gaylord  &  Co.  as  Foreman  in 
their  lumber  yard.  He  was  married  June 
3,  1861,  to  Ellen  Morgan,  a  native  of 
Newark,  111.;  has  three  children — Arthur, 
Ida,  George. 

MICHAEL  WALTER,  grocery  mer- 
chant, Lockport ;  was  born  in  Kleinuelz- 
heim,  Germany,  Dec.  6,  1838;  in  1851, 
came  to  America,  and  settled  in  Geneva, 
Kane  Co.;  in  1853,  engaged  in  learning 
the  shoemaker's  trade  at  St.  Charles ;  in 
the  winter  of  1855,  worked  at  his  trade 
in  Batavia;  next  to  Dixon,  Lee  Co.,  a 
short  time,  and  in  August,  1856,  came  to 
Lockport,  followed  his  trade  a  short  time, 
and  then  entered  the  employ  of  J.  S. 
Finch,  as  clerk  in  his  grocery  store ;  was 
in  his  employ  one  year,  and  then  clerked 
in  the  clothing  store  of  N.  S.  Rafferty  six 
months  ;  he  opened  out  a  saloon  for  him- 
self, but  not  liking  the  business,  sold  out 
in  1859,  and  went  to  Pike's  Peak  ;  in- 
vested all  his  funds  in  a  sluice,  and  after 
one  month's  labor  had  as  a  reward  for  capi- 
tal and  toil  invested,  a  goose-quill  of  gold, 
valued  at  40  cents ;  returned  to  Lockport, 
and  worked  at  his  trade  again,  April  15, 
1861;  enlisted  in  Capt.  Hawley's  Battery  ; 
three  month's  service;  Aug.  31,  re-en- 
listed in  the  three  years'  service  in  Capt. 
Dressers'  Battery ;  was  mustered  out  Oct. 
5, 1 864  ;  participated  in  the  battles  of  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson,  in  the  battle  of 
Shiloh  and  the  siege  of  Corinth ;  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  he  engaged  in  the  grocery 
trade  with  his  brother  ;  in  a  short  time  his 
brother  retired,  and  the  firm  of  Walter  & 
Bohle  was  formed  ;  in  1872,  he  started  in 
the  dry  goods  business  alone,  and  failed  in 
October,  1873;  in  the  spring  of  1874, 
went  to  Lemont  and  superintended  a  gen- 
eral merchandise  store  for  J.  A.  Boyer  ; 
May  22,  1875,  opened  out  his  present 
grocery  store  in  Lockport.  Was  married 
Oct.  19,  1865,  to  Margaret  Pitts,  a  native 
of  Germany  ;  has  eight  children. 

JOHN  H.  WEEKS,  carriage  painting 
and  trimming,  Lockport ;  was  born  in 


Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.,Feb.  13,  1830  ;  in  the 
Spring  of  1833,  his  father's  family  came 
West  and  settled  in  what  is  now  Homer 
Tp.,  Will  Co.;  in  1843,  the  family  moved  , 
into  the  town  of  Lockport;  in  1847,  John 
H.  engaged  in  learning  the  trade  of  harness 
making  with  his  brother,  Judge  C.  H.  ] 
Weeks,  now  of  Joliet;  in  1858,  he  quit 
the  harness  trade;  Sept.  1,  1861,  he  went 
into  the  United  States  service  as  assistant 
leader  of  the  military  band  of  the  19th 
Regt.,  111.  V.  I.;  he  was  mustered  out 
March  18,  1862  ;  during  almost  the  entire 
term  of  service,  he  acted  in  the  capacity  of 
leader ;  in  1863,  he  commenced  the  trade 
of  carriage  painting  and  trimming  with  his 
present  employer,  H.  Norton.  He  was 
married  in  1852  to  Maria  Lc  Valley,  a 
native  of  Lockport,  Niagara  Co.,  N.  Y.; 
has  had  two  sons — Frank  (dead)  and 
Edwin  L.,  who  at  present  is  engaged  in  the 
same  business  with  his  father. 

ROBERT  WHITLEY,  Foreman  Nor- 
ton &  Co.'s  mills,  Lockport ;  born  in  the 
town  of  Wakefield,  Yorkshire,  Eng.,  in 
November,  1831;  he  immigrated  to  America 
in  1854,  and  first  settled  in  Oswego,  on 
Fox  River,  where  he  engaged  in  milling 
nine  and  a  half  years  ;  in  1864,  he  went  to 
Chicago  and  remained  a  short  time  ;  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  same  year,  went  to  Plain- 
field,  Will  Co.,  where  he  remained  until 
the  summer  of  1866,  when  he  came  to 
Lockport  and  entered  the  employ  of  Nor- 
ton &  Co. ;  in  1871,  went  to  Chicago  and 
remained  until  after  the  great  fire,  when 
he  returned  to  Lockport,  his  present  home. 
Owns  120  acres  of  land  in  Lockport  Tp., 
known  as  the  Frasier  Farm.  Mr.  Whitley 
is  thoroughly  posted  in  everything  pertain- 
ing to  first-class  milling,  and  is  an  import- 
ant factor  in  the  directing  and  working 
force  of  Norton  &  Co. 

SAMUEL  WILMOT,  Supt.  Lockport 
Paper  Co..  Lockport ;  born  in  Manchester, 
Eng.,  May  10,  1831 ;  he  immigrated  to 
America  June  5,  1851,  landing  in  New 
York  July  12;  he  first  settled  in  Fitch- 
burg,  Mass.,  and  engaged  in  running  the 
machinery  in  the  Stone  Mills,  now  owned 
by  Burbanks  &  Crocker;  here  he  remained 
six  months  ;  thence  to  Pepperell,  Mass., 
two  years ;  next  to  Manchester,  N.  H.  ; 
thence  to  Lawrence,  Mass. ;  thence  to 
Portland,  Me, ;  thence  to  Windsor  Locks, 
Conn. ;  thence  to  Rainbow,  in  the  same 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


rsi 


;State ;  leaving  the  East,  his  next  move 
was  to  Hamilton,  Ohio,  and  from  there  to 
Cincinnati;  in  the  two  last-mentioned  places, 
he  tarried  about  ten  years  ;  in  May,  1872, 
he  located  in  Lockport,  his  family  follow- 
ing about  a  year  later.  He  was  married 
June  18,  1852,  to  Justina  Monning,  a 
native  of  Virginia ;  has  three  children — 
Adelaid,  Vancino  and  Justice.  His  entire 
life  so  far  has  been  spent  in  connection 
with  paper  manufacturing  establishments. 
ADOLPHUS  YOUKER,  dealer  in 
agricultural  implements,  Lockport ;  was 
born  near  Ogdensburg,  Canada,  Oct.  20, 
1832;  May  24,  1857,  he  left  Canada, 
going  to  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  where  he  stopped 
a  short  time  ;  thence  to  Rockford,  where 
he  engaged  in  carpentering  a  short  time  ; 
:in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  came  to  Stony 


Creek,  Mich.,  taking  charge  of  a  saw-mill 
for  one  year  ;  July  17,  1858,  he  came  to 
Lockport,  111.,  and  entered  the  employ  of 
Norton  &  Co. ;  in  1859,  he  engaged  in  the 
business  of  underground  ditching,  and  fol- 
lowed it  two  years  ;  in  1861,  came  again 
into  the  employ  of  Norton  &  Co. ;  in  1871, 
was  employed  in  carpentering  for  the  State 
in  the  yards  at  Lockport;  in  1875,  went 
to  Chicago  and  run  a  meat  market  and 
vegetable  store  one  year ;  in  1876,  he,  in 
company  with  Ira  Williams,  began  the  sale 
of  agricultural  implements.  He  was  mar- 
ried Sept.  12, 1859,  to  Mary  M.  Reinhart, 
a  native  of  New  York  State ;  has  had  two 
children — Eliza  Elnora  and  George  Ed- 
ward, both  deceased.  Owns  160  acres  of 
land  in  Kansas. 


REED    TOWNSHIP. 


PETER  B ARR,  merchant,  Braidwood  ;  ! 
was  born  in    Renfrewshire,  Scotland,  Oct.   j 
20,  1840,  and  is  the   son  of  Daniel   and  i 
Margaret   (Hercules)    Barr,  of  Scotland,  i 
His   father  was  a  miner ;  died    February, 
1859.     Mr.  Barr,  at  8  years  of  age  com- 
menced   working  in  the  coal    mines ;  in 
1865,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  landed  \ 
in  New  York  City ;  came  direct  to  Braid-  j 
wood,  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  entered  the  coal  \ 
mines;    followed  mining  until   1871;  he  • 
then  entered  the  saloon   business  ;  to-day 
owns  one  of  the  best  drug  stores  in  Braid-   i 
wood,  which  business    he   commenced    in 
1878.     Mr.  Barr  is  one  of  the  prominent  | 
business  men  of  Braidwood.     Is  one  of  the  : 
City  Aldermen.  Is  a  Republican  in  politics, 
and  a  Presbyterian  in  religion.       Married  j 
in  1860,  to  Miss  Jennie  Stell,  of  Ayrshire,  , 
Scotland    (the   home  of  Robert  Burns);  j 
six  children.     Mr.  Barr's  mother  is  living 
in  Scotland. 

JOHN  B.  BACKUS,  M.  D.,  Braid- 
wood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of 
the  most  prominent  physicians  of  Will 
Co. ;  was  born  in  Ontario,  Canada,  April 
29,  1845 ;  his  parents  are  John  A.  and 
Sarah  M.  (Bostwick)  Backus.  His  father 
was  educated  for  a  lawyer,  but  was  a  retired 
gentleman.  Dr.  Backus  received  a  grammar 
school  education  in  Canada ;  he  received 


his  medical  diploma  at  McGills  Medica 
University  of  Montreal,  Canada,  also  re~ 
ceived  a  second  diploma  from  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  of  Ontario,  Can.  ; 
he  practiced  medicine  one  year  in  Canada, 
and  in  1871,  he  came  to  Braidwood  and 
commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  here  ; 
he  has  been  very  successful,  having  received 
a  very  large  practice.  Dr.  Backus  has  been 
married  twice.  Is  a  member  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church. 

H.  W.  BLOOD,  manufacturer  of  soda 
and  mineral  water,  Braidwood  ;  was  born 
in  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  27,  1842;  came 
West  in  1 863  ;  farming  for  two  years  ;  he 
then  entered  the  bottling  house  of  J.  D. 
Page,  of  Joliet,  III.,  and  remained  there 
some  two  years ;  he  then  went  to  Wilming- 
ton ;  here  he  purchased  a  half  interest  in 
the  manufacture  of  mineral  water,  in  com- 
pany with  J.  D.  Page  ;  also  engaged  in  the 
ice  business ;  he  then  purchased  entire 
control  of  the  manufactory  in  1870 ;  in 
1 873,  he  came  to  Braidwood  and  started 
the  present  manufactory,  which  to-day  is 
one  of  the  most  complete  in  this  vicinity. 
His  many  ingenious  inventions  have  ren- 
dered the  employment  of  a  large  number  of 
men  unnecessary,  and  with  but  few  men, 
Mr.  Blood  can  turn  out  of  his  establish- 
ment an  equal  quantity  of  goods,  with  firms 


who  employ  a  far  greater  number  of  per- 
sons. Thns  it  will  be  seen  that  with  the 
obviation  of  so  much  expense  in  his  course 
of  manufacturing,  Mr.  Blood  is  enabled  to 
sell  his  goods  cheaper  than  any  other  firm, 
and  at  the  same  time  give  the  purchaser  as 
fine  a  quality  of  goods  as  can  be  found  in 
the  country.  The  building  is  24x50,  two 
stories  high ;  capacity  of  200  boxes  per 
day  ;  employ  three  hands ;  two  two-horse 
wagons  find  sales  for  goods  in  Braidwood 
and  towns  in  this  vicinity.  Mr  Blood 
manufactures  soda  and  mineral  water, 
bottled  lager  beer,  ale,  porter,  cider  and 
spruce  beer.  He  was  married  in  1861,  to 
Miss  Francis  Quackenbush  of  Illinois ;  seven 
children. 

IRVING  BARKER,  foundry,  Braid- 
wood,  of  the  firm  of  I.  Barker  &  Co.,  foun- 
dry ;  this  popular  firm  has  been  established 
in  the  city  of  Braidwood  since  1 873,  and 
in  that  time,  the  superior  quality  of  their 
work,  coupled  with  their  honest  transact- 
ions, has  lifted  them  to  the  front,  as  first- 
class  manufacturers ;  both  are  gentlemen 
of  long  experience,  and  thoroughly  practi- 
cal in  the  knowledge  of  all  its  details  ;  Mr. 
Irving  Barker  was  born  June  11,  1847  ; 
his  father,  Jas.  M.  Barker,  with  family, 
settled  in  Will  Co.,  in  1849 ;  when  Mr. 
Barker  was  17  years  old,  he  commenced 
to  learn  the  blacksmith  trade,  and  worked 
at  this  trade  for  four  years ;  he  then  en- 
tered the  foundry  business  with  Wm.  Mc- 
Intosh,  at  Wilmington,  Will  Co.;  he  then 
entered  partnership  in  company  Russell, 
Barker  &  Co.,  of  Wilmington ;  firm  changed 
to  I.  Barker  &  Co.;  his  brother,  Orsen  Bar- 
ker, forms  the  company,  is  a  native  of  Michi- 
gan ;  was  born  in  November,  1844  ;  these 
gentlemen  came  to  Braidwood  in  December, 
1873,  and  commenced  business  by  erecting 
the  present  foundry ;  the  machine  depart- 
ment is  22x30,  two  stories  high  ;  the  molding 
department  is  22x50  ;  they  make  a  specialty 
of  manufacturing  coal  mine  supplies  and 
stove  castings  which  they  find  sales  for  in 
the  vicinity  of  Braidwood.  Mr.  Irving 
Barker  has  applied  for  a  patent  on  a  hand 
lawn  mover  which  eclipses  anything  of 
the  kind  now  in  the  market,  is  much 
lighter,  cheaper,  and  can  guage  it  to  cut 
the  grass  at  any  height. 

JOHN  BAMRICK,  saloon,  Braid- 
wood  ;  this  gentleman  was  born  in  Queen's 
County,  Ireland,  May  18,  1847,  and  his 


parents  are  John  and  Ann  Bamrick,  of 
Ireland  ;  his  father  was  engaged  in  the 
mining  business,  and  when  Mr.  Bamrick 
was  but  1 0  years  of  age,  he  commenced  the 
mining  business,  and  in  1868,  he  emigrated 
to  America  and  landed  in  New  York  City, 
from  there  he  came  direct  West  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Braidwood ;  here  he  com- 
menced mining,  and  engaged  in  this  busi- 
ness until  he  met  with  a  very  unfortunate 
accident  in  Sept.,  1872,  by  the  steam  cars 
running  over  and  cutting  off  his  left  arm  ; 
he  then  entered  the  saloon  business  which 
he  has  followed  ever  since.  In  April,  '78, 
was  elected  Town  Clerk  of  Reed  Town- 
ship, by  the  National  Greenback  party. 
Mr.  B.  is  a  strong  National  Greenbacker, 
and  has  been  ever  since  the  Peter  Cooper 
movement  originated.  Married  in  1867 
to  Miss  Sarah  Mulligan  of  Ireland  ;  have 
had  five  children,  three  living.  Is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Catholic  Church. 

JAMES  BRAIDWOOD,  proprietor  of 
the  Braidwood  coal  mines,  Braidwood.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  founder  of  the 
city  of  Braidwood,  which  was  named  by  Mr. 
John  H.  Daniel,  Braidwood  in  honor  of 
Mr.  James  Braidwood,  who  claims  that  he 
built  the  first  house  in  Braidwood,  had  the 
first  house  to  burn,  sunk  the  first  coal  shaft 
in  Braidwood,  his  wife  had  the  first  child 
born  and  the  first  child  to  die  in  Braidwood. 
Mr.  Braidwood  was  born  in  Scotland  March 
1,  1831,  and  is  the  son  of  James  and  Ellen 
( Hercules)  Braidwood,  of  Scotland  ;  his 
father  was  engaged  in  the  mining  business, 
and  when  Mr.  Braidwood  was  but  9  years 
of  age  he  commenced  coal  mining ;  he  then 
worked  at  machinery  and  boiler  mak- 
ing ;  was  four  years  engineer  on  a  steam- 
ship ;  shipwrecked  twice  ;  two  years  with 
the  East  India  Company  ;  in  Oct.,  1863, 
he  landed  in  America,  at  New  York  City  ; 
went  to  Middlesex,  Penn.;  here  but  a  short 
time  ;  he  then  came  West,  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Belleville  ;  then  to  Danville,  and 
in  Aug.,  1865,  came  to  Braidwood ;  here 
he  set  out  in  coal  mining,  in  working  for 
the  Chicago  &  Wilmington  Coal  Co.;  was 
in  the  company  that  sunk  the  Eagle  Shaft, 
near  the  depot,  in  1869  ;  he  went  to  Cham- 
paign Co.,  111.,  and  was  engaged  there  in 
sinking  a  shaft  for  coal ;  after  working  for 
six  months,  abandoned  without  finding  any 
coal ;  he  lost  $6,000  cash  ;  he  returned  to 
Braidwood  and  commenced  the  coal  busi- 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


ness  on  the  present  shaft  he  ntfw  runs, 
which  he  has  been  very  successful  in  ;  when 
Mr.  Braidwood  came  to  America,  he  was 
financially  very  poor,  but  with  hard  labor 
and  good  management,  to-day  he  ranks  as 
one  of  the  successful  miners  of  Braidwood. 
Married  in  1854,  to  Miss  Ellen  Ralston,  by 
whom  he  has  had  twelve  children,  eight 
living ;  his  oldest  son,  James,  at  17  years 
of  age,  July  16,  1871,  was  struck  by 
lightning  and  instantly  killed.  Mr.  B.  is 
a  Republican  in  politics  and  a  Presbyterian 
in  religion. 

ROBERT  BURT,  saloon,  Braidwood ; 
was  born  in  Lanarkshire,  Scotland,  Nov. 
15,  1833  ;  son  of  Peter  and  Christina 
(Hay)  Burt,  of  Scotland  ;  father  was  a 
miner ;  Mr.  Burt,  at  the  age  of  9  years, 
commenced  working  in  the  mines,  and  fol- 
lowed this  business  for  over  twenty-seven 
years;  in  1858,  he  emigrated  to  America, 
and  landed  in  New  York  City ;  thence  to 
the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  and  engaged 
in  mining  until  1860  ;  on  account  of  his 
health,  he  returned  to  Scotland  ;  returned  to 
America  in  1866;  in  Pennsylvania  nine 
weeks  ;  thence  to  Braidwood  ;  here  he  com- 
menced mining,  and  followed  this  until 
1 870 ;  he  entered  the  restaurant  business 
and  followed  this  for  two  years;  then  in 
the  saloon  business;  to-day  owns  one  of 
the  best  and  most  orderly  sample  rooms  in 
this  vicinity.  Married  in  1860,  to  Miss 
Sarah  Carrigan,  of  Scotland,  by  whom  he 
has  three  children. 

JOHN  R.  BRAIDWOOD,  Secretary 
and  Manager  Braidwood  Coal  Co.,  Braid- 
wood;  was  born  in  Elderslie,Scotland, March 
29,1855,  and  is  the  son  of  James  and  Ellen 
Braidwood.  Mr.  Braidwood  at  10  years 
of  age,  entered  the  coal  mines  and  has 
been  engaged  in  the  coal  business  ever 
since;  in  August,  1865,  he  emigrated  to 
America  and  settled  in  Braidwood ;  here 
he  has  remained  ever  since.  Married  in 
1877  to  Miss  Hamilton,  of  Scotland. 

W.  P.  BARKER,  foundryman,  Wil- 
mington ;  is  a  brother  of  I.  Barker  & 
Co.,  foundrymen,  and  is  engaged  in  work- 
ing in  the  molding  department ;  was  born 
in  November,  1837.  Participated  in  the 
late  war ;  enlisted  in  Co.  A,  100th  111.  V. 
I.,  for  three  years  or  during  the  war ;  was 
taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Chicka- 
mauga ;  was  paroled,  and  finally  mustered 
out  in  June,  1864. 


JOHN  BROADBENT,  hotel,  Braid- 
wood  ;  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England, 
Dec.  12,  1833,  and  is  the  son  of  William 
and  Sarah  Broadbent.  Mr.  Broadbent 
emigrated  to  America  in  1856.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Jane  Crepps  of  England ;  after 
marriage,  made  his  residence  in  Morris, 
Grundy  Co.,  111. ;  from  there  he  came  to 
Braidwood  in  1870.  In  1871,  erected  the 
present  hotel ;  this  business  he  has  been 
engaged  in  ever  since.  The  Braidwood 
House,  very  conveniently  located,  being 
adjacent  to  the  depot,  is  a  first-class  hotel. 

THOMAS  CONNOR,  butcher,  Braid- 
wood;  was  born  in  Ireland  May  8,  1838, 
and  is  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Bridget 
(Walder)  Connor  of  Ireland  ;his  father  was 
a  farmer,  died  when  Mr.  Connor  was 
young ;  his  mother  then  married  Patrick 
Carroll.  In  1847,  emigrated  to  Quebec, 
Canada,  then  to  Vermont ;  here  Mr.  Con- 
nor was  engaged  in  working  on  a  railroad, 
and  in  1848,  came  West  to  Illinois,  and. 
settled  in  Joliet ;  here  he  was  engaged  in 
working  in  a  woolen  factory,  then  as  a  driver 
on  a  canal  boat  six  years,  then  station 
agent  for  the  canal  company  three  years ; 
from  here  he  went  to  coal  digging  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Will  and  Grundy  Counties; 
in  1866,  he  settled  down,  and  commenced 
farming  and  butchering,  known  as  the  Con- 
nor Brothers,  who  are  the  oldest  butchers 
at  the  business  in  Braidwood ;  his  mother 
is  still  living  on  the  old  homestead.  Mr. 
Connor  has  held  several  oflBces  of  public 
trust.  Is  liberal  in  his  politics,  and  is  a 
a  member  of  tha  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
He  came  to  America  a  poor  boy,  and  with 
hard  labor,  good  management,  is  one  of  the 
successful  men  of  Braidwood  ;  owns  800 
acres  of  land. 

WILLIAM  CARLISLE,  bakery,  Braid- 
wood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  the  oldest 
baker  in  Braidwood  ;  born  in  England  ;  his 
father,  Wm.  Carlisle,  died  when  Mr.  Carlisle 
was  very  young;  here  he  started  out  in  the 
world  a  poor  boy  ;  learned  his  trade,  bak- 
ing, in  England,  and  this  business  he  has 
followed  throughout  life;  in  1862,  he  emi- 
grated to  Canada,  and  remained  there 
about  two  years.  While  in  Canada,  he 
was  married  in  1863.  to  Miss  Mary  Gibson, 
of  Canada.  In  1864,  he  came  to  Illinois 
and  settled  at  Chicago;  from  there  he 
came  to  Will  Co.,  and  first  stopped  in  Wil- 
mington, and  then  went  to  Braidwood  ;  in. 


1873,  he  first  commenced  business  of  his 
own ;  here  he  was  very  successful  until 
May  26,  1877,  his  bakery  was  destroyed 
by  fire ;  he  rebuilt,  and  to-day  owns  the 
most  complete  bakery  in  Braid  wood.  Mr. 
Carlisle  is  a  prominent  Odd  Fellow,  and  a 
member  of  the  Elpiscopal  Church. 

JOSEPH  DONNELLY,  merchant/ 
Braidwood  ;  born  in  Durham  Co.,  England, 
March  19,  1852,  and  is  the  son  of  Mat- 
thew and  Mary  Ann  (Hull)  Donnelly,  of 
England  ;  hie  father  was  a  dry  goods  mer- 
chant here  ;  with  his  father,  Mr.  Donnelly 
was  engaged  in  clerking  in  the  dry  goods 
store,  and  in  1871,  emigrated  to  America, 
and  landed  in  New  York  City  ;  came  di- 
rect to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled  at  Braid- 
wood  ;  when  Mr.  Donnelly  first  came  here, 
he  was  engaged  as  clerk  in  a  store,  and 
continued  in  this  business  until  1877  ;  he 
then  purchased  the  store  he  now  owns,  and 
commenced  business  on  his  own  account ; 
ranks  to-day  as  one  of  the  leading  mer- 
chants of  Braidwood.  He  was  married 
in  1874,  to  Miss  Mary  Dwyer,  daughter 
of  Patrick  and  Bridget  Dwyer.  who 
were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Reed 
TP. 

PATRICK  DWYER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Braidwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is 
the  oldest  settler  now  living  in  Reed  Tp., 
was  born  in  Tipperary  Co.,  Ireland,  March 
17,  1828,  arid  is  the  son  of  James  and 
Catherine  (Gary)  Dwyer,  of  Ireland ; 
father  was  a  carpenter  and  wagon  maker 
by  trade,  living  on  a  farm  here.  Mr. 
Dwyer  commenced  life  by  farming ;  in 
1840,  he  emigrated  to  America  and  landed 
in  New  York  ;  then  to  Susquehanna  Co., 
Penn.,  and  engaged  in  farming  about  eight 
years ;  in  1848,  came  West  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Wilmington,  Will  Co.;  in  1850, 
he  came  to  Reed  Tp.,  and  settled  on  the 
place  he  now  lives  on  ;  he  first  purchased 
1 20  acres  at  $3  per  acre  ;  he  made  all  im- 
provements on  his  place ;  when  he  first  came 
here,  the  country  was  very  wild,  plenty  of 
wild  game,  deer  and  wolves  in  abundance. 
Mr.  Dwyer  has  held  several  offices  of  trust 
in  his  township.  Married  November, 
1851,  to  Miss  Bridget  Clark,  of  Ireland  ; 
seven  children.  Mr.  D.  is  a  Democrat  in 
politics,  and  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  He  owns  232  acres  of  fine,  im- 
proved land,  made  by  hard  labor,  industry 
.and  good  management ;  his  father  died  in 


1852,  a"t  60  years  of  age ;  his  mother  is 
now  living  on  the  farm  at  the  good  old  age 
of  76. 

L.  H.  GOODRICH,  merchant,  Braid- 
wood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  proba- 
bly one  of  the  best  known  and  Lighly  re- 
garded business  men  of  Will  Co.;  was  born 
in  Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  26,  1834, 
and  is  the  son  of  Elozur  Goodrich,  of  Con- 
necticut, and  Hannah  (Way)  Goodrich,  of 
New  York  ;  his  father  was  a  carpenter  and 
joiner  by  trade,  living  on  a  farm;  here  Mr. 
Goodrich  spent  his  childhood  and  early 
youth,  working  on  the  farm  from  the  time 
he  was  able  to  handle  the  plow,  and  in 
winter  gathering  instruction  from  the  dis- 
trict schools  ;  at  17,  he  commenced  teach- 
ing school  and  has  taught  twenty -one  terms 
in  New  York  and  Illinois.  In  the  fall  of 
1855,  he  came  West  and  made  his  home 
in  Grundy  Co.,  111.;  here  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  State  he  was  engaged  in  teach- 
ing school ;  also  in  the  fruit  business.  In 
1860,  he  married  Miss  Annie  J.  Wheeler, 
of  Pennsylvania.  After  marrying,  he 
taught  school  about  one  year ;  he  then 
purchased  a  farm  in  Grundy  Co.  and  com- 
menced farming,  and  continued  in  this  busi- 
ness for  eight  years  ;  then  to  Gardner,  111., 
and  was  Superintendent  of  a  coal  shaft  for 
six  years.  While  Mr.  Goodrich  was  in 
Grundy  Co.,  he  held  several  offices  of  pub- 
lic trust ;  was  Justice  of  the  Peace  eight 
years,  and  Supervisor  six  years.  In  18 — , 
he  came  to  Braidwood  and  entered  the 
mercantile  business,  which  business  he  has 
followed  ever  since.  Mr.  Goodrich  took 
a  very  active  part  in  getting  the  city  of 
Braidwood  incorporated,  and  was  elected 
the  first  Mayor  of  the  city  in  1873,  and 
re-elected  to  same  office.  In  1875,  he  was 
nominated  by  the  Republican  party  for 
Representative  of  the  15th  District,  and 
was  elected  to  same  office,  and  in  1876, 
was  re-elected ;  during  his  time  in  public 
office,  from  his  office  as  Justice  of  the 
Peace  in  Grundy  Co.,  to  a  Representative 
of  the  15th  District,  he  has  given  entire 
satisfaction,  having  proven  himself  a  gen- 
tleman of  acknowledged  ability,  whose 
duties  have  been  performed  in  a  faithful 
manner.  Mr.  Goodrich  is  a  Republican  in 
politics  and  a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church, 
which  Church  he  has  been  a  prominent 
member  for  the  past  fifteen  years ;  is 
Superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school. 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


755 


Mr.  Goodrich  ranks  as  one  of  the  success- 
ful business  men  of  Will  Co. 

J.  &  J.  HYND,  confectionery  and 
stationery,  Braidwood.  These  gentlemen 
commenced  business  in  Braidwood  in  the 
spring  of  1877 ;  both  were  born  in  Scot- 
land;  James,  born  October,  1855,  and 
John,  born  in  1857  ;  are  the  sons  of  John 
and  Margaret  (McKinley)  Hynd,  of  Scot- 
land ;  their  father  died  when  they  were 
very  young.  Messrs.  Hynds  have  fol- 
lowed mining  principally  throughout  life  ; 
in  1868,  they  emigrated  to  America;  came 
direct  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Morris, 
Grundy  Co.,  and  remained  there,  engaged  in 
mining  until  1871  ;  they  then  came  to 
Braidwood ;  here  engaged  in  mining ;  in 
1877,  James  retired  from  the  mines,  and  in 
partnership  wilh  his  brother  John,  entered 
the  confectionery  and  stationery  business  ; 
they  own  to-day  one  of  the  largest  and 
best  assorted  stocks  of  confectionery  and 
stationery  in  Braidwood. 

THOMAS  HENNEBRY,  boots  and 
shoes,  Braidwood ;  was  born  in  Ireland  in 
1845 ;  hr?  parents  are  James  and  Ellen 
(Kenny)  Hennebry,  of  Ireland ;  his  father 
was  a  farmer ;  emigrated  to  America  in 
April,  1848,  and  settled  in  Du  Page  Co., 
111. ;  here  Mr.  Hennebry  remained  on  the 
farm  until  the  breaking-out  of  the  late 
war ;  he  enlisted  Aug.  15,  1862,  as  private 
in  Co.  C,  90th  I.  V.  I.,  for  three  years; 
participated  in  some  of  the  hard-fought 
battles  during  the  war  under  Gens.  Grant 
and  Sherman — Vicksburg,  Mission  Ridge, 
Kenesaw  Mountain,  Atlanta,  Sherman's 
march  to  the  sea,  through  the  swamps  of 
the  Carolinas  to  Washington,  on  the  grand 
review ;  was  mustered  out  as  Corporal  June 
5,  1865  ;  returned  to  the  farm  in  Du  Page 
Co. ;  in  1869,  went  to  Wilmington,  Will 
Co.,  in  the  mercantile  business  with  Richard 
Baskerville — "  Baskerville  &  Hennebry  ;" 
then,  in  1872,  came  to  Braidwood;  entered 
the  boot  and  shoe  business  with  C.  O'Don- 
nell — "  Hennebry  &  O'Donnell ;"  then 
with  John  Handlon — "  Hennebry  &  Hand- 
Ion  ;"  to-day  he  owns  one  of  the  best 
boot  and  shoe  stores  in  Braidwood.  Was 
elected  Supervisor  of  Reed  Tp.  in  1873; 
this  office  he  filled  with  honor  and  satisfac- 
tion. Is  a  Democrat  in  politics;  Catholic 
in  religion.  Married  in  1875  to  ML«s 
Kate  Keane,  whose  parents  are  among  the 
first  settlers  of  Reed  Tp. ;  one  child. 


ESAIAS  HALL,  Superintendent  of  the 
Chicago  &  Wilmington  Coal  Co.,  Braid- 
wood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
in  Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  Sept.  6,  1822,  and  is 
the  son  of  Gen.  Robinson  Hall,  of  Ver- 
mont, who  was  a  prominent  military  man; 
his  mother,  Sarah  (Munson)  Hall,  of  Con- 
necticut ;  his  father  was  owner  of  a  farm 
here.  Mr.  Hall  was  engaged  in  farming 
until  he  was  30  years  of  age ;  he  then 
entered  the  mercantile  business,  and  con- 
tinued in  this  business  until  1865 ;  in 
1866,  he  came  West  to  Illinois  and  settled 
in  Wilmington;  he  first  worked  for  the 
Hill  &  St.  Clair  Coal  Company  for  .two 
years ;  since  1868,  has  been  engaged  with 
the  Chicago  &  Wilmington  Coal  Company ; 
he  first  was  engaged  as  a  traveling  agent, 
and  in  March,  1874,  was  appointed  Super- 
intendent of  the  company.  The  Chicago 
&  Wilmington  Coal  Company  is  one  of  the 
largest  coal  companies  in  the  West;  this 
company  has  worked  and  partially  aban- 
doned eight  coal  shafts ;  now  engaged  in 
running  two  shafts.  G.  &  H.  employ  700 
men ;  capacity,  1 50  cars  per  day,  twelve 
tons  to  a  car.  Mr.  Hall  has  been  married 
twice ;  his  first  wife  was  Miss  Louisa  Dan- 
forth,  of  Vermont;  his  second  wife,  Eliza- 
beth S.  Cogdon,  of  Vermont ;  have  one 
child.  In  1871,  Mr.  Hall  moved  to  Chi- 
cago ;  here  he  has  been  residing  ever 
since.  Member  of  the  Congregational 
Church,  and  a  Republican  in  politics. 

ROBERT  HUSTON,  merchant,  Braid- 
wood  ;  was  born  in  New  York  City,  Aug. 
7,  1844,  and  is  the  son  of  Robert  and 
Elizabeth  (Shaw)  Huston,  of  Ireland;  his 
father  was  a  weaver  by  trade,  having  emi- 
grated to  America  about  1832.  Mr.  Hus- 
ton, when  he  was  very  young  (1850),  with 
his  parents  came  West  to  Illinios,  and  settled 
in  Grundy  Co.,  here  he  was  engaged  on  his 
father's  farm  at  the  breaking-out  of  the  late 
war.  In  1862,  he  enlisted  as  private  in  Co. 
I,  58th  I.  V.  I.,  for  three  years  or  during 
the  war.  Participated  in  some  of  the 
hard  fought  battles ;  at  the  battles  of  Fort 
Donelson,  Tenn.,  and  Pittsburg  Landing, 
April  6, 1862 ;  here  he  was  taken  prisoner 
and  taken  South  as  a  prisoner;  was  paroled, 
returned  to  his  regiment,  and  at  the  battle 
of  Yellow  Bayou,  La.,  1863,  he  received  a 
severe  gunshot  wound  which  caused  the 
loss  of  his  leg  ;  he  was  sent  to  the  Hospital 
at  St.  Louis,  and  in  1864,  was  discharged, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


returned  home  to  Grundy  Co.,  and  engaged 
in  teaching  school ;  in  1870,  he  entered 
the  mercantile  business  in  Braidwood,  and 
has  continued  in  this  business  ever  since. 
Married  in  1872  to  Miss  E.  A.  Blanchard. 
of  Will  Co.,  111.,  whose  parents  were 
among  the  early  settlers  of  Will  Co.  ;  they 
have  two  children.  When  Mr.  Huston 
first  came  to  Braidwood  he  was  worth  $54 ; 
he  was  engaged  at  the  coal  mines  in  weigh- 
ing coal  and  speculating  ;  he  managed  to 
save  enough  capital  to  start  in  the  mercan- 
tile business ;  to-day  he  ranks  as  one  of  the 
successful  merchants  of  Braidwood.  Is  a 
Republican  in  politics. 

JOHN  JAMES,  coal  office,  Braidwood; 
was  born  in  Scotland,  and  is  the  son  of 
John  and  Mary  (Law)  James,  of  Scotland ; 
father  was  a  miner ;  when  Mr.  James  was 
about  9  years  of  age,  he  entered  the  coal 
mines,  and  has  principally  followed  coal 
mining  through  life ;  in  1865,  emigrated 
to  America  to  Mercer  Co.,  Penn.,  mining 
about  one  and  a  half  years ;  thence  to 
Braidwood  in  the  fall  of  1867  ;  mined 
until  1869 ;  then  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness until  1873  ;  thence  to  Cleveland  three 
years,  returned  to  Braidwood,  and  is  now 
engaged  in  the  company's  coal  office.  Mr. 
James  is  a  National  Greenback  man  in 
politics,  and  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  was  married  in  1864,  to  Miss 
Agnes  Campbell,  of  Scotland,  by  whom 
he  has  four  children. 

ROBERT  JAMES,  insurance  agent, 
Braidwood ;  this  gentleman  was  born  in 
Scotland,  in  1851 ,  and  is  the  son  of  John  and 
Mary  (Law)  James,  of  Scotland.  His  father 
was  a  miner.  Mr.  James  in  1868,  emigra- 
ted to  America ;  came  direct  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Braidwood  ;  here  he  was  first 
engaged  in  working  in  the  coal  mines.  He 
received  a  full  business  college  education  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio ;  in  1874,  returned  to 
Braidwood,  and  entered  the  insurance  busi- 
ness this  business  he  has  been  in  ever 
since  ;  is  agent  for  some  of  the  most  reli- 
able insurance  companies  in  the  United 
States. 

JAMES  -KAIN,  saloon,  Braidwood; 
the  subject  of  this  sketeh  was  born  in 
Edinburgh,  Scotland,  Nov.  24,  1819,  and 
is  the  son  of  John  and  Rebecca  (McMurray) 
Kain.  His  father,  a  native  of  Ireland, 
and  mother  of  Scotland.  Mr.  Kain  at  9 
years  of  age,  commenced  working  in  the 


coal  mines,  and  engaged  at  this  business 
while  in  Scotland;  in  1851,  he  emigrated 
to  America,  and  landed  in  New  York  City  ; 
then  to  the  coal  fields  of  Maryland ;  thence 
to  Ohio  ;  here  he  remained  about  two  years 
engaged  in  coal  mining,  and  in  1853,  he 
returned  to  Scotland  ;  here  he  remained 
until  1862,  when  he  returned  to  America, 
and  went  to  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania ; 
he  remained  there  three  years  ;  then  went 
to  Illinois  in  1866,  and  was  at  one  time, 
General  Underground  Manager  for  the 
coal  mines  of  the  C.  &  W.  Coal  Co.  In 
1875,  Mr.  Kain  commenced  the  saloon 
business.  In  1876,  he  started  his  two  sons, 
John  and  Joseph,  in  the  livery  and  furni- 
ture business,  known  as  Kain  Bros. ;  these 
gentlemen  have  a  large,  first  class  stock  of 
furniture  ;  also  their  livery  cannot  be  beat 
in  larger  cities  for  fine  turnouts.  Mr. 
Kain  came  to  America  a  poor  boy,  worked 
hard  in  the  coal  mines  ;  saved  money  ;  in- 
vested and  managed  successfully,  and  to- 
day ranks  as  one  of  the  successful  business 
men  of  Braidwood.  Married  twice,  first  wife, 
May,  1842,  who  died  Dec.  6, 1852 ;  married 
second  wife,  Sept.,  1853,  Miss  Agnes 
Woods  Patterson,  Ayreshire,  Scotland. 
Mr.  Kain  is  liberal  in  politics,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

TIMOTHY  KEANE,  farmer;  P.  (X 
Braidwood  ;  this  gentleman  was  born  in 
Ireland  about  1818,  and  is  the  son  of  James 
and  Catherine  (Murphy)  Keane,  of  Ireland. 
His  father  was  a  farmer..  Mr.  Keane  at  1 7 
years  old  commenced  to  learn  the  shoe- 
making  trade;  this  he  followed  for  over 
twenty  years.  In  1847,  he  emigrated  to 
America,  and  landed  in  New  York  City  ; 
then  West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Ottawa, 
La  Salle  Co.,  and  remained  here  for  about 
five  years  ;  then  to  Grundy  Co.,  111.,  and 
commenced  farming,  and  remained  there 
until  1856,  when  he  came  to  Will  Co., 
and  settled  on  the  place  he  now  lives  on  ; 
he  made  all  the  improvements,  building 
house,  planting  trees.  He  at  one  time  cut 
hay  off  the  land  that  the  city  of  Braidwood 
now  occupies.  When  he  first  came  here, 
he  purchased  eighty -five  acres,  at  $16  per 
acre.  Owns  205  acres  of  fine  improved 
land.  Commenced  life  a  poor  boy  ;  worked 
hard,  and  to-day  is  one  of  the  successful 
fanners  of  Reed  Tp.  Married  to  Miss 
Mary  Daulton,  of  Ireland,  who  died, 
on  the  old  homestead  in  1873;  ten  chil- 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


757 


dren.  Mr.  Keane  is  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

HENRY  LECARON,  M.  D.,  drug 
store,  Braidwood.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  men 
of  Reed  Township ;  was  born  in  France 
Sept.  26,  1839,  and  is  the  son  of  Francis 
V.  LeCaron,  who  was  a  speculator  and 
money  broker.  Dr.  LeCarou  'remained  in 
France  until  the  breaking-out  of  the  late 
war ;  he  then,  with  the  intention  of  enlist- 
ing in  the  Union  army,  emigrated  to 
America  Aug.  20,  1861.  He  first  enlisted 
in  the  body  guard  of  Maj .  Anderson ;  was 
also  body  guard  of  Gen.  Buel ;  in  1862, 
he  enlisted  as  Sergeant  in  the  15th  Penn. 
Calvary,  and  participated  in  some  of  the 
most  prominent  battles — Antietam,  Stone 
River,  Chickamauga ;  in  July,  1864,  was 
commissioned  as  2d  Lieutenant  in  the  Reg- 
ular U.S.  A.,  13th  Regiment ;  was  wounded 
in  the  side  in  a  skirmish  in  Tennessee ; 
was  mustered  out  as  1st  Lieutenant  in 
March,  1866;  was  with  Gen.  O'Neal's 
Canada  movement  in  1866.  He  then 
came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Lockport, 
Will  County ;  here  he  was  engaged  in  the 
flour-mills  of  Norton  &  Co.  In  1870, 
was  a  participant  in  the  great  Fenian 
movement.  In  1868-69,  attended  the 
Rush  Medical  College,  of  Chicago;  in 
1872,  graduated  in  the  Detroit  Medical 
College,  of  Detroit,  Mich.  He  then  came 
to  Will  Connty,  and  has  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  ever  since  ;  in  1873, 
came  to  Braidwood.  Was  Supervisor  of 
Reed  Township  in  1875.  Democrat  in 
politics ;  was  in  August,  1878,  nominated 
by  the  Democratic  party  for  Representa- 
tive. Dr.  LeCaron  married  in  1864  to 
Miss  Nannie  J.  Melvin,  of  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  by  whom  he  has  four  children. 

DAVID  MORIS,  dry  goods  merchant, 
Braidwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one 
of  the  prominent  merchants  of  Braidwood  ; 
was  born  in  North  Wales  in  March,  1832, 
and  is  the  son  of  Robert  and  Kittie  Arther 
( Williams)  Moris  ;  his  father  was  a  coal 
mine  manager ;  when  Mr.  Moris  was  but 
9  years  of  age,  he  entered  the  coal  mines 
and  engaged  in  mining  while  in  North 
Wales;  June  25,  1860,  in  company  with 
Thomas  Radford,  left  Liverpool  for  Amer- 
ica ;  landed  in  New  York  City ;  his  first 
work  in  America  was  on  Monongahela 
River,  in  mining  coal  one  season  ;  then  to 


Palestine,  Ohio ;  thence  to  Illinois,  to 
La  Salle  County ;  thence  to  Morris,  Gruudy 
County  ;  was  engaged  by  Nicholas  Cotton 
in  the  coal  mining  business ;  he  leased,  for 
ten  years,  a  piece  of  coal  land ;  here  he 
sunk  the  first  coal  shaft  on  the  C.,  A.  & 
St.  L.  R.  R.,  located  near  Braceville  sta- 
tion ;  he  then  was  engaged  by  a  company 
to  sink  two  shafts ;  one  of  them  was  in 
Reed  Township,  Will  County,  and  was 
the  first  coal  shaft  sunk  in  Reed  Township  ; 
was  engaged  in  overseeing  the  Braceville 
coal  shaft ;  he  then  entered  a  mining  com- 
pany composed  of  miners,  known  as  the 
Joint  Stock  Coal  Mining  Company  of 
Gardner.  This  company  was  engaged  in 
sinking  a  coal  shaft  at  Gardner;  struck 
a  large  flow  of  water.  After  spending 
$25,000,  they  abandoned  it.  He  then 
returned  to  Braceville  ;  thence  with  Odell 
&  Cady,  drilling  for  coal ;  Mr.  Moris  is 
one  of  the  oldest  and  best  posted  coal 
miners  in  this  vicinity;  Nov.  10,  1873,  he 
entered  the  dry  goods  business ;  this  busi- 
ness he  has  followed  ever  since.  Married 
Jan.  18, 1862,  to  Miss  Eliza  Jane  Murphy, 
of  New  York,  by  whom  he  has  had  six 
children,  two  living.  Father  died  in  1867  ; 
mother  lives  in  North  Wales. 

IRA  R.  MARSH,  merchant,  Braid- 
wood;  was  born  in  Attica,  N.  Y.,  June  22, 
1843,  and  is  the  son  of  J.  Wells  and 
Laura  (Smith)  Marsh ;  his  father  was 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business,  and 
died  when  Mr.  Marsh  was  but  one  year 
old.  Mr.  Marsh's  first  business  in  life  was 
working  at  bookbinding ;  then  in  the  den- 
tistry one  and  a  half  years ;  he  then  set 
out  in  learning  photography,  and  was 
engaged  at  this  business  about  one  and  a 
half  years  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  In  1862,  he 
enlisted  as  private  in  Co.  B,  112th  N.  Y. 
V.  I.  for  three  years  or  during  the  war ; 
was  with  the  Army  of  the  James ;  par- 
ticipated in  some  of  the  hard-fought  battles 
during  the  war — Cold  Harbor,  Fort  Fisher 
and  in  the  battle  of  New  Market  Heights  ; 
he  received  a  wound  in  the  side  which  dis- 
abled him  for  about  four  months ;  he  re- 
joined his  regiment  and  served  until  the 
close  of  the  war  ;  mustered  out  June,  1865  ; 
in  1866,  he  came  West  to  Illinois  and  set- 
tled at  Keifersville ;  here  he  commenced 
the  grocery  business,  this  being  the  first 
store  at  the  mines ;  he  remained  there 
about  two  years  ;  returned  East  one  year, 


and  in  1869,  came  to  Braidwood  ;  here  he 
commenced  to  clerk  for  Lawrence  &  Tin- 
celcr ;  he  purchased  an  interest,  and  then 
the  firm  was  L.  Tinceler  &  Co. ;  to-day  he 
is  in  business  alone  ;  owns  one  of  the  best 
boot  and  shoe  stores  in  Braidwood,  and 
ranks  as  one  of  the  leading  merchants  of 
this  vicinity.  Married  in  1876,  to  Miss 
Annie  White;  one  child.  Has  held  several 
offices  of  trust,  City  Clerk  and  Supervisor 
of  Reed  Township.  Republican  in  politics. 

WILLIAM    MOONEY,    attorney   at 
law,  Braidwood.     This  gentleman  was  born 
in  Lanarkshire,  Scotland,  July  18,   1841, 
and  is  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Ann  (Clark) 
Mooney,    of  Ireland  ;    his   father   was  a 
miner  ;  when  Mr.  Mooney  was  but  9  years 
of  age,  he  commenced  to  work  in  the  coal 
mines  ;  he  followed  mining  while  in  Scot- 
land ;  in  1865,  he  emigrated  to  America, 
landing   in    New   York  City ;   thence   to  \ 
Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  ;  engaged  in  min-  j 
ing ;  in  1866,  he  oame  to  Braidwood,  Will 
Co.,  111.,  and  commenced  to  work  for  the 
C.  &  W.  Coal  Co.,  mining.     Mr.  Mooney 
has  held  several  offices  of  public  trust ;  in  | 
1870,  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  ; 
in  1873,  was   elected  to  the  Legislature, 
Twenty-ninth   General  Assembly  (elected 
on  the  Independent  ticket) ;  in  1877,  was 
elected  City  Attorney  ;  this  office  he   still 
holds ;  in  these  offices  Mr.  Mooney  has  ac- 
quitted himself  in  a  very  creditable  and  | 
efficient  manner ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  ; 
to  practice  law  by  the  Supreme   Court  of  | 
Illinois  in  1875.     Democrat  in  politics  and  i 
a  Catholic  in  religion.     Married   in   1876   i 
to  Miss  Kitty  O'Connor,  of  Illinois  ;  have 
one  child. 

WILLIAM  MALTBY,  Superintendent 
of  the  Eureka  Coal  Co.,  Braidwood.     The 
above-named  gentleman  is  one  of  the  prom-  \ 
inent    men    of  Braidwood ;    was   born  in   j 
Selston,   England,  March  7,  1840,  and  is  ' 
the  son  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  (Clark) 
Maltby,  of  England ;  his  father  was  en- 
gaged  in    taking  care  of  the    stock  of  a 
lariri>  coal  and  iron  company  in  England  ;  I 
Mr.    Maltby,  when  7  years  of  age,  com- 
menced to  work  on  his  father's   farm  by  i 
straddling  a  mule  and  driving  them  tandem  '< 
to  the  plow ;  he  came  in  contact  with  the  ; 
miners  here ;  he  was  induced  to  enter  the  i 
mine,    driving   coal-cart  and    mining ;    in 
1862,  he  emigrated  to  Canada  and  landed 
in  Quebec ;  then  to  Lake  Superior ;  from  | 


there  he  went  to  Jackson,  Mich.;  in  1863, 
he  came  to  Illinois,  to  Peoria  and  Fairbury  ; 
then  East  to  Pennsylvania ;  entered  the 
coal  business  for  two  years  ;  then  to  Nova 
Scotia,  prospecting  for  coal,  for  Charles  S. 
Richardson  ;  not  finding  coal,  he  returned 
to  New  York  City ;  then  to  Michigan ; 
from  there  he  came  to  Chicago,  111.,  and  in 
Dec.,  1866,  was  appointed  Superintendent 
of  the  Rhodes  Coal  Co.,  now  known  as  the 
Eureka  Coal  Co.  of  Chicago  ;  this  company 
employs  between  400  and  450  men  ;  ca- 
pacity of  seventy  cars  per  day,  twelve  tons 
to  a  car.  Mr.  Maltby  came  to  America 
financially  a  poor  boy  ;  to-day  he  has  risen 
from  the  lad  that  was  engaged  in  driving 
the  mule  to  the  plow  to  a  Superintendent 
of  one  of  the  largest  coal  companies  in  the 
West ;  is  the  President  and  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Braidwood  Library,  with 
1 ,300  volumes.  Mr.  M.  has  been  married 
twice ;  to  his  first  wife,  in  1858,  Miss  Do- 
rinda  Green,  of  England,  and  to  his  second 
wife,  in  1873,  Addie  Varley,  of  England ; 
has  six  children. 

DANIEL  McLAUGHLIN,  Mayor  of 
Braidwood,  Braidwood.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
men  of  Braidwood  ;  was  born  in  Lanark- 
shire, Scotland.  Aug.  9,  1831,  and  is  the 
son  of  John  and  Catherine  (Hutton)  Mc- 
Laughlin,  natives  of  Ireland  ;  his  father 
was  engaged  in  stone  cutting ;  Mr.  Mc- 
Laughlin,  when  he  was  but  10  years  of 
age,  set  out  in  working  in  the  coal-mines 
at  Woodsides,  Scotland,  in  the  mining  of 
coal  and  iron  ;  he  has  followed  this  busi- 
ness principally  throughout  life;  in  1869, 
he  emigrated  to  America,  and  landed  in 
New  York  City;  from  here  he  went  to 
Boston,  Mass.;  then  he  came  West  to  Chi- 
cago, 111.;  thence  in  Sept.,  1869,  to  Braid- 
wood,  Will  Co.,  111.;  here  he  commenced 
working  in  the  coal-mines,  and  followed 
this  business  until  1877  ;  in  April,  this 
year,  he  was  elected  by  the  National  Green- 
back party  as  Mayor  of  Braidwood  by  a 
large  majority  ;  in  this  office-  Mr.  McLaugh- 
lin  is  giving  entire  satisfaction  to  the  people 
he  represents,  proving  himself  a  gentleman 
of  acknowledged  ability.  Mr.  McLaughlin 
is  in  politics  a  National  Greenbacker ;  a 
memberof  the  Catholic  Church.  He  mar- 
ried in  1851  to  Miss  Bridget  Dougherty, 
by  whom  he  had  ten  children,  six  liv- 
ing. 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


759' 


CORNELIUS  O'DONNELL.  saloon 
and  boots  and  shoes,  Braidwood  ;  this  gen- 
tleman was  born  in  Tipperary  Co.,  Ireland, 
and  is  the  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Catherine 
(Powell)  O'Donnell,  of  Ireland  ;  his  father 
was  engaged  in  farming  here  ;  Mr.  O'Don- 
nell was  raised  on  his  father's  farm,  and  in 
1863,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  landed 
in  New  York  City ;  came  direct  to  Will 
Co.,  and  commenced  farming;  then  in  the 
coal-mines,  Goose  Lake ;  thence  to  Keifers- 
ville  ;  here  he  remained  until  1870  ;  thence 
to  Braidwood,  and  entered  the  mercantile 
business.  Mr.  O'Donnell  has  held  several 
offices  of  public  trust ;  that  of  Constable 
seven  years,  and  Deputy  Sheriff  of  Will 
Co.  four  years  under  George  M.  Arnold; 
these  offices  he  has  held  in  a  creditable  and 
efficient  manner.  Is  a  Democrat  in  politics, 
and  is  a  very  active  worker  ;  a  member  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  Married  Jan.  11, 
1872,  to  Miss  Margaret  Leo,  by  whom 
they  have  had  five  children — four  living. 

FRANK  T.  O'REILLY, farmer ;  P.  O. 
Braidwood  ;  was  born  in  Meath  Co.,  Ireland, 
May  1820,  and  is  the  son  of  Michael 
and  Rose  (Tully)  O'Reilly,  of  Ireland; 
his  father  was  a  blacksmith  and  a  farmer; 
was  raised  on  his  father's  farm  ;  at  the  age  of 
14  years,  he  was  engaged  in  driving  a  dray 
between  Kells  and  Dublin,  and  engaged  at 
this  business  until  he  emigrated  to  America, 
in  1847,  with  his  mother  and  children ; 
his  father  died  when  he  was  about  9  years 
of  age ;  landed  in  New  York  City ;  they 
then  went  to  Somerset  Co.,  N.  J.;  here 
he  was  engaged  in  working  in  the  copper- 
mines  eighteen  months ;  then  to  Newark, 
N.  J.,  and  worked  in  chemical  factory 
about  one  year;  then  to  the  city  of  New 
York,  where  he  was  engaged  in  driving  a 
team  for  a  sugar  refinery ;  at  this  business 
four  years ;  then  purchased  a  horse  and 
dray,  and  was  drayman  in  New  York  two 
years ;  then  with  the  family  they  emi- 
grated to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Will  Co., 
Reed  Tp.,  on  the  farm  they  now  own,  in 
Julys  1855;  first  purchased  200  acres 
at  $6  per  acre,  being  among  the  first  set- 
tlers of  this  township ;  made  all  improve- 
ments on  the  farm ;  country  very  wild ; 
plenty  of  deer  and  prairie  wolves.  Married 
in  1853,  to  Miss  Mary  Bradly,  of  Ireland, 
by  whom  they  have  had  eight  children, 
seven  living.  Has  held  several  offices  of 
public  trust  of  Reed  Tp.  Democrat  in 


politics,  and  a  member  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Thomas  O'Reilly  is  a  brother  of 
Frank  T.  O'Reilly,  and  was  born  about  1 817 ; 
have  been  with  each  other  throughout 
life ;  both  are  highly  respected  fanners  of 
Will  Co.;  they  started  in  life  poor  boys  ; 
have  worked  hard — driving  the  dray  to  a 
successful  farmer ;  own  530  acres  of  im- 
proved land. 

ALEXANDER  PATTERSON,  furni- 
ture, livery  stable,  Braidwood  ;  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  prominent  mer- 
chants of  Braidwood  ;  was  born  in  Fifeshire, 
Scotland,  June  5,  1828;  his  parents  are 
James  and  Christiana  (Strong)  Patterson 
of  Scotland;  his  father  was  engaged  in 
the  mining  business ;  when  Mr.  Patterson 
was  but  8  years  old,  he  commenced 
working  in  the  mines  and  followed  this 
while  he  was  in  Scotland;  in  1852.  he 
emigrated  to  America,  and  landed  in  New 
York  City  ;  then  to  the  coal-fields  of  Penn- 
sylvania ;  remained  there  two  years,  where 
he  got  the  gold  fever ;  he  then  went  to 
California  seeking  gold  ;  engaged  in  min- 
ing for  gold  two  and  a  half  years  very  sue 
cessfully ;  he  then  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  De  Kalb  Co.,  here  he  purchased 
a  farm  with  his  hard  earnings  in  Califor- 
nia; he  commenced  farming  in  De  Kalb 
Co.,  this,  his  first  experience;  he  remained 
here  about  five  years,  then  to  Morris, 
Grundy  Co.,  engaged  in  mining,  then  in 
the  manufacturing  of  brick  with  one  of 
the  largest  brick-making  machines  in  the 
State,  having  a  capacity  of  25,000  brick 
per  day;  helhen,in  1872, came  to  Braid- 
wood  and  commenced  the  livery  and  feed 
business;  firm's  name  Patterson,  McKinley 
&  Co.,  he  then  bought  out  McKinley,  and 
it  is  now  A.  &  J.  W.  Patterson  :  com- 
menced the  furniture  business  in  1874  ;  is 
the  largest  store-room  in  the  city  of  Braid- 
wood,  22x80,  two  stories  high  ;  the  livt-ry 
is  one  of  the  best  liveries  in  Braidwood, 
keep  from  ten  to  fourteen  horses  on  hand, 
with  buggies  and  vehicles  for  the  same.  Mr. 
Patterson  commenced  life  a  very  poor  boy, 
his  first  start  was  in  the  gold-field  of  Cali- 
fornia ;  from  this  he  has  been  very  success- 
ful in  life,  to-day  ranking  as  one  of  the 
successful  men  of  Will  Co. ;  he  is  the 
founder  of  the  Masonic  Braidwood  Lodge, 
No.  704,  and  he  and  his  son  J.  W.,  are 
very  active  members.  Mr.  Patterson  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 


a  National  Greenbacker  in  politics.  Mar- 
ried in  1849  to  Miss  Jane  McKinley  of 
Scotland ;  seven  children,  four  living :  two 
sons  and  two  daughters  ;  his  two  sons  J. 
W.  and  Alexander,  are  engaged  in  busi- 
ness with  Mr.  Patterson. 

JOHN  E.  PFINGSTON,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Braidwood  ;  was  born 
in  Kendall  Co.,  111.,  in  1855,  and  is  the 
son  of  Henry  W.  and  Annie  (Manegold) 
Pfingston  ;  his  father  Henry  W.  Pfingston, 
was  raised  on  a  farm  ;  was  born  in  Han- 
over, Germany,  and  emigrated  to  America 
in  1847,  and  settled  in  Kendall  Co.,  111. ; 
here  he  engaged  in  farming  until  1855, 
and  with  his  family  moved  to  Will  Co., 
and  settled  on  the  present  homestead  in 
Reed  Township,  being  among  the  first  set- 
tlers in  this  vicinity  here  he  first  purchased 
160  acres  of  land,  and  set  out  in  farming 
in  Will  Co.  ;  here  he  remained  until  his 
death  which  occurred  Nov.  8,  1875,  at  the 
age  of  55  years,  leaving  a  wife  and  two 
children  ;  his  widow  is  now  living  on  the 
old  homestead  with  her  son  John  E.,  who 
is  engaged  in  working  the  farm.  He 
married  in  1878  to  Miss  Myra  Olnjstead 
of  Illinois.  Sarah  E.  married  I.  G. 
McLane. 

MOSES  PELTIER,  merchant,  Braid- 
wood  ;  was  born  in  Soral,  Lower  Canada, 
Aug.  3,  1833,  and  is  the  son  of  Antoine 
and  Scholastic  (Boivin)  Peltier,  of  Canada; 
his  father  was  a  baker  by  trade ;  was  born 
in  1811,  and  remained  in  Canada  until 
the  breaking-out  of  the  war  in  1837  ;  he 
then  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Res- 
den,  Grundy  Co.  ;  here  he  was  engaged  in 
baking  for  the  Canal  Company  ;  then  en- 
gaged in  keeping  a  hotel  and  stage  house ; 
was  the  first  Postmaster  of  Resden  ;  held 
that  office  for  nine  years ;  in  1840,  he  sent 
for  his  wife  and  son  Moses,  the  only  child, 
to  come  to  Illinois ;  arrived,  settled  in 
Resden,  Grundy  Co. ;  here  Mr.  Peltier  was 
engaged  very  extensively  in  the  warehouse 
business  ;  in  1844,  he  took  a  contract  on 
the  Canal  feeder,  from  Wilmington  to 
Canal,  and  built  this  feeder ;  his  part- 
ner left,  taking  with  him  what  mon- 
ey he  had  of  Mr.  Peltier's,  which 
was  almost  a  financial  ruin  to  Mr.  Peltier ; 
he  died  in  the  old  town  of  Kankakee  in 
1859,  honored  and  respected  by  his  fellow- 
inan,  leaving  a  wife  and  one  son.  Moses 
Peltier,  in  1862,  went  to  Wilmington  and 


entered  the  mercantile  business;  in  1870, 
came  to  Braidwood,  and  was  engaged  in 
the  butcher  business  ;  in  1876,  entered  the 
boot  and  shoe  business  ;  to-day  is  engaged 
in  the  boots  and  shoes,  flour  and  feed  busi- 
ness. Democrat  in  politics ;  Catholic  in 
religion.  Married  April  13, 1861,  to  Miss 
Mary  J.  McCabe,  of  New  York  ;  seven 
children.  His  mother  was  born  in  1810, 
now  living  with  Mr.  Peltier. 

HENRY  H.  PARKINSON,  editor  and 
proprietor  Braidwood  Republican,  Braid- 
wood  ;  was  born  in  London,  Eng.,  Dec.  22, 
1849,  and  is  the  son  of  Henry  and  Rachel 
Parkinson,  of  England  ;  when  Mr.  Parkin- 
son was  very  young,  with  his  parents,  emi- 
grated to  America,  and  landed  in  New 
York  City; 'then  direct  to  Wilmington, 
Will  Co.,  111.  In  1860,  he  entered  the 
Independent  office,  of  Wilmington,  111., 
and  commenced  to  learn  the  art  of  print- 
ing ,  here  he  remained  about  three  years, 
then  in  traveling  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  ;  at  St.  Louis  ;  then  to  Joliet ;  here 
he  was  engaged  in  working  in  the  Repub- 
lican office  ;  thence  to  Lexington,  McLean 
Co.,  111. ;  here  he  started  the  Lexington 
Courier,  Republican  paper ;  then  to  Say- 
brook,  111.,  and  started  the  Saybrook  Ban- 
ner ;  he  returned  to  Wilmington,  111.,  and 
took  charge  of  the  Independent  office,  and 
remained  there  one  year  ;  he  then  returned 
to  Saybrook  and  sold  out  his  paper  and 
moved  to  Bloomington,  111. ;  here  he  com- 
menced the  publication  of  the  Bloomington 
Anti- Monopolist,  a  Granger  paper ;  thence 
to  Braidwood,  and  purchased  the  Braid- 
wood  Republican  from  F.  D.  Dalton  ;  the 
Braidwood  Republican  is  a  daily  paper, 
having  a  circulation  of  500  daily ;  this 
spicy  paper  is  an  earnest,  live  and  unterri- 
fied  Republican  journal,  free  and  outspoken, 
a  terror  to  rings  and  corrupt  office-seekers, 
and  death  to  political  stealings  and  unprin- 
cipled doings  in  general ;  its  columns  are 
devoted  to  politics,  literature,  agriculture,  re- 
ligion, science  and  local  and  general  news ;  it 
is  the  best  of  advertising  mediums ;  its  editor 
and  proprietor,  Mr.  H.  H.  Parkinson, 
ranks  high  among  the  citizens  of  Braid- 
wood,  and  personally  is  a  gentleman  of 
long  journalistic  experience;  in  connection 
with  the  paper,  there  are  complete  job 
printing  rooms,  with  facilities  for  turning 
out  first-class  work,  from  a  visiting-card  to 
a  circus  bill.  Mr.  Parkinson  is  a  Repub- 


(DECEASED) 
NEW  LENOX  77? 


.       .  / 

• 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


763 


lican   in    politics.     Married   Miss  Harriet 
A.  Smith,  of  Michigan ;  two  children. 

THOMAS  ROE,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Braid- 
wood  ;  was  born  in  Lancashire,  Eng., 
in  1820,  and  is  the  son  of  Henry  and 
Mary  (Knight)  Roe,  of  England  ;  in  1855, 
he  emigrated  to  America  and  landed  in 
New  York  City  ;  then  to  Illinois,  and  set- 
tled in  Chicago ;  here  he  was  engaged  in 
the  lumber  business  ;  he  came  to  Will  Co. 
in  1865,  and  first  purchased  eighty  acres 
at  $5  per  acre ;  here  he  has  lived  ever 
since,  engaged  in  farming ;  owns  a  good, 
improved  farm  of  200  acres.  Mr.  Roe  is 
a  very  prominent  member  of  the  P.  M. 
Church,  having  been  a  local  preacher  of 
this  church  over  twenty  years  ;  is  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Sunday  School.  Married  in 
1840,  to  Miss  Sarah  Hill  of  England,  by 
whom  they  have  five  children  living. 

JOSEPH  RANDECK,  saloon,  Braid- 
wood  ;  was  born  in  the  county  of  Budevise, 
Bohemia,  Nov.  21,  1850,  and  is  the  son  of 
Michael  Randeck,  of  Bohemia,  who  was  a 
mason  by  trade ;  when  Mr.  Randeck  was 
about  12  years  old,  he  commenced  to  learn 
his  trade  as  a  tinsmith  ;  in  1865,  he  emi- 
grated to  America  and  settled  in  Chicago, 
111. ;  here  he  remained  about  three  years, 
engaged  at  his  trade,  tinsmithing  ;  he  then, 
in  1868,  came  to  Braidwood ;  here  he  was 
engaged  in  working  in  the  coal-mines,  and 
remained  in  Braidwood  ever  since,  except 
ing  one  and  a  half  years  he  spent  in  Chi- 
cago. Mr.  R.  commenced  the  saloon  busi- 
ness in  1877  ;  to-day  owns  one  of  the  lead- 
ing saloons  of  Braidwood.  In  1877,  he 
was  elected  Constable  ;  this  office  he  still 
holds.  Married  Miss  Rossi  Jerena,  of 
Bohemia;  three  children. 

DUNCAN  RANKIN,  merchant,  Braid- 
wood;  this  gentleman  is  one  of  the  most 
solid  and  reliable  merchants  of  Braidwood ; 
was  born  in  Fifeshire,  Scotland,  May  19, 
1828,  and  is  the  son  of  Angus  and  Mar- 
garet (Clark)  Rankin,  of  Scotland  ;  father 
at  one  time  was  connected  with  the  Post- 
office  Department,  but  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  life  was  mining.  When  Mr.  Rankin 
was  but  a  lad  he  commenced  mining ;  this 
he  followed,  and  in  1850,  he  emigrated  to 
America  and  larded  in  Boston,  Mass.  ; 
then  to  the  coal-fields  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
here  he  remained  for  about  twenty  months ; 
not  satisfied  with  mining  for  the  black  dia- 
mond, he  caught  the  news  that  gold  could 


be  found  in  the  Far  West,  and  in  1852,  he 
started  for  the  gold-fields  of  California ; 
here  he  arrived,  and  commenced  mining 
for  gold ;  he  remained  about  one  year ; 
success  very  good ;  returned  to  the  States 
and  settled  in  Illinois,  De  Kalb  Co.  ;  here 
he  purchased  a  farm  with  the  money  he 
he  had  made  in  California,  and  commenced 
farming  in  Illinois ;  this,  his  first  experi- 
ence in  farming,  but,  with  hard  labor,  he 
was  successful ;  remained  in  De  Kalb  Co. 
ten  years ;  then  to  Grundy  Co.  ;  here  he 
entered  the  coal  business  by  operating  a 
coal  shaft  known  as  Rankin  Coal  Shaft ; 
in  this  business  two  years ;  he  then  went 
to  Morris,  Grundy  Co.,  and  commenced 
the  mercantile  business ;  here  he  remained 
about  six  years,  and  in  1869,  he  came  to 
Braidwood  ;  opened  a  general  store ;  his 
success  was  very  good,  doing  about  the 
largest  business  of  any  merchant  in  the 
city ;  he  then  opened  on  the  opposite  side 
of  Main  st.,  a  clothing,  dry  goods,  boot 
and  shoe  store ;  on  account  of  business 
he  consolidated  both  stores,  then  opened  a 
branch  store  in  Morris.  Mr.  Rankin  is 
President  of  the  Braidwood  Creamery 
Association,  manufacturers  of  cheese  and 
butter,  which  rank  as  No.  1  in  Chicago 
and  St.  Louis  markets ;  is  Inspector  of 
Mines  of  Will  Co.  Also  a  prominent  Odd 
Fellow  and  Mason.  Member  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  Republican  in  pol- 
itics. Married  Nov.  13,  1848,  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  Brown,  of  Scotland,  by  whom 
they  have  had  thirteen  children,  eight 
living. 

JOHN  SHENK,  butcher,  Braidwood; 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in 
Erie  Co.,  Penn.,  1842,  and  is  the  son  of 
Michael  and  Sarah  (Carter)  Shenk,  who 
are  among  the  early  settlers  of  Reed  Tp., 
Will  Co.,  having  made  their  home  here  in 
1858  ;  Mr.  Shenk  was  raised  on  his  fath- 
er's farm  and  remained  there  until  1875  ; 
he  then  entered  the  butcher  business  in 
Braidwood  ;  this  business  he  has  followed 
ever  since  ;  forms  a  partnership  of  Shenk 
&  Kellogg ;  these  gentlemen  have  one  of 
the  best  meat  markets  in  Braidwood.  Mr. 
Shenk  married  in  1868,  to  Miss  Sarah 
Wright. 

WILLIAM  H.  STEEN,  merchant, 
Braidwood ;  was  born  in  Renfrewshire, 
Scotland,  July  29,  1849,  and  is  the  son  of 
James  and  Agnes  (Hare)  Steon,  of  Scot- 

8 


764 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


land  ;  his  father  was  a  coal  miner ;  here 
Mr.  Steen,  at  the  age  of  9,  entered  the 
mining  business  ;  in  1865,  with  his  father, 
emigrated  to  America  and  landed  in  New 
York  City,  thence  to  the  coal  field  of  Penn- 
sylvania, in  Schuylkill  Co.;  engaged  in 
mining  about  three  years  ;  then  to  Ohio 
one  and  a  half  years  in  mining  ;  returned 
to  Schuylkill  Co.,  Penn.,  and  in  1870, 
came  West  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Braid- 
wood  ;  here  he  commenced  working  in  the 
mines,  and  remained  in  this  business  until 
1877.  Was  elected  City  Clerk  of  Braid- 
wood  in  1877,  which  ofiice  he  still 
holds;  was  also  Alderman  of  the  city  of 
Brnidwood  two  years.  Is  a  National 
Greenbacker  in  politics,  and  a  member  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church.  Married  in 
1869,  to  Miss  Mary  Ann  Robinson,  of 
Scotland,  by  whom  they  have  two  chil- 
dren. 

W.  D.  STEWARD,  farmer  ;  was  born 
in  Wayne  Co.,  Ohio,  July  30,  1826,  and 
is  the  son  of  John  P.  and  Elizabeth 
(Moatz)  Steward;  his  father  was  a  shoe 
maker  by  trade ;  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
was  farming  ;  Mr.  Steward  was  raised  on 
his  father's  farm,  and  in  1850,  came  West 
to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Custer  Tp.;  he 
first  purchased  420  acres  of  land,  at  80c. 
per  acre,  purchased  from  the  Government ; 
here  he  has  remained  ever  since,  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock  raising ;  owns  to-day 
280  acres  of  fine  improved  land.  Married 
Rosella  Tanner,  by  whom  they  have  six 
children. 

JOHN  H.  WARD,  insurance,  Braid- 
wood  ;  was  born  in  Ireland,  Aug.  15, 1840 ; 
emigrated  to  America  with  his  parents  in 
1846  ;  his  father,  Hugh  Ward,  was  a 
mason,  by  trade  ;  was  engaged  in  working 
on  the  Erie  Canal ;  first  settled  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, here  about  one  and  a  half  years ; 
then  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  remained  for 
three  years  ;  came  West  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Wilmington,  Will  Co.,  in  1851 ; 
Mr.  Ward,  in  1866,  came  to  Braidwood, 
and  has  been  engaged  at  his  trade,  mason, 
having  plastered  the  first  houses  built  in 
Braidwood ;  he  is  agent  for  some  most  reli- 
able insurance  companies  of  the  United 
States  :  Continental,  of  New  York  ;  Home, 
of  Columbus,  Ohio  ;  German- American,  of 
New  York,  etc.  At  the  breaking-out  of 
the  late  war,  enlisted  in  Co.  I,  100th  I.  V.  I.; 
was  honorably  discharged  on  the  account 


of  sickness.  Mr.  Ward  has  held  several 
offices  of  trust  in  his  township ;  Town 
Clerk  and  School  Director.  Democrat  in 
politics  ;  member  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Married  twice  ;  in  1865,  to  Miss  Lustatia 
Brown;  second  wife,  1876,  to  Miss  Mary 
Keane,  of  Illinois;  three  children  by  first 
wife  and  one  child  by  second  wife.  Hi& 
parents  are  now  living  in  Joliet,  111. 

COL.  EDWIN  WAKEFIELD,  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  Braidwood ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Monmouthshire,  Eng.r 
in  1830,  and  is  the  son  of  Charles  and  Mary 
Ann  (Lechie)  Wakefield ;  his  father  was 
a  professional  gardener ;  Col.  Wakefield. 
worked  with  his  father  in  the  garden  until 
he  was  about  13  years  of  age;  he  then 
entered  the  coal  mines,  and  followed  coal 
mining  for  over  twenty-five  years;  in  1855-6, 
Col.  Wakefield  served  as  gunner  in  the 
British  Royal  Artillery,  in  the  Crimean 
war.  In  1857,  he  emigrated  to  America; 
he  has  been  enaged  in  mining  in  different 
parts  of  Pennsylvania,  Tennessee,  Ken- 
tucky and  Illinois.  At  the  breaking-out 
of  the  war,  he  enlisted  as  Captain  of  Co. 
D,  7th  Mo.  V.  I.,  June  1861  ;  he  partici- 
pated in  some  of  the  hard-fought  battles  ; 
was  at  the  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg, 
Miss.;  was  promoted  as  Major  of  the  7th 
Mo.,  Nov.  29,  1862 ;  resigned  Aug.  1, 
1863.  He  then  came  to  Illinois,  and  set- 
tled in  Braceville,  Grundy  Co.,  nine  years 
in  mining  ;  in  1874.  came  to  Braidwood, 
and  entered  the  mercantile  business.  Has 
held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
Grundy  Co.  Is  a  National  Greenbacker  in 
politics.  Married  in  1863,  to  Josephine 
Brumfield,  of  Ottawa,  111.;  have  four  chil- 
dren. 

JOHN  WALKER,  saloon  and  boarding 
stable,  Braidwood  ;  born  in  Ayrshire,  Scot- 
land,  about  1837,  and  is  the  son  of  Andrew 
and  Jane(  Ritchie)  Walker,  of  Scotland.  His 
father  was  an  engineer  in  the  coal  mines  ; 
Mr.  Walker,  at  the  age  between  8  and  9 
years,  commenced  working  in  coal  mines; 
and  followed  mining  and  sinkins  of  shafts 
while  in  Scotland  ;  in  1866,  he  emigrated 
to  America,  and  came  direct  to  Braidwood  ; 
here  he  was  first  engaged  in  helping  sink- 
ing coal  shafts  ;  in  1868,  he  commenced 
the  butcher  business,  and  followed  this 
business  about  sixteen  months ;  he  then  en- 
tered the  saloon  business ;  this  business 
he  has  followed  principally  ever  since.  Mr.. 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


765 


Walker  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Steel,  of 
Kilmarnock,  Scotland,  by  whom  they  have 
had  eight  children,  five  living. 

JOHN  YOUNG, merchant,  Braidwood; 
was  born  in  Gateside,  Ayrshire  Co.,  Scot- 
land, Dec.  25,  1840,  and  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Margaret  (McCollum)  Young,  of  Scot- 
land. Mr.  Young,  when  he  was  about  8  years 
of  age,  commenced  to  work  in  the  coal 
mines  in  the  Parisk  of  Dairy,  Scotland,  and 
followed  this  business ;  in  1867,  he  emi- 
grated to  America,  and  landed  in  New 
York  City ;  he  came  direct  West  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Braidwood  in  1867  ;  here 
he  commenced  mining,  and  continued  in 
this  business  until  1877,  when  he  entered 
the  mercantile  business.  He  was  nominated 


by  the  National  Greenback  party  in  1877> 
for  Supervisor  of  Reed  Tp.,  and  was  elected 
to  that  office,  and  from  the  faithful  manner 
he  filled  the  office,  he  was  re-elected  to  the 
same  office  in  18781,  by  a  large  majority  ; 
he  has  held  other  offices  of  public  trust 
in  which  he  has  acquitted  himself  in  an  ef- 
ficient manner.  Mr.  Young  was  married 
in  1859  to  Miss  Mary  Colquhoun  of  Scot- 
land, by  whom  they  have  had  eleven  chil- 
dren, five  living.  Is  a  National  Groen- 
backer  in  politics,  and  is  a  strong  worker 
in  the  ranks  ;  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Mr.  Young's  father  died  in  1849, 
at  58  years  of  age;  his  mother  is  now  liv- 
ing in  Scotland,  and  is  a  descendent  of  the 
poet,  Robert  Burns. 


HOMER    TOWNSHIP. 


J.  B.  AUSTIN,  farmer.  Sec.  11  ;  Good- 
ing's  Grove,  P.  0. ;  was  born  in  Ontario 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  4,  1824  ;  he  lived  with 
his  parents  up  to  the  age  of  14,  when  he 
came  with  his  uncle,  Ira  Austin,  to  this 
county  in  1838,  who  settled  near  Gooding's 
Grove  P.  0.,  and  lived  with  him  until 
1851.  He  purchased  the  farm  he  now 
resides  on  in  1851.  Has  been  Collector, 
Assessor,  Constable  and  School  Director. 
Mr.  Austin  was  the  Captain  of  the  first 
canal-boat  that  went  through  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal.  His  first  wife  was 
Laura  Sanders  of  N.  Y.  State  ;  she  died 
July  3,  1865  ;  they  have  four  children, 
William  B.,  born  in  1851  ;  Marion  E., 
April  26,  1853  ;  Albert  H.,  Feb.  6, 1854; 
Lyman  A.,  Nov.  26,  1856.  He  married 
his  second  wife,  Miss  Betsey  McGregor,  in 
Homer  Township,  Oct.  22,  1867  ;  she 
was  born  Nov.  17,  1845  ;  have  seven  chil- 
dren— Jennie,  born  Dec.  16, 1868 ;  Buel  P., 
born  July  22,  1870  ;  Ira  W.,  born  Nov. 
6,  1871,  and  died  March  3,  1873  ;  Charles 
H.,  born  Nov.  16,  1874  ;  James  H.,  born 
Aug.  9,  1876,  and  John,  born  Aug.  4, 
1878.  Mr.  Austin  served  in  the  Com- 
missary Department  during  our  late  war, 
from  Aug.  2,  1862,  to  Feb.  1,  1865. 

THOMAS  BUMP,  deceased,  farmer, 
Sec.  24  ;  was  born  in  Chautauqua  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  June  7,  1819  ;  he  came  to  this  county 
in  1834  with  his  parents,  who  were  among 


the  pioneers  of  this  county,  and  who  laid 
claim  to  the  land  he  afterward  purchased 
from  them,  and  upon  which  he  lived  up  to 
the  day  of  his  death,  Aug.  25,  1877. 
He  married  Miss  Mary  Fagen,  of  N.  Y. 
State,  in  1840  ;  she  died  June  5,  1869  ; 
they  had  ten  children,  six  living — Lucinda, 
born  Jan.  11,  1841  ;  Jacob,  Jan.  30,  '43; 
Albert,  Nov.  6,  1845  ;  Alonzo,  June  20, 
1847;  LydiaA.,  Jan.  25,1849;  Leonard, 
Dec.  5,  1855,  and  Oscar  R.,  Dec.  23, 
1861  ;  four  dead,  Albert,  born  Nov.  6, 
1845,  and  died  April  26,  1864,  in  Wash- 
ington, from  disease  contracted  in  the 
army ;  Henry  J.,  born  April  4,  1858,  died 
Nov.  24,  1861  ;  Alfred  J.,  born  Oct.  25, 
1863,  and  died  Aug.  24,  1864,  and  one 
born  Aug.  19,  1854,  died  Aug.  21,  1854, 
in  infancy. 

ISRAEL  BROWN,  deceased,  farmer, 
Sec.  11  ;  was  born  in  New  Jersey,  June 
15,  1799  ;  he  first  went  to  the  State  of 
New  York,  when  quite  a  boy,  and  remained 
there  until  he  was  2 1  years  of  age  ;  he 
then  went  to  Black  Rock,  N.  Y.,  remain- 
ing there  ten  years,  working  as  a  wagon - 
maker  ;  in  1822,  he  went  to  Canada,  where 
he  lived  for  thirty-six  years  carrying  on  the 
business  of  wagon-maker;  in  1858,  he  came 
to  this  county  and  settled  upon  his  farm 
where  he  resided  up  to  the  day  of  his 
decease,  Sept.  7,  1873  ;  his  widow  still 
lives  upon  the  farm.  He  held  the  office  of 


766 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


bailiff,  seven  or  eight  years,  in  Canada. 
Married  Miss  Jane  B.  Clark,  of  Black 
Rock,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  2,  1823  ;  she  was  born 
in  New  Hampshire,  Dec.  29,  1804  ;  had 
eight  children,  Rodney  A.,  born  Oct.  25, 
1823 ;  Sarah  Ann,  in  Sept.  20,  1825  ; 
Thomas  W.,  April  7,  1828 ;  Caroline, 
Dec.  7,  1831,  died  July  23,  183J  ;  Mary 
Jane,  born  June  23,  1833,  died  March  11, 
1868;  Robert  C.,  Sept.  23,  1836,  died 
April  18,  1863,  at  Murfreesboro,  Tenn., 
from  disease  contracted  in  army  ;  Nancy 
S.  W.,  Oct.  31,  1840,  and  Daniel  C.,  born 
June  7,  1842. 

SAMUEL  J.  BLOUNT,  deceased,  far., 
Sec.  11  ;  was  born  in  Richmond,  N.  Y., 
on  July  6,  1815  ;  he  lived  there  with  his 
parents  till  he  was  21  years  of  age,  engaged 
in  farming,  until  his  coming  to  this  county 
(1836),  when  he  first  worked  for  William 
Gooding,  on  Sec.  3,  and  resided  always  in 
the  neighborhood  of  "Gooding's  Grove;" 
in  1845,  he  purchased  the  claim  to  the 
farm  his  widow  now  resides  on,  and  lived 
there  until  his  decease,  Feb.  28,  1878  ; 
had  been  Postmaster  at  "Gooding's  Grove" 
many  years,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  School 
Trustee,  Road  Commissioner,  Collector  and 
Supervisor.  Married  Mrs.  Caroline  A. 
Bliss  (daughter  of  James  Gooding,  Jr., 
and  widow  of  Philenzo  P.  Bliss),  in 
Homer  Township,  Jan.  3,  1841  ;  Mrs. 
Blount  had  one  child  by  Mr.  Bliss — Phi- 
lenzo P.,  Jr.,  born  June  16,  1839,  and 
eight  children  by  Mr.  Blount — Rhoda,  born 
Nov.  12,  1841  ;  James,  born  in  April, 
1843,  died  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Dec.  11, 
1862,  from  disease  contracted  in  the  army; 
George,  born  Nov.  17,  1844  ;  Mary  M., 
Dec.  5,  1846;  Caroline,  June  3,  1849; 
Elva  Lucretia,  Dec.  3, 1851  ;  Frank  A., 
July  22,  1854,  and  Azuba,  Oct.  17, 1857. 

WM.  J.  BBNTLEY,  farmer,  Sec.  15 ; 
P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Homer  Tp. 
March  28,  1843  ;  he  lived  in  this  county 
until  the  age  of  17,  when  he  moved  to 
Cook  Co.,  remaining  two  years.  In  1862, 
he  enlisted  in  Co.  F,  100th  111.  V.  I.,  and 
served  as  such  seven  months,  and  dis- 
charged on  account  of  disability.  He 
married  Miss  Ann  M.  Dixon,  of  Lockport, 
in  Homer  Tp.,  Feb.  28,  1867  ;  she  was 
born  Aug.  2,  1841.  His  father,  Robert 
Bentley,  was  born  in  Cambridgeshire, 
Eng.,  Aug.  13,  1814  ;  he  came  to  Amer- 
ica with  his  parents  in  1833,  who  settled 


in  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  remaining  there  six 
years  ;  in  1842,  he  came  West  and  settled 
in  Homer  Tp.,  living  there  sixteen  years, 
when  they  went  to  Palos,  Cook  Co.  ;  in 
1862,  they  returned  to  Will  Co. ;  in  1875, 
he  purchased  his  present  farm.  Has  been 
School  Director  and  Path  Master.  Mar- 
ried Catharine  Rahill,  of  Southampton, 
Eng.,  in  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  May  10,  1842 ; 
she  was  born  Nov.  1,  1821  ;  they  had  ten 
children,  seven  living — William  Joseph, 
Robert  James,  Charles  Edward,  Mary 
Ann,  Martha  Ellen,  Alice  Kate,  Asa  Lin- 
coln ;  three  dead — Sarah  Ann,  Frederick 
Benjamin  and  Florence  Jenette. 

H.  F.  BO  WEN,  farmer,  Sec.  16  ;  P. 
0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Oneida  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  April  10,  1812;  he  lived  there  until 
the  age  of  20,  when  he  went  to  Plymouth, 
Mich.,  and  remained  there  ten  years,  car- 
rying on  mercantile  business  and  school 
teaching;  in  1850,  he  came  to  Chicago, 
remaining  there  nearly  a  year,  and  then  re- 
turned to  Plymouth,  Mich. ;  about  a  year 
after,  he  returned  to  Chicago,  and  went 
from  there  to  Marengo,  McHenry  Co.,  and 
taught  school ;  in  the  fall  of  1852,  having 
moved  to  this  county,  he  purchased  the 
farm  upon  which  he  now  resides.  Has 
been  Town  Clerk  four  years.  Married 
first  wife,  Miss  Mary  T.  Bennett,  from  near 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  Plymouth,  Mich.,  in 
April,  1835;  she  died  in  June,  1850; 
they  had  three  children — Lowell  M.,  John 
M.  and  Charles  H.,  all  dead.  He  married 
his  second  wife  (widow  of  Alonzo  Inger- 
soll)  Feb.  20,  1852;  she  died  Oct.  5, 
1861  ;  he  married  his  present  wife  (widow 
of  David  E.  Davis)  April  17,  1862;  they 
have  one  child  (adopted)  —  Mary  E., 
daughter  of  David  B.  Peck,  brother  of 
Mrs.  H.  F.  Bowen,  born  Feb.  9,  1863,  in 
Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

JEFFERSON   BUMP,   farmer,    Sec. 

!  15 ;  P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Chau- 

!  tauqua  Co..  N.  Y.,  Jan.  31,  1826,  and  re- 
mained there  until  he  was  8  years  of  age  ; 

|  in  the  fall  of  1834,  he  came  West  with  his 
parents  and  settled  in  Will  Co. ;  in  1852, 
he  crossed  the  plains  to  California,  and 
prospected  in  the  mines  and  tended  pack- 
trains  of  mules  across  the  mountains  until 
1859,  when  he  returned  to  this  county  and 
purchased  the  farm  in  1860  upon  which  he 

|  resides,  containing  eighty  acres,  being  one- 
half  the  land  originally  preempted  by  his 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


767 


parents.     Has  been  School  Director  three  [ 
years.       Married     Miss    Fannie    Mariah  i 
Rockafellow  (daughter  of  James  and  Nan- 
cy Rockafellow.  of  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.)  j 
in  Plainfield  Dec.  20,  1860  ;  she  was  born  j 
April  30,  1844  ;  they  have  six  children — 
Sarah  Angelina,  born  Nov.  4,  1861  ;  Nel- 
son James,  May  7,  1864,  Clarence  Josiah, 
Oct.  24,  1863 ;  Nancy  Helen.  Sept.   20, 
1867 ;  Frank   Gile,  July  20,'  1869,  and 
Lucy  Loretta,  born  June  28,  1873. 

LEANDER  BUMP,  farmer,  Sec.  15  ; 
P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Otsego  Co., 
N.  Y.,  May  7, 1809;  his  parents  moved  to 
Crawford  Co.,  Penn.,  when  he  was  6  years 
of  age,  and  after  remaining  there  some  four  | 
years,  went  to  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and 
after  remaining  twelve  or  fourteen  years, 
moved  West  in  the  fall  of  1834,  and  settled 
in  Will  Co.,  in  this  township,  on  the  farm 
he  and  his  brother  Jefferson  now  reside 
on.  His  father,  Jacob,  died  Aug.  12, 
1849,  and  his  mother,  Lydia,  April  16,  I 
1852  ;  they  were  among  the  first  settlers 
in  this  county,  and  with  their  families 
passed  through  the  many  hardships  and 
trials  of  a  pioneer's  life.  He  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Lucy  Dixon,  of  Milton,  Mow- 
bray,  Leicestershire,  Eng.,  in  Homer  Tp., 
April  13,  1859;  she  was  born  Sept.  1, 
1839  ;  they  have  four  children — Walter 
James,  born  Sept.  4, 1860  ;  Florence  Ann, 
born  Dec.  16.  1863,  and  died  May  15, 
1876;  Lydia  Jane,  born  Sept.  25,  1867, 
and  George  Jacob,  born  July  17,  1869. 

A.  B.  BROOKS,  farmer,  Sec.  10,  P.  0. 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  14,  1809  ;  his  parents  moved  to  Del- 
aware County  when  he  was  10  years  old, 
and  remained  there  until  1826,  when  they 
moved  to  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y.;  in  1837,  he 
moved  to  this  county,  his  parents  following. 
His  father,  Benjamin,  died  on  the  farm  his 
son  Alonzo  now  resides  on,  in  1864,  and 
his  mother,  Annie,  in  1836;  in  1839,  Alonzo 
moved  to  his  present  farm,  where  he  has 
ever  since  resided.  Has  been  Justice  of 
the  Peace  nearly  twenty  years,  Assessor, 
Highway  Commissioner,  School  Director, 
President  Homer  Mutual  Insurance  Co. 
Married  first  wife,  Annie  Edmonds,  of 
Delaware  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  October,  1831  ;  she 
died  October  14,  1837  ;  they  had  one  child 
— Joseph  E.,  born  October,  1833.  He 
married  second  wife,  Jane  Weaver,  in 
Homer  Township,  Aug.  29,  1838  ;  she 


was  born  Jan.  20,  1807  ;  they  had  five 
children,  one  living — Sterling  A.,  born  Jan. 
21,  1848;  four  dead — William  Harrison, 
Harrison  and  two  who*died  at  birth. 

JOSEPH  E.  BROOKS,  farmer,  Sec.  11 ; 
P.  0.  Gooding's  Grove ;  was  born  in  Erie 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  12,  1833 ;  he  lived  there 
until  he  was  4  years  of  age,  and  then  came 
with  his  mother,  in  1837,  to  this  county, 
and  after  the  death  of  his  mother  in  October 
of  same  year,  he  went  to  live  with  Holder 
Sisson  until  spring  of  1838,  when  he  lived 
with  Wm.  Frazer  up  to  August,  from  which 
time  until  he  was  21  he  remained  with  his 
father,  Alonzo;  in  1867,  he  moved  to  the 
farm  upon  which  he  now  resides.  In  1869, 
he  went  to  Cass  Co.,  Mo.,  remaining  four 
years,  and  then  returned  to  this  township, 
and  has  lived  since  on  his  farm.  Has  been 
School  Director.  Married  Eunice  Z.  Coon, 
of  Mokena,  Will  Co.,  Nov.  28,  1855; 
she  was  born  Jan.  25,  1834;  have  three 
children — Louis  D.,  born  Oct.  5,  1856; 
William  H.,  born  Dec.  18,  1858,  and 
Annis  I.,  born  Aug.  13,  1862. 

JOHN  BRINCKERHOFF,  far.,  Sec. 
31;  P.  O.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Water- 
vliet,  N.  Y.,  May  15,  1836 ;  he  moved  to 
this  county  with  his  parents  in  1838,  and 
worked  upon  the  farm  until  the  age  of  22  ; 
in  1860,  he  crossed  the  plains  to  Pike's 
Peak,  returning  the  same  fall;  in  1866,  he 
went  to  Chicago  and  carried  on  the  grocery 
business  two  years;  he  returned  to  this 
township;  in  1869,  he  purchased  from  his 
father  the  homestead  upon  which  he  now 
resides,  containing  160  acres.  Han  been 
School  Director  three  terms,  and  is  such  at 
present.  He  married  Rebecca  Breck  en- 
ridge,  of  Canada  in  New  Lenox  Township, 
Aug.  19,  1858;  she  was  born  in  Canada 
Dec.  7,  1839;  they  have  six  children — 
Clarence  Eugene,  born  Nov.  9,  1859; 
George  Erwin,  March  8,  1862;  Martin 
Schuyler,  Jan.  29,  1866  ;  John  Jerome, 
Jan.  18,  1869;  Howard  Horace,  Aug.  19, 
1872,  and  Gertrude  Rebecca,  Oct.  14, 
1875. 

MARTIN  B.  BRINCKERHOFF,  re- 
tired farmer,  Sec.  31  ;  P.  0.  Lockport;  was 
born  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  July  11,  1806 ;  he 
attended  school  to  the  age  of  14,  when  his 
father  sent  him  to  the  country  to  learn 
farming,  receiving  only  his  board;  at  the 
age  of  20,  he  worked  his  own  iarm  in 
Albany  Co.,  and  remained  on  it  up  to 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


1837  ;  he  came  West  in  1838  and  settled 
on  farm  Sec.  31,  and  continued  such  up  to 
1869,  when  his  son  purchased  the  farm, 
with    whom    he   has  since  resided.     Has 
been  School  Director  and  Road  Commis-  . 
sioner.     He  married  Eliza  Van  Duser,  of 
Madison  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in •  Montgomery  Co., 
N.   Y.,  Dec.  24,  1827  ;  she  was  born  in 
Madison  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1808,  and  died  in  i 
Homer    Tp.,    Jan.    4,    1873 ;    they   had 
seven    children,    three    living — Gertrude 
(now  Mrs.  Mellen),  born  April  5,  1829;  I 
John,  born   May   15,  1836 ;    Mary  (now 
Mrs.  Harris),  Feb.  4, 1834,  and  four  dead  ; 
— John,  died  Feb.  5, 1832  ;  James,  March  , 
7,  1833  ;  Martin,  died  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
Feb.  8,  1863,  from  disease  contracted  in 
the  army,  and  Emma  Cecilia,  in  Septem-  [ 
ber,  1870. 

A.  C.  CUTLER,  farmer,  Sec.  26;  P.  O. 
Hadley ;  was  born  in  Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  j 
Sept.  13,  1827 ;  he  lived  there   until  he  ', 
was  7  or  8  years  of  age,  when  he  moved 
with  his  parents    to   Erie  Co.,  Ohio,  and 
from  there  to  Huron  Co.,  Ohio  ;  at  the  age  i 
of  13,  he  followed  the  life  of  a  sailor  upon  j 
the  lakes;  in   the  fall  of  1844,  he   came 
with  his  parents  to  Illinois,  traveling  most 
of  the  way   by  team ;  for  some  years  he 
drove  stage  for  Fink  &  Walker,  of  Chicago ; 
he    also   freighted    through    this  Western  | 
country,  and  afterward  went  to  Chicago  and 
was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  shingles  | 
and  also  connected  with  the  Police  Depart- 
ment for  eight  years  ;  in  1865,  he  crossed 
the    plains  to  Colorado,  mining  and  pro- 
specting, and  again  in   1866 ;  he  came  to 
this  county  in    1869,  and  first  settled  on 
Sec.  36,  and  moved  from  there  to  Hadley 
P.  0.,  being  its  Postmaster  for  three  years ;  ' 
in  1873,  he  came  to   his*  present    farm  of 
105  acres.     He   married  Miss   Elizabeth 
Glines,  of  Homer  Tp.,  Sept.  6,  1870;  she 
was    born  in  Feb.,  1864  ;  they  have  two 
children — Clinton    E.    B.,    born  July    3, 
1871,  and  Ida  Lucy,  Feb.  5,  1875. 

LEROY  COil WIN,  farmer,  Sec.  2  ;  P.  i 
O.  Goodin'/.s  Grove ;  was  born  in  West 
Lockport  May  15, 1851 ;  he  came  with  his 
parents  to  this  township  when  he  was 
about  3  years  old ;  he  remained  with  his 
parents,  engaged  on  the  farm  until  he  was 
15  years  of  age,  from  which  time  he  has 
worked  his  own  way  through  life  ;  he  now 
works  the  farm  of  H.  McGregor.  He 
married  Miss  Hannah  Adams,  of  Indi- 


diana,  in  Richland  Co.,  Wis.,  Sept.  5, 
1875  ;  she  was  born  Feb.  11,  1855. 

FREDERIC  COLLINS,  farmer,  Sec. 
21;  P.  0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Berk- 
shire, Tioga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  29,  1812  ; 
he  was  engaged  in  farming  with  his  parents 
until  the  year  1833,  when  he  came  to  this 
county  and  first  settled  on  Sees.  27  and  28, 
and  obtained  a  pre-emption  upon  the  land, 
where  he  resided  forty-one  years,  and  in 
the  winter  of  1874,  moved  to  where  he 
now  resides ;  Mr.  Collins  was  among  the 
first  settlers,  when  a  fence  was  a  novelty 
and  the  red  men  were  their  neighbors.  He 
married  Miss  Nancy  Mason  White,  daugh- 
ter of  Jonah  White,  of  Spencer,  Mass.,  in 
Lockport  Tp.,  March  13,  1839;  she  was 
born  in  Skaneateles,  N.  Y.,  July  23, 1814  ; 
they  had  four  children,  three  living —  Ho- 
ratio, born  Feb.  3,  1840  ;  Adeline  Eliza 
(now  Mrs.  Hatch),  born  Sept.  19, 1841,  and 
Ellen  Samantha  (now  Mrs.  Bird,  of  Mich- 
igan), born  Aug.  13,  1850,  and  Emma 
Adella,  born  Sept.  5,  1856,  and  died  July 
26,  1857.  Mr.  Collins  has  passed  through 
the  many  struggles  and  incidents  and 
dangers  so  common  to  the  pioneer  of  the 
Great  West,  and  is  to-day  hardy  and  robust 
at  the  ripe  old  age  of  66. 

NATHAN  CORWIN,  farmer,  Sec.  21; 
P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Wayne  Co., 
N.  Y.,  March  15,  1810 ;  he  lived  there, 
engaged  in  farming,  up  to  the  time  he  was 
24  years  of  age,  when  he  came  West,  and 
first  moved  to  Wayne  Co.,  Mich.,  and  was 
engaged  in  clearing  up  timber  land;  two 
years  afterward,  he  moved  to  La  Grange 
Co.,  Ind.,  where  he  remained  thirteen 
years  ;  he  came  to  this  county  in  1848, 
and  first  lived  in  Plainfield  two  years,  and 
then  in  Lockport  Tp.  three  years,  farming, 
and  in  Lockport  three  years,  keeping  hotel ; 
in  1855,  he  came  to  this  township,  where 
he  has  since  resided  ;  has  been  Poor  Mas- 
ter and  School  Director.  Married  his  first 
wife,  Sophia  Jewell,  of  Arcadia,  Wayne 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  30,  1831;  she  died  Jan. 
26, 1843 ;  they  had  five  children — Melissa, 
Mary  U.,  Horace  T.,  Henry  E.  and  Lydia. 
He  married  his  second  wife,  Eliza  Ann 
Cole,  of  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1848  ;  they 
had  seven  children — David  R.,  Austin, 
Leroy,  De  Witt  C.,  Alice,  Edward  L.  and 
William  F. 

H.  T.  CORWIN,  farmer,  Sec.  21 ;  P. 
0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Lima,  La 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


769 


Orange  Co.,  Ind.,  Aug.  4,  1836 ;  he 
moved  to  this  county  with  his  parents  in 
1855,  and  lived  with  them  until  the  age  of 
21  ;  in  1874,  he  purchased  the  farm  upon 
which  he  now  resides,  now  containing  sev- 
enty acres.  He  has  been  School  Director 
three  years.  He  married  Miss  Helen  C. 
Reed  (daughter  of  George  Reed)  in 
Homer  Tp.,  Jan.  31,  1867 ;  she  was 
"born  in  Bristol,  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Sept.  24,  1845  ;  they  have  two  children 
—Elmer  R.,  born  Feb.  20,  1867,  and 
Myrtie  J.,  born  June  10,  1877.  Mr. 
Corwin  served  three  years  as  Sergeant  of 
Co.  G,  39th  111.  Inf.,  and  was  wounded  at 
Bermuda  Hundred  in  1864,  and  served 
the  balance  of  his  enlistment  in  Marine 
Hospital  in  Chicago. 

REV.  SAMUEL  COWELL,  Episco-' 
pal     clergyman,   Lockport ;    was    born  in 
Providence,  R.   I.,  July  3,  1820 ;  at  the  [ 
age  of  20,  he  graduated  at  Brown  Univer-  j 
sity  ;  he  then  studied  law  one  year  with  his  | 
father,  the  Hon.  Benj.  Co  well,  Chief  Justice  '• 
of  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Rhode  Island ; 
in  1844,  he  was  ordained  as  an  Episcopal   | 
Minister;  he    first   preached   in    Western 
Pennsylvania  for  seven  years  ;  in  1854,  he 
moved  to  Saco,  Maine,  and  was  Pastor  of  j 
Trinity  Church  four  years  ;  in  June,  1858, 
he  came  to   Lockport,  and  was   Pastor  of 
St.  John's  Episcopal    Church  four   years 
and  Chaplain  of   State  Penitentiary  four 
years  under  the  appointment  of  Gov.  Bis- 
sell ;    although  compelled  by  ill  health  to 
retire  from  the  ministry,  Mr.  Cowell  has  j 
been  engaged  upon  missionary  work,  and 
laid    the   corner-stones   of    two   churches  ' 
at   Lockport    and    New   Lenox,    in    this  j 
county  ;  he  now  resides  on  his  farm,  about  i 
one  and    one-half    miles   from    Lockport.  j 
Married  Margaret   Marshall  in  Washing-  i 
ton,  Penn.,  Oct.  4,  1852  ;  she  was  born  in  ! 
Washington,  Penn.,  Oct.  27,  1829 ;  they  ! 
had  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  liv-  i 
ins. 

BENJAMIN   M.    DANCER    (de-  j 
ceased),    farmer,    Sec.  25 ;    was    born    in  < 
the  State  of  New  York,  Dec.  24;  1809;  j 
when  he  came  West,  first  settled  in  Chica-  : 
go,  remaining  there  about  two  years ;  his  : 
parents  coming    West,    they   all    went  to  , 
Kankakee  Co.,  111.,  where  his  mother  died,  i 
when  he  first  came  to  this  county  he  lived 
near  Hadley  P.  0.  ;  in   1843,  he  settled 
upon  the  farm  his  widow  now  resides  on, 


and  lived  there  until  his  death,  Jan.  4, 
1864.  Had  been  Supervisor.  Married 
Miss  Emily  Simmons  (daughter  of  Thomas 
Simmons,  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  this 
county,  having  come  here  in  1833,  from 
Dunkirk,  N.  Y.)  in  Joliet,  Oct.  30,  1843  ; 
she  was  born  May  3,  1823;  they  had  eight 
children — John  and  William  (twins),  born 
Nov.  12,  1844,  Mariah,  March  7,  1846; 
Mary,  born  March  22,  1851,  died  March 
21,  1864;  Emma,  born  May  16,  1853; 
Benjamin  F.,  born  Feb.  22,  1857,  died 
November  of  the  same  year ;  Alice  R., 
born  Aug.  12,  1859,  died  March  16, 
1860  ;  George,  born  Dec.  30,  1861,  died 
July  14,1877. 

PATRICK  DUNN,  farmer,  Sec.  22; 
P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  the  parish  of 
Laighlin  Bridge,  Carroll  Co.,  Ireland, 
March  17,  1825,  and  lived  there  until  he 
was  25,  years  of  age  when  he  emigrated 
to  America,  and  first  lived  in  Salem  Co. 
Mo.,  one  year ;  he  then  crossed  the  plains 
to  California,  and  remained  six  years,  com- 
ing to  this  county  where  he  has  resided 
ever  since ;  he  purchased  his  present  farm 
in  1861,  now  containing  150  acres.  He 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  Co.  F,  100th  111. 
Inf.,  Aug.  10,  1862,  and  served  to  the 
close  of  the  war  in  1865.  He  married 
Miss  Johanna  Dugen  in  Lockport,  March 
6,  1869  ;  she  was  born  in  Tipperary,  Ire- 
land, in  1839,  and  came  to-  America  in 
1858  ;  they  have  two  children — William, 
born  Feb.  1,  1870,  and  Mary,  born  Nov. 
13,  1871. 

PETER  DICK,  farmer,  Sec.  15;  P. 
0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Rheinboyer, 
Germany,  May  19.  1821  ;  he  came  to 
America  with  his  father  in  1845,  who  set- 
tled in  Williams  Co.,  Ohio,  and  lived  there 
thirteen  years;  in  1858,  he  came  to  this 
county,  and  Jived  in  Lockport  Tp.  five 
years,  when  he  purchased  and  moved  upon 
the  farm  he  now  resides  on,  containing 
eighty  acres.  He  married  Miss  Barbara 
Saltsgiver  Feb.  6,  1847^in  Williams  Co., 
Ohio,  Dec.  25,  1828 ;  they  had  nine 
children — George  E.,born  Nov.  23,  1847; 
Liddy  C.,  born  Nov.  5,  1849  ;  John  W., 
Aug.  28,  1851 ;  Lewis  L.,  June  8, 1853  ; 
Theodore  R.,  Feb.  6,  1855  ;  Michael  A., 
Jan.  23, 1858  ;  William  H.,  Feb.  24, 1862, 
died  March  15,  1863  ;  Mertie,  June  15, 
1864,  and  Bertie,  July  26.  1866— both 
the  latter  dying  at  birth. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


GEORGE  D AM M,  farmer,  Sec.  14;  P. 
0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Bavaria.  Ger- 
many, Feb.  8,  1828;  came  to  America  in 
in  1847,  with  his  parents,  who  settled  on 
the  Du  Page  Co ,  111.,  and  lived  with  them 
until  he  was  27  years  old  ;  in  1865,  he 
came  to  this  county  and  settled  upon  the 
farm  upon  which  he  now  resides,  containing 
160  acres.  Has  been  Road  Master.  Mar- 
ried Miss  Elizabeth  Ott  in  Du  Page  Co., 
111.,  May  8, 1855  ;  she  was  born  in  Central 
Square,  N.  Y.;  they  had  seven  children — 
Laura  Mariah  and  Francis  Ellen  (twins), 
horn  April  4,  1857  ;  Frank  Stephen,  Jan. 
18,  1860  ;  Edward  Valentine,  May  27, 
1862  ;  Albert  Casper,  Aug.  27, 1866,  and 
died  Jan.  10,  1874;  Barney  Joseph,  Nov. 
30,  1871,  died  April  17,  1872,  and  Mary 
Sophronia,  April  6,  1873. 

JAMES  D.  FRAZER,  farmer;  P.O. 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Pittsford,  Monroe 
Co.,N.  Y.,  Oct.  5,  1821  ;  he  was  one  of 
nine  children ;  his  mother  was  of  Dutch  and 
his  father  of  Scotch  extraction  ;  his  great 
grandfather  was   frozen    to  death  on  the 
Green  Mountains,  Vt.;  his  parents  being  j 
poor,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  thrown 
upon  his  own  resources  early  in  life,  work- 
ing upon  a  farm  until  19  years  of  age,  j 
from  which  time  up  to  the  age  of  27  he  j 
was   employed  in   collecting   and  driving 
stock     from     Ohio,     Pennsylvania     and 
Western  New  York  to  Boston ;  on  June 
8,  1849,  he   came  West  and   purchased  a  \ 
farm    in    this  township,   now  owned   and   | 
occupied    by     Harmon    V.,  one    of    his  j 
brothers ;  in   1852,  he  crossed  the  plains  | 
to    California,    remaining    there   nineteen  i 
months  mining  at  Yreka ;  he  returned  to  I 
this  county  in  April,  1854,  and  has  been  I 
engaged  in  farming  ever  since;    in  1854,   j 
was  elected  Highway  Commissioner,  and 
in    1861,  was   elected  Supervisor  of  the 
town,  and  having  in  that  year    offered  a 
resolution  before  the  Board  of  Supervisors 
instructing  the  County  Treasurer  to  receive 
the  county  taxes  jn  "greenbacks"  has  been 
called  and  known  as  the  "Veteran  Green- 
backer;"  in  1865,  he  was  elected  Assessor, 
and  in  1874,  was  again  elected  Supervisor, 
beingre-elected  in  1878  to  the  same  posi- 
tion ;  he  has  always  taken  an   active  part 
in  politics,  and  in  whatever  would  advance 
the  interests  of  his  county  has  always  taken 
a  prominent  part ;  he  was  a  Delegate  to 
the  convention  of  1856,  which  organized 


the  Republican  party.  He  married  Mary 
F.  Lane  (daughter  of  John  Lane,  the 
inventor  of  the  first  steel  plow),  in  Lock- 
port  in  this  county,  April  12,  1857  ;  she 
was  born  in  Pittsford,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  4, 
1830 ;  they  have  three  children — John 
D.,  born  March  29,  1858;  Mattie  J., 
Jan.  16,  1863,  and  Mary  F.,  Feb.  16, 
1867. 

SAMUEL  GOTTS  (deceased),  farmer; 
was  born  in  Norfolk,  Eng.,  Jan.  19, 1819  ; 
he  came  to  America  at  the  age  of  14;  he 
first  settled  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
afterward  in  Canada ;  he  came  to  this 
county  in  1852,  and  lived  here  up  to  the 
time  of  his  decease,  May  2,  1878;  he 
came  to  his  present  farm  in  the  spring  of 
1855,  where  his  widow  now  resides,  con-  , 
taining  eighty  acres.  He  married  Mrs. 
Hannah  Luther  in  Joliet  Aug.  15,  1850  ; 
she  was  born  in  Franklin  Co.,  Mass.,  April 
18,  1827 ;  she  has  six  children — Lydia 
Luther  (by  first  husband),  born  Aug.  23, 
1848;  bv  second  husband — Isabella,  born 
Feb.  9,  1856;  Sarah,  born  Dec.  5,  1858; 
Alonzo,  born  Jan.  9, 1863  ;  William,  born 
Nov.  13,  1868.  and  Charles,  born  June  17, 
1872. 

JOHN  HALEY,  farmer,  Sec.  35 ;  P. 
0.  Hadley ;  was  born  in  Waldec,  Prussia, 
Germany,  April  2,  1822 ;  he  lived  there 
until  he  was  25  years  of  age,  when  he 
came  to  America  in  July,  1847,  and  settled 
first  in  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.,  living  there  six 
and  a  half  years,  blacksmithing ;  moved 
from  there  to  Prince  Edward  Co.,  Can., 
working  at  the  same  trade ;  in  the  spring 
of  1860,  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled 
where  he  now  resides;  farms  250  acres. 
Has  been  Highway  Commissioner  six 
years  and  School  Director  many  years. 
He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Kunzen,  of 
Prussia,  in  Alliance,  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.r 
in  July,  1847 ;  she  was  born  Oct.  21, 
1823 ;  they  have  eight  children — John, 
born  May  14,  1848  ;  George  L.,  born  Jan. 
7,  1850;  Carrie,  born  Nov.  3,  1852; 
William  H.,  born  Nov.  17,  1854;  Charles 
F.,  born  Sept.  26,  1857 ;  Alexander,  born 
Oct.  3,  1860  ;  Frank,  born  Dec.  18, 1864, 
and  Emma,  born  June  16,  1868. 

CHARLES  HALEY, blacksmith,  Had- 
ley; was  born  in  Waldec,  Prussia,  Ger- 
many, Jan.  21,  1836;  he  was  engaged  in 
learning  the  trade  of  blacksmith  from  the 
age  of  15  up  to  18,  when '  he  came  to 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


771 


Canada  with  his  mother  in  1854,  living 
there  up  to  1874,  carrying  on  the  trade  of 
blacksmith,  and  from  there  he  came  to 
Hadley  Postoffice,  in  this  township,  carry-  i 
ing  on  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  is  now  also 
Postmaster.  He  married  Miss  Aldura 
Lawson,  of  Prince  Edward  Co.,  Upper 
Canada,  May  5,  1863;  she  was  born  April 
13,  1842 ;  they  have  four  children — Manly 
B.,  born  June  20,  1864;  John  C.,  born 
April  7,  1867;  Adolph,  born  Dec.  13, 
1870,  and  Carrie,  born  Oct.  10,  1872. 

PETER  HOMEDING,  farmer,  Sec.  24 ; 
P.  0.  Gooding's  Grove;  was  born  in  Prus- 
sia, Germany,  Sept.  18,  1829 ;  he  lived 
there  until  he  was  23  years  old,  farming ; 
in  1852,  he  came  to  America,  and  came  to 
Will  Co.,  and  has  lived  here  ever  since;  in 
1864,  he  purchased  the  farm  upon  which 
he  lives,  containing  sixty-four  acres.  Mar- 
ried Miss  Susan  Miller,  of  Prussia,  in 
Joliet,  Nov.  28,  1858 ;  she  was  born  Feb. 
2,  1824;  had  five  children — Katie,  born 
Sept.  15,  1858;  Maggie,  born  April  16, 
1860;  Matt,  born  May  10,  1861;  Nicho- 
las, born  in  1864,  died  in  1865,  and  Peter, 
born  March  24,  1866. 

LEVI  HART  WELL,  farmer,  Sec.  20; 
P.  0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Hadley, 
Mass.,  Dec.  10,  1817;  at  the  age  of  11, 
he  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources ;  at 
the  age  of  12,  he  learned  the  trade  of  black- 
smithing  with  John  Lane,  and  served  an 
apprenticeship  of  seven  years — three  years 
in  New  York  State  and  four  years  in  Illi- 
nois, having  come  to  this  county  in  1833 
with  Mr.  Lane ;  he  also  worked  for  John 
P.  Manny  one  year,  and  in  Galena  about  a 
year;  returning  to  this  township  in  1838, 
he  again  worked  for  John  Lane  up  to 
1842,  when  he  settled  upon  the  farm  upon 
which  he  now  resides,  making  all  the  im- 
provements on  thirty  acres,  at  tho  same 
time  carrying  on  the  manufacture  of  steel 
plows  up  to  1862,  since  which  time  he  has 
devoted  himself  to  his  farm,  now  contain- 
ing 110  acres.  Has  held  the  office  of 
Constable  and  Path  Master  seven  or  eight 
terms  ;  Town  Commissioner  thirteen  years  ; 
School  Director  twelve  years ;  Supervisor 
two  years  and  Poor  Master  one  year.  He 
married  his  first  wife.  Miss  Louisa  Poor, 
in  Homer  Tp.,  Nov.  3, 1842  ;  she  was  born 
in  Indiana,  Sept.  11,  1823,  and  died  Oct. 
26,  1867  ;  they  had  five  children,  one  only 
living — Samuel,  born  June  27,  1856,  and 


four  dead — William  E.,  first,  died  Jan.  12, 
1846;  William  E.,  second,  died  at  East- 
port,  Miss.,  May  5,  1865,  of  disease  con- 
tracted in  the  army  ;  Charles  died  Feb.  14,. 
1869,  and  Levi  died  May  20,  1873.  He 
married  his  second  wife,  Miss  Emma  Trask, 
of  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  Chicago, 
April  22,  1868 ;  she  was  born  Nov.  10, 
1847. 

A.  A.  INGE  KSOLL,  farmer,  Sec.  9; 
P.  0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Plainfield, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  Nov.  20,  1839;  he  has 
always  been  a  resident  of  this  county.  His 
mother  came  with  her  parents  from  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y.,  in  Oct.,  1833,  and  settled  upon 
the  farm  upon  which  he  now  resides,  and 
died  there.  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
lived  with  them  up  to  the  year  1862  ;  he 
then  enlisted  in  Co.  G,  100th  Regt.  I.  V. 
I.,  serving  three  months,  when  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Pioneer  Corps  of  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland ;  remained  in 
such  from  Nov.  27,  1862,  to  Oct.  8, 1863, 
and  then  was  transferred  to  the  First  U.  S. 
Vet.  V.  Engineers  until  mustered  out, 
July  2,  1865.  Has  been  Town  Clerk,  and 
is  now  Justice  of  the  Peace.  He  married 
Miss  Fanny  M.  Myrick,  of  Orland,  Cook 
Co.,  March  28,  1866;  she  was  born  Sept. 
19,  1847  ;  they  had  three  children,  two 
living — Annie  A.,  born  Oct.  15, 1867,  and 
Walter  Judson,  born  March  19,  1869, 
and  one  dead — Florence  B.,  born  Aug.  1, 
1874,  and  died  April  20,1877.  His  grand- 
parents, Benjamin  and  Phrebe,  came  to 
this  county  in  October,  1833,  and  were 
amons:  the  first  settlers  in  the  county,  there 
being  but  very  few  families,  and  as  the 
pioneers  of  this  county,  they  and  their 
families  passed  through  the  many  dangers 
and  hardships  only  to  be  found  in  a  new 
country.  In  1847,  his  grandfather,  Ches- 
ter Ingersoll.  crossed  the  plains  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  was  the  first  white  man  that 
built  a  house  in  San  Francisco.  Benjamin 
Weaver  died  March  2,  1870,  and  Phoebe 
died  Nov.  15,  1859,  and  lie  buried  in 
Brooks'  burying-ground,  on  Sec.  10,  near 
the  homestead. 

JOHN  JUNGEL,  farmer,  Sec.  12;  P. 
0.  Gooding's  Grove ;  was  born  in  Luxem- 
burg, Germany,  May  8,  1829 ;  he  lived 
there  until  he  was  23  years  of  age,  engaged 
in  farming,  when  he  came  to  America 
(1852),  and  settled  in  Du  Page  Co.,  living 
there  three  years  ;  in  1855,  he  came  to  this 


SKETCHES: 


county  and  settled  where  he  now  resides  ; 
farms  200  acres.  He  married  Miss  Mary 
Ann  Wagner,  of  Rhenish  Prussia,  Germany, 
Dec.  31,  1856;  she  was  born  Nov.  15, 
1836;  they  have  ten  children  —  Peter, 
born  Dec.  14,  1856;  Mary  K.,  Sept.  4, 
1858  ;  Susie,  March  8,  I860  ;  Katie,  Feb. 
25,  1862;  Nicholas,  May  1,  1864; 
Maggie.  April  5,  1866  ;  Johnnie,  April 
13, 1868  ;  Lizzie,  April  19,  1870  ;  Barney, 
Aug.  25,  1872,  and  Annie,  May  28, 
1875. 

SETH  B.  JONES,  deceased,  farmer, 
Sec.  11  ;  was  born  in  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  31,  1828 ;  his  parents  moved  to  On- 
tario Co.,  N.  Y.,  when  he  was  a  child, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  27  years 
of  age,  engaged  in  farming;  in  1855,  he 
moved  West  and  settled  in  Kankakee  Co., 
111.,  where  he  lived  until  his  coming  to  this 
county  in  1865,  and  settled  upon  the  farm 
•containing  110  acres,  upon  which  his  widow 
now  resides,  and  where  he  lived  until  his 
decease,  Nov.  20, 1875.  Had  been  School 
Trustee.  Married  Miss  Julia  E.  Codding, 
of  Bristol,  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  28, 
1850  ;  she  was  born  in  Bristol,  N.  Y., 
March  3,  1831  ;  they  had  five  children — 
Elliott  E.,  born  Sept.  20,  1853  ;  Arthur, 
born  March  30,  1857  ;  Annette  0.,  born 
Dec.  3,  1858,  and  died  Feb.  17,  1861; 
Theresa  L.,  born  Oct.  17, 1860,  and  Marcia 
C.,  born  Aug.  22,  1862,  and  died  May  3, 
1876. 

W.  H.  LAN  FEAR,  farmer  and  stock 
raiser,  Sec.  29  ;  P.  0.  Lock  port ;  was  born 
in  Cayuga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  25,  1830  ;  he 
moved  with  his  parents  to  this  township, 
when  he  was  5  years  of  age,  and  was  en/- 
gaged  with  them  in  farming  until  the  age 
of  21  ;  his  father  died  June  23,  1871  ; 
his  mother  still  lives,  at  the  ripe  old  age  of 
82.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  purchased 
the  farm,  upon  which  he  now  lives,  in 
1852,  having  made  all  the  improvements 
and  set  out  all  the  trees  upon  it,  contain- 
ing at  present  200  acres.  He  was  Town 
Commissioner  in  1875,  1876  and  1877  ; 
also  School  Director  six  years.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Emily  M.  Savage,  daughter  of 
Levi  Savage,  of  this  township,  Feb.  25, 
1852 ;  she  was  born  in  Granville,  Wash- 
ington Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  24,  1830 ;  they 
had  seven  children,  three  living — Mary 
Ann,  born  Dec.  16, 1852;  Albert  H.,  Oct. 
.31,  1865.  and  Nettie  E.,  Dec.  26,  1867, 


and  four  deceased — Asa  W.,  born  Nov.  8, 
1854,  died  March  22,  1871 ;  Ida  M.,born 
Aug.  2,  1856,  died  Jan.  6, 1860  ;  Charley 
E.,  born  Nov.  3,  1872,  died  July  24, 
1873,  and  Willie  H.,  died  Sept.  1874; 
the  last  two  being  twins. 

J.  S.  L  \NFEAR,  farmer  and  stock 
raiser,  Sec.  29  ;  P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born 
in  Homer  Tp.,  July  25,  1837,  in  ihe 
homestead  where  his  parents  had  resided 
since  1835,  and  where  his  father  died  June 
23,  1871;  Mr.  Lanfear  has  farmed  the 
same  since  he  was  old  enough  to  do  so,  and 
lives  on  the  same  place  at  present,  now 
containing  150  acres.  He  has  held  the 
office  of  Town  Clerk  six  years,  and  School 
Director  seven  years,  which  position  he 
still  holds.  He  married  Miss  Amelia  Hill, 
a  daughter  of  Isaac  F.  Hill,  of  Madison 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  Homer  Tp.,  Sept,  1,  1857 ; 
she  was  born  in  Oneida  Tp.,  Madison  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Oct.  1,  1834 ;  they  have  one  child 
-De  Etta,  born  March  20,  1852. 

RICHARD  S.  McLAUGHRY,  farmer, 
Sec.  9  ;  P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in 
Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  13,  1822 ;  he 
lived  there  until  he  was  12  years  of  age, 
when  he  came  West  with  his  parents,  who 
first  settled  in  Paddock's  Settlement, 
in  Cook  Co.,  where  his  parents  died ;  in 
1850,  he  crossed  the  plains  to  California, 
prospecting  and  mining  one  year,  when  he 
returned  to  Cook  Co.;  in  1860,  he  lived 
upon  his  farm  near  Gooding's  Grove. 
In  the  fall  of  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Co.  F, 
100th  111.  V.  I.,  and  was  elected  as  Captain 
of  the  same  company,  serving  up  to  1864 ; 
he  was  wounded  at  Mission  Ridge,  Georgia. 
He  married  his  first  wife,  Mary  Fitzsim- 
mons,  in  Cook  Co.,  111.,  Oct.  10,  1844  ; 
she  died  Dec.  8, 1845  ;  they  had  one  child 
— Thomas  J.,  born  Dec.  8,  1845,  died  in 
Andersonville  prison,  Georgia,  in  1864  ; 
he  married  his  second  wife,  Jane  Petty- 
john, in  Cook  Co.,  in  1847  ;  she  died 
in  April,  1853  ;  they  had  two  children — • 
William  L.,  born  in  June,  1848,  and  Han- 
nah M.,  born  Sept.  21,  1850,  died  Oct. 
20,  1869  ;  married  his  present  wife,  Eliza- 
beth Benton,  of  Geauga  Co.,  Ohio,  Jan.  3, 
1854 ;  they  have  seven  children — Richard 
M.,  born  Nov.  23,  1853  ;  Helen  E..  Jan. 
17, 1858;  Alice  G.,  Feb.  26,  1860  ;  Jessie 
P.,  Nov.  19,  1862  ;  Herman  T.,  July  15, 
1865  ;  Bernice,  Jan.  28,  1868,  and  Flor- 
ence M.,  July  10,  1870. 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


773 


HORACE  MESSENGER,  farmer  and 
stock  raiser,  Sec.  33;  P.  0.  Lockport ; 
was  born  in  Cheuango  Co..  N.  Y.,  April 
26,  1807;  he  lived  with  his  parents  to  the 
age  of  20,  farming,  then  farmed  six  years 
in  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  by  the  month;  in 
1834,  he  came  to  this  county  (then  Cook) 
and  made  his  claim  ;  then  returning  to 
Onondaga  County,  married  and  returned 
with  his  wife  in  1835,  and  worked  and 
improved  the  farm  upon  which  he  has 
ever  since  resided,  containing  over  four 
hundred  acres ;  Mr.  Messenger  is  one  of 
the  earliest  settlers  in  the  coutny.  Has 
been  Highway  Commissioner,  but,  although 
repeatedly  requested,  steadily  has  refused 
to  hold  any  other  office.  Married  Miss 
Fanny  Shead  (daughter  of  Stephen  Shead, 
Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.)  in  Onondaga  Co., 
N.  Y.,  in  April,  1835 ;  she  was  born  in 
Vernon,  N.  Y.,  June  13,  1810  ;  they  had 
seven  children,  six  living — Horace,  born 
April  26,  1807  ;  Fanny  S.,  June  13, 
1810  ;  Mary  Jane,  Nov.  4, 1838  ;  Francis 
Ann,  March  18,  1840  ;  Horace  Isaac,  Feb. 
5, 1844,  and  Helen  Louisa,  April  18, 1847 ; 
one  dead — William  H.,  born  Feb.  20, 
1836,  died  April  4,  1839. 

JAMES  W.  MOONEY,  farmer,  Sec. 
32 ;  P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Ulster 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  6,  1815,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  farming,  except  four  years, 
when  he  clerked  in  a  grocery  store ;  he 
came  to  this  county  in  1848,  and  first  set- 
tled in  Homer  Tp. ;  in  1861  he  moved, 
into  Lockport  Tp.  and  after  remaining 
sixteen  years,  returned  to  Homer  Tp,  and 
for  two  years  was  engaged  in  boating 
on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan  Canal,  and 
now  resides  with  his  sons,  John  H. 
and  Charles  W.,  who  work  the  Garden 
Farm  in  this  township.  Was  Township 
Assesor  and  Highway  Overseer  in  Lock- 
port  Tp.  Married  Lydia  Ann  Burt 
(daughter  of  Harlow  and  Hannah  Burt, 
of  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.)  in  Wayne  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Dec.  31,  1836  ;  had  eleven  children — 
Jane  M.,  born  Aug.  16,  1839  ;  Julia  A., 
May  1,  1841  ;  Francis,  born  Aug.  30, 
1842,  died  Aug.  26,  1843  ;  Charity,  born 
Feb.  3, 1844  ;  died  March  4,  1849  ;  Mary, 
born  April  14,  1846;  Helen,  Aug.  24, 
1847;  John  Henry,  Dec.  30,  1849; 
Harriet  Francelia,  March  17,  1851 ; 
Lydia  Josephine,  Sept.  11,  1853;  Will- 
iam Burt,  April  7,  1855,  died  May  4, 


1856,  and  Charles  Wesley,  born  July  7, 
1857. 

BARNEY  OTT,  farmer,  Sec.  14;  P. 
0.  Gooding's  Grove;  was  born  in  Baden, 
Germany,  June  5,  1821;  he  lived  with 
his  parents  fifteen  years ;  from  that  time 
up  to  the  age  of  2 1 ,  he  worked  at  the  trade 
of  weaver;  he  came  to  America  in  1842; 
and  the  first  year  lived  in  Onondaga  Co., 
N.  Y.,  working  in  a  salt  factory ;  from 
there  he  went  to  Canada,  remaining  two 
years  farming;  in  1846,  he  came  to  this 
State  and  lived  in  Du  Page  Co.  nineteen 
years  farming,  when  he  moved  to  this 
county  (1865),  and  purchased  the  farm 
upon  which  he  now  resides,  of  152  acres. 
He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Walter  (daugh- 
ter of  Andrew  Walter,  of  Darmstadt, 
Germany,)  inDu  Page  Co.,  Sept.  10, 1851  ; 
she  was  born  June  8,  1 831 ;  they  had 
thirteen  children — Frank,  born  Feb.  16, 
1853,  died  Feb.  26,  1854 ;  Michael,  born 
May  10,  1854;  Eva,  Oct.  30,  1855; 
Catharine,  born  April  16,  1857,  died  Feb. 
26,  1858  ;  Mary,  born  Feb.  2, 1859  ;  Lib- 
bie,  Jan.  8,  1861 ;  John,  Aug  8,  1862  ; 
Katie,  July  14,  1864;  Peter,  Jan.  2, 
1866  ;  Clara,  March  20,  1868 ;  Emma, 
March  9,  1870;  Maggie,  Oct.  21,  1872, 
and  George  B.,  Nov.  24,  1874. 

D WIGHT  PRESTON,  farmer,  Sec. 
11 ;  P.  0.  Gooding's  Grove;  was  born  in 
Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  21,  1823;  he 
moved  with  his  parents  to  Otsego  Co. 
when  he  was  4  years  old,  and  lived  there 
until  1852,  when  he  came  to  this 
county  and  settled  on  Sec.  11  ;  in 

1857,  went  to  Marion  Co.,  111.   In  1861, 
enlisted  in  Co.  F,  39th    Reg.  111.  Inf.,  and 
was  promoted  to    1st  Sergeant  Nov.  15, 
1862,  serving  until  the  close  of  the  war  ; 
he  was  wounded   at  Warebottom  Church, 
Va.,  May  20, 1864,  and  remained  in  hospital 
until  his  discharge  June  8,  1865;  he  then 
came  to  Will  Co.,  and   has  remained  hero 
ever  since.     Has  been  Collector  and  Con- 
stable.     He  married  Emeline  Brooks,  of 
Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,Dec.  1,  1844;  she  died 
Nov.  28,  1872 ;  they  have  two  children — 
Adelbert  D.,  born  Sept.   13,  1845,  and 
Hannah  E.,  June  15, 1848.     His  son  Adel- 
bert D.,  married  Lydia  Coon  Dec.  26, 1869 ; 
they  had  four  children — Mariqn  D.,  born 
Oct.  2,  1870';  Grace  E.,   Feb.   28,  1873; 
William  Adelbert,  June  23, 1 875,  died  June 
21,  1877;  and  Mary  L.,  Aug.  25,  1877 


774 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


NELSON  REED,  farmer,  Sec.  9;  P.  j 
0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Ontario  Co.,  N.   | 
Y.,  Dec.  4,  1827  ;  he  lived  with   his  par-  j 
ents  until  9    years  of  age,  when  he  was  j 
thrown  upon   his  own   resources,  and   has  I 
made   his  way  in    life  upon  his  own  exer- 
tions ever   since  ;  he  came  to  this  county 
in  January,  1852,  and  first  settled  on  a  farm 
in  Sec.  9  ;  in  1872,  he  purchased  the  farm  ! 
he  now  resides  on,  his  wife's  parents,  James  j 
and  Eve  Ritchey,  residing  with  them  from  | 
that  time.     Has  been  School  Director  sev-  | 
eral  terms,  and  is  so  at  present.     Married  | 
Miss  Margaret  Ritchey  in  Homer  Tp.  Jan. 
21,  1858  ;  she  was  born  on  the  "  Ritchey 
Homestead,"    Nov.    6,    1838 ;  they  have 
four  children — Carson,  born  Feb.  19, 1860; 
William  R.,   April  14,  1866;    Mary  P., 
Dec.  8,  1868,  and  Harry,  Oct.  25,  1874. 

JAMES  RITCHEY,  retired  farmer, 
Sec.  9  ;  P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in 
Bedford  Co.,  Penn.,  Oct.  30,  1800  ;  he 
remained  there  until  he  was  4  years  of 
age,  when  his  parents  moved  to  Ross  Co., 
Ohio,  and  remained  there  until  Oct.  20, 
1830,  when  Mr.  Ritchey  and  family  moved 
to  Fountain  Co.,  Ind.,  and  in  Nov.  24, 
1830,  he  came  to  this  county,  and  took  up 
his  claim  to  the  land  he  now  resides  on, 
and  returning,  brought  his  family -on  in 
the  fall  of  1831;  in  1832,  himself  and 
family  were  compelled  to  take  refuge  in 
Fort  Dearborn  for  eighteen  days  ;  his  fam- 
ily then  returned  to  Indiana,  and  he  him- 
self came  back  to  his  farm,  returning  sev- 
eral times  that  season  to  visit  his  family; 
the  fall  of  same  year,  he  brought  his  fam- 
ily again  to  Will  Co.,  where  they  have  re- 
sided ever  since.  He  married  Miss  Eve 
Thatcher  (daughter  of  Sylvester  Thatcher, 
of  Ross  Co.,  Va.)  in  Ross  Co.,  Ohio,  Dec. 
30,  1823;  she  was  born  in  Aug.,  1801  ; 
they  had  eight  children — Mary  (now  Mrs. 
Lewis  Bush),  born  Dec.  5,  1824  ;  Riley, 
Oct.  2,  1827,  and  died  Nov.  7,  1862,  at 
Cave  City,  Ky.,  from  disease  contracted 
in  the  army;  George,  April  26,  1830 
(now  residing  in  Oregon) ;  Samuel  I., 
Aug.  16,  1833  (now  living  in  Montana); 
John,  May  24,  1836  (residing  in  Boulder 
City,  Colo.;  Margaret  (wife  of  Nelson  Reed), 
Nov.  6,1838;  James  Marion,  April  7, 
1841,  and  died  at  the  age  of  10  months, 
and  Elizabeth  R.  (wife  of  Levi  Poor,  of 
Audrain  Co.,  Mo.),  Oct.  30,  1843.  Mr. 
Ritchey  and  wife  are  the  only  living  per- 


sons who  were  in  this  township  who  were 
"  forted  "  in  May,  1832;  when  he  came 
here  there  was  but  one  family  (the  John- 
stons, now  all  dead) ;  as  a  pioneer  of  this 
county,  he  has  encountered  many  hard- 
ships and  struggles  in  the  wilds  of  this 
great. West,  when  their  only  companions 
were  the  Indians  and  the  wild  beasts  of 
the  forest ;  his  recollection  of  the  events 
of  that  early  day  are  vivid  and  fresh  to 
him,  and  he  is  now  in  the  enjoyment  of 
a  hale  and  hearty  old  age,  being  near  78 ; 
he  lost,  however,  his  eyesight  from  inflam- 
mation in  1854 ;  his  journey  to  Indiana 
from  Ohio,  was  made  by  horse-teams,  and 
from  there  to  this  county  by  ox-teams,  as 
the  roads  at  that  day  were  impassable  to 
horses,  being  "  mired  down ;"  he  has 
made  numerous  trips  to  Indiana  for  pro- 
visions, it  being  the  only  place  they  could 
get  them  in  the  years  1831,  1832  and 
1833,  as  they  raised  nothing  until  1834  ; 
Chicago  in  1833  contained  only  170  per- 
sons. 

PETER  REUTER,  farmer,  Sec.  23;  P. 
0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Trier,  Rhenish 
Pmssia,  Oct.  10,  1834,  and  farmed  until 
he  came  to  America  in  1864,  and  settled 
in  Will  Co.  ;  in  1874,  he  purchased 
the  farm  of  ninety-six  acres  upon  which 
he  now  resides.  He  married  Helen  Bea- 
ver in  Prussia,  Jan.  7,  1862 ;  she  was 
born  in  1 840  ;  they  have  nine  children — 
Angelina,  born  Nov.  4,  1862  ;  Susie,  born 
Aug.  4,  1864;  Mary,  born  Dec.  5,  1865; 
Louisa,  born  Feb.  2,  1867  ,  Lizzie,  Jan.  2, 
1869  ;  Katie,  Aug.  9,  1871 ;  Peter,  Aug. 
19,  1872  ;  Edward,  Oct.  16,  1875,  and 
John,  born  Nov.  21,  1877. 

HENRY  REED,  farmer,  Sec.  20  ;  P.  0. 
Lockport;  was  born  in  Ontario  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Nov.  30,  1825  ;  he  lived  there  until 
there  until  the  age  of  27,engaged  in  farming; 
in  January,  1852,  he  moved  to  this  county 
and  with  his  brother  was  engaged  in  buy- 
ing and  selling  cattle,  near  Gooding's 
Grove,  for  two  years  ;  he  then  purchased 
a  farm  near  Hadley,  and  lived  on  it  until 
the  winter  of  1864,  when  he  returned  East, 
and  after  remaining  one  year,  returned  and 
purchased  the  farm  upon  which  he  now  re- 
sides, in  January,  1868.  Has  been  Super- 
visor two  years,  Assessor  one  year.  Road 
Commissioner  two  years  in  Orland.Cook  Co., 
III.,  and  is  now  Road  Commissioner  of 
Homer  Tp.  He  married  Miss  Mary  Tot- 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


775 


man  of  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  13,  1854  ; 
she  was  born  in  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June 
10,  1834  ;  they  had  six  children,  five  liv- 
ing— Morris  A.,  born  Aug.  8, 1860;  Edna 
L.,  born  Nov.  4,  1862;  Wallace  L.,  born 
Aug.  9,  1866;  Frank  L.,  born  May  4, 
1868,  and  Henry  B.,  born  Nov.  27, 1875; 
one  dead — Emerson  W.,  born  Aug.  31, 
1856,  died  June  20,  1859. 

J.  B.  ROWLEY,  farmer,  Sec.  20 ;  P. 
O.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Ontario  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Feb.  11,  1811,  where  he  resided  fifteen 
years,  and  afterward  in  Monroe  Co.  seven 
years;  in  1833,  he  moved  to  this  county 
and  made  a  claim,  and  afterward  purchased 
the  land  upon  which  he  now  resides,  at 
the  land  sale  in  Chicago  in  1835  ;  his  farm 
now  contains  over  210  acres,  which  he  laid 
out,  and  upon  which  he  made  all  the  improve- 
ments. Married  Miss  Ardelia  Lanfear  in 
Homer  Tp.,  April  13,  1836  ;  she  was  born  in 
Cayuga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  17,  1818 ;  they 
had  six  children,  two  living — Olive  (now 
Mrs.  Link),  born  April  21,  1838;  Irvin 
E.,  born  May  11,  1863,  and  four  dead — 
Francis  B.,  born  April  17, 1844,  died  Dec. 
9,  1844  ;  Adelia  Ann,  born  Feb.  25, 1846, 
died  April  23,  1848  ;  Albert,  born  Feb.  27, 
1851,  died  April  6, 1865,  and  Ella  M.,  born 
June  21,  1858,  died  Dec.  30,  1859.  Mr. 
Rowley  was  among  the  first  settlers,  and 
passed  through  the  many  struggles  of  a 
pioneer  life. 

HIRAM  ROWLEY  was  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  of  Will  Co.;  he  arrived  in 
.the  year  1833  ;  we  are  indebted  to  his  son, 
John  K.  Rowley,  of  Chicago,  the  historian 
of  the  Rowley  family  in  the  United  States, 
for  the  following  extract  from  the  proof- 
sheets,  pertaining  to  the  lineage  of  Mr.  Row- 
ley ;  he  says,  "After  years  of  research,  my 
conclusions  are  that  the  Rowleys  are  all 
related  ;  that  Moses  Rowley,  who  emigrated 
from  South  Wales  in  the  year  1700,  was 
the  original  Rowley  in  this  country  ;  he 
married  at  Cape  Cod,  Mass.,  and  set- 
tled in  East  Haddam,  Conn.  Joseph 
Rowley,  the  grandfather  of  Hiram,  resided 
in  Richmond,  Mass.,  where  he  enlisted  Oct. 
1,  1775,  in  the  Revolutionary  war;  was 
in  Col.  Simon's  regiment ;  marched  to 
Lake  George,  thence  by  boats  to  Ticon- 
deroga,  N.  Y.,  where  trace  is  lost  of  his 
exploits.  In  1776,  he  served  under  Col. 
Ford,  hunting  Tories  ;  in  1777,  was  in  the 
same  service  under  Col.  Ashley.  During 


1778,  1779  and  1780,  frequently  volun- 
teered to  go  out  in  scouting  parties  after 
Tories  and  Indians.  He  was  a  brave  soldier, 
and  would  have  served  longer  had  it  not 
been  for  an  accidental  fall,  which  rendered 
him  unfit  for  hard  service.  He  was  born 
in  Colchester,  Conn.,  in  1752,  and  died  at 
Victor,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  23,  1835.  Col.  Aaron 
Rowley,  of  Revolutionary  fame,  was  a 
brother  of  his."  Capt.  Jireh  Rowley,  the 
father  of  Hiram,  was  twice  married.  The 
second  time  to  the  mother  of  Charles  M. 
and  George  M.  Gray,  well-known  citizens 
of  this  county,  as  well  as  the  county  of 
Cook,  in  fact,  throughout  our  whole  coun- 
try. The  Captain  in  business,  was  the 
Vanderbilt  of  his  time,  and  distinguished 
himself  as  a  true  citizen  and  brave  defender 
of  his  country  in  the  war  of  1812.  More 
of  his  life  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this 
history.  Hiram  Rowley  was  born  Nov.  16, 
1813,  and  was  one  of  the  family  of  eight 
children  who  grew  to  maturity  by  the  first 
wife,  consisting  of  one  daughter  and  seven 
sons,  all  of  whom  are  now  living  but  three. 
Jireh  Rowley,  Jr.,  died  Aug.  6,  1875.  It 
is  a  singular  coincidence,  that  he  was  named 
after  the  father  of  so  large  a  family,  and 
filled  a  similarly  prominent  place  in  the 
estimation  of  the  public  in  Western  New 
York,  where  he  always  lived.  Hiram  had 
none  of  the  advantages  in  early  life  for  cul- 
tivation children  now  have.  His  mother 
died  when  he  was  quite  young,  and  to  use 
his  own  language,  "  he  came  up  instead  of 
being  brought  up."  The  spirit  of  advent- 
ure seized  him  at  the  age  of  20  years,  and 
he  left  his  home  in  Victor,  Ontario  Co., 
N.  Y.,  and  all  the  hallowed  associations  of 
his  youthful  days  for  the  uninhabited  West. 
The  journey  by  boat  and  stage  took  three 
weeks.  He  settled  on  a  tract  of  376  acres 
of  land  at  Beebe's  Grove,  three  miles  east 
of  Crete,  where  he  commenced  the  struggle 
for  a  livelihood  on  his  own  account.  Farm- 
ing in  those  days  meant  hard  labor  without 
any  of  the  luxuries  of  life,  and  as  an  evi- 
dence, one  year  in  particular,  Mr.  Rowley 
transported  oats  by  ox-teams  to  Chicago,  a 
distance  of  thirty  miles,  and  sold  them  for 
10  cents  per  bushel,  and  other  cereals  at  a 
proportionate  rate  ;  but  notwithstanding  all 
discouragements,  he  persevered  and  finally 
built  on  his  place  a  comfortable  log  house, 
and  married  Cynthia  Kile,  in  1837,  who, 
like  himself,  had  come  with  her  family 


776 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


from  an  adjoining  county  in  the  Empire 
State.  H.  N.  Marsh,  Esq.,  of  Joliet,  mar- 
ried Miss  Mary  Kile,  a  sister  of  Mrs. 
Rowley,  for  his  first  wife.  Aunt  Cynthia, 
so  called,  on  account  of  her  eagerness  to  be 
doing  Christian  acts  for  everybody  and 
everywhere,  proved  a  helpmeet  indeed, 
and  the  young  couple,  prospered  in  a  worldly 
point  of  view.  A  few  years  later,  they 
sold  their  farm  and  moved  to  Yankee  Set- 
tlement, now  Homer  Tp.,  and  settled  per- 
manently upon  the  east  half  of  his  father's 
homestead,  about  one  mile  west  of  Hadley. 
Here  is  where  the  old  settlers  locate  them, 
and  where  a  thousand  memories  cluster, 
dear  to  their  hearts,  because  the  scenes  en- 
acted there  were  at  a  period  in  their  lives 
when  they  had  become  matured  and  best 
calculated  to  enter  into  the  arena  of  life  in 
earnest.  They  added  farm  to  farm,  and 
were  honorably  prosperous.  The  result  of 
their  marriage,  has  been  three  sons  and  one 
daughter.  The  eldest  son  became  quite 
well  known  as  a  teacher  in  this  county 
before  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Chicago, 
where  he  has  for  many  years  been  prom- 
inently identified  in  the  banking  and  real 
estate  business.  The  second  son,  Andrew 
W.,  also  became  known  as  a  music  teacher. 
His  youngest  son,  Asa  B.,  and  charming 
daughter,  Sarah  E.,  the  Benjamin  of  the 
flock,  also  became  proficient  in  music  before 
the  family  moved  to  Lockport,  and  after- 
ward to  Chicago,  where  they  all  now  reside. 
Mr.  Rowley  was  too  far  advanced  in  life 
to  imitate  his  forefathers  in  the  late  re- 
bellion, but  the  Union  army  had  his  hearty 
sympathy,  and  his  sons,  although  they  did 
not  enlist,  aided  with  their  means  the  fam- 
ilies of  those  who  did  enter  the  service. 
In  politics,  he  has  been  an  unswerving  Re- 
publican since  the  organization  of  the 
party.  The  success  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church  in  this  country  has  given  him 
much  uneasiness.  He  has  always  been  a 
warm  advocate  of  free  schools  and  of  hav- 
ing the  Bible  read  in  them.  Personally, 
Mr.  Rowley  is  of  a  sympathetic  nature, 
and  clings  with  great  tenacity  to  the  be- 
liefs he  has  once  espoused.  His  house  was 
a  home  for  itinerant  Methodist  preachers, 
and  he  has  for  forty  years  been  a  zealous 
member  of  that  denomination.  He  is  hale, 
hearty  and  temperate,  and  has  the  promise 
of  many  years  Of  life.  His  sons  are  all 
married  and  settled  in  life,  and  he  has  a 


competence  even  in  these  depressing  times,, 
and  an  abiding  faith  in  the  future  that  it 
will  be  well  with  him. 

JOHN  SUTTEN,  farmer,  Sec.  16  ;  P. 
0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Hackonby,  Lin- 
colnshire, Eng.,  Sept.  21,  1819  ;  he  was 
engaged  in  farming  up  to  the  time  of  his 
coming  to  America,  in  1854;  he  first 
stopped  in  Arnoldsville,  Steuben  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  eighteen  months,  when  he  came  to 
Lockport;  in  1870,  he  settled  upon  the 
farm  upon  which  he  now  resides.  He 
married  Mrs.  Ruth  Beals  (widow  of  Eben- 
ezer  Beals,  of  Cambridge,  Eng.)  in  Lock- 
port  on  Nov.  20,1870;  she  was  born  in  Dit- 
ton,  Cambridgeshire,  Eng.,  Dec.  24,  1814. 
GEORGE  SPERRY,  farmer,  Sec.  14; 
P.  0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  April  27,  1826 ;  he  carried  on  ag- 
ricultural implements  business  two  years, 
and  taught  school  for  three  years  in  the  State 
of  New  York  ;  in  1856,  he  came  to  this 
county,  teaching  school  eight  years  during 
the  winter  months  and  farming  during  the 
summer ;  in  1 857,  he  came  to  the  farm  he 
now  resides  on.  He  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  1862,  in  the  100th  111.  V.  I.,  serving 
two  years,  and  was  promoted  to  First 
Lieutenant  22d  N.  Y.  Cav.,  serving  as  such 
six  months,  when  he  was  promoted  as 
Captain  in  the  same  regiment,  and  also 
|  served  as  Regimental  Quartermaster,  and 
subsequently,  before  being  mustered  out, 
as  Brigade  Quartermaster ;  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  Major  for  service  in 
the  field  in  the  capture  of  Early's  army  at 
Waynesboro,  Va.,  and  remained  such  until 
mustered  out  July  4,  1865  ;  Mr.  Sperry, 
during  his  term  of  service,  was  responsible 
for  over  one  million  and  a  half  of  Govern- 
ment property,  and,  what  very  few  offi- 
cers of  our  army  can  say,  has  certificates  of 
non-indebtedness  from  every  department  of 
the  Government  from  which  he  had  drawn 
supplies,  consisting  of  the  Quartermaster's, 
Ordnance  and  Commissary.  In  1873,  he 
went  to  Kansas  and  took  up  a  claim  of 
160  acres  under  the  "  Homestead  Law." 
He  married  his  first  wife  Miss  Mary  D. 
Cook  (daughter  of  Hon.  Bates  Cook,  for- 
mer Controller  of  the  State  of  New  York 
under  the  late  Gov.  DeWitt  Clinton)  in 
Lewiston,  N.  Y.,  July  6,  1851  ;  she  died 
in  Henrietta,  N.  Y.,  April  6,  1853;  he 
married  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Oliver  Peck, 
April  5,  1857. 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


77T 


HON.  AMOS  SAVAGE,  farmer,  Sec. 
28;  P.  0.  Lockport;  was  born  in  Homer 
Tp.  June  18,  1836,  on  the  homestead 
•where  his  parents  had  settled  in  1833;  his 
educational  advantages  were  limited,  as 
was  the  case  among  the  early  settlers  in 
the  wilds  of  the  West;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  taught  district  school  from  the  age 
of  19  to  24  during  the  winter  months, 
working  upon  the  farm  during  the  summer ; 
he  was  first  elected  Supervisor  in  1861,  and 
resigned  shortly  afterward  to  enter  the 
army  as  Second  Lieutenant  of  the  39th  I. 
V.  I.,  being  afterward  promoted  to  First 
Lieutenant,  and  then  as  Captain,  serving 
three  years  and  three  months,  until  dis- 
charged on  account  of  disability  ;  upon  his 
return  to  the  county  he  was  again  elected 
Supervisor,  serving  continuously  until  his 
election  to  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  in 
the  fall  of  1872,  serving  one  term  of  two 
years,  upon  which  he  was  again  elected 
Supervisor,  serving  up  to  1876,  when  he 
was  elected  to  the  State  Board  of  Equali- 
zation for  the"  Seventh  Congressional 
District  for  the  term  of  four  years.  Mr. 
Savage  has  always  been  active  in  politics, 
and  has  worked  faithfully  in  whatever 
position  he  has  been  elected  to  fill  to  the 
best  interests  of  the  county.  He  married 
Miss  Mary  L.  Slate  (daughter  of  Asahel 
Slate,  of  Georgetown,  8.  C.),  in  Lemont, 
Cook  Co.,  Feb.  25, 1864  ;  she  was  born  in 
Georgetown,  S.  C.,  June  22,  1837 ;  has 
five  children — Helen  E.,  born 'Dec.  8, 
1864;  Frank  M.,  born  July  19,  1867; 
John  H.,  born  June  25,  1870;  Willard 
A.,  born  Sept.  14,  1872,  and  Mary  A., 
born  May  13,  1874. 

WILLIAM  TILSY,  farmer,  Sec.  24; 
P.  O.  Goodihg's  Grove;  was  born  in 
Mecklenburg,  Germany,  May  15,  1833; 
when  he  was  17  years  of  age,  he  came  to 
America  and  worked  on  the  canal,  and 
afterward  worked  for  many  farmers  in 
Will  Co. — six  years  for  A.  B.  Brooks  ;  he 
purchased  his  farm  in  1856,  and  settled 
where  he  now  lives  in  1876 ;  has  been 
School  Director  six  years.  Married  Miss 
Dora  Holm,  of  Mecklenburg,  Germany,  in 
Chicago,  Nov.  7,  1857 ;  she  was  born 
Sept.  3,  1838;  they  have  five  children — 
Lewis,  born  Sept.  3,  1858;  William,  born 
May  3,  1862;  Mary  E.,  born  Nov.  25, 
1864;  Henry,  born  Dec.  29,  1869,  and 
Carrie,  born  Aug.  5,  1873. 


P.  P.  THOMAS,  farmer,  Sec.  2;  P.  0. 
Gooding's  Grove ;  was  born  in  Darien,  N. 
Y.,  Nov.  17,  1834;  he  went  with  his 
parents  to  Naperville  in  June,  1835,  and 
remained  with  them  until  the  age  of  12, 
when  his  mother  died  in  December,  1846, 
and  he  was  then  thrown  upon  his  own 
resources;  at  the  age  of  13,  he  drove  a 
notion  wagon  through  Northern  Illinois 
and  Wisconsin ;  at  the  age  of  16,  he 
worked  in  the  lead  mines  near  Mineral 
Point,  and  at  various  other  places,  and 
smelted  for  Corwith  &  Co.  at  the  age  of  19, 
after  which  he  worked  at  the  trade  of  car- 
penter and  joiner  up  to  the  spring  of 
1864  ;  in  May  of  the  same  year,  he  crossed 
the  plains  to  Montana,  mining  and  pros- 
pecting for  five  years  ;  in  December,  1868, 
he  returned  to  Chicago,  and,  in  February, 
|  1869,  purchased  the  farm  upon  which  he 
i  now  resides,  containing  320  acres;  has 
I  been  School  Director.  Married  Miss  Mary 
!  Rogers,  daughter  of  D.  B.  Rogers,  of  Lu- 
zerne  Co.,  Penn.,  Dec.  30,  1870. 

MATHIAS  WAGNER,  farmer,  Sec. 
13 ;  P.  0.  Gooding's  Grove ;  was  born  in 
i  Rhenish    Prussia,  Germany,  in  October, 
i  1822 ;  he  lived  there  until  he  was  3  years 
of  age,    when    he   came   to   this  country 
|  in  1852  ;  he  first  lived  in  Du  Page  Co.,  111., 
I  three  months,  and  then  lived  with  Augustus 
!  Gooding  about  a  year;  in  the  spring  of 
!  1854,  he  moved  where  he  now  lives;  he 
1  owns    138   acres.     He    married   his   first 
wife,  Annie   Piefer,  of   Rhenish   Prussia, 
!  Germany,   in   1852 ;    she  died   in   April, 
i  1862 ;  they  had  four  children  ;  two  died  in 
infancy — Martin,  born  May  4, 1853;  Mary, 
born  in   1854,  died  the  same  year.     He 
!  married    Margaret  Hermon,  of   Rhenish 
«  Prussia,  in  May,  1862;  they  have  seven 
children — Mary,   born    Dec.    29,    1866; 
Katie,  born  June  28,  1867;  Maria,  born 
March    14,   1869 ;   Lena,   born  June  24, 
1871;  Attila,  born  March  24,  1873;  Su- 
sanna,   born    Nov.   28,   1874,    and    Pete, 
born  July  30,  1878 ;  two  died — Margaret, 
in  1864,  and  an  infant. 

ROBERT  WHITE,  farmer,  Sec.  17 ; 
P.  O.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Cambridge- 
shire, Eng.,  March  19,  1833;  he  came  to 
America  in  1854 ;  he  farmed  up  to  his 
coining  to  this  county;  he  settled  in 
Yankee  Settlement.  Homer  Township,  the 
same  year,  and  worked  for  Robert  Bentley  ; 
I  in  1865,  he  moved  to  Orland,  Cook  Co., 


778 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


111.,  remaining  there  seven  years  farming, 
when  he  returned  to  this  township  and 
settled  where  he  now  resides  ;  has  fifty-one 
acres.  He  enlisted  in  Co.  F,  100th  Reg- 
iment 111.  Inf.,  and  served  during  the  war, 
being  mustered  out  with  his  regiment  June 
13,  1865  ;  he  was  wounded  through  the 
thighs  at  Kenesaw  Mountain,  on  June  27, 
1864.  Has  been  School  Director  seven 
years.  He  married  Mrs.  Francis  Vande- 
water  (widow  of  Daniel  Vandewater)  in 
Homer  Township,  March  14,  1861  ;  they 
have  eight  children,  three  by  Mr.  Vande- 
water-Hanuah  ( now  Mrs.  Martin  O'Brien), 
born  March  17,  1852;  Sarah  Jane,  Sept. 
3,  1855,  and  William  D.,  Aug.  29,  1857; 
five  by  Mr.  White — Robert  J.,  born  Dec. 
31,  1861;  John  Thomas,  Dec.  8,  1866; 
Elizabeth  Ann,  Jan.  25,  1869  ;  Charles 
H.,  July  1,  1871,  and  George  W.  R.,  Nov. 
29,  1873. 

NICHOLAS  WELTER,  farmer,  Sec. 
13;  P.  0.  Gooding's  Grove;  was  born  in 
Moltzh,  Rh^iish  Prussia,  Germany,  Nov. 
16,  1841 ;  he  lived  there  until  he  was  15 
years  old,  when  he  came  to  America  (1857) 
and  first  went  to  Chicago,  staying  there 
three  or  four  years ;  in  1864,  he  came  to 
Will  County  and  settled  upon  his  farm; 
in  1872,  kept  store  at  Gooding's  Grove  P. 
O.,  and  came  to  where  he  now  lives  the 


year  after.  Married  Maggie  Meyer,  of 
Prussia,  in  Chicago,  in  January,  1862 ; 
she  was  born  April  13,  1843  ;  they  had 
nine  children — Katie,  born  Oct.  27,  1863; 
Lina,  Oct.  13,  1864,  died  Aug.  11, 1865 ; 
Nicholas,  born  Nov.  15,  1866 ;  Lizzie, 
Aug.  6,  1868;  Mathew,  Sept.  15,  1869, 
died  in  October,  1874;  Cecilia,  born  Jan. 
25,  1872  ;  Christian,  May  4, 1873  ;  Susie, 
Sept.  15,  1875,  and  Maggie,  July  3, 1877. 
MATTHIAS  ZIMMER,  farmer,  Sec. 
12;  P.  0.  Gooding's  Grove;  was  born  in 
Rhenish  Prussia,  Germany,  July  16,  1832; 
he  lived  there  twenty-five  years  farming; 
came  to  America  in  1857,  aad  first  went 
to  Chicago,  and  from  there  to  Lake  Tp., 
Cook  Co.,  remaining  fifteen  years,  and  came 
from  there  to  this  county,  and  purchased 
the  farm  he  now  resides  on ;  farms  1 90 
acres.  He  married  Catharine  Yeager,  of 
Rhenish  Prussia,  Jan.  7,1853;  they  had 
thirteen  children — Nicholas,  born  Jan.  6, 
1851;  John,  March  4,  1856;  Anthony, 
July  17,  1858;  Matthias,  Sept.  26,  1860; 
Mary,  Oct.  26,  1862 ;  Pete,  Jan.  25, 
1866;  Kate  March  19,  1868;  Clara, 
June  29,  1872 ;  Christoph,  Jan.  25, 
1875;  Susanna,  Jan.  20,  1876,  and  three 
dead — Matthias,  died  Jan.  1, 1849  ;  Ange- 
line,  Oct.  19,  1865;  Cecilia,  Feb.  26, 
1870. 


NEW    LENOX    TOWNSHIP. 


ABEL  BLISS,  farmer  and  stock -raiser ; 
P.  0.  New  Lenox ;  was  born  in  Hampden 
Co.,  Mass.,  Feb.  9,  1810 ;  came  to  this 
State  in  1837,  and  settled  in  New  Lenox 
Tp.,  Will  Co.;  the  township  at  that  time 
was  called  Van  Horn's  Point,  deriving  its 
name  from  the  point  or  stretch  of  timber 
running  south  from  Hickory  Creek,  and  at 
that  time  owned  by  Mr.  Van  Horn.  Mr. 
Bliss  was  married  May  6,  1840,  to  Miss 
Lucinda  Blake  ;  she  was  born  in  Hampden 
Co.,  Mass.,  Oct.  14,  1816 ;  they  have  had 
seven  children,  three  of  whom  are  living — 
Harriet  M.,  Abel,  Jr.  and  Alice  P.;  de- 
ceased— Ellen  J.,  William  S.,  Mary  B.and 
Josie.  Mr.  B.'s  farm  contains  500  acres, 
valued  at  860  per  acre. 

MRS.  ANN  BROADIE,  farmer;  P. 
O.  New  Lenox;  one  of  our  earliest  set- 


tlers ;  was  born  in  Brown  Co.,  Ohio,  Feb. 
28,1832;  came  to  this  State  with  her 
father's  family  when  she  was  3  years  old, 
and  settled  in  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  where 
she  has  since  made  her  home.  She  was 
married  May  11,  1854,  to  the  late  Robert 
J.  Broadie,  deceased,  who  was  born  in 
Ohio  Feb.  5,  1829,  and  who  died  Dec.  21, 
1873;  they  have  had  five  children,  three 
of  whom  are  living — Esther  Ann,  John  C. 
and  Sarah  A.;  deceased — Lydia  and  Anna. 
The  farm  of  Mrs.  Broadie  consists  of  735 
acres,  valued  at  $40,000. 

GEORGE  S.  BROWN,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser  ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  was  born 
in  Tolland  Co.,  Conn.,  May  18,  1825  ; 
came  to  this  State  in  1850,  and  settled  in 
Mokena,  where  he  remained  two  years  ; 
he  removed  from  there  to  Lockport  in 


NEW  LENOX  TOWNSHIP. 


781 


1852,  and  from  there  to  New  Lenox  in 
1876,  where  he  now  resides;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  eighty  acres,  valued  at  $5,000. 
Was  married  in  New  York  Dec.  5,  1848, 
to  Miss  Martha  A.  Petteys,  who  was  born 
in  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  23,  1830  ;  they 
have  had  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are 
living— Ida  E.,  G.  W.,  Rose  Belle,  Ed- 
ward C.  L.  and  Lillie  May ;  deceased — 
Millard  P.  and  Frankie.  Mr.  Brown  was 
a  participant  in  the  Mexican  war  of  1846. 
In  his  boyhood,  he  had  a  curiosity  to  see 
the  world,  and  travel ;  he,  therefore,  left  his  j 
home  at  the  age  of  16,  and  set  out  for  ; 
New  London,  where  he  shipped  on  board 
the  ship  Mystic,  bound  for  the  northwest- 
ern coast  of  North  America  ;  she  left  her 
port  Sept.  14,  1844;  he  was  discharged  at 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  there  shipped 
aboard  the  sloop  Portsmouth,  a  man-of- 
war,  for  the  Mexican  service;  he  served 
two  years,  and  was  discharged  at  the  close 
of  the  war, at  Boston,  Mass.,  in  May,  1848. 

MRS.  BRIDGET  CUNNINGHAM, 
farmer  and  stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Spencer ; 
was  born  in  Kilkenny  Co.,  Ireland,  Oct. 
8, 1822  ;  came  to  this  country  in  1850,  and 
settled  in  the  East,  where  she  remained 
several  years,  when  she  removed  to  this 
State,  and  settled  in  Manhattan,  Will  Co., 
in  1857;  she  removed  from  there  to  her 
present  home  in  New  Lenox  in  1866  ;  she 
now  owns  160  acres,  valued  at  $8,000; 
is  the  widow  of  the  late  James  Cunning- 
ham, deceased,  who  was  born  in  Long- 
ford Co.,  Ireland ;  they  have  had  eight 
children — Mathew,  Thomas,  Richard  G., 
Martin,  Mary  E.,  Michael  J.,  Katie  L., 
and  Maggie  E.  Mr.  C.,  previous  to  his 
death,  held  several  public  offices  in  New 
Lenox  Tp.;  he  died  March  27,  1874. 

PELEG  CROSS,  farmer  and  dairy- 
man ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox ;  was  born  in 
Rhode  Island,  May  10,  1821 ;  came 
to  this  State  in  1869,  and  settled  in 
New  Lenox,  where  he  now  resides;  his 
farm  consists  of  113  acres,  valued  at 
$7,000.  He  was  married  Dec.  31,  1852, 
to  Miss  Phebe  Felps,  who  was  born  in 
Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  16,  1829 ;  they 
have  had  three  children — Sarah  E.,  Mary 
A.,  and  Phebe  F.  Mr.  Cross,  previous  to 
his  coming  to  this  State,  held  the  offices  of 
Township  Clerk  and  Assessor  several 
terms  in  Rotterdam  Tp.,  New  York 
State. 


R.  W.  CROSSEN,  carriage  manufact- 
urer, New  Lenox ;  was  born  in  Coburg, 
Ont.,  Feb.  25,  1855 ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1865,  and  settled  in  Joliet,  Will 
Co.,  111.;  he  obtained  a  liberal  education  by 
close  and  early  attendance  at  school  until  he 
was  1 8  years  of  age;  he  engaged  as  an  appren- 
tice in  carriage-making,  and  served  three 
years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  he 
went  into  business  on  his  own  account,  and 
in  which  he  continued  for  two  years ; 
finally  disposing  of  his  stock  and  other 
collaterals,  he  removed  to  New  Lenox  and 
purchased  the  right  he  now  owns.  His 
parents  and  relations  are  still  residents  of 
Joliet. 

JEROME  DOXTADER,  farmer  and 
hotel-keeper  ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  was  born 
in  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  1,  1829; 
came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  New  Lenox, 
Will  Co.,  in  1852,  where  he  now  resides. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Delia  Hartshorn 
Sept.  24, 1856  ;  she  was  born  in  Will  Co., 
111.,  Oct.  23,  1840,  and  died  July  24, 
1878  ;  they  have  had  three  children — 
Willard,  born  Jan.  6,  1859;  John  D., 
Feb.  13,  1862 ;  Lydia  L.,  Oct.  6,  1868. 
Mr.  Doxtader  is  now  the  proprietor  of  the 
first  hotel  constructed  in  New  Lenox ;  his 
present  farm  consists  of  ninety-four  acres, 
valued  at  $7,000. 

JOHN  FRANCIS,  farmer  and  stock - 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  was  born  in  Will 
Co.,  111.,  Jan.  8, 1843  ;  is  the  son  of  the  late 
Abraham  Francis,  deceased,  who  was  one  of 
our  first  settlers  ;  the  farm  of  Mr.  Francis 
consists  of  375  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $18,- 
500  ;  is  situated  on  Sees.  9,  5  and  8.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Harriet  M.  Bliss,  who 
was  born  in  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  111., 
Sept.  5,  1846;  they  have  had  three  chil- 
dren— John  E.,  Howard  B.  and  Hattie. 
Mr.  Francis  has  held  the  office  of  School 
Trustee  nine  years,  Township  Collector 
two  years,  and  Supervisor  five  years. 

A.  ALLEN  FRANCIS,  farmer  and 
dealer  in  live-stock,  also,  breeder  of  short- 
horn Durham  cattle;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ; 
was  born  in  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  111., 
Sept.  7,  1840  ;  is  the  son  of  the  late 
Abraham  Francis,  who  came  to  this  State 
in  1831  ;  the  farm  of  Mr.  Francis  consists 
of  1,000  acres,  valued  at  $60,000.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Lizzie  J.  Haven  Sept. 
15,  1870,  who  was  born  in  New  Lenox, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  March  31,  1849  ;  they  have 

9 


782 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES : 


one  child — Mary  Luella,  born  Oct.  20, 
1877.  At  present  holds  the  position  of 
President  of  Will  Co.,  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  Association,  and  President  of 
New  Lenox  Mutual  Fire  Ins.  Co. 

ISAAC  M.  GILL ETT,  Jr.,  farmer  and 
stock,  Sec.  36  ;  P.  0.  Spencer ;  was  born 
in  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  6,  1850 ;  he 
lived  in  New  York  about  six  years  ;  then 
with  his  parents  came  West  and  settled  in 
Homer  Tp.,  Will  Co.;  he  remained  here  on 
the  farm  about  sixteen  years  when  he  came 
to  his  present  place  and  has  remained  here 
since  ;  the  place  belongs  to  his  father,  and 
contains  300  acres,  240  of  which  are 
located  on  Sec.  1,  in  Manhattan  Tp.,  and 
is  principally  devoted  to  stock-raising ;  he 
makes  a  specialty  of  pure  Suffolk  swine. 
See  advertisment. 

WILLIAM  GOUGAR,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  was  born 
in  Pickaway  Co.,  Ohio,  Aug.  24,  1818; 
came  to  this  State  with  his  father's  fam- 
ily in  1834  ;  has  been  a  farmer  and 
stock -raiser  from  boyhood ;  his  present 
farm  consists  of  372  acres  of  land,  valued 
at  822,000,  situated  on  Sec.  20,  in  New 
Lenox  Tp.,  and  on  Sec.  20,  in  Joliet. 
He  was  married  Dec.  29,  1859,  to  Miss 
Clarissa  Hawkins,  who  was  born  in  Kanka- 
kee  Co.,  111.,  Feb.  19,  1839  ;  they  have  had 
four  children,  three  of  whom  are  living — 
William,  Nellie  and  Frank  ;  deceased, 
Hester.  Mr.  Gougar  participated  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  which  is  fully  described 
by  him  in  the  general  history  of  the  town- 
ship. 

A.  GALLAGHER,  hardware  dealer;  P. 
0.  Spencer ;  was  born  in  New  Brunswick, 
Dominion  of  Canada,  April  25,  1848 ; 
came  to  this  State  and  settled  in  New  Len- 
ox in  1876,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Jane  Denny,  who 
was  born  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  Jan.  4,  1848  ; 
they  have  had  two  children,  viz. :  Elsie 
May  and  Jennie  M.  Mr.  G.,  beside  his 
merchandising  operations,  owns  and  carries 
on  a  farm  situated  on  Sec.  23,  and  valued 
at  $3,000. 

MRS.  N.  GOUGAR,  farming  and 
dairy ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox ;  was  born  in 
Knox  Co.,  Ohio,  Jan.  3,  1823,  and  is  the 
widow  of  the  late  Nicholas  Gougar,  who 
was  born  in  Montour  Co.,  Penn.,  Oct.  30, 
1813,  and  who  died  Jan.  12,  1878;  they 
were  married  April  9,  1851;  have  two 


adopted  children,  viz. :  Lydia  and  Eugene^ 
Mrs.  G.  came  to  this  State  from  Ohio  in 
1850,  and  settled  with  her  parents  in  New- 
Lenox.  Her  farm  contains  135  acres,  val- 
ued at  $10,000. 

J.  E.  GOUGAR,  farmer  and  dairyman  -T 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  New  Lenox, 
Will  Co.,  March  21,  1834  ;  excepting  the 
time  spent  in  receiving  his  education  at 
Beloit,  Wis.,  and  Joliet,  111.,  he  has  been 
a  permanent  resident  in  New  Lenox.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Hattie  Perkins  Nov. 
24,  1864;  she  was  born  in  Grundy  Co., 
111.,  Dec.  28,  1841  ;  they  have  had  four 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living,  viz. : 
Charles  P.  and  Hattie  May  ;  deceased — 
Ella  and  Florence.  Mr.  Gougar  has  fol- 
lowed the  pursuits  of  a  farmer  from  boy- 
hood ;  he  now  owns  1 60  acres,  valued  at 
$10,000.  He  has  also  held  the  office  of 
Assessor  three  terms,  and  Township  Col- 
lector several  years. 

JOHN  GOUGAR,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  one  of  our  very  early 
settlers;  was  born  in  Montour  Co.,  Penn., 
March  20,  1810  ;  he  removed  with  his 
father's  family  to  Ohio  when  he  was  8 
years  old,  and  from  there  to  Indiana  when 
he  was  in  his  12th  year ;  he  remained 
there  but  a  short  time,  when  he  came  to 
this  State  and  settled  where  he  now  re- 
sides in  New  Lenox ;  at  the  time  of  his 
arrival,  the  surrounding  country  was  all 
embraced  in  Cook  Co.,  and  what  is  now 
the  township  of  New  Lenox  did  not  then 
have  a  name ;  he  arrived  here  Sept.  10,. 
1830,  at  which  time  there  was  but  one 
building  in  Chicago,  which  was  then  used 
as  a  French  trading-post,  and  was  situated 
on  the  west  side  of  the  river  ;  Mr.  Gougar 
has  now  spent  forty-eight  years  in  this 
county,  during  which  time  his  occupation 
has  been  that  of  a  farmer  and  stock-raiser; 
his  present  farm  contains  340  acres,  valued 
at  $20,400.  He  was  married  in  this  State 
Jan.  2,  1849,  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Miller, 
who  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  May  21, 
1813 ;  they  have  had  one  child,  viz. : 
Lewis,  born  Nov.  10,  1852. 

SAMUEL  H.HINE,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  O.  Spencer  ;  was  born  in  Chau- 
tauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  19,  1825  ;  came 
to  this  State  in  1836,  and  settled  in  New 
Lenox,  Will  Co.,  where  he  now  resides ; 
his  farm  consists  of  290  acres,  valued, 
at  $17,000.  He  was  married  Jan.  1, 


NEW  LENOX  TOWNSHIP. 


783 


1867,  to  Miss  Barbara  Leisure;  they  have 
had  four  children — Esther  M.,  Ida  E., 
Isaac  H.  and  Mary  Roseanna. 

G.  L.  HALEY,  farmer;  P.  O.  Hadley; 
was  born  in  Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  7, 
1850 ;  came  to  this  State  in  1860,  and 
settled  in  Homer  Tp.;  he  removed  from 
Homer  to  New  Lenox  in  1876  ;  he  has 
now  unfler  cultivation  thirty-five  acres,  val- 
ued at  $2*,100.  He  was  married  Nov.  25, 
1875,  to  Miss  Emma  L.  Dancer,  who  was 
born  in  Homer,  Will  Co.,  111.,  May  14, 
1851  ;  they  have  had  one  child — Mary 
Edna,  born  Nov.  19,  1877. 

DENNIS  HOGAN,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Spencer;  was  born  in  Ire- 
land March  12, 1820  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1848,  and  to  Illinois  in  1854; 
settled  in  New  Lenox,  where  he  now  re- 
sides. He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  A. 
McCabe,  who  was  born  in  Ireland  May  6, 
1837  ;  they  have  five  children — Ellen  E., 
Katie  M.,  Denice  L.,  Gregory  M.  and 
Theresa  J.  The  farm  of  Mr.  Hogan  con- 
sists of  240  acres,  valued  at  $14,500. 

J.  S.  HOLMES,  dealer  in  grain,  coal  and 
ground  feed ;  P.  0.  Spencer  ;  was  born  in 
New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  Aug.  30,  1848 ;  is 
the  son  of  the  late  Asher  Holmes,  deceased, 
who  came  from  New  York  State  in  1835. 
Mr.  H.  was  married  Jan.  24,  1871,  to 
Miss  Sophie  Willis,  who  was  born  in  New 
York  City  Aug.  14,  1852  ;  they  have  had 
five  children — Rayuor  E.,  Arthur  W., 
Laura  E.,  Herbert  H.  and  Bessie  J.  Mr. 
H.  is  at  present  School  Trustee ;  was  elected 
in  April,  1878. 

JAMES  E.  HOLMES,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Spencer;  one  of  our  early 
settlers ;  was  born  in  Chautauqua  Co.  N. 
Y.,  June  25,  1827;  came  to  this  State 
with  his  father's  family  and  settled  where 
he  now  resides,  in  New  Lenox  Tp,  in 
1835.  He  was  married  Jan.  8,  1854, 
to  Miss  Mary  E.  Stiffler,  who  was  born  in 
Miami  Co.,  Ohio,  Jan.'  29,  1838;  they 
have  had  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living,  viz. :  Delia  Jj,  William  R.  and 
George  E. ;  deceased — Rosilla.  The  farm 
of  Mr.  H.  consists  of  138  acres,  valued  at 
$8,500.  Since  his  residence  in  this  town- 
ship, he  has  held  the  office  of  Town  Clerk 
one  year,  Postmaster  twenty-two  years, 
which  position  he  still  retains  ;  also  the 
office  of  Street  Commissioner  nearly  two 
years. 


ASHER  HOLMES,  deceased,  New 
Lenox  Tp.,  whose  portrait  appears  in  this 
work,  wasborninSherburne,  Chenango  Co., 
N.  Y.,  in  September,  1796 ;  at  the  age  of  9, 
his  parents  moved  to  Chautauqua  Co.,  N. 
Y. ;  in  1826,  he  returned  to  Chenango 
Co.,  and  married  Aug.  26  of  the  same 
year  Miss  Eliza  Ann  Elmore  ;  they  moved 
back  to  Chautauqua  Co.,  and  remained 
there  until  the  year  1831,  when  they 
again  returned  to  Chenango  Co.,  remaining 
there  until  his  coming  to  Will  Co.  in  the 
spring  of  1835  ;  he  settled  on  Sec.  22,  in 
New  Lenox  Tp.,  where  he  died ;  his 
widow  still  lives  on  the  homestead.  He 
held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
Chenango  Co.,  and  that  of  School  Treas- 
urer in  New  Lenox  Tp.  He  had  six 
children,  five  living — James  E.,  born  June 
25,  1827  ;  Myron  P.,  born  June  8,  1830; 
Orsamus,  born  in  August,  1838  ;  Lydia  E., 
born  Feb.  5,  1840,  and  Sophie,  born 
Aug.  14,  1852,  and  one  deceased — Eliza 
Ann,  born  Jan.  18,  1834,  died  in  May, 
1873. 

CHAS.  E.  KERCHEVAL,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in 
New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  Sept.  21,  1843; 
he  is  the  son  of  the  late  Jas.  C.  Kerche- 
val,  deceased,  who  was  a  native  of  Ohio, 
and  emigrated  to  this  State  in  1830  ;  he 
was  a  participant  in  the  Mohawk  war,  and 
one  of  the  first  settlers  in  the  State ;  Mr. 
Chas.  Kercheval  was  married  April  29, 
1868,  to  Miss  Hattie  A.  Frazer,  who  was 
born  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  Jan.  20,  1850. 
Mr.  K.  for  the  past  ten  years  has,  in  addi- 
tion to  farming,  given  special  attention  to 
raising  and  breeding  fancy  swine ;  his 
present  farm  consists  of  eighty  acres,  val- 
ued at  $6,000.  He  has  also  acted  as 
School  Trustee ;  held  offices  of  Assessor 
and  Township  Collector. 

M.  H.  KELLOGG,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  was  born  in 
Madison  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  17,  1830;  came 
to  this  State  and  settled  in  Chicago  in 
1853;  he  removed  from  there  to  New 
Lenox,  Will  Co.,  where  he  now  resides,  in 
1867.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  A. 
McElcheran  Aug.  24,  1861  ;  she  was  born 
in  Albany,  N.  Y.,Sept.  24, 1830;  they  have 
had  two  children — one  of  whom  is  living, 
viz.,  Myron  B.,  born  Oct.  26,  1863  ;  de- 
ceased— an  infant.  Mr.  Kellogg's  farm 
consists  of  100  acres  of  fine  rolling  prai- 


784 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


rie  situated  on  Hickory  Creek,  and  is  part 
of  Sec.  22  ;  it  is  valued  at  $12,000. 

TUNIS  LYNK,  general  merchant, 
New  Lenox;  an  old  and  prominent  set- 
tler; was  born  in  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Jan.  20,  1829  ;  came  to  this  State  and 
settled  in  New  Lenox  in  1 848,  where  he 
has  since  resided.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Lydia  Ann  Hartshorn,  who  was  born  in 
Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  May  30,  1831,  and  who 
died  Jan.  7,  1877  ;  Mr.  L.  was  married 
again  Feb.  5,  1878,  to  Miss  Olive  0. 
Rugg,  who  was  born  in  New  Lenox,  Will 
Co.,  111.,  March  1,  1847.  Immediately 
after  his  arrival  in  this  township,  he  pur- 
chased the  property  now  owned  by  Will- 
iam Gougar,  which  then  consisted  of  105 
acres,  and  on  which  was  located  the  second 
saw-mill  built  in  the  township ;  he  pursued 
the  business  of  millwright  and  farmer 
until  his  purchase  of  his  second  farm, 
now  owned  by  Jacob  Waltz.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  Mr.  L.  entered  into  mer- 
cantile business,  in  which  he  yet  continues  ; 
he  has  also  acted  as  general  depot  agent 
since  that  time  and  has  also  held  the 
office  of  Postmaster  in  New  Lenox  Tp, 
from  April,  1867,  until  June,  1869  ;  he 
was  also  the  first  express  agent  in  the 
township  ;  has  held  the  office  of  Township 
Collector  four  terms  ;  is  at  present  general 
freight  agent. 

CORIDON  S.  LEWIS,  retired  ;  P.  0. 
New  Lenox ;  was  born  in  Decatur,  Otsego 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  13,  1816  ;  came  to  this 
State  in  1849,  and  settled  in  Stephenson 
Co. ;  removed  from  there  to  New  Lenox, 
Will  Co.,  in  1865,  where  he  now  resides  ; 
his  occupation  while  in  Stephenson  Co. 
was  that  of  a  carpenter  and  builder.  He 
was  married  Jan.  11,  1838,  to  Miss  Cath- 
erine Bogardus,  who  was  born  in  Berne, 
Albany  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  14,  1814  ;  they 
have  had  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living,  viz. :  Leslie,  Candace  and  Carrie  ; 
deceased — Marilla. 

CYRUS  A.  LEWIS,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.   0.   New  Lenox  ;  was  born  in 
Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  19,  1824 ;  came 
to  this  State  in  1850,  and  settled  in  New  | 
Lenox ;  his   farm    consists   of  268  acres,  j 
valued  at  $18,000.     He  was  married  to  j 
Miss  Emeline  Seward,  who  was  born  in  ' 
Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  20,  1825  ;  they 
have  had  nine  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living,  viz. :     Mary   R.,  Spencer,  Cannie, 


Nellie,  Almon,  Sherman  and  Jennie ;  de- 
ceased, two  infants.  Mr.  L.  has  held 
the  offices  of  School  Director,  School 
Trustee  and  Road  Commissioner  several 
years. 

WM.  PINK,  farmer  and  stock-raiser  ; 
P.  0.  Spencer  ;  was  born  in  Germany  Feb. 
28,  1830 ;  came  to  this  country  in  1856, 
and  settled  in  Illinois  ;  he  has  been  a  resi- 
dent of  New  Lenox  since  1866  ;*his  farm 
consists  of  seventy-five  acres,  valued  at 
$4,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Fullman,  who  was  born  in  Germany  ;  they 
have  had  eight  children,  seven  of  whom 
are  living,  viz. :  Bernard,  Susie,  Kittie, 
Peter,  Annie,  Mary  and  Nick ;  deceased, 
Mary. 

GEN.  J.  S.  REYNOLDS,  lawyer,  Chi- 
cago, formerly  of  New  Lenox  Tp. ;  was 
born  Dec.  3,  1839,  in  New  Lenox  Tp., 
Will  Co.,  111.,  where  his  parents,  Isaac  N. 
and  his  wife,  still  reside ;  the  son,  after 
arriving  at  the  age  of  17,  went  to  Chicago, 
and  attended  tne  public  schools,  graduating 
from  the  high  school  in  1861.  On  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  he  presided  over 
a  series  of  war  mass-meetings  of  young 
men  ;  he  soon  enlisted,  and  began  recruit- 
ing the  battalion  called  Yates'  Sharpshoot- 
ers ;  he  was  in  active  service  nearly  four 
years,  and  made  a  gallant  record ;  he  was 
promoted  five  times  by  commissions  from 
the  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  twice  by 
commission  from  President  Lincoln  ;  he 
took  part  in  seventeen  battles  and  many 
skirmishes,  was  thrice  wounded,  and  had 
his  sword  shot  from  his  hand  at  Resaca'; 
he  commanded  the  64th  I.  V.  I.,  which 
he  had  once  helped  to  recruit  under  the 
name  of  Yates'  Sharpshooters,  during  its 
march  with  Gen.  Sherman  from  Atlanta  to 
the  sea;  at  the  recommendation  of  his 
superior  officer^,  he  was  promoted  to  Brig- 
adier General,  near  the  close  of  the  war. 
After  leaving  the  army,  in  1865,  he  began 
the  study  of  law  in  Chicago,  graduated 
from  the  law  department  of  the  Chicago 
University,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1866,  and  began  the  practice  of  law  in 
Chicago,  at  first  with  a  partner ;  he  is  now 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  admiralty  alone 
in  the  city  of  Chicago.  In  1867,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legisla- 
ture, from  Chicago,  and  re-elected  in  1869, 
where  he  served  with  honor  ;  he  also  served 
four  years  on  the  Chicago  Board  of  .Educa- 


NEW  LENOX  TOWNSHIP. 


785 


tion  ;  in  1872,  he  was  elected  to  represent  the 
First  District  in  the  Illinois  State  Senate,  aft- 
er which  he  was  appointed,  by  the  Governor, 
a  commissioner  from  Illinois  to  the  Expo- 
sition at  Vienna;  in  May,  1873,  he  sailed 
abroad,  and  his  travels  extended  through- 
out most  of  the  countries  of  Europe  and 
into  Asia  Minor ;  in  1875,  he  became  a 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
to  locate  the  State  Institution  for  the  Ed- 
ucation of  Feeble-minded  Children ;  in 
1875,  he  was  elected  Senior  Vice  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic.  Jan.  31, 1877,  he  was  married  to 
Mattie  A.  Carey,  of  Chicago,  daughter  of 
George  W.  Carey,  Esq. ;  has  one  child — 
born  Jan.  23,  1878,  named  Joseph  S., 
Jr. 

ISAAC  N.  REYNOLDS,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox ;  one  of 
the  earliest  and  most  prominent  settlers  : 
was  born  in  Champaign  Co.,  Ohio,  Oct. 
13,  1811  ;  came  to  this  State  with  his 
father's  family  in  1818,  and  settled  in  the 
southern  part,  where  he  remained  until 
1833,  when  he  came  north  to  Will  Co. 
and  settled  in  New  Lenox,  where  he  now 
owns  365  acres,  valued  at  $27,000.  He 
was  married  April  10,  1834,  to  Miss  Ruey 
A.  Halderman,  who  was  born  in  Ross  Co., 
Ohio,  March  26,  1815  ;  she  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Abram  Halderman,  who  was  among 
the  very  first  settlers  in  La  Salle  Co.  ;  they 
have  had  ten  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.:  Abram,  Joseph  S.,  Isaac  N., 
Charlotte  E.,  Hattie  A.,  William  N.  and 
Ruena  P. ;  deceased,  Sarah  J.,  John  H. 
and  Charles  P. 

JOHN  M.  REYNOLDS,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser  ;  P.  0.  Mokena ;  one  of  our 
early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Champaign  Co., 
Ohio,  Feb.  11,  1813;  came  to  this  State 
with  his  father's  family  in  1818,  and  set- 
tled in  the  southern  part,  where  he  remained 
until  1833,  when  he  came  north  to  Will 
Co.,  and  settled  in  New  Lenox.  He  was 
married  Oct.  15,  1835,  to  Miss  E.  W. 
Snapp,  who  was  born  in  Cayuga  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Oct.  2,  1818.  She  is  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  Abram  Snapp,  now  deceased,  who 
was  the  first  settler,  and  constructor  of  the 
first  building  on  the  prairie  then  called  the 
Yankee  Settlement ;  they  have  had  four 
children,  two  of  whom  are  living — Clara  M. 
and  Nellie  I.  ;  deceased — Abram  S.  and 
Sarah  J.  The  farm  of  Mr.  Reynolds  con- 


sists of  290  acres  ;  its  probable  value  i» 
$18,000. 

MRS.  CARRIE  STORMS,  farmer  ;  P. 
0.  Hadley ;  was  born  in  New  York  Nov. 
3,  1851  ;  came  to  this  State  in  1860  ;  is 
the  widow  of  the  late  James  Storms,  de- 
ceased, who  was  born  in  Scotland  Dec.  15, 
1846,  and  who  died  May  23,  1877  ;  they 
have  one  child — Harry  W.,  born  Aug.  9, 
1874.  The  farm  of  Mrs.  Storms  consists 
of  sixty  acres,  valued  at  $4,000. 

HEINRICH  STEIN,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Spencer  ;  was  born  in  Ger  - 
many,  Jan.  15,  1837  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1856,  and  settled  on  his  present 
farm  in  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  111. ;  it  con- 
tains 148  acres ;  is  situated  on  Sec.  34, 
and  is  valued  at  $7,500.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Louise  Stricher,  who  was  was  born 
in  Germany  July  22,  1838  ;  they  have  had 
four  children — Henry,  Lizzie,  Emma  and 
Louise.  Mr.  Stein  has  held  offices  of 
Street  Commissioner  and  School  Trustee, 
three  years  each. 

MRS.  W.  A.  SHARTS,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser  ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  was  born 
in  Herkiuier,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  20,  1822;  is  the 
widow  of  the  late  W.  A.  Sharts,  who  was 
born  in  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  12, 
1825,  and  who  died  Feb.  2,  1878;  they 
were  married  Oct.  23,  1851  ;  they  have 
had  three  children,  two  of  whom  are  living 
— Ellen,  born  Nov.  11,  1852;  Josephine, 
June  22,  1857  ;  Charles  T.,  born  Jan.  1, 
1856;  died  Jan.  17,1864.  Mrs.  Sharts 
continues  the  business  in  which  her  hus- 
band was  engaged,  it  being  that  of  a  farmer 
and  stock-raiser;  her  farm  contains  108 
acres,  valued  at  $7.000. 

HENRY  SCHRADER,  farmer ;  P.  0. 
New  Lenox  ;  was  born  in  Germany,  Jan. 
13,  1816;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1851  ;  settled  in  Joliet,  111.,  in  1853,  where 
he  remained  until  1873,  when  he  removed 
to  New  Lenox ;  his  present  farm  consists 
of  140  acres,  valued  at  $11,000.  He  was 
married  Nov.  15,  1855,  to  Miss  DoraBues, 
who  was  born  in  •  Germany  March  28, 
1835  ;  they  have  had  seven  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living — Arvine,  William, 
Alfred,  Meta  and  Cora  ;  deceased — Henry 
and  an  infant.  Mr.  S.  is  at  present  School 
Director  in  District  No.  2,  New  Lenox 
Tp. 

DWIGHT  M.  SNOW,  fanner  and 
breeder  of  herd  registered  Jersey  cattle  ;  P. 


786 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


0.  New  Lenox ;  was  born  in  Worcester  Co., 
Mass.,  Sept.  28,  1826  ;  came  to  this  State 
in  1861,  and  settled  in  McLean  Co.;  he  re- 
moved   to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  New 
Lenox  in  1870  ;  his  present  farm  consists 
of  eighty  acres,  valued    at  $6,000.     He 
was  married  Oct.  9,  1849,  to   Miss  Maria 
A.  Woods,  who  was  born  in  Worcester  Co., 
Mass.,  March  8.  1826  ;  they  have  had  four 
children,  three  of  whom  are  living — Nellie 
M.,   Kate  F.    and  Fred   M.;  deceased — 
Charles  E. 

CALVIN  SE W ARD,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  one  of  our  early  set- 
tlers ;  was  born  in  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept. 
23,  1812;  came  to  this  State,  and  settled 
in  Joliet,  Will  Co.,  in  1846,  where  he  re- 
mained until  his  arrival  on  his  farm  in 
New  Lenox,  which  contains  160  acres, 
valued  at  $10,000.  He  was  married  May 
17,  1838,  to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Van  Dusen, 
who  was  born  in  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March 
22,  1815  ;  they  have  had  ten  children — 
five  of  whom  are  now  living — Nancy  E., 
Gilbert,  Lucinda  J.,  Margaret  E.  and 
Sarah  M.;  deceased  —  four  infante  and 
Andrew  J.  Mr.  S.  has  held  the  office  of 
Collector  in  New  Lenox  Tp.  one  year. 

FRANK  SE  ARLES,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Hadley  ;  was  born,  in  West- 
chester  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  24,  1828  ;  came 
to  this  State  in  1850,  and  settled  in 
Homer,  where  he  remained  four  years  ;  he 
removed  from  there  to  New  Lenox  in  1854, 
where  he  has  since  resided ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  104  acres,  valued  at  $8,000.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Emily  White  April 

1.  1851  ;  she  was  born  in  Lake  Co.,  Ohio, 
June  6,  1827;  they  have  had  two  children 
—Frank  W.   and   Agnes  E.     Mr.  S.  has 
held  township  offices  of  different  kinds  in 
New  Lenox  for  several  years.      His  son 
Frank    W.    passed    examination    and    re- 


ceived diploma  at  Chicago  Medical  College 
as  physician  and  surgeon  ;  he  is  at  present 
the  only  physician  in  New  Lenox. 

ALEXANDER  M.  STORMS,  farmer 
and  stock  raiser ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  was 
born  in  Ross-shire,  Scotland,  Jan.  10, 1840 ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1861,  and 
settled  in  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  111.,  where 
he  now  resides.  He  was  married  Feb.  17, 
1876,  to  Miss  Emily  M.  Frank,  who  was 
born  in  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  111.,  March  12, 
1848  ;  they  have  one  child — Frank  R, 
born  April"  4,  1877.  The  farm  of  Mr. 
Storms  consists  of  172J  acres,  valued  at 
$13,000. 

JOHN  J.  WALZ,  farmer  and  stock 
raiser ;  P.O.  Spencer ;  was  born  in  Germany, 
Feb.  5,  1836  ;  came  to  the  United  Steles 
in  1854,  and  settled  in  New  Lenox,  Will 
Co.,  111.,  in  1856 ;  his  farm  contains  240 
acres  of  land,  valued  at  $14,000.  He  was 
married  April  6,  1868,  to  Miss  Henrietta 
Stricher,  who  was  born  in  Germany  Nov. 
20,  1846  ;  they  have  had  three  children, 
two  of  whom  are  living — Adeline  and 
George  A.;  deceased,  Herman  Frank.  Mr. 
Waltz  is  at  present  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways. 

W.  C.  WILSON,  farmer  and  carpen- 
ter ;  P.  0.  Spencer ;  one  of  our  early  set- 
tlers ;  was  born  in  Cortland  Co.,  N.  Y.; 
came  to  this  State  in  1835,  and  settled  in 
Joliet ;  he  removed  from  there  to  New 
Lenox  in  1837,  where  he  has  since  resided  ; 
his  farm  consists  of  eighty-five  acres,  val- 
ued at  $4,500.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Eliza  Ann  Gougar,  who  was  born  in  Indi- 
ana ;  they  have  had  eight  children,  six  of 
whom  are  living — Charles  L.,  Catharine 
J.,  William  W.,  John  F.,  Lewis  F.  and 
Mary  L.;  deceased,  George  W.  and  Eliza 
A. 


WESLEY    TOWNSHIP. 


SCHUYLER  ACKERMAN,  farmer; 
.P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  Passaic 
Co.,  N.  J.,  May  4,  1834,  and  is  the  son 
of  John  V.  W.  and  Helen  Ackerman,  of 
New  Jersey ;  his  father  was  a  farmer,  died 
in  1859,  56  years  old  ;  his  mother  died  in 
1878,  74  years  old ;  Mr.  Ackerman  was 


raised  on  his  father's  farm  ;  in  1857,  with 
his  brother  Henry,  they  emigrated  West 
to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Wesley  Tp.; 
here  he  has  remained  ever  since,  en- 
gaged in  farming  His  brother,  James  E., 
was  in  the  late  war  ;  participated  in  some 
of  the  prominent  battles.  Mr  Ackerman  is 


WESLEY   TOWNSHIP. 


787 


.a  Republican  in  politics.  Held  several 
offices  of  trust  in  Wesley  Tp.;  is  Township 
Treasurer,  which  office  he  has  filled  for  the 
last  three  years.  Married  in  January,  1867, 
to  Miss  Abbie  C.  Carpenter ;  born  Feb.  26, 
1840  ;  daughter  of  Charles  Carpenter  of 
New  York  ;  born  March  4,  1808.  Was 
.an  early  settler  of  Will  Co.;  have  one  child 
— Annie  Elizabeth.  Mr.  Ackerman  is  a 
member  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 

GUY  M.  BECKWITH,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Kankakee ;  was  born  in  Wesley  Tp.,  Will 
Co.,  Ill,  Sept.  12,  1840,  and  is  the  son  of 
Geo.  M.  and  Phoebe  S.  (Harden)  Beckwith; 
his  father  was  born  in  Bedford  Co.,  Penn., 
about  the  year  1816  ;   when   he  was   21 
years  old,  his  parents  moved  to    Newark, 
Wayne  Co.,  N.  Y.;  he  and  his  brother  left 
New  York  together  for  the  Far  West,  first 
stopping  on  the  Wabasb  River  near  Terre 
Haute,  Ind.,  thence  to  North  Ann  Prairie,  j 
four  miles  northeast  of  Paris,  111.,  which  is 
thirty -six    miles   south    of  Danville,    111.,  ', 
where  they  broke  land;  in  1818  or  1819,  ' 
they  came  to   the  salt-works,  four  miles  j 
west    of    Danville,    where    they    worked  : 
hard  for  several  years.     June  22,   1827,  • 
•George    M.    Beckwith    married  Charlotte 
Gilbert,   by   whom  he   had   one  child — 
Lucy  E.;  the  wife  died  Feb.  10,  1831,  26  i 
years  old.     He  was   a  Captain,   and  his  ' 
brother  was  a  Major  in  the  Black   Hawk 
war.       He   came    to    Wesley   Tp.,    Will 
Co.,   at   an   early    day,    being   about   the  j 
first  settler  here  ;    he  engaged  in  farming  ; 
he  died  respected  and  honored.     Guy  M. 
Beck  with  enlisted  as  private  in  Co.  A, 100th  ' 
111.  V.  I.,  in  August,  1862 ;  participated  in  all 
the  battles  of  this  regiment;  was  mustered  out 
in  June,  1865.  In  1873,  was  Supervisor  of 
Wesley  Tp.     Owns  228  acres  of  fine  im- 
proved land.     Married  in  1868,  to  Miss 
Orcelia  E.  Pain,  of  Michigan,    by    whom 
he  has  three  children. 

HIRAM  GOULD,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wil- 
mington ;  was  born  in  New  York,  Dec.  25, 
1827  ;  son  of  James  and  Lydia  (Goodwin) 
Gould.  James  Gould,  with  wife  and  five 
children,  came  west,  and  settled  in  Ohio  ; 
here  they  remained  about  seven  years  en- 
gaged in  farming  ;  they  then  moved  to  Illi- 
nois, and  settled  in  Wesley  Tp.,  in  1844  ; 
here  he  first  purchased  120  acres  of  land  ; 
he  died  Aug.  29,  1876,  at  76  years  of  age, 
leaving  wife  and  eleven  children  ;  his  wife 
,(Lydia  Gould)  died  in  1878,  at  71  or  72 


years  of  age.  Mr.  Hiram  Gould  was  married 
in  1855  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Binney,  daugh- 
ter of  Richard  Binney,  who  was  among  the 
early  settlers  of  Wesley  Tp.;  came  here 
about  1841  or  1842.  Mr.  Gould,  in  1849, 
went  to  California  ;  engaged  in  gold-min- 
ing ;  was  very  successful ;  returned  home 
in  1851  ;  three  children — two  boys  and  one 
girl ;  he  was  a  resident  of  Wilmington,  but 
principally  has  been  engaged  in  farming 
throughout  life. 

WILLIAM  GOODWIN,  deceased; 
this  gentleman  was  one  among  the  first 
settlers  of  Will  Co.,  111. ;  was  born  in 
Watertown,  N.  Y.,  June  8,  1815,  on  his 
father's  farm  ;  was  a  millwright  by  trade. 
In  1832,  he  emigrated  West  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Joliet ;  here  he  helped  build 
the  first  house ;  also  helped  build  a  distillery; 
here  he  worked,  and  having  saved  sufficient 
money,  he  came  to  Wesley  Tp.,  and  pur- 
chased a  farm,  and  commenced  farming; 
this  was  about  1844  ;  here  he  remained 
until  1850 ;  that  year  he  went  to  California, 
and  remained  there  until  1852,  engaged  in 
gold  mining  with  very  good  success ;  he 
then  returned  to  his  farm  in  Wesley  Tp. 
He  first  married  Rebecca  Althouse, 
deceased ;  he  then  married  Mrs.  Sarah 
Budlong  in  1870,  wife  of  the  late  Hamil- 
ton Budlong,  who  died  in  1868,  daughter 
of  Benjamin  and  Betsey  (Lawton )  Butter- 
field,  who  emigrated  West  to  Will  Co.  in 
1844  ;  father  died  in  1864,  at  66  years  of 
age  ;  mother  died  in  1877,  at  79  years  of 
age.  Mr.  Goodwin  came  West  financially  a 
poor  boy,  but,  with  hard  labor  and  good 
management,  before  his  death  he  ranked 
as  one  of  the  successful  fanners  of  Will 
Co. ;  he  was  entirely  blind  five  years  be- 
fore his  death;  he  died  June  18,  1877. 
Thus  passed  away  one  of  the  old  settlers 
of  Will  Co.,  honored  and  respected  by  all, 
leaving  a  wife  and  seven  children  to  mourn 
his  loss — Elizabeth,  wife  of  Hazard  Jones; 
Hiram,  in  Colorado  ;  Dolly,  wife  of  Will- 
iam Cramer,  of  Missouri;  Irwin,  in  Idaho; 
John,  William  and  Phillip  ;  farm  contains 
about  670  acres  of  land  with  fine  improve- 
ments. 

GEORGE  GOODTNG,  farmer;  P.  0.. 
Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  Ontario  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Oct.  18, 1802,  and  is  the  son  of  George 
and  N.  (Wilder)  Gooding;  father  was  a 
farmer,  and  was  a  soldier  of  the  war  of 
1812.  Mr.  Gooding  was  raised  on  his 


788 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES: 


father's  farm,  and  remained  East  until  1856 ; 
he  had  obtained  while  in  his  native  State 
a  fortune,  but  going  the  securities  of  others 
he  failed;  he  then,  in  1856,  came  West 
with  a  borrowed  capital  invested  in  the 
present  farm  ;  first  purchased  280  acres  of 
land,  at  $20  per  acre  ;  here  he  set  out 
farming  and  stock-raising ;  has  been  very 
successful ;  to-day  owns  900  acres  of  fine 
improved  land.  He  married  Jan.  25, 1826, 
to  Miss  Achsah  Reed,  born  in  Hartland, 
Conn.,  July  31,  1801  ;  six  children. 

CHARLES  R.  HAZELTON,  farmer; 
P.  0.  Wilmington ;  was  born  in  Benning- 
ton  Co.,  Vt.,  Dec.  31,  1809;  son  of 
Elisha  and  Mary  (Kent)  Hazelton  ;  father 
was  a  cloth-dresser  by  trade.  Mr.  Hazel- 
ton  was  brought  up  on  a  farm  ;  in  1833, 
he  moved  to  Sandusky  Co.,  Ohio,  and 
there  engaged  in  farming  about  eighteen 
years ;  in  1854,  he  came  to  Will  Co., 
111.,  and  settled  in  Wesley  Tp. ;  he  first 
purchased  160  acres  of  land;  to-day  he 
ranks  as  one  of  the  successful  farmers  of 
Will  Co.  ;  owns  516  acres  of  fine  improved 
land.  Mr.  Hazelton  has  been  married 
twice ;  his  first  wife  was  Mary  Wolcott  of 
Sandusky  Co.,  Ohio ;  second  wife  Ann 
Ball ;  have  seven  children,  two  by  first 
wife,,  and  five  by  the  second. 

HENRY  H.  JONES,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  Ross  Co.,  Ohio, 
July  7,  1832,  and  is  the  son  of  John  T. 
and  Salome  Jones  ;  his  father  was  a  farm- 
er, and  in  1850,  came  to  Illinois  and  settled 
in  Will  Co.,  Wesley  Tp.;  he  is  now  living  in 
Chicago,  111.;  his  mother  died  in  1876,  at  the 
age  of  68  years  ;  Mr.  Jones  was  brought 
up  on  his  father's  farm,  and  has  farmed 
principally  through  life  ;  with  his  parents, 
in  1850,  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  in 
Wesley  Tp.;  here  he  has  remained  ever 
since ;  he  made  all  the  improvements  on 
his  farm.  Mr.  Jones,  in  his  political  opin- 
ions, is  a  Republican,  and  a  Methodist  in 
religion.  Married  Miss  Linda  V.  Packard, 
of  New  York,  daughter  of  Ansen  Packard 
of  Plymouth,  Mass.,  who  with  his  wife  and 
three  children,  emigrated  West,  and  settled 
in  Will  Co.,  in  about  1844  or  1845 ;  both 
parents  are  dead  ;  have  seven  children. 

HAZARD  JONES,  farmer;  P.  O. 
Wilmington  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is 
one  of  the  prominent  farmers  of  Wesley 
Tp. ;  was  born  in  Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y., 
April  1,  1826,  and  is  the  son  4of  Samuel 


and  Annie  (Hazard)  Jones,  who  emigrated 
West  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  Wesley  Tp., 
on  the  present  farm,  in  1851 ;  here  Mr. 
Jones  has  been  engaged  in  farming  ever 
since ;  when  the  family  first  came  here,  the 
surrounding  country  was  comparatively 
new  ;  built  all  the  improvements  on  the 
farm ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jones  have  retired 
from  the  farm,  and  are  now  living  in  Wil- 
mington, Will  Co.,  111.  Mr.  Hazard  Jones 
married  Elizabeth  Goodwin  ;  have  seven 
children,  and  is  the  daughter  of  William 
Goodwin,  who  was  born  in  Watertown, 
N.  Y.,  in  1815;  raised  on  a  farm,  and  emi- 
grated West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Joliet,  Will  Co.,  in  1832;  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  the  county  ;  he  helped  build  the 
first  house  in  Joliet ;  he  died  respected  and 
honored  by  his  fellow-men,  June  18, 1877, 
Mr.  Jones  is  a  Republican  in  politics.  The 
farm  contains  some  600  acres. 

ELNATHAN  W.  JONES,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Wilmington  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
is  one  of  the  prominent  farmers  of  Wes- 
ley Tp.;  was  born  in  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y., 
May  11,  1808,  and  is  the  son  of  Seth  and 
Betsey  (Simmons)  Jones ;  mother  was  born 
in  Rhode  Island ;  father  was  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  having  moved  to  New 
York  at  an  early  day  ;  here  Mr.  Jones  re- 
mained on  his  father's  farm  until  he  was 
25  years  of  age.  He  was  married  Jan.  28, 
1834,  to  Laura  M.  Briggs  ;  born  in  1814, 
wife  of  Nathaniel  Briggs,  who  was  a  soldier  of 
war  of  1812  ;  he  then  moved  on  a  farm, 
and  in  1848,  he  returned  to  his  father's 
farm;  here  his  father  died  Oct.  8,  1848, 
at  78  years  of  age,  leaving  wife  and  eleven' 
children ;  nine  children  still  living.  In 
1849,  he  came  West  to  Illinois,  and  pur- 
chased 131  acres  of  land  of  John  Will- 
iams of  the  present  farm  ;  he  then  in  1851, 
moved  his  wife  and  five  children  west  to 
the  present  farm  ;  here  he  has  been  engaged 
in  farming  ever  since  ;  the  street  he  lives  on 
is.  known  as  Virginia  street,  on  the  account 
at  one  time  of  a  great  many  Virginians 
living  on  this  street ;  Mr.  Jones  lost  his 
wife,  who  died  Sept.  8,  1870. 

BENJAMIN  F.  MORGAN,  farmer; 
P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  this  gentleman  is  one 
of  the  old  settlors  of  Wesley  Tp.;  was  born 
in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  2,  1811, 
and  is  the  son  of  Ebenezer  and  Hannah 
(Chapman)Morgan;  father,  from  Massachu- 
setts ;  was  engaged  in  farming  and  stock- 


WESLEY  TOWNSHIP. 


789 


raising  ;  mother,  from  New  York,  who  died 
when  Mr.  Morgan  was  very  young  ;  his 
father  remarried ;  he  moved  to  Chautau- 
qua  Co.,  N.  Y.;  here  Mr.  Morgan  remained 
until  1840  ;  Aug.  12,  1840,  he  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  J.  Steruburg,  of  New  York ; 
started  West  to  Illinois  ;  arrived  and  settled 
in  Wesley  Tp.,  Nov.  12,  1840 ;  when  he 
first  came  here,  the  country  was  very  wild ; 
set  out  and  made  all  the  improvements  on 
his  farm,  which  to  day  is  one  of  the  finest 
improved  farms  of  Wesley  Tp.  ;  he  owns 
200  acres  of  land  that  were  made  by  hard 
labor  and  good  management ;  Mr.  Morgan's 
first  wife  died ;  he  then  married  Miss 
Betsey  E.  Gould  in  Oct.,  1861,  who  was 
born  in  Ohio  about  1841,  and  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  James  and  Lydia  Gould.  Mr.  Mor- 
gan has  held  several  offices  of  public  trust. 
Republican  in  politics.  Five  children ; 
Erie  F.  was  in  the  war,  100th  I.  V.  I.,  but 
on  the  account  of  disability,  was  honorably 
discharged;  Philip  C.,  Irwiu  C.  (Sidney 
S.,  deceased),  and  Mary  E. 

A.  RICHARDSON,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  Vermont,  June 
23,  1805,  and  is  the  son  of  William  and 
Mary  (Starks)  Richardson  ;  father  was  a 
shoemaker  ;  with  his  parents  he  moved  to 
New  York  ;  here  he  remained  until  1856, 
and  with  his  wife  and  nine  children  emi- 
grated to  Illinois,  and  settled  on  the  pres- 
sent  homestead  ;  here  he  has  remained 
ever  since.  He  holds  the  office  of  Justice 
of  the  Peace  ;  this  office  he  has  held  for 
the  last  twelve  years.  Married  Miss  Mar- 
tha Goodwin,  of  New  York.  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson is  a  Republican  in  politics  ;  owns 
170  acres  of  improved  land;  one  son, 
Joseph  W.,  enlisted  in  the  late  war,  in 
39th  I.  V.  I.,  First  Lieutenant ;  died  of 
sickness  in  the  war. 

DAVID  M.  REDMAN,  farmer  ;  P.  O. 
Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  Upper  Canada, 
Nov.  20,  1806,  and  is  the  son  of  Charles 
and  Susanna  (Marr)  Redman  ;  father  was 
a  school  teacher,  and  a  native  of  Ireland  ; 
was  in  the  war  of  1812 ;  was  taken  pris- 
oner at  Queenstown  Heights,  was  slightly 
wounded  in  the  leg ;  his  mother,  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania  ;  with  his  parents  came 
to  America  when  he  was  very  young ;  at 
17  years  old  he  started  to  learn  his  trade 
as  carpenter  and  joiner  in  Stroudsburg, 
Penn. ;  in  1856,  he  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Kankakee,  and  remained  there 


about  seven  years  engaged  at  his  trade  ;  in 
1863,  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  on 
the  present  farm.  Married  twice ;  first  wife 
Miss  Sallie  Ann  Yetter,  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
married  second  time  to  Miss  Rachel  King, 
of  Indiana  ;  fourteen  children  ;  owns  184 
acres  of  fine  improved  land.  His  son  John 
F.,  was  in  the  late  war,  113th  I.  V.  I.  ; 
served  until  the  end  of  the  war,  and  was 
honorably  discharged  ;  Thomas  M.,  born 
Oct.  29,  1855 ;  has  taught  in  the  District 
School,  is  now  with  his  brother  Eugene 
engaged  in  farming  on  the  farm. 

BENJAMIN  D.  RITCHEY,  farmer; 
P.  0.  Wilmington ;  was  born  in  Ross  Co., 
Ohio,  Oct.  24,  1815,  and  is  the  son  of 
Matthew  and  Rachel  (Davis)  Ritchey ; 
father  was  a  native  of  Scotland,  having 
emigrated  to  America  when  he  was  very 
young ;  was  a  soldier  during  the  Indian 
war.  also  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812  ; 
died  in  1822,  at  65  years  of  age  ;  mother 
died  in  June,  1862,  at  88  years  of  age.  In 
1855,  Mr.  Ritchey  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Wesley  Tp. ;  first  purchased 
560  acres  of  land  at  $15.50  and  $8 
per  acre  ;  has  been  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock-raising  ever  since  ;  owns  to-day,  367  >} 
acres  of  fine  improved  land.  Republican 
in  politics. 

HARVEY  WARNER,  farmer;  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  best 
known  and  highly  respected  farmers  of 
Wesley  Tp.  ;  was  born  in  Lima,  Liv- 
ingston Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  9,  1807,  and 
is  the  son  of  Asahel  and  Sarah  (Ketchurn) 
Warner,  of  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.  ;  his 
father  was  a  farmer.  Mr.  Warner  was 
brought  up  on  his  father's  farm  ;  in  1830, 
he  married  Miss  Elvira  Aurther,  of  New 
York,  by  whom  he  has  two  children ; 
in  1849,  emigrated  West  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Wesley  Tp. ;  here  he  has  lived 
ever  since.  In  1851,  he  was  elected 
Supervisor  of  Wesley  Tp.,  and  held  this 
office  for  four  years ;  in  1874,  he  was 
elected  to  same  office,  and  holds  same  office 
to-day ;  this  office  he  has  filled  with  honor 
to  himself  and  to  the  people  of  Wesley 
Tp.  His  political  opinions  are  Democratic. 
When  he  first  came  here  he  purchased 
250  acres  of  land  for  $2,700. 

UNCLE  JOHN  WILLIAMS,  farmer; 
P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  the  oldest  of  the  living  settlers 
that  first  settled  in  Wesley  Tp.;  was  born 


790 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


in  Greenbrier  Co.,  near  the  White  Sulphur 
Springs,  Va.,  April  5,  1801,  and  is  the  son 
of  Richard  and  Thankful  (Morrison)  Will- 
iams, of  Virginia  ;  his  father  was  a  farmer ; 
here  he  was  raised  on  his  father's  farm. 
When  he  was  about  21  years  of  age,  he 
married  Elizabeth  Burr,  daughter  of  Aaron 
Burr.  His  father  then  placed  him  on  a 
farm,  and  he  farmed  in  Virginia  until  1831 ; 
he  then,  with  his  wife  and  three  children, 
emigrated  West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Vermilion  Co.,  and  remained  there  until 
1834;  he  then  moved  with  his  family  to 
Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  Wesley  Tp.  May 
5,  1834  ;  here  he  has  remained  ever  since. 
To  tell  of  his  reminiscences  of  when  he 
settled  in  here,  would  make  a  history  in 
itself;  he  came  here  when  the  country  was 
wild  ;  plenty  of  Indians,  deer  and  wolves ; 
was  here  in  1832  during  the  Black  Hawk 
war ;  attended  the  great  (powwow)  Indian 
treaty  in  Chicago  in  1833  ;  has  met  the 
great  Indian  chiefs,  Robinson  and  Billey 
Caldwell,  and  remembers  when  John  Went- 
worth  first  came  to  Chicago.  He  lost  his 
first  wife,  who  died  in  April,  1845.  Mar- 
ried second  time  to  Miss  Susan  Graff,  of 
Butler  Co.,  Ohio,  who  died  Aug.  27,  1860. 
Married  his  third  wife,  Mary  Cownover,  of 
Butler  Co.,  Ohio.  He  attended  Govern- 
ment land  sale  in  Chicago  in  1838,  and 
purchased  420  acres  of  land  at  $1.25  per  [ 
acre ;  states  that  the  first  sermon  preached  in  j 
Wesley  Tp.  was  in  1835,  by  David  Black-  i 
well.  Mr.  Williams  is  a  member  of  the  I 
Methodist  Church,  which  church  he  has 
belonged  to  for  the  last  sixty  years.  Had  i 
two  sons  in  the  late  war — Leroy  S.  and 
John  R.— in  the  100th  111.  V.  I.;  both  did 
good  service  and  were  honorably  dis- 
charged. 

ALFRED  WARNER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  Lima,  Livings- 
ton Co.,  N.  Y  ,  May  19,  1814,  and  is  the 
son  of  Asahel  and  Sarah  (Ketchum)  War- 
ner of  New  York  ;  Mr.  Warner  was  brought 
up  on  his  father's  farm,  and  when  19  years 
of  age,  he  was  farming  it  by  the  month ; 
in  1844,  he  came  West  and  settled  in 
Ohio ;  engaged  in  farming  and  mercantile 
business  ;  in  1849,  came  to  Will  Co.,  111., 
and  settled  in  Wesley  Tp.;  the  country  was 
very  new  at  that  time ;  but  few  houses 
between  him  and  Joliet;  in  1853,  he  made 
a  trip  to  Australia,  prospecting ;  returned 
in  1875.  Married  in  1839  to  Miss  Rachel 


L.  Curtis,  born  in  New  York  May  24, 
1818.  Mr.  Warner's  political  opinions 
are  Democratic!.  Owns  217  acres  of  fine 
improved  land.  His  son,  Norman  C.,  was 
born  in  New  York  Nov.  26,  1839 ;  came 
West  with  his  parents  ;  received  a  good 
common-school  education,  and  taught 
district  school  before  the  war.  At  the 
breaking-out  of  the  late  war,  he  enlisted  in 
the  39th  111.  V.  I.,  as  2d  Lieutenant;  he 
took  a  very  active  part  in  recruiting  for 
the  regiment ;  participated  in  some  of  the 
hard-fought  battles;  Aug.  16,  1864,  was 
wounded  in  the  leg  at  the  battle  of  Deep 
Bottom  on  the  James  River ;  this  wound 
caused  his  leg  to  be  amputated;  for  his 
gallant  service  at  this  battle,  he  was  bre 
vetted  as  Major ;  he  then  received^,  clerk- 
ship in  the  War  Department  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  Here  he  studied  law  and 
graduated  at  the  Columbia  College  in 
1867 ;  came  West  and  is  now  practicing 
law  in  Rockford,  111.;  ranks  as  one  of  the 
prominent  attorneys  of  that  vicinity.  He 
has  taken  a  very  active  part  in  politics  in 
Will  County. 

A.  H.  WARNER,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Rock- 
ville  ;  was  born  in  Lima,  Livingston  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Dec.  5,  1804,  and  is  the  son  of  Asahel 
and  Sarah  (Ketchum)  Warner ;  father 
was  a  farmer ;  here  Mr.  Warner  was 
brought  up  on  his  father's  farm ;  in  1846 
or  1847,  he  came  West  and  was  looking  for 
location  in  Kentucky,  Michigan,  Ohio  and 
Illinois ;  in  1848,  with  his  wife  and 
three  children,  came  to  Illinois  and  set- 
tled on  a  farm  in  the  southern  part  of 
Illinois,  near  Shawneetown ;  here  he 
rented,  and  in  1850,  started  for  Will 
Co.,  with  150  head  of  cattle,  and  three 
head  of  horses;  drove  through,  and  arrived 
in  1850,  and  first  settled  in  Wesley  Tp., 
on  what  is  known  as  the  Beckwith  farm ; 
the  first  year  he  was  here,  he  put  up  150 
tons  of  hay  ;  here  he  set  out  in  farming, 
and  has  farmed  it  ever  since  ;  in  about 
1853  or  1854,  he  built  the  present  home- 
stead. He  is  a  Democrat  in  politics. 
Married  Sophia  Merrill  of  New  York; 
have  had  eight  children  ;  six  living ;  owns 
425  acres  of  fine  improved  land,  which 
improvements  were  made  principally  by 
Mr.  Warner.  Had  two  sons  in  the  late 
war — Frank  and  Charles  ;  participated  in 
some  of  the  hard-fought  battles  ;  was  hon- 
orably discharged. 


FLORENCE  TOWNSHIP. 


791 


JUDGE  DAVID  WILLARD,  farmer  ; 
P.  0.  Wilmington ;  the  above-named  gen- 
tleman is  one  of  the  best  known  men  of 
Will  Co.;  was  born  in  Allegany  Co.,  N.  Y., 
June  13,  1818,  and  is  the  son  of  Daniel 
and  Elizabeth  (Sanders)  Willard  ;  father  a 
native  of  Massachusetts,  engaged  in  farm- 
ing ;  mother,  of  Fort  Edwards,  Washington 
Co.,  N.  Y.  His  father  was  a  volunteer  in 
the  war  of  1812  ;  was  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Allegany  Co.,  N.  Y.,  he  died  in  1877, 
at  90  years  of  age ;  Judge  Willard  was  raised 
on  his  father's  farm  ;  he  received  a  high- 
school  education,  and  at  the  age  of  21,  he 
was  engaged  in  the  winter  months  in  teach- 
ing the  district  schools.  In  1844,  he 
married  Miss  Hodah  Axtell,  of  Allegany 
Co.,  N.  Y.;  he  then  with  his  wife  started 
for  Illinois,  then  the  Far  West,  in  a  wagon 
drawn  by  horses,  taking  them  eighteen  days 
in  making  the  trip  ;  came  via  Jamestown,  N. 
Y.,  Erie,  Penn.,  then  following  the  lake- 
shore  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  thence  through 
La  Porte  ;  arrived  in  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Wesley  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  on  the  farm  he  now 
lives  on,  which  was  purchased  before  he 
left  New  York  State  ;  the  country  was  new, 


but  few  settlers,  and  no  improvements  on 
his  farm  ;  he  set  out  in  farming  ;  here  he 
has  Hved  ever  since,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  years  he  lived  in  Joliet ;  he  has  made 
all  the  improvements  on  his  farm,  which 
ranks  among  the  many  fine  improved  farms  of 
Wesley  Tp.  Judge  Wilson  has  held  vari- 
ous offices  of  public  trust ;  was  Township 
Treasurer  of  Schools  about  1846,  Justice 
of  the  Peace  about  1848;  this  office  he 
held  for  several  years ;  was  Supervisor  of 
township  for  many  years  ;  was  Chairman  of 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Will  Co.;  he 
was  Supervisor  of  township  during  the  war, 
and  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  enlist- 
ment of  men  for  the  army,  from  Wesley 
Tp.;  in  1865,  he  was  elected  County  Judge 
for  four  years,  and  in  1869,  he  was  re- 
elected  to  same  office,  term  expiring  in 
1873 ,  during  all  of  his  offices  in  township 
and  county,  Jie  has  proven  himself  a  gentle- 
man of  acknowledged  ability,  whose  duties 
have  been  performed  in  a  faithful  manner  ; 
his  political  opinions  are  Republican, 
which  party  he  has  taken  a  very  active  part 
in  ever  since  its  organization.  Have  two 
children. 


FLORENCE    TOWNSHIP. 


JAMES  BASKERVILLE,  farmer, 
Sec.  22;  P.  0.  Wilmington;  owns  290 
acres,  valued  at  $40  per  acre ;  born  Oct. 
1 2, 1833,  in  Tipperary,  Ireland ;  emigrated 
to  the  United  States  in  1847,  with  two 
sisters  and  six  brothers — nine  in  all — their 
parents  having  died  in  Ireland  in  1845  ; 
the  whole  family  located  in  Oneida  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  where  James  remained  three  years  ; 
thence  to  this  township  in  1850.  Married 
Jane  Fogarty  in  February,  1860  ;  she  was 
born  in  November,  1836,  in  Tipperary  Co., 
Ireland,  and  emigrated  to_this  country  with 
her  parents  in  1846  ;  have  seven  children — 
Mary  A.,  Andrew  J.,  Charlotte  J.,  Anna 
M.,  George,  John  and  Ella  R.  His  brother 
Andrew  enlisted  in  1862,  in  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Trade  Battery,  and  died  in  the 
service,  of  typhoid  fever,  at  Louisville,  Ky., 
in  1863. 

RUFUS  CORBETT,  farmer,  Sec.  29  ; 
P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  owns  101  acres,  valued 
at  $50  per  acre ;  held  the  offices  of  Highway 


Commissioner  and  School  Director  eleven 
years ;  born  Feb.  26,  1811,  in  Kenne- 
bec  Co.,  Me.  Married  Mary  A.  Currier 
Nov.  13,  1844;  they  emigrated  to  Illinois 
that  fall,  locating  near  Joliet,  this  county; 
there  Mr.  Corbett  rented  what  is  known  as 
the  Kinsey  Farm,  in  partnership  with  Dr. 
Hoffman,  for  one  year  ;  thence  to  the  farm 
where  he  now  resides  in  1846,  his  family 
staying  at  the  residence  of  A.  Hill  until  he 
built  the  house  in  which  he  resides  at  pres- 
ent, which  residence  they  had  covered  and 
occupied  as  soon  as  Aug.  31,  1846 ;  have 
three  children  living — Frank  M.,  Helen 
A.  and  Emily  C.;  one  died  in  infancy. 
Frank  M.  enlisted  in  the  war  of  the  rebell- 
ion, in  Co.  E,  39th  111.  V.  I,  Feb.  24, 1864, 
to  serve  three  years,  or  during  the  war ;  was 
discharged  Dec.  6, 1865.  He  married  El- 
laer  Meede  Aug.  24, 1875  ;  she  was  born  in 
Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1858.  Helen  A.  mar- 
ried Thomas  McQueen  and  Emily  C.  mar- 
ried Archibald  McQueen,  both  of  Scotland. 


792 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


JOHN  FRIDLEY,  farmer,  Sec.  10; 
P.  O.  Wilmington  ;  owns  160  acres,  valued 
at  $50  per  acre ;  born  in  Switzerland 
March  26, 1838  ;  emigrated  to  the  United 
States  in  1857,  and  came  direct  to  this 
township.  Married  Mrs.  Meria  Dellen- 
bach,  of  this  township,  in  1866 ;  she  was 
born  in  Wurtemberg,  Germany,  in  1827, 
and  came  to  this  country  in  1852  ;  Mrs. 
Fridley's  children  by  her  first  husband  are 
John  and  Frank  Dellenbach  ;  one  child  by 
second  marriage — E.  Franklin  Fridley. 
Mr.  Fridley  enlisted  in  the  100th  111.  V. 
I.  Aug.  21,  1862 ;  was  wounded  in  the 
knee,  near  Kenesaw  Mountain,  June  18, 
1864,  from  the  effects  of  which  he  was 
helpless  for  two  months  ;  he  remained  in 
the  hospital  nearly  eight  months  before  he 
rejoined  the  regiment ;  was  mustered  out 
June  12, 1865,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.  When 
Mr.  Fridley  proposed  leaving  his  native 
country,  like  many  others, 

"  Chill  penury  repressed  his  noble  rage, 
And  froze  the  genial  courage  of  his  soul." 

However,  he  was  encouraged  by  a  friend, 
who  lent  him  money  to  pay  his  fare  ;  so 
when  he  arrived  here  he  was  not  only  with- 
out money,  but  actually  in  debt  for  his 
passage  to  this  country  ;  now  he  enjoys  a 
comfortable  home. 

CHARLES  HAZARD,  farmer,  Sec. 
33  ;  P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  owns  120  acres, 
valued  at  $50  per  acre ;  held  the  office  of 
Supervisor  four  years,  Highway  Commis- 
sioner and  Justice  of  the  Peace  one  term ; 
born  Aug.  13,  1813,  in  Sidway,  R.  I.;  em- 
igrated to  New  York  in  1822 ;  remained 
there  until  1852 ;  thence  to  Will  Co.,  111. 
Married  Fannie  Broadrick  in  1834,  in 
Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.;  she  was  born  at 
Conway,  Mass.,  Oct.  31,  1815  ;  have  five 
children — Enos  E.,  Sarah  F.,  Charles  D., 
George  B.  and  Ellen  M.,  all  born  in  Sulli- 
van, N.  Y.,  except  EGOS  E.,  who  was  born 
in  New  Berlin,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Hazard  and 
his  family  located  on  the  farm  he  now  owns 
on  his  arrival  (November,  1852)  in  Will 
Co.,  which  was  then  unimproved  prairie. 

JOHN  HENNINGS,  tenant  farmer; 
P.  0.  Wilmington ;  occupies  a  farm  of  the 
Whitter  estate;  born  in  Denmark  Dec.  2, 
1823;  married  Catherine  Youngson  in 
Denmark  Oct.  1854;  they  emigrated  to 
the  United  States  in  1854,  locating  in  Will 
Co., -where  he  has  still  remained;  have 
eight  children,  Frank,  Catherine,  Dory, 


Mary,  John,  George,  Willie  and  Fred;. 
Mrs.  Hennings  died  here,  Nov.  23,  1873. 
Mr.  Hennings  enlisted  in  39th  111.  V.  I.J 
Co.  A,  March  8, 1864,  was  wounded  simul- 
taneously on  the  head  and  right  shoulder 
while  in  the  conflict  before  Richmond, 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  was  confined 
to  the  hospital  three  months ;  at  the  ex- 
piration of  said  time  joined  his  regiment 
again ;  was  captured  by  the  enemy  in  the 
morning  of  the  day  on  which  Gen.  Lee  sur- 
rendered. 

JOHN  HEYDON,  SR.,  farmer  and 
stock -raiser,  Sec.  12;  P.  0.  Elwood;  owns 
665  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $55  per  acre; 
born  in  Carlow  Co.,  Ireland,  March  15, 
1814.  Married  Hannah  Kinsler,  in  Car- 
low  Co.,  in  1834  ;  she  was  born  in  said 
county  in  1814  ;  they  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  in  1834,  and  located  in  Ken- 
nebec  Co.,  Maine,  where  they  lived  for 
seventeen  years ;  then  moved  to  Illinois  in 
1851,  and  located  in  Joliet,  where  they  lived 
three  years  ;  thence  to  the  place  which  he 
now  owns,  in  1854;  have  five  children 
living,  Daniel ;  Thomas,  married  Margaret 
Byron ;  John,  Jr.,  married  Bridget  Bergan ; 
Catherine,  widow  of  the  late  P.  Tulley, 
and  Hannah.  When  Mr.  Heydon  came  to 
this  county,  his  finances  were  very  limited, 
but  by  industry,  care  and  economy,  he  has 
accumulated  a  competency,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  extensive  farmers  in  Will  Co. ; 
he  has  given  to  those  of  his  family,  who 
are  doing  for  themselves,  a  good  start  in 
the  world;  Thomas  got  160  acres  of  land 
on  Sections  8  and  17,  and  to  John,  Jr.,  he 
gave  180  acres  of  land  on  Sees.  11  and  12; 
besides  having,  as  above  stated,  665  acres 
in  reserve,  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
in  a  beautiful  location.  Such  is  the  reward 
of  industry.  Daniel  and  Hannah  reside 
with  their  parents  on  the  old  homestead. 

DELANCY  M.  JACKSON,  farmer, 
Sec.  8;  P.  0.  Elwood;  owns  160  acres  of 
land,  valued  at  $50  per  acre  ;  Highway 
Commissioner,  one  term,  and  School  Di- 
rector over  twenty  years  ;  born  in  Corn- 
wallis,  Nova  Scotia,  Sept.  3,  1823,  and 
came  here  with  his  father,  as  will  be  seen 
in  the  general  history.  Married  Harriet 
Gould  Feb.  4,  1849  ;  she  was  born  in 
Houndsfield,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  18,  1830,  and 
emigrated  to  Ohio  with  her  parents  ;  thence 
to  Illinois,  in  1845,  and  located  in  Wesley 
Township  ;  have  five  children,  Andrew  M., 


FLORENCE  TOWNSHIP. 


793 


Aaron    E.,    Albert   J.,    Arthur   D.    and 
Jaines  I. 

CHARLES  JACKSON,  fanner,  Sec. 
9 ;  P.  0.  Wilmington ;  owns  eighty  acres  of 
land,  valued  at  $50  per  acre ;  born  in 
Cornwallis,  Nnva  Scotia,  March  18,  1815  ; 
left  his  native  place  for  the  West  in  1850, 
stopped  one  year  in  Boston,  where  he 
worked  at  the  carpenter  trade  ;  then  set 
out  for  the  West  again,  and  arrived  in 
Illinois  in  May,  1851,  and  located  in 
this  (Florence  Tp.),  Will  Co.  Married 
Martha  E.  Gating  in  this  county,  Nov.  6, 
1851  ;  she  was  born  in  Ross  Co.,  Ohio, 
/Oct.  30,  1825,  and  came  here  with  her 
sister  Vernelle  (now  Mrs.  Charles  Dille) ; 
have  five  children  living,  and  one  deceased  ; 
Hannah  died  Sept.  28,  1854;  Fannie, 
Malcolm,  Estella,  Margaret  and  Josephine. 
Mr.  Jackson's  residence  has  been  in 
Florence  Township  ever  since  he  came  to 
Illinois  in  1851  ;  purchased  his  present 
farm  in  1856  ;  traded  and  repurchased  the 
same  in  1869. 

THOMAS  LACE Y,  farmer,  Sec.  6 ;  P. 
O.  Wilmington  ;  owns  240  acres,  valued  at 
$50  per  acre;  born  in  Tipperary  Co.,  Ire- 
land, in  1812  ;  he  emigrated  to  United 
States,  landing  at  New  York,  May  27, 
1840,  and  located  in  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y., 
where  he  resided  about  four  years.  Mar- 
ried Catherine  McCarty  in  Utica,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  28,  1844 ;  she  was  born  in  Cork  Co., 
Ireland,  and  emigrated  to  this  country  with 
an  uncle — M.  Crimmins — when  she  was 
about  4  years  old;  they  (Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lacey)  emigrated  from  New  York  to  Ver- 
mont, where  they  kept  boarders  on  a  line 
of  railroad  ;  thence  toMichigan,  where  they 
were  about  two  years ;  thence  to  Chicago, 
111.,  two  years,  where  he  had  charge  of  the 
grading  of  streets ;  thence  to  Aurora,  where 
he  had  charge  of  the  grading  of  the  first  sec- 
tion on  the  C.,  B.  &  Q.  R.  R.  Before  he 
left  Chicago,  although  working  for  75 
cents  per  day,  he  went  to  Joliet  and  bought 
eighty  acres  adjoining  the  city  limits  for 
about  $10  per  acre.  He  has  resided  in  and 
in  the  vicinity  of  Will  Ce.  for  the  last 
thirty  years,  and  came  to  his  present  home 
in  March,  1873,  from  Grundy  Co.,  where  he  | 
had  been  for  two  years  previous.  His  wife  j 
died  in  La  Salle  in  1854,  and  was  buried  ! 
at  Joliet ;  left  three  children — Annie,  born  ' 
in  New  York  Nov.  22,  1850;  Nellie, 
March  10,  1852,  and  John  J.,  March  12,  ; 


1854.  Married  second  wife,  Rosa  A.  Con- 
lin,  at  Joliet ;  she  was  born  in  Longford 
Co.,  Ireland,  in  1826,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  with  a  cousin  in  1840.  Two  chil- 
dren by  second  marriage — Jerry,  born  Oct. 

25,  1857 ;  Thomas,  born  Dec.  30,  1858. 
WILLIAM   MARTIN,   dairying;   P. 

0.  Wilmington  ;  owns  240  acres,  valued  at 
$40  per  acre  ;  born  April  30,  1849,  where 
he  now  resides.  His  father,  James  Martin, 
mother,  Catherine  Graham  (Martin),  both 
born  in  Ireland  ;  emigrated  to  the  United 
States  at  different  periods.  Were  married 
in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  1836,  and  emigra- 
ted to  Will  Co.  in  1837,  locating  in  Wil- 
mington, where  he  lived  for  about'ten  years  ; 
thence  to  the  farm  now  owned  by  William 
in  1847.  There  were  eight  children,  three 
living — Mary  (now  Mrs.  T.  Baskervllle)  ; 
James  W.  and  William.  Mr.  Martin,  Sr. 
went  to  California,  the  overland  route,  in 
the  spring  of  1850,  where  he  died  the 
succeeding  fall.  .  Thomas  enlisted  July, 

1862,  in  Co.  A,  100th  111.  V.  I.,  and  died 
of  disease  contracted  by  exposure  June, 

1863,  at   Murfreesboro,  Tenn.     Two  died 
in  infancy  —  Edward  died  herein  1864; 
John  died  January,  1870. 

JAMES  W.  MARTIN,  farmer,  Sec. 
23 ;  P.  0.  Wilmington ;  owns  240  acres, 
valued  at  $40  per  acre.  Was  elected 
County  Treasurer  in  November,  1 873,  and 
re-elected  in  November,  1875,  and  served 
until  Dec.  5,  1877.  Was  born  in  Wilming- 
ton, this  county,  Feb.  22,  1846.  Married 
Viola  M.  Linton  Jan.  13,  1875  ;  she  was 
born  Jan.  23,  1846,  in  Montezuma,  Ind., 
and  came  to  Illinois  with  her  parents  in 
1862.  One  child— Charles  H. 

DANIEL  McINTYRE,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Wilmington ;  owns 
248  acres,  valued  at  $45  per  acre.  Been 
Highway  Commissioner  three  years  and 
School  Director  three  terms.  Born  Sept. 

26,  1841,  in  this  township,  on  what  is  now 
the  Selah  Morey  farm,  Sec.  28.      Married 
Roselma  Thornburg   Feb.  19,  1862;   she 
was  born  March  15,  1843,  in  Channahon 
Tp.,    this    county ;     her    father,    Robert 
Thornburg,  and  mother,  Clorinda  Wright, 
were  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Channa- 
hon Tp.,  as  will   be  seen   in  the   general 
history.     Mr.  Mclntyre's  father  was  one 
of  the  earliest  settlers  of  Wesley  Tp.,  and 
subsequently  into  Florence  in  1837.     Have 
six  children  living  and  one  dead — Clorinda 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


L.,  William,  Daniel  J.,  Margaret  E.,  John 
R.  (deceased),  Martha  A.  and  Jessa. 

MRS.  LUCINDA  McINTYRE,  farmer, 
Sec.  5  ;  P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  widow  of  the 
late  Duncan  Mclntyre  ;  owns  172  acres, 
valued  at  $60  per  acre  ;  she  was  born  in 
Orleans  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  2,  1827,  and 
came  to  Wesley  Tp.,  this  county,  with  her 
father,  Joseph  Hadsall,  and  family,  as  will 
be  seen  in  the  general  history,  at  a  very  ; 
early  date;  her  husband  D.  Mclntyre, was 
born  Dec.  13,  1807,  in  Perth,  N.  Y.;  he 
settled  in  Wesley  Tp.,  also  at  a  very  early 
date,  but  subsequently  moved  to  Florence 
Tp.  in  1837,  where  he  purchased  a  farm  i 
on  Sec.  28 ;  had  the  family  of  Nelson 
Wright,  formerly  of  Ohio,  keep  house  for  : 
him  ;  and  one  Lutz  also  lived  with  him 
some  time.  Was  married  Sept.  8,  1840, 
in  Wesley  Tp.,  at  her  father's,  J.  Hadsall ; 
had  seven  children,  four  living — Daniel, 
John,  Annie  E..  deceased,  Thomas  R., 
deceased,  Archibald  D.,  James  W.  and 
Margaret  E.,  deceased.  Mr.  Mclntyre,  wife 
and  two  children,  went  to  Perth,  Fulton 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1844  ;  they  purchased  the 
farm  which  they  now  own, and  returned  in  ! 
1855.  Mr.  Mclntyre  died  here  Nov.  3,  j 
1858. 

WILLIAM  McGINNIS,  farmer;    P.  j 
0.    Wilmington ;     owns  270  acres   here,  j 
valued   at   $50   per   acre,  and   400  acres  j 
in   Livingston    Co.,   valued   at    $35    per  I 
acre  ;  born  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  1826  ;  j 
they  moved  to   Boston  when  he  was  very 
young  ;    thence  to   this  county  with    his  j 
mother  in  1837,  his  father  having  died  in  ! 
New  York  ;    they  located  at  Joliet,  where  | 
they  resided  until  1849,  at  which  date  he  ' 
went  to  California,  and  returned  to  Joliet  j 
in  1851 ;  he  left  Joliet  in  1852,  and  settled  j 
in  Reed  Tp.,  where  he  lived  until  1870; 
thence  to  Livingston  Co.  four  years  ;  thence  i 
to  his  present  residence  in  1874.     Married  I 
Eliza  Palmer  Nov.  11, 1855,  in  this  county;  i 
she  was  born  in  Orange  Co.,  Vt.,  Feb.  29,  i 
1840,  and   came  to  this  county  with  her 
parents  in  1850;  hnve  four  children  living 
—Margaret,  died  Sept.  15,  1872;  John, 
Frank,  Mary  and  Gertrude  ;  William,  died 
Nov.  30,  1872. 

S.  R.  MOREY,  farmer,  Sec.  17  ;  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  owns  eighty  acres,  valued  at 
$40  per  acre.  Has  held  the  offices  of 
Township  Clerk,  School  Treasurer  and 
Road  Overseer.  Born  May  7,  1830,  in 


Clearfield  (now  Elk)  Co.,  Pa.;  came  to 
Will  Co.,  with  his  father's  family  Dec.  31, 
1847.  Married  Louisa  H.  Smith  in 
Oswego  Tp.,  Kendall  Co.,  111.,  Jan.  3, 
1861  ;  she  was  born  March  15,  18-lu.  in 
Connecticut,  and  came  to  Kane  Co.,  111., 
with  her  parents  in  1852  ;  thence  to  Ken- 
dall Co.  in  1853  ;  four  children — Emeline, 
Grace,  Horace  and  Selah.  His  two  brothers, 
Viual  and  Charles,  enlisted  in  the  late 
rebellion  in  1862 ;  Vinal,  in  the  88th  I. 
V.  I.,  was  in  the  service  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  and  Charles,  in  the  100th  I.V.I., 
was  in  the  service  until  1864,  at  which 
time  he  was  discharged,  on  account  of 
sickness;  he  died  at  home  Nov.  4,  1865; 
Oscar  also  enlisted  Feb.  24,  1864,  and 
served  until  December,  1865,  at  which 
date  he  was  discharged. 

WILLIAM  NELSON,  farmer,  Sec.  15; 
P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  owns  eighty  acres,  val- 
ued at  $40  per  acre;  born  Nov.  8,  1816, 
in  Sterlingshire,  Scotland ;  emigrated  to 
Canada  in  1 830 ;  thence  to  the  United 
States  in  1833  ;  located  at  Trenton,  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.;  remained  there  four  years ; 
thence  to  Joliet,  Will  Co.,  111.,  remain- 
ing about  six  months  ;  thence  to  what  is 
known  as  the  Five-Mile  Grove,  Manhattan 
Tp.,  and  remained  there  one  year  ;  there 
were  only  two  habitations  in  the  township,, 
both  owned  by  Perkin  Bros.,  one  of  which 
Mr.  Nelson  rented ;  being  so  sparsely 
settled  in  that  vicinity,  Mr.  Nelson  pre- 
ferred to  go  to  New  Lenox  Tp.,  which  was- 
then  better  populated ;  there  he  lived 
with  A.  Francis  for  about  four  years  ;  in 
partnership  he  bought  a  farm  with  Asa 
McDonald,  where  he  lived  three  years ; 
sold  to  McD.,  and  returned  to  Five-Mile 
Grove,  where  he  lived  until  1860.  Mar- 
ried Mary  A.  Rudd  in  1846,  in  New 
Lenox  Tp.;  she  was  born  in  New  York 
State,  and  came  to  Illinois  with  her 
parents  in  1 845  ;  have  five  children  living 
— Mary  E.  (now  Mrs.  W.  Cook),  William 
W.,  James  (deceased),  Nettie  (now  Mrs. 
C.  Faut),  Olive  Z.  and  Leonard.  Mr. 
Nelson  was  Supervisor  of  Trenton  (now 
Manhattan  Tp.),  also  Assessor  of  Trenton 
and  Florence,  which  office  he  now  holds  in 
Florence;  in  March,  I860,  he  moved  to 
his  present  residence. 

JOHN  J.  OHLHUES,  farmer,  Sec. 
14 ;  P.  O.  Wilmington ;  owns  ninety- 
three  acres,  valued  at  $50  per  acre  ;  born. 


FLORENCE  TOWNSHIP. 


795 


in  Holstein,  Germany,  Oct.  19,  1837; 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  1859, 
with  his  father's  family,  which  consisted  of 
parents,  Jacob  Ohlhues  and  Margaret 
Graf  (Ohlhues)  and  their  three  sons  John, 
Peter  and  Henry,  besides  their  daughter 
and  son-in-law  Mrs.  and  Mr.  Reils.  John 
married  Mary  Schultz,  at  Joliet,  in  Sept., 
1867 ;  she  was  born  in  Hanover,  Ger 
many,  July  24,  1843,  and  came  to  this 
country  with  her  parents  in  1857:  have 
five  children — Magdalena,  Henry,  Edward, 
Emma  and  Mary.  His  brother  Henry  en- 
listed in  February,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 111. 

V.  I.,  and  was  killed  while  pursuing  the 
enemy  at  Fort  Gregg,  Va.,  on  April  8, 
1865.  He  was  married  to  Ellen  Neiman, 
here,  in  November,  1864;  left  no  children. 
Peter  Ohlhues  resides  with  his  brother-in- 
law,  Mr.  J.  Reils. 

DENIS  RIORDEN,  farmer,  Sec.  14 ; 
P.O.  Wilmington;  owns  160  acres,  val- 
ued at  $50  per  acre ;  born  in  McCrome, 
Cork  Co.,  Ireland,  1817;  when  about 
20  years  of  age,  he  went  to  England, 
and  was  employed  by  Pratt  &  Sewil, 
contractors,  for  five  years  in  London  ;  then 
he  went  to  Shetlam,  Scotland,  where  he 
worked  eighteen  months ;  thence  to 
Gravesend,  where  he  worked  two  years ; 
returned  to  London,  and  took  pas- 
sage on  the  Christiana,  Capt.  Ham- 
mond, and  was  seven  weeks  on  the 
ocean ;  landed  at  New  York ;  went  to 
Bridgewater,  Mass.,  and  worked  there  for 
the  Mount  Hope  Iron  Work  Co.  fifteen 
years ;  eleven  years  of  said  time  was  night 
work  ;  at  the  expiration  of  said  time  he 
moved  to  Illinois,  and  located  in  Florence 
Tp.,  Will  Co.,  where  he  worked  by  the 
da^,  and  rented  farms  on  the  share  for 
about  nine  years ;  then  purchased  the 
farm  which  he  now  owns,  for  $35  per 
acre.  Married  Sarah  Moran,  daughter  of 
Paul  Moran,  of  Leitrim  Co.,  Ireland  ;  she 
came  to  the  United  States  about  the  year 
1843;  have  three  children — Hannah, 
Timothy  and  Mary.  Mr.  Riorden's 
brother  Timothy  enlisted  in  the  late 
war  in  the  69th  Mass.  V.  I.,  and  was 
captured  by  the  enemy,  and  died  in  prison 
at  Salisbury,  N.  C. 

JOHN  REILS,  farmer,  Sec.  14;  P. 
0.  Wilmington ;  owns  ninety-four  acres, 
valued  at  $50  per  acre  ;  held  the  office  of 
School  Director  for  four  years,  which  office 


he  still  holds  ;  born  in  Holstein,  Germany, 
Dec.  15,  1827.  Married  Catharine  Ohl- 
hues Nov.  1,  1856,  in  Holstein ;  she  was 
born  March  13,  1832  ;  they  emigrated  to 
the  United  States  in  1859,  and  came  di- 
rect to  Florence  Tp.;  he  rented  various 
farms  for  about  six  years,  then  purchased 
the  farm  which  he  now  owns,  for  $23.25 
per  acre,  in  1869  ;  have  three  children — 
Charles,  Alice  and  Sarah.  Mr.  Reils,  like 
many  of  the  people  who  began  life  in  the 
West,  had  nothing  to  begin  with  but  good 
health  and  willing  hands ;  he  now  owns  a 
a  very  nice  and  comfortable  home. 

JAMES  SIME,  farmer,  stone-mason 
and  bricklayer ;  P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  owns 
160  acres,  valued  at  $50  per  acre  ;  born  in 
Fifeshire,  Scotland,  March  15,  1847 ; 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  1869, 
•with  his  father,  James  Sime,  Sr.;  his 
mother  and  rest  of  the  family  followed  soon 
after ;  they  all  located  in  Plainfield  Tp., 
this  county  ;  there  his  mother  still  resides  ; 
his  father  sustained  injuries  in  his  own 
house  which  proved  fatal,  from  one  John 
Wiley,  who  was  giving  them  unnecessary 
disturbance  while  in  a  semi-drunken  and 
epileptic  fit,  Oct.  2, 1876.  Married  Mag- 
gie Douglas  March  30,  1875,  in  Chicago; 
she  was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  Oct.  21, 
1853,  and  came  to  Wilmington,  this  coun- 
ty, with  her  parents  in  1872 ;  have  one 
child — James.  Mr.  S.  worked  on  the 
building  of  the  Iron  Works  at  Joliet  for 
six  years ;  four  and  a  half  years  of  said 
time  he  was  foreman  on  the  building  ;  also 
built  the  masonry  along  the  line  of  the  D. 
between  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Rivers. 

ALLEN  SMITH,  farmer,  Sec.  16  ;  P. 
0.  Wilmington;  100  acres,  valued  at  $50 
per  acre,  owned  by  his  sons  Oscar  and  Silas. 
Silas  married  Mary  Niece  in  March,  1878. 
Mr.  Smith,  Sr.,  was  born  in  Franklin  Co., 
Vt.,  Oct.  24,  1809.  Married  Annie  Bell 
in  1831,  in  Vermont;  she  was  born  in 
Franklin  Co.,  Vt.,  and  died  there  in  1833. 
Married  for  his  second  wife  Annie  Rice ; 
she  was  born  May  15,  1811 ;  they  emi- 
grated to  Illinois  in  1857,  and  located  in 
this  neighborhood  ;  had  eleven  children — 
all  by  second  marriage — ten  living — Elvira, 
Olive  (deceased),  Warner,  Edgar  D.,  Ed- 
nah  R.,  Laura  M.,  Joseph  A.,  Ezra  W., 
Oscar  L.,  Silas  C.  and  Emma  R.,  all  born  in 
Franklin  Co.,  Vt.  Warner  enlisted  in  1861 
in  Co.  1, 100th  111.  V.  I.;  Edgar  D.,  in  1861 


796 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


in  Co.  A,  100th  Ill.V.L;  both  served  un- 
til the  close  of  the  war.  Elvira  is  now 
Mrs.  Philo  Draper,  of  Minnesota ;  Ednah 
is  now  Mrs  Andrew  Baird,  of  Iowa ;  Laura 
is  Mrs.  W.  Baskerville,  of  this  county  ; 
Emma  is  Mrs.  Alex.  Niece,  of  this  county. 

JOSEPH  SHIRK,  farmer  and  stock 
dealer,  Sec.  29  ;  P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  owns 
318  acres,  valued  at  $30,000;  born  Aug. 
17,  1819,  in  Washington,  Penn.;  moved 
with  his  parents  and  family  to  Franklin 
Co.,  Ind.,  in  1824  ;  thence  to  Parke  Co., 
Ind.,  in  1828,  with  all  his  father's  family, 
consisting  of  seven  boys  and  seven  girls. 
Married  Margaret  Linton  July  18,  1841, 
in  Parke  Co.,  Ind.;  she  was  born  in  Craw- 
ford Co.,  111.,  in  1824 ;  they  moved  to 
Will  Co.,  111.,  in  1854 ;  had  five  children 
— David  L.,  Emily  J.,  Joseph  N.,  Sarah 
0.  and  William  H.  Mrs.  Shirk  died  here 
March  5,  1854.  Married  for  his  second 
wife  Mary  A.  Brown  Dec.  15,  1854  ;  she 
was  born  in  1829  in  Parke  Co.,  Ind.;  had 
four  children  by  second  marriage — Andrew 
J.,  Alice,  Albert  and  Isabell.  Mr.  Shirk's 
grandfather  was  born  on  the  Alps,  Switzer- 
land, and  emigrated  to  this  country  on  the 
breaking-out  of  the  Revolution  with  fifteen 
of  his  relatives,  who  settled  in  what  is  now 
Washington  Co.,  Penn.;  he  was  in  the  j 
Revolution,  participating  in  the  battles  of 
Trenton  and  Yorktown,  at  the  latter  being 
wounded  in  the  heel  so  as  to  cripple  him 
for  life.  At  Mr.  Shirk's  residence  may  be 
seen  the  discharge  from  service  of  his 
grandfather  in  Gen.  Washington's  own 
hand-writing ;  he  died  in  Franklin  Co., 
Ind.,  at  the  advanced  age  of  81  years. 
Mr.  Shirk's  father  (David)  was  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1812,  under  Capt.  Arm- 
strong, whose  discharge  Mr.  Shirk  has  also 
as  a  relic  ;  he  (David)  died  in  Parke  Co., 
Ind.,  at  the  aee  of  73  years. 

LAURANCE  TINSLAR,  farmer ;  P. 
O.  Wilmington  ;  owns  161  acres  of  land, 
valued  at  $10,000  ;  born  June  19, 1823,  in 
Madison  Co.,  N.  Y.  Married  Delia  S. 
Marsh  Nov.  9,  1847,  in  Alleghany  Co. ; 
they  moved  to  Skaneateles,  Onondaga  Co.  ; 
thence  to  Auburn,  where  he  was  superin- 
tendent of  the  spinning  department  in  the 
Auburn  Woolen  Mills  for  three  years ; 
gave  up  said  position  with  the  intention  of 
going  to  California,  but  finally  abandoned 
the  idea.  From  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  they 
came  to  Illinois,  located  at  Braceville, 


G-rundy   Co.,   where     they   resided     unt 
November,  1866,  at  which  date  they  move 
to  Wilmington,  Will  Co.,  where  he  est 
lished  a  meat  market,  which  he  conduct 
one  year;  disposing  of  his  interest  in  tha 
he  opened  a  similar  establishment  in  Braic 
wood,  which  he  owned  for  two  and  a  hal 
years  ;  at  the  end  of  said  period,  he  opem 
a  boot  and  shoe  store  in  Braid  wood,  whict 
business  he  was  in  about  one  year,   the 
sold,    and     purchased    the    establishmet 
(boots  and  shoes)  of  Arnold  &  Sisson, 
Wilmington,  which  establisnment  he  owne 
three  years,  then  traded  it  for  his  presei 
farm.     Children  by  first  marriage  are  Li 
cian  W.,  Eva  A.  and  Esther  A.     Mrs.  Tii 
lardied  in  Braceville,  111.,  1866  ;    marrie 
second  wife,  Katie  McCabe  ;  she  was  bor 
in  Malone,  Franklin  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June 
1842 ;    children    by  second  marriage   are 
Laurance  (deceased),  Hiram,  Delia,  Lau- 
rance  (deceased),  and  Katie  B. 

JAMES  WHITE,  farming  and  dairy ; 
P.  0.  Wilmington  ;  owns  133  acres  of 
land,  valued  at  $40  per  acre  ;  born  Oct.  26, 
1842,  Lycoming  Co.,  Penn.;  came  to 
Wilmington,  Will  Co.,  with  his  parents 
when  about  2  years  old.  Married  Sarah 
Hazard  Dec.  26,  1865,  in  this  county; 
she  was  born  Dec.  15,  1844,  in  Madison 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  came  to  this  county  with 
her  parents  in  1'853  ;  have  four  children — 
Clarence  E.,  Fannie  E.,  Florence  A., 
Charles  A.  His  father,  Adam  White,  and 
mother  Margaret  Watson  (White),  were 
natives  of  Scotland,  and  emigrated  to  the 
United  States  in  1833 ;  they  had  twelve 
children,  five  living — John  M.  (mentioned 
elsewhere),  Mary,  Adam,  Robert  and 
James. 

JOHN  M.  WHITE,  farmer,  Sec.  28 : 
P.  O.  Wilmington ;  owns  300  acres  of 
land  in  this  county,  and  413  acres  in  Kan- 
kakee,  valued  at  $35,600.  Held  oflice  of 
Collector  two  years,  Supervisor  one  term, 
in  1865,  and  Township  Trustee  for  eight 
years,  which  office  he  now  holds ;  born 
Dec.  23,  1823,  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  and 
came  to  this  country  with  his  father's 
family  in  1 833 ;  they  located  in  Living- 
ston Co.,  N.  Y. ;  thence  to  Ontario  Co., 
two  years  later  ;  thence  to  Williamsport, 
Penn.  All  the  family,  consisting  of  his 
father  (Adam  White),  mother  (Margaret 
Watson  White),  five  brothers  and  two 
sisters,  located  within  two  miles  of  Mr. 


... 

; 


MANHATTAN  TOWNSHIP. 


799 


White's  present  residence  in  1844.  Mr. 
White  married  Margery  Mclntosh.  daugh- 
ter of  D.  Mclntosh,  Jan.  20,  1853; 
she  was  born  in  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.,  Jan. 
13,  1834;  have  six  children — William 
W.,  Daniel  M.,  Ida  S.,  John  B.,  Frank  E., 
Arthur  R. ;  William  W.,  married  Juliette 
Nelson  April  1, 1874  ;  Daniel  M.,  married 
Sarah  A.  Nelson  Dec.  25,  1876.  Mr. 
White  went  to  California  across  the  plains 
in  the  spring  of  1850  ;  remained  about 
two  years,  then  returned  to  this  Township 
,  to  the  farm  where  he  now  resides,  and 
on  which  he  has  remained  ever  since. 

HENRY  WARD,  farmer,  Sec.  7  ;  P. 
0.  Wilmington  ;  owns  120  acres  of  land, 
valued  at  $50  per  acre.'  School  Director 
one  term  ;  was  re-elected  in  1878.  Born  in 
Norfolk  Co., England, Nov.  29,1832;  emi- 
grated to  the  United  States  in  1 850,  with  his 
brother  John,  who  located  in  St.  Lawrence 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  married  Jane  Thompson ; 
she  died  in  1859,  leaving  one  child — Mar- 
tha J.;  he  married  his  second  wife,  Mar- 


garet Robinson.  John  died  in  New  York, 
in  1868  ;  Mr.  Ward  stopped  in  St.  Law- 
rence Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  lived  about  six 
years;  then  moved  to  Peoria,  111.,  in  1856, 
where  he  lived  four  years.  Married  Diana 
Pratt  in  Peoria  in  1860  ;  they  moved  to 
Will  Co.,  this  township,  where  they  have 
have  lived  ever  since ;  she  was  born  in 
Peoria  Co.  April  14,  1841.  Mrs.  Ward's 
parents  came  to  Peoria,  111.,  from  Mass,  in 
1838  ;  like  many  pioneers  of  the  West,  they 
suffered  much  discomfort,  privations,  and 
even  sustained  heavy  loss,  his  entire  effects 
being  lost  during  the  voyage  on  the  lakes  ; 
he  and  his  wife  and  one  child  crossing  the 
country  by  stage  and  canal,  as  they  suited 
the  location  and  circumstances ;  it  took 
four  months  to  make  the  trip  from 
Massachusetts  to  Peoria,  111.,  which  may 
now  be  accomplished  in  so  many  days, 
have  five  children — Myron  H.,  Arthur  J., 
Julia  E.,  Mary  and  Carrie  F.;  one  dead, 
a  girl,  a  twin  with  Mary. 


MANHATTAN    TOWNSHIP. 


ANDREW  AMEND,  farming,  Sec.  28  ; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Germany  in  the 
spring  of  1829.  He  married  Miss  Suzan 
Zipf  in  1848;  she  was  born  in  Bavaria  in 
1816  ;  they  have  one  adopted  daughter, 
viz.,  Suzan.  He  left  Germany  when  quite 
young  and  came  to  the  United  States  with 
his  parents,  who  settled  in  Huron  Co., 
Ohio,  and  engaged  in  farming ;  remained 
until  1850,  when  he  went  to  Iowa  and 
remained  a  few  months,  when  he  came  to 
Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled  in  Plainfield; 
remained  two  years;  thence  to  Sec.  1  of 
Joliet  Tp.,  and  lived  there  four  years;  he 
then  moved  on  the  Plankroad  and  re- 
mained some  ten  years  ;  he  then  went  to 
Ohio  and  engaged  in  grocery  and  saloon ; 
remained  until  1865,  when  he  came  to 
Joliet  and  engaged  in  saloon  and  boarding- 
house  ;  he  also  acted  as  Constable  some  ten 
years ;  in  1878,  he  came  to  his  present 
place  ;  he  started  in  poor  circumstances,  and 
now  owns  101  acres  here,  besides  some 
residence  property  in  Joliet.  His  mother 
died  in  Ohio  in  1855,  and  his  father  died 
in  Canada  in  1860. 


GEORGE  A.  BUCK,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  Sec  17  ;  P.  O.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Berkshire  Co.,  Mass., 
Sept.  10, 1829.  He  married  Miss  Helen  C. 
Wolcott  May  12,  1856  ;  she  was  born  iu 
same  place,  and  died  April  16,  1857.  His 
present  wife  was  Miss  Sarah  H.  Baker, 
married  March  22,  1859  ;  she  was  born  in 
Rensselaer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  20,  1836; 
they  had  ten  children,  six  living,  viz., 
Helen  C.,  Laura  C.,  Werden,  Jennie  T., 
Kate  F.  and  Fred  A.  He  lived  in  Massa- 
chusetts until  1856,  being  engaged  in 
farming  and  general  merchandise,  also 
teaching  ;  he  then  came  West  and  settled  in 
Lake  Co.,  111.,  where  he  remained  about 
six  months,  and  then  came  to  Will  Co., 
and  settled  on  his  present  place,  part  of 
which  he  bought  in  1854,  while  here  on  a 
visit ;  he  o  ns  640  acres  in  this  township, 
and  has  improved  over  3,000  acres.  He 
has  been  Town  Clerk,  Supervisor  and 
Town  Treasurer. 

CLARK  BAKER,  farmer,  Sec.  8  ;  P. 
0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Hoosick,  Rensselaer  Co.,  N.  Y., 

10 


800 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


March  3, 1796.  He  married  Miss  Lucina 
Welsh  Dec.  20,  1826 ;  she  was  born  in 
Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  28,  1806 ; 
they  had  five  children,  two  living — LMary 
E.  and  John  C.  He  lived  in  New  York 
until  1850,  being  engaged  in  farming  and 
surveying  ;  he  then  came  West  and  settled 
on  his  present  place ;  while  in  New  York, 
he  served  in  the  militia  of  that  State  in 
the  1812  war;  he  came  West  in  poor  cir- 
cumstances and  at  present  owns  over  1,200 
acres,  mostly  in  this  township.  He  has 
been  Supervisor  some  ten  years,  and  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  for  twenty-five  years. 

JACOB  LUTZ,  farmer,  Sec.  29  ;  P.  0. 
Juliet;  was  born  in  Wayne  Co.,  Ohio, 
April  24,  1848.  He  married  Miss  Laura 
Evans  Feb.  25,  1869  ;  she  was  born  in 
Iroquois  Co.,  111.,  Nov.  14,  1848;  they 
have  four  children — Elton,  Evaline,  Willis 
and  Rosy.  He  lived  in  Ohio  twelve  years, 
then  moved  to  Indiana  with  his  parents ; 
remained  about  six  months,  then  came  to 
Illinois  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  Jackson 
Tp.  ;  he  lived  there  with  his  parents  until 
1871,  when  he  settled  on  his  present  place. 
In  1863,  he  enlisted  in  the  64th  111.  V.  I., 
1st  Battalion  Yates'  Sharp  Shooters  ;  was 
in  the  battles  of  Resaca,  Kenesaw  Moun- 
tain, Atlanta,  etc.  He  started  without  any 
capital,  and  now  owns  eighty  acres,  which 
he  has  earned  by  his  own  labor. 

THOMPSON  MACKEY, farming,  Sec. 
7  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Columbiana  Co.,  Ohio,  June 
14,  1824.  He  married  Miss  Sarah  Sproule 
Aug.  31,  1852 ;  she  was  born  in  Hancock 
Co.,  West  Va.  ;  they  had  eight  children, 
five  living,  viz.,  Edgar  S.,  Flora  J.,  James 
E.,  Adam  W.  and  Bellella.  He  lived  in 
Ohio  about  nineteen  years  on  the  farm  ; 
he  then  followed  steamboating  on  the  Ohio 
and  Mississippi  for  about  nineteen  years ; 
he  then  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  on  his 
present  place.  He  has  been  Assessor  and 
Road  Commissioner  a  number  of  years 
each. 

M.  E.  MOYER,  farming,  Sec.  19  ;  P. 
O.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Cumberland  Co., 
Penn.,  Nov.  18,  1829.  'He  married  Miss 
Abbie  F.  Neitz  Sept.  29,  1859  ;  she  was 
born  in  Lehigh  Co.,  Penn.,  Nov.  21, 1836  ; 
they  had  five  children,  three  living,  viz., 
Priscilla  S.,  Clara  M.  and  Addie  F.  He 
lived  in  Pennsylvania  until  1847,  when  he 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Naperville, 


where  he  remained  about  nineteen  years, 
being  engaged  in  farming  and  brick- 
making  ;  in  1866,  he  came  to  his  present 
place,  and  has  lived  here  ever  since  carrying 
on  the  farm. 

HIRAM  OLNEY,  farming  and  stock- 
raising  Sec.  3;  P.  0.  Joliet;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Cayuga  Co.,  N.  Y., 
July  13,  1800.  He  married  Miss  Harriet 
Daniels  Jan.  17,  1822;  she  was  born  in 
Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  22,  1803  ;  they 
had  seven  children,  four  living,  viz.,  Cephas 
C.,  William  H.,  Marietta  A.  and  Henrietta. 
He  lived  in  New  York  until  1835  ;  was 
principally  engaged  in  farming  and  teach- 
ing ;  he  then  came  West,  and  settled  in  the 
town  of  Homer,  this  county,  and  engaged 
in  farming;  remained  until  1854,  when  he 
came  to  his  present  place,  and  has  remained 
here  since,  except  six  years  in  Joliet.  He 
owns  120  acres  in  this  township.  He  has 
been  Road  Commissioner,  Assessor,  Town 
Clerk  and  Justice  of  the  Peace,  also  Town- 
ship Trustee ;  was  also  Town  Clerk  in 
Homer,  and  Trustee. 

ADAM  ROHRBACH,  farming,  Sec. 
10  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Hesse,  in  Germany,  March  3, 
1835.  He  married  Mrs.  Hazemann,  form- 
erly Miss  Catheron  P.  Bernard,  March  12,. 
1860  ;  she  was  born  in  Alsace,  France, 
Jan.  28,  1828  ;  they  had  four  children,, 
three  living,  viz.,  Henry  J.,  Frederick  A. 
and  Louisa  J.  ;  his  wife  had  three  children 
by  former  marriage,  one  living,  viz.,  Eliza 
Ann.  He  lived  in  Germany  nineteen  years  ; 
he  then  came  to  the  United  States  and 
settled  near  Peoria,  111.  ;  and  after  three 
years  residence  there,  he  became  converted 
and  joined  the  Evangelical  Association, 
and  became  a  preacher  in  same,  traveling 
to  most  all  parts  of  the  State  ;  in  1875,  he 
settled  in  Will  Co.,  and  in  1877,  he  settled 
on  his  present  place.  He  came  to  the 
United  States  in  very  poor  circumstances, 
and  now  owns  160  acres  well  improved  in 
this  township. 

STEPHEN  ROBINSON,  farmer,  Sec. 
21  ;  P.  O.  Joliet;  was  born  in  Cumber- 
land Co.,  Me.,  June  3,  1820.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Sarah  Grundy  July  8,  1843  ; 
she  was  born  in  Sheffield,  England,  March 
4,  1824  ;  they  had  six  children,  five  living, 
viz.,  Ellen  J.,  Mary  F.,  Frank,  Annie  and 
Eva.  He  lived  in  Maine  eighteen  years  ; 
then  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Tazewell 


WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


801 


Co.,  where  he  followed  farming  and  car- 
pentering, and  remained  until  1853,  when 
he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  Plain- 
field  Tp.,  where  he  followed  farming,  also 
acted  as  foreman  for  a  bridge-building 
company.  ^In  1867,  he  came  to  his 
present  place,  and  has  lived  here  ever  since. 
He  has  held  the  office  of  Supervisor  for  two 
terms,  also  School  office.  His  oldest  son, 
Orestes,  enlisted  in  the  2d  111.  Regt.  V. 
C.,  and  died  in  New  Orleans  Oct.  6,  1863. 

JOHN  W.  SMITH,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  Sec.  28  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  En- 
gland Feb.  10, 1825.  He  married  MissCath- 
eron  Phillips  April  15,  1861  ;  she  was  born 
in  Herefordshire,  England,  March  1 9, 1834; 
they  had  seven  children,  four  living,  viz., 
Saline  C.,  Anna  N.,  Mary  C.  and  Martha 
Jane.  He  lived  in  England  until  he  was 
20  years  of  age  ;  he  then  came  to  the  United 
States  via  New  Orleans  ;  thence  to  St.  Louis, 
when  he  returned  to  England,  remaining 
some  six  months ;  he  went  to  Australia, 
where  he  remained  one  year,  and  then 
again  come  to  the  United  States  and  settled 
in  Ohio,  where  he  remained  a  short  time, 
and  came  to  Illinois  ;  in  1858,  he  settled  in 
Will  Co.,  and  in  1869,  he  settled  on  his 
present  place.  He  had  no  means  to  begin 
with,  and  now  owns  480  acres  in  this  town- 
ship, all  of  which  he  has  earned  by  his  own 
labor. 

HENRY  THIEL,  farming,  Sec.  29  ; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Cur  Hessen, 
Germany,  Aug.  16,  1829.  He  married 
Miss  Christianna  Winneka  April  2, 1866  ; 
she  was  born  in  the  same  place  in  Germany 
Aug.  21,  1843;  they  had  three  children, 
two  living,  viz.,  Henry  August  and  Chris- 
tian Frederick.  He  lived  in  Germany 
twenty-eight  years,  working  at  his  trade  of 
stone  mason  ;  he  then  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  at 
Troutman's  Grove,  where  he  engaged  in 


farming,  and  remained  fourteen  years,  and 
then  came  to  his  present  place,  and  has 
lived  here  since.  He  came  to  this  county 
in  poor  circumstances,  working  by  the 
month ;  he  now  owns  1 60  acres  in  this  town- 
ship, which  he  has  earned  by  his  own  labor. 

THOMAS  WHITE,  farmer  and  stock, 
Sec.  36 ;  P.  0.  Wallingford ;  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Lincolnshire 
England  Sept.  23,  1831.  He  married' 
Miss  Kittie  Reeson  July  1,  1851 ;  she 
was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  July 
31,  1827 ;  they  had  six  children,  three 
living,  viz.,  John  T.,  William  and  Fannie. 
He  lived  in  England  until  1853,  when  he 
moved  to  Canada,  where  he  remained  but 
a  short  time,  and  moved  to  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  where  he  engaged  in  the  stone  quar- 
ries ;  he  then  went  to  Du  Page  Co.,  111. ; 
remained  about  three  years  ;  then  he  went 
to  Lee  Co. ;  then,  in  1863,  he  came  to  Will 
Co.,  and  settled  near  where  he  now  lives  ; 
in  1868,  he  came  to  his  present  place,  and 
has  lived  here  since..  He  started  in  very 
poor  circumstances  and  now  owns  320 
acres  in  this  township. 

RICHARD  WATKINS,  farming,  Sec. 
22 ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox  ;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Herefordshire,  En- 
gland, Feb.  12,  1826.  He  married  Miss 
Catherine  Russell  Oct.  10,  1854  ;  she  was 
born  in  Herefordshire,  England,  Oct.  3, 
1830 ;  they  had  eleven  children,  nine 
living,  viz.,  William  J.,  Rosa,  Richard, 
Annie  I.,  Frank,  Lillie  J.,  Ellen  K.,  John 
A.  and  Clara  M.  He  lived  in  England 
twenty-one  years,  then  came  to  the  United 
States  and  settled  in  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y., 
where  he  remained  six  years  ;  he  then  came 
to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  ;  in  the 
spring  of  1874,  he  settled  on  his  present 
place,  and  has  resided  here  since.  He  owns 
107  acres  in  this  township,  which  he  has 
earned  by  his  own  labor,  having  stai 
without  any  capital. 


WILMINGTON    TOWNSHIP. 


EDMUND  ALLEN,  proprietor  of  the 
Wilmington  Butter  and  Cheese  Factory, 
Wilmington;  born  in  Broome  Co.,  N.  Y., 
May  21,  1814 ;  removed  to  Illinois  in  the 
summer  of  1835,  locating  at  Joliet,  where 


he  engaged  in  mercantile  business ;  Mr. 
Allen  put  up  the  first  barrel  of  beef  that 
was  sent  from  Chicago  to  the  New  York 
market ;  the  packing  was  done  at  the  pack- 
ing-house of  G.  W.  Doll,  and  the  beef 


802 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


shipped  by  the  old  favorite  steamer  Illi- 
nois to  Ralph  Mead,  New  York  City. 
Jan.  1,  1844,  he  removed  to  Wilmington, 
engaged  in  merchandising  and  milling,  at 
the  same  time  making  the  butter  trade  a 
specialty,  being  instrumental  in  establish- 
ing a  trade  in  the  latter  commodity  which 
has  placed  Wilmington  foremost  as  a 
market  for  a  good  grade  of  butter  ;  since 
1856,  he  has  given  his  entire  attention  to 
this  line  of  business,  buying  and  shipping 
to  the  St.  Louis  market,  until  1875,  when 
he  erected  one  of  the  best  butter  and 
cheese  factories  of  the  Northwest.  Mar- 
ried in  1842  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Shoemaker, 
who  was  born  in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.; 
four  children  by  this  union — Robert  L., 
Edmund  A.,  John  J.  and  Mary  E. 

VINCENT  BANYARD,  staple  and 
fancy  groceries,  wooden  and  willow  ware, 
confectionery  and  bakery,  Wilmington ; 
born  in  County  of  Norfolk,  England,  Sept. 
23,  1830  ;  came  to  this  country  in  1850, 
locating  in  Erie  Co.,  Penn.,  and,  five  years 
later,  removed  to  Union  Co.,  Iowa;  came 
to  Wilmington,  his  present  home,  in  1859, 
and  engaged  in  his  present  line  of  business 
in  the  building  formerly  occupied  by  Mr. 
Mitchell,  and  known  as  the  Eagle  Hotel; 
he  builtthe  store  he  now  occupies  in  1865  ; 
was  a  member  of  the  City  Council  in 
1865-66.  Married  in  1863  to  Miss  Mary 
A.  Dickson,  who  was  born  in  Erie  Co., 
Penn.,  Dec.  12,  1844;  three  children  by 
this  union — Bessie  V.,  born  Jan.  16, 
1864 ;  Mary  J.,  Dec.  18,  1865,  and  Vin- 
cent W.,  Oct.  8,  1870.  Mr.  Banyard  is 
a  member  of  the  following  Masonic  bodies : 
Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208,  and  Wilming- 
ton Chapter,  No.  142. 

ALBERT  W.  BOWEN,  retired,  Wil- 
mington ;  born  in  Berkshire  Co.,  Mass., 
Feb.  6,  1803,  but  removed  in  early  child- 
hood with  his  father's  family  to  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  this  and  Herkimer  Co.  being 
his  home  for  many  years ;  in  1827, 
he  graduated  at  the  Western  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  at  Fairtield,  N. 
Y.,  and,  six  years  later,  removed  to  Illinois, 
locating  in  Joliet  in  the  spring  of  1834, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession ;  in  December  of  the  following 
year,  he  went  to  Vandalia,  then  the  State 
Capital,  at  his  own  expense,  for  the  purpose 
of  having  Will  County  set  off  and  the 
county  seat  located  in  Joliet ;  in  1836,  he 


partially  gave  up  the  practice  of  medicine, 
and  engaged  in  mercantile  business,  under 
the  firm  name  of  A.  W.  Bowen  &  Co.,  and 
the  following  year  purchased  a  half-interest 
of  Thomas  and  Joseph  Cox  in  the  present 
city  of  Wilmington  (then  called  Winches- 
ter); in  1838-39,  he  built  the  Wilming- 
ton Mill,  which  was  the  first  flouring-mill 
built  here,  and,  the  same  season,  sold  his 
store  to  Gov.  Matteson,  giving  his  special 
attention  for  several  years  thereafter  to  the 
practice  of  medicine;  in  1849,  it  became 
necessary  for  him  to  devote  a  greater  share 
of  his  time  to  his  business  interests  at  Wil- 
mington, and,  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  he 
removed  his  family.  He  served  as  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  School  Trustees 
for  several  terms ;  also  served  as  member 
of  the  Town  Board  and  City  Council. 
Married  in  March,  1831,  to  Miss  Mary  C. 
Shoemaker,  who  was  born  in  Herkimer  Co., 
N.  Y.;  four  children  by  this  union— Rod- 
ney S.,  Major  of  the  100th  111.  I.V.;  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Franklin  Dec.  1, 
1864,  and  died  of  wounds  on  the  3d.  As 
the  Doctor  was  among  the  first  settlers  of 
the  county,  much  morj  will  be  found  con- 
cerning him  in  the  general  history  of  the 
county  ;  also  the  separate  histories  of  the 
cities  of  Joliet  and  Wilmington  given  in  this 
work. 

JOHN  BO VEE,  farmer,  Sec.  14;  P. 
0.  Wilmington ;  born  in  Wyoming  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Feb.  19,  1831 ;  removed  to  Catta- 
raugus  Co.,  of  that  State,  in  1836  ;  thence 
to  Crawford  Co.,  Penn.,  in  1841  ;  came  to 
Illinois  in  July,  1854,  locating  in  Rock ville 
Tp.,  Kankakee  Co.  Owns  160,  acres  of 
land,  valued  at  $8,000.  Served  as  School 
Trustee  one  term.  Married  in  1861  to 
Miss  Sarah  A.  Frazer,  who  was  born  in 
Wesley  Tp.,  this  county;  two  children — 
Frank  and  Mary. 

LEROY  A.  BAKER,  insurance,  Wil- 
mington ;  born  in  Cortland  Co.,  N.  Y., 
June  10,  1835,  where  he  resided  until 
1855  ;  then  removed  to  Illinois,  locating  at 
Wilmington ;  was  employed  in  the  dry 
goods  store  of  R.  W.  Watterman  for  sev- 
eral years,  and,  about  one  year  prior  to  the 
rebellion,  was  engaged  at  carpenter's  work. 
On  the  5th  of  August,  1861,  he  enlisted 
in  the  39th  (Yates'  Phalanx)  I.  V.  I.,  and, 
in  October,  this  regiment  was  ordered  to 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  commissioned 
Second  Lieutenant  Aug.  5,  1861 ;  pro- 


WILMINGTON   TOWNSHIP. 


803 


nioted  to  First  Lieutenant  Nov.  17,  1861, 
and,  on  the  1st  of  the  following  month,  re- 
ceived a  Captain's  commission  ;  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Deep  Run,  Va.,  he  was  severely 
wounded,  losing  his  left  leg,  Aug.  16, 
1864,  and,  on  the  17th  of  the  following 
December,  at  his  request,  he  was  mustered 
out,  by  order  of  the  War  Department. 
Was  appointed  Postmaster  at  Wilmington 
in  June,  1865,  and  held  the  office  up  to 
the  time  of  his  resignation,  April  1,  1874  ; 
has  served  as  School  Inspector,  School 
Trustee  and  Town  Clerk,  and  is  now  Dep- 
uty Sheriff.  Married,  in  1857,  to  Miss 
Betsey  E.  Spicer,  who  was  born  iu  Cort- 
land  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  she  died  in  February, 
1861  ;  two  children — Frank  D.  and  Lizzie 

B.  Was  again  married,  in  1861,  to  Miss 
Mary  L.  Spicer,  who  was  born  in  Cortland, 
N.  Y. ;  one  child  by  this  union — Minnie 

C.  Mr.  Baker  is  a  member  of  the  follow- 
ing Masonic  bodies:  Wilmington  Lodge, 
No.  208,  and  Wilmington  Chapter,  No. 
142. 

ROBERT  H.  BEGGS,  Principal  Pub- 
lic Schools,  Wilmington ;  born  near  Vir- 
ginia, 111.,  Sept.  24,  1844 ;  lived  on  farm 
till  1865,  teaching  at  intervals  during  the 
last  three  years  of  this  time ;  graduated  at 
Illinois  College  in  1868;  taught  three 
years  in  Virginia,  111.,  as  Principal ;  gradu- 
ated at  Illinois  Normal  University  inl 872; 
returned  to  Virginia  the  same  year,  as  Su- 
perintendent of  Schools  and  Principal  of 
High  School,  retaining  the  position  till 
1875.  M  arried  Gertrude  Town ,  of  Bloom- 
ington,  111.,  Sept.  1,  1875,  and  removed  to 
Wilmington  shortly  afterward,  to  take 
charge  of  the  public  schools,  which  posi- 
tion he  still  retains;  two  children — Helen 
Orlena,  born  Sept.  18,  1876,  and  Dollie 
Kate,  born  Jan.  2,  1878. 

HOMER  C.  CASTLE,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Wilmington ;  born  in 
Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  22,  1834,  where 
he  resided  till  1854,  when  he  removed  to 
Illinois,  locating  in  Wesley  Tp.,  this 
county ;  he  also  resided  in  Homer  and 
Wilton  Tps.,  and  in  1867,  removed  to  his 
present  location  ;  owns  160  acres  of  land, 
valued  at  $8,000.  Married,  in  1856,  to 
Miss  Adaline  Gooding,  who  was  born  in 
Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.  ;  nine  children  by  this 
union.  Mr.  Castle  is  extensively  engaged 
in  breeding  and  shipping  Poland-China 
hogs. 


EDWARD  D.  CONLEY,  Wilmington ; 
born  in  Toronto,  Canada,  in  1844,  and 
soon  afterward  came  to  the  United  States, 
settling  in  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ;  removed  to 
Wilmington,  111.,  in  May,  1849.  At  19, 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  39th  I.  V.  I,, 
and  served  about  two  years ;  participated 
in  Grant's  last  campaign,  and  was  present 
at  Lee's  surrender  at  Appomattox ;  on  his 
regiment's  muster-out,  he  returned  home 
and  resumed  going  to  school.  In  1867, 
engaged  in  the  furniture  and  undertaking 
business,  in  which  he  had  already  served 
an  apprenticeship ;  afterward,  became  a 
drug  store  clerk,  and  also  dabbled  some  in 
writing  newspaper  locals  and  verse ;  pur- 
chased a  half  interest  in  the  People '$  Ad- 
vocate newspaper  in  February,  1871,  and 
became  sole  editor  and  proprietor  in  1872. 
Was  repeatedly  elected  to  the  town  and 
city  clerkships.  On  Dec.  28,  1874,  was 
married  to  Miss  Mary  A.  O'Connell.  Is 
still  publisher  of  the  Wilmington  Advocate, 
up  to  the  date  of  this  publication. 

HERBERT  L.  CADY  ( Holmes  &  Cady, 
hardware,  Braidwood ) ;  P.  0.  Wilmington  ; 
born  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  16,  1834, 
where  he  resided  until  his  removal  to  Illi- 
nois in  1861 ;  he  first  located  at  Lockport, 
this  county  ;  in  1863,  he  took  charge  of 
the  Braceville  Coal  Shaft,  the  mining  in- 
terest then  just  developing  in  this  part  of 
the  State,  this  shaft  being  the  first  operated 
in  that  locality ;  in  1866,  he  removed  to 
Wilmington,  his  present  home,  and  the 
same  year  Odell  &  Cady  leased  land  of  D. 
Glenney  and  opened  what  was  known  as  the 
Glenney  Shaft,  which  they  sold  to  A..B. 
Meeker  the  following  year;  in  1871,  the 
firm  of  Holmes  &  Cady  engaged  in  the 
hardware  business  at  Braidwood,  and  now 
have,  in  connection  with  that  line,  a  harness 
shop  at  Wilmington  and  Braidwood.  In 
1858,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lucy,  daugh- 
ter of  William  L.  Wadhams  ;  she  was  born 
in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.;  had  four  children  by 
this  union — William  L.,  Frederick  E., 
Herbert  A.  and  Frank  B.  (deceased).  Mr. 
C.  is  a  member  of  the  following  Masonic 
bodies  :  Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208,  and 
Wilmington  Chapter,  No.  142. 

EDWARD  DON AHOE, groceries,  pro- 
visions, crockery,  glassware,  etc.;  Wilming- 
ton ;  born  in  County  Tipperary,  Ireland, 
Jan.  7, 1848  ;  came  to  this  country  in  early 
childhood  with  his  parents,  who  located  at 


804 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


Joliet,  this  county,  in  April,  1 854 ;  in 
September,  1867,  he  removed  to  Wilming- 
ton and  engaged  in  business,  and,  in  1874, 
established  a  branch  store  at  Braidwood, 
which  he  afterward  gave  to  his  brother 
John  T.;  was  member  of  the  City  Council 
in  1876-77.  Married  Feb.  1,  1872,  to 
Miss  Bridget  M.  Feehan,  who  was  born 
in  Ireland ;  have  three  children  by  this 
union — Mary  J.,  Timothy  J.  and  Mathew 
J. 

C.  HILL  DUCK,  editor  and  publisher 
of  the  Wilmington  Phoenix,  Wilmington ; 
born  in  Du  Page  Co.,  111.,  May  15,  1842, 
but  moved  to  Chicago  in  early  childhood, 
where  he  resided  until  1854,  when  he 
moved  to  Lockport,  this  county,  and  en- 
tered the  drug  store  of  Dr.  Hanley,  with 
whom  he  remained  four  years  ;  then  re- 
turned to  Chicago  and  continued  in  the 
same  business.  In  1862,  he  enlisted  in  Co. 
I,  127th  111.  V.  I.,  and  the  same  year  he 
was  appointed  Hospital  Steward,  Acting 
Assistant  Surgeon ;  mustered  out  in  the 
latter  part  of  1863.  Soon  after  his  return 
from  the  army,  he  located  at  Seneca,  La 
Salle  Co.,  and  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness under  the  firm  name  of  Wright  & 
Duck  ;  in  April,  1877,  he  took  charge  of 
the  Wilmington  Phoenix,  as  editor  and 
publisher :  Mr.  Duck  is  now  a  member  of 
Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208,  A.,  F.  &  A. 
Mv;  also  Past  Master  and  charter  member 
of  Seneca  Lodge,  No.  532. 

JAMES  E.  EVANS:  livery  and  feed 
stable,  Wilmington ;  born  in  Oneida  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Oct.  8,  1853,  but  moved  to  Illinois 
in  early  childhood  with  his  parents,  who 
located  in  Will  Co.  in  1856 ;  removed  to 
Wesley  Tp.,  this  county,  in  1860  ;  in  1865, 
he  removed  to  Hamilton  Co.,  Iowa  ;  thence 
to  Chicago  in  1872  ;  came  to  Wilmington, 
his  present  home,  and  engaged  in  the  livery 
business  in  May,  1877. 

BRYAN  FISHER,  miller,  Wilming- 
ton ;  born  in  Chester  Co..  Penn.,  Sept.  18, 
1824  ;  removed  to  Illinois  with  his  father's 
family  in  June,  1839,  stopping  in  Chicago 
for  a  few  months  and  locating  in  Wilming- 
ton, his  present  home,  in  the  following 
September ;  Mr.  Fisher  has  been  engaged 
in  milling  since  he  came  to  this  city,  a 
period  of  nearly  forty  years.  In  1850,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Lucy  A.  Hitchcock, 
who  was  born  in  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y. ; 
five  children  by  this  union — Eliza  J., 


and 


Thomas     B.,    Cornelia,    Maria    L. 
Walter  F. 

JOHN  C.  FISHER  (J.  C.  Fisher  & 
Co.),  milling,  Wilmington ;  born  in 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  15,  1834  ;  when 
about  5  years  of  age,  his  father's  family 
removed  to  Illinois,  and,  after  a  short  stay 
in  Chicago,  located  in  Wilmington,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1339;  here  his  father  engaged  in 
the  milling  business,  which  he  followed  up 
to  the  time  of  his  death.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  has  followed  his  present  busi- 
ness since  boyhood,  and,  in  1860,  pur- 
chased an  interest  in  the  mill ;  owns  forty 
acres  of  coal  land,  valued  at  $4,000,  and 
city  property,  including  mill  interest, 
valued  at  $30,000  ;  served  as  member  of 
City  Council  in  1870.  Married,  in  1858, 
Miss  Annie  F.  Ford,  who  was  born  in  the 
'  North  of  Ireland ;  seven  children  by  this 
union,  five  living — John  T.,  George  R., 
Frank  C.,  Charles  V.  and  Fannie  F. ;  lost 
one — Mary  C.,  died  in  1867. 

RICHARD  H.  GURNEY,  livery, 
Wilmington  ;  born  in  Gloucestershire,  En- 
gland, Feb.  9,  1837 ;  came  to  the  United 
States  with  his  father's  family,  locating  at 
Joliet,  this  county,  in  1844  ;  after  a  resid- 
ence in  Channahon  Tp.  for  several  years, 
he  removed  to  Wilmingtou,  his  present 
home,  in  1863,  and  engaged  in  his  present 
business;  owns  720  acres  of  farm  and  coal 
lands,  valued  at  $30,000,  and  city  property 
valued  at  $10,000  ;  was  a  member  of  City 
Council  in  1869  and  1870 ;  member  of  Wil- 
mington Lodge,  No.  208,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.; 
Mr.  Gurney  is  giving  considerable  atten- 
tion to  the  breeding  of  Norman  grades  of 
horses,  and  also  extensively  engaged  in 
raising  cattle  for  Chicago  and  other 
markets. 

MILTON  H.  HILBURN,  proprietor  of 
Phoenix  Foundry  &  Machine-Shops,  Wil- 
mington ;  born  in  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Jan.  31,  1828,  but  removed,  when  about 
9  years  of  age,  to  Columbia  Co.,  Penn., 
where  he  resided  until  1847,  then  remov- 
ing to  Illinois,  and,  after  spending  about 
one  year  in  other  parts  of  this  county, 
located  at  Wilmington  in  the  fall  of  the 
following  year,  when  he  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  agricultural  implements, 
making  the  manufacture  of  plows  a  spe- 
cialty; in  1867,  he  removed  to  Ilion,  N. 
Y.,  where  he  continued  in  the  same  busi- 
ness until  his  return  to  this  city  in  1877  ; 


WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


805 


-was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  in 
ixU;  during  his  term  of  service,  the 
charter  of  the  town  of  Wilmington  was 
amended  and  the  city  incorporated.  Mar- 
ried, in  1853,  to  Miss  Sarah  Tuttle,  who 
w;i>  born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y.;  she 
died  in  1855;  their  daughter,  Sarah  J., 
died  in  1856  ;  was  again  married,  in  1858, 
to  Adalade  J.  Marsh,  who  was  born  in 
Hartford,  Conn. ;  three  children,  one  liv- 
ing—Cora E.;  Etta  E.  died  in  1863 ; 
Milton  M.,  in  1874.  Mr.  Hilburn  is  a 
member  of  the  following  Masonic  bodies  : 
Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208,  Wilmington 
'Chapter,  No.  142,  and  Joliet  Commandery, 
No.  4. 

HENRY  F.  ROWLAND,  SR.,  dealer 
in  furniture,  Wilmington ;  born  in  See- 
konk,  Mass.,  May  5,  1836 ;  removed  to 
Providence,  R.  I.,  in  childhood,  which  was 
his  home  until  he  came  West ;  removed 
to  Illinois  in  1870,  locating  at  Wilming- 
ton, his  present  home.  Married  in  1857 
to  Miss  Mary  Carlin,  who  was  born  in 
Ireland ;  seven  children  by  this  union, 
four  living — Mary  E.,  Ludia  A.,  Henry 
F.,  Jr.,  and  John  F.;  lost  three — Lydia, 
Susan  and  Joseph. 

WILLIAM  HART,  draying,  Wilming- 
ton; born  in  county  of  Kent,  England, 
March  14,  1819 ;  entered  the  navy  of  his 
native  country  in  1835,  serving  until  1841, 
when  he  entered  the  merchant  service, 
where  he  remained  two  years;  in  1850, 
he  moved  to  this  country,  locating  at  Wil- 
mington, his  present  home,  Saturday,  Nov. 
30.  Married  in  1845  to  Miss  Isabelle  ! 
A.  Knight,  who  was  born  in  county  of 
Kent,  England ;  they  have  one  child  by 
adoption — Bertha.  Mr.  Hart  is  a  member 
of  the  following  Masonic  bodies,  Wil- 
mington Lodge,  No.  208.  and  Wilmington 
Chapter,  No.  142. 

JOHN  HOLMES,  contractor  and  build- 
er, Wilmington ;  born  in  Glasgow,  Scot- 
land, Dec.  17,  1832  ;  came  to  this  country 
in  1857,  stopping  for  a  short  time  in  Chi- 
cago, and  locating  in  Wilmington,  his 
present  home,  in  October  of  that  year, 
where  he  engaged  in  contracting  and 
building;  in  1867,  the  firm  of  Clute  & 
Holmes  built  the  planing-mill  which  they 
operated  in  connection  with  contracting 
and  building  for  several  years.  Married 
in  1862  to  Miss  Adeline  E.  Kelley,  who 
was  born  in  Wesley  Tp.,  this  county ;  five 


children  by  this  union,  four  living — Fred 
G-.,  Mabel,  Isabelle  and  James;  Frankie 
died  in  1864.  Mr.  Holmes  is  a  member 
of  Talmud  Lodge,  No.  24,  Knights  of 
Pythias. 

JOHN  D.  HENDERSON,  Henderson 
&  Stewart,  dry  goods,  Wilmington ;  born 
in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  December,  1814, 
where  he  resided  until  his  removal  to  Illi- 
nois in  1845,  locating  at  Joliet  in  the 
spring  of  that  year ;  in  connection  with 
the  work  on  the  Illinois  &  Michigan 
Canal,  then  in  progress,  he  superintended 
the  work  on  the  upper  dam  at  Joliet ;  in 
May,  1848,  he  removed  to  his  present 
home,  and  engaged  in  mercantile  business, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Bowen  &  Hender- 
son, which  continued  until  1857,  when 
Dr.  Bowen's  interest  was  purchased  by  Greo. 
T.  Stewart,  member  of  the  present  firm. 
Mr.  Henderson  has  served  in  various 
official  capacities  ;  was  member  of  the  first 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  town  of  Wil- 
mington, in  1854;  also  served  as  Mayor  of 
the  city  in  1867,  1868  and  1869.  Mar- 
ried in  1837  to  Miss  Helen  M.,  daughter 
of  Daniel  Johnson,  of  New  York ;  by 
this  union  there  are  two  children — Helen 
L.  and  Mary  A. 

JOHN  B.  JOHNSON  (Johnson  & 
Rowe),  contractors  and  builders,  Wilming- 
ton; born  in  Erie  Co.,  Penn.,  Feb.  8, 1830  ; 
removed  to  Illinois  in  October,  1851,  lo- 
cating in  Wilmington,  his  present  home, 
where  he  engaged  in  contracting  and  build- 
ing, which  he  has  followed  for  nearly 
twenty-seven  years  ;  in  1868,  he  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Cayuga  Chief  Manufactur- 
ing Co.,  and  spent  several  years  .in  traveling 
throughout  the  Northwestern  States,  re- 
siding at  Aurora  during  that  period. 
Married  in  1854  to  Miss  Anna  M.  Jones, 
who  was  born  in  Madison  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  two 
children  by  this  union — William  H.  and 
Anna  H.  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  member  of 
the  following  Masonic  bodies  :  Wilmington 
Lodge,  No.  208,  Wilmington  Chapter  No. 
142,  and  Joliet  Commandery,  No.  4. 

ORREN  S.  KNAPP,  teaming,  Wil- 
mington ;  born  in  Channahon  Tp.,  this 
county,  Oct.  14,  1836 ;  his  father,  Ira  0. 
Knapp,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  the 
township,  locating  there  in  the  fall  of  1834, 
and  now  resides  on  the  original  claim  made ; 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  removed  to  Wil- 
mington Tp.  in  1860,  locating  on  a  farm 


806 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


on  Sec.  4,  where  he  resided  until  1872, 
removing  to  Wilmington,  his  present  home, 
that  year  ;  owns  320  acres  of  land,  valued 
at  $12,800.  Married  in  1858  to  Miss 
Elizabeth  C.,  daughter  of  Henry  Althouse; 
she  was  born  in  Florence  Tp.,  this  county; 
five  children — Ira  0.,  Minnie  E.,  Herman, 
Mason  and  Samuel. 

TOWNSEND  W.  KAHLER,  grocery 
and  bakery,  Wilmington ;  born  in  Colum- 
bia Co.,  Penn.,  Aug.  15,  1836,  where  he 
resided  until  his  removal  to  Illinois,  in 
May,  1859,  locating  in  Florence  Tp.,  this 
county,  where  he  engaged  first  in  teaching, 
and  afterward  in  farming ;  removed  to 
Wilmington,  his  present  home,  in  1872, 
and  engaged  in  his  present  business,  under 
the  firm  name  of  McQueen,  Kahler  &  Co., 
which  was  soon  after  changed  to  McQueen 
&  Kahler,  and,, two  years  later,  he  sold  his 
interest  in  the  firm,  and  commenced  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account ;  owns  eighty 
acres  of  land  in  Florence  Tp.,  valued  at 
$3,000,  and  city  property  to  the  value  of 
$1,000.  Served  as  Town  Clerk,  in  Flor- 
ence Tp.,  two  years,  and  member  of  the 
Board  of  School  Trustees,  in  this  town- 
ship. Married  in  1858  to  Miss  Emily 
Price,  who  was  born  in  Columbia  Co., 
Penn. ;  one  child  by  this  union: — Clarence 
H.  Mr.  K.  is  a  member  of  Wilmington 
Lodge,  No.  301,  I.  0.  0.  F. 

SOLOMON  LOUER,  clothing  and 
gents'  furnishing  goods,  Wilmington  ;  born 
in  Bavaria,  Germany,  March  26,  1826 ; 
came  to  this  country  1845,  locating  in 
Greene  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  resided  until 
1852,  then  removed  to  Massachusetts; 
thence  to  Illinois  the  following  year, 
locating  at  Joliet,  where  he  engaged  in 
his  present  line  of  trade,  and  is  now  the 
oldest  established  house  in  the  line  of 
clothing  and  gents'  furnishing  goods  in 
Will  Co.;  in  1866,  he  established  his  Wil- 
mington store,  continuing  both  houses  un- 
til 1875,  when  he  sold  his  stock  at  Joliet. 
Married  in  1857  to  Miss  Regina  Bohm, 
who  was  born  in  Bavaria,  Germany  ;  nine 
children  by  this  union,  six  of  whom  are 
living — Albert,  Charles,  Helen,  Emma, 
Cora  and  Daisy;  lost  three — Hedwig, 
Henry  and  Edward. 

ADDISON  I.  LYON,  restaurant,  Wil- 
mington ;  born  in  Allegany  Co.,  N.  Y., 
April  23,  1828;  removed  to  Michigan  in 
early  childhood  with  his  parents,  who  set- 


tled in  Kalamazoo  Co.,  that  State,  in  1833;: 
in  December,  1854,  he  removed  to  Kanka- 
kee  City,  Kankakee  Co.,  111.,  then  a  town 
of  about  300  inhabitants,  where  he  openc 
a  harness-shop,  but  soon  sold  to  anqthe 
party ;  these,  he  says,  were  hard  time 
and,  in  order  to  pay  his  taxes,  whic 
amounted  to  the  sum  of  only  sixty  cent 
he  borrowed  a  gun  and  ammunition,  went 
out  in  search  of  game,  and,  at  three  shot 
secured  one  dozen  prairie  chickens,  sole 
them  for  $1.25,  and  met  the  demand 
against  him  ;  he  followed  farming  for  some 
ten  years  near  the  city,  and,  in  1866, 
removed  to  Wilmington,  his  present  home. 
Served  as  member  of  the  City  Council  ir 
1870  and  1871;  City  Marshal  in  187$ 
and  1873.  Married  in  1851  to  Miss  Sarah 
E.  Stewart,  who  was  born  in  New  York ; 
she  died  April  28,  1861 ;  three  childrer 
two  living — Worthington  A.  and  Edwar 
S.  Anna  E.  died  May  28,  1861.  Ws 
again  married  in  1862  to  Mrs.  Mary 
Robinson  (Marks)  ;  she  was  born  in  Sent 
Co.,  N.  Y.  Mr.  L.  is  a  member  of  Wil 
Lodge,  No.  301,  I.  0.  0.  F.,  and  Talmuc 
Lodge,  No.  24,  K.  of  P.,  at  Braidwood,  111. 

MOSES  MERRILL,  farmer  and  local 
preacher ;  P.  0.  Wilmington ;  Mr.  Mer- 
rill is  a  native  of  New  Hampshire ;  he  wa» 
born  at  Warren,  in  that  State.  Married 
his  wife  at  Haverhill,  and  removed  to 
Ohio  in  1838,  settling  near  Cleveland,  at 
the  village  of  Brooklyn  ;  in  early  life,  his 
plan  was  to  enter  the  ministry ;  he  com- 
menced his  course  of  education  to  that 
end ;  he  fitted  for  Dartmouth  College  at 
Newbury,  Vt.,  but  a  severe  illness,  long 
protracted,  hindered  his  carrying  out  this 
idea ;  nevertheless,  he  pursued  his  classical 
studies,  of  which  he  was  very  fond,  until  he 
had  read  the  whole  college  course ;  he  has 
kept  up  his  Greek  to  the  present  day,  and 
now,  at  the  age  of  78,  he  reads  it  with 
as  much  ease  and  correctness  as  a  college 
professor;  at  Brooklyn  he  established  a 
school — Brooklyn  Academy — of  which  he 
was  Principal  for  several  years,  but  his 
health  failing  him,  he  made  up  his  mind  to 
remove  West  and  engage  in  farming ;  he 
cime  to  this  State  in  1849,  and  settled  at 
Riverside,  his  present  place  of  residence, 
one  mile  below  Wilmington. 

JOHN  W.  MERRILL,  attorney,  Wil- 
mington ;  is  the  son  of  Moses  Merrill,  and 
was  born  at  Rumney,  N.  H.,  Aug.  30. 


WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


SOT 


;  he  received  his  education  chiefly  at  ' 
Brooklyn    Academy,    Ohio,  pursuing   his 
classical  studies,  however,  under  his  father's  i 
private  tuition ;  concluding  to  make  law 
his  profession,  he  entered  Judge  Norton's  , 
office  at  Joliet  in  1856,  and  after  reading 
the  usual  length  of  time  he  was  admitted 
to  practice  ;  his  diploma,  signed  by  Sidney 
Breese,  Chief  Justice  of  the  State,  is  dated 
April  19,  1859;    after  spending  a  year  or  \ 
more  in  a  real  estate  office  in  Chicago  as  an 
examiner  of  titles,  etc.,  he  returned  to  Wil- 
mington, in  this   county,  and  opened  an  | 
office,  where  he  has  continued  to  practice 
as  an  attorney  up  to  the  present  time. 

THOMAS  S    McINTOSH,  dealer  in 
paints,   oils,   varnish,  glass,  brushes,  wall 
paper,  etc.,  Wilmington,  111. ;  born  in  Wil- 
mington, Will  Co.,  111.,  Aug.  25, 1841 ;  his  ; 
father,  Daniel  Mclntosh,  who  was  a  native 
of  Scotland,  was  among  the  first  settlers  of  j 
Wilmington,  locating  here  in  the  winter  of  ! 
1836   and   1837.      Thomas    S.   followed 
farming  till  1864,  and  then  engaged  in  his 
present  business,  which  he  has  followed 
since.     Married  in  1866  to  Miss  Emma 
E.,  daughter  of  Charles  Cottel;  she  was  j 
born  in  Washington  Co.,  Me.;  four  chil- 
dren by  this  union,  three  living — Alice,  ! 
Nellie  and  Emma.     Laura  died  Aug.  8, 
1878.      Mr.    Mclntosh   enlisted    in    the  i 
138th  I.  V.  I.  in  1864,  and  served  until  the  i 
close  of  the  war.     Member  of  Will  Lodge, 
No.  301,  I.  0.  O.  F. 

THOMAS  McQUEEN  (McQueen  & 
Morris),  grocery  and  bakery,  Wilmington  ; 
was  born  in  the  city  of  Paisley,  Scotland, 
Sept.  12,  1841,  but  removed  to  this  coun- 
try in  early  childhood  with  his  father's 
family  ;  they  settled  in  Fulton  Co.,  N.  Y., 
in  1842,  where  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
resided  until  1861,  then  removed  to  Illi- 
nois, locating  in  Florence  Tp.,  this  county, 
and  engaged  in  farming ;  served  as  Col- 
lector, Postmaster  and  School  Director,  one 
term  each.  On  the  7th  of  August,  1862, 
he  enlisted  in  Co.  A,  100th  Regt.  I.  V.  I.; 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Chickamauga, 
Sept.  19,  1863,  and  discharged  the  follow- 
ing June,  on  account  of  gunshot  wounds. 
Removed  to  Wilmington  in  1 872,  and  en- 
gaged in  his  present  business.  Married  in 
1870  to  Miss  Helen  Corbett,  who  was 
born  in  Florence  Tp.,  this  county.  Mr. 
McQueen  is  a  member  of  Bowen  Post, 
No.  17,  G.  A.  R. 


WILLIAM  McINTOSH,  manufacturer 
of  farm-wagons,  Wilmington  ;  was  born 
in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  12,  1825, 
but  resided  in  different  parts  of  the  State, 
his  father  being  engaged  on  public  works 
for  many  years  ;  removed  to  Illinois  with 
his  father's  family  in  the  winter  of 
1836-37,  making  the  journey  by  land,  in 
wagons  and  sleighs,  locating  first,  in  Flor- 
ence Tp.,  this  county,  two  miles  east  of 
the  present  city  of  Wilmington;  he  re- 
moved to  Wilmington  1843,  and  learned 
blacksmithing,  and,  in  1856,  engaged  in- 
the  manufacturing  business.  Married  in 
1847,  to  Miss  Sarah,  daughter  of  John 
Fisher ;  she  was  born  in  Pennsylvania  ; 
five  children  by  this  union — Elizabeth, 
(wife  of  I.  Barker),  Margrie  (wife  of  D. 
Hart),  Mary,  Fannie  and  William. 

FRANKLIN  MITCHELL,  market 
gardener,  Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  what 
is  now  Sullivan,  then  a  part  of  Chester 
Co.,  N.  H.,  Feb.  8,  1812,  but  removed 
when  quite  young,  to  Windsor  Co.,  Vt., 
where  he  resided  until  1833  ;  thence  to 
Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.;  in  April,  1836,  he 
removed  to  Illinois,  locating  at  Joliet, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business,  and,  four  years  later,  to  Wil- 
mington, continuing  in  the  same  business 
for  one  year,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Mitchell  &  Rolfe;  in  1841,  he  opened  the 
Eagle  Hotel,  in  a  building  on  the  corner 
where  A.  D.  Wright's  store  now  stands,  and, 
in  1844,  he  erected  a  brick  building  for 
that  purpose,  which  was  the  first  hotel 
built  in  the  city  ;  this  he  occupied  until 
1862 ;  owns  sixty  acres  of  land,  valued  at 
$1,800,  and  city  property  valued  at 
$12,000  ;  member  of  the  Board  of  Town 
Trustees,  in  1857  ;  also  served  as  County 
Commissioner  some  twelve  years.  Married 
in  1838,  to  Miss  Hannah  Poor,  who  was 
born  in  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.;  she  died 
Jan.  15,  1847;  four  children  by  this 
union — William  C.,  Mary  A.  (wife  of  Wm. 
H.  Vaughn),  and  Carrie  P.  (wife  of  Thos. 
C.  Linton),  and  Charles  F.,  who  enlisted 
in  Co.  A,  100th  Regt.  I.  V.  I.,  in  August, 
1862 ;  commissioned  Second  Lieutenant 
Aug.  30,  1862,  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Stone  River,  Tenn.,  Dec.  31, 1862  ;  died  of 
wounds,  Jan.  4,  1863.  His  second  mar- 
riage was  in  1850,  to  Miss  Ann  Van  De 
Car,  who  was  born  in  Canada  ;  four  chil- 
dren— Josephine  (wife  of  John  R.  Getty), 


808 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


Louisa  (wife  of  Frank  Burnham),  Fran 
D.  and  Georgiana.  Mr.  Mitchell  is  a 
member  of  the  following  Masonic  bodies  : 
Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208,  Wilmington 
Chapter,  No.  142,  and  Joliet  Commandery, 
No.  4. 

H.  F.  MOULTON,  conductor  C.,  A. 
&  St.  L.  R.  R.,  Wilmington  ;  was  born 
near  Portland,  Me.,  Feb.  4,  1830  ;  when 
about  15  years  of  age,  he  left  his  native 
State  and  went  to  Massachusetts,  where  he 
was  employed  for  several  years  in  the  fac- 
tories at  Lowell  and  Lawrence ;  in  1853, 
he  removed  to  Illinois,  locating  at  Bloom- 
ington,  McLean  Co.,  and,  on  the  1st  of 
August  of  the  following  year,  engaged  as 
brakeman  on  the  Chicago  &  Alton  R.  R., 
which  was  put  in  operation  that  season ; 
in  the  spring  of  1855,  he  took  charge  of  a 
freight  train,  as  conductor,  and  in  Febru- 
ary, 1861,  was  transferred  to  a  passenger 
train,  which  position  he  has  held  for  over 
seventeen  years,  without  loss  of  time,  and 
is  now  the  oldest  in  the  service  of  any 
conductor  on  the  road.  Married  in  1856 
to  Miss  Josephine  Connor,  who  was  born 
in  New  York  City  ;  four  children  by  this 
union — Belle,  Jennie,  Chai'les  and  Harry. 
Mr.  Moulton  is  a  member  of  the  following 
Masonic  bodies :  Wilmington  Lodge,  No. 
208,  Joliet  Chapter,  No.  27,  and  Joliet 
Commandery,  No.  4.  His  longest  absence 
from  service  on  the  railroad  was  during 
his  trip  to  England,  from  June  to  Sep- 
tember, 1877. 

DAVID  R.  MONTEITH,  Bogart  & 
Monteith,  Center  Market,  Wilmington; 
born  in  Watertown,  Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Oct.  26,  1836,  but  removed  to  Illinois  in 
early  childhood  with  his  father's  family, 
locating  at  Monteith's  Grove,  Florence 
Tp.,  this  county,  in  1840 ;  his  father 
superintended  Gov.  Matteson's  woolen- 
mill  at  Joliet,  for  several  years,  but  on 
account  of  failing  health  removed  to  Wil- 
mington ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  made 
the  overland  journey  to  Montana  in  1866, 
with  the  Montana  Gold  &  Silver  Mining 
Co.  of  Philadelphia ;  from  Ft.  Laramie 
they  took  the  new  route,  called  Boseman's 
Cut-off,  300  miles  nearer  than  the  old 
Salt  Lake  route,  reaching  Virginia  City  on 
the  4th  of  October ;  this  route,  though 
less  in  distance,  was  far  more  dangerous  ; 
Mr.  M.  acted  as  scout  during  the  trip, 
having  encounters  with  the  Indians  nearly 


every  day ;  his  letters  to  the  Independent 
of  April  3  and  Sept.  25,  1867,  give  a  full 
account  of  the  trip  and  life  in  the  mines 
during  his  stay ;  he  visited  mines  in 
Washington  Territory,  Montana,  Idaho, 
California  and  Utah,  returning  in  1869; 
owns  184  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $7,200. 
Married  in  1869,  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Bell, 
who  was  born  in  Ohio ;  three  children 
by  this  union — Mamie,  Fred  and  Ern- 
est. 

ARCHIBALD  J.  McENTYRE  (de- 
ceased), Wilmington  Tp.;  born  in  Fulton 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  in  1814;  removed  to  Illinois 
in  1837,  locating  in  Wilmington,  where  he 
first  engaged  in  farming ;  afterward,  in 
mercantile  pursuits  for  several  years ;  at 
the  organization  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Wilmington,  he  became  Presi- 
dent, which  position  he  held  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the 
2d  day  of  March,  1877.  In  1865,  he 
was  elected  to  the  State  Legislature  on  the 
Republican  ticket,  serving  during  the 
session  of  1865-66.  Married  in  July, 
1845,  to  Miss  Jane  Whitten,  who  was 
born  in  Darling,  Canada;  by  this  union 
there  were  ten  children,  seven  of  whom 
are  living — Annie  (wife  of  M.  N.  M. 
Stewart),  Nettie,  Mary,  Maggie,  Archibald 
J.,  Lottie  and  Nellie ;  three  deceased — 
John,  Andrew  and  George. 

DENNIS  E.  O'HERON  (D.  E. 
O'Heron  &  Co.),  grocers,  Wilmington 
bora  in  Cork,  Ireland,  Dec.  4,  1846,  but 
removed  to  this  country  in  early  child- 
hood, with  his  parents,  locating  in  New 
York  City  in  1852,  where  he  resided 
about,  five  years  ;  then  removed  to  Illinois, 
locating  at  Wilmington,  his  present  home  ; 
his  early  experience  in  his  present  line  of 
business  was  first  with  D.  L.  Bachelors, 
and  afterward  with  Randall  Bros.,  of  Wil- 
mington, serving  also  as  clerk  in  the  stores 
of  Geo.  Monroe  &  Sons,  and  Chittenden, 
Northup  &  Co.,  of  Joliet;  in  March, 
1876,  he  commenced  business  at  his  pres- 
ent location,  on  his  own  account,  Mr.  W. 
C.  Mitchell  becoming  a  partner  in  April  of 
the  present  year.  Married  in  1875,  to 
Miss  Sarah  M.,  daughter  of  Norman  H. 
Case ;  she  was  born  in  Connecticut ;  two 
children  by  this  union,  one  living — Katie 
May;  Norman  C.  died  Sept.  17,  1876. 
Mr.  O'Heron  is  a  member  of  the  follow- 
ing Masonic  bodies  :  Wilmington  Lodge, 


WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


809 


No.  208,  Wilmington  Chapter,  No.  142, 
an<l  Joliet  Commandery,  No.  4. 

JAMES  A.  PERRY,  proprietor  of 
Riverview  Stock  Farm ;  P.  0.  Wilming- 
ton ;  born  in  Whitestown,  Oneida  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Aug.  6,  1832;  where  he  resided  until 
1859,  when  he  removed  to  Illinois,  and, 
after  a  short  stay  in  Chicago,  located  in 
Florence  Tp.,  this  county,  in  the  fall  of 
that  year  ;  he  followed  farming  for  several 
years,  and  afterward  engaged  in  the  grain 
trade  at  El  wood  ;  since  1864,  he  has  been 
engaged  in  raising,  importing  and  export- 
ing Norman  and  English  thorough-bred 
horses,  having  now  on  hand  a  large  num- 
ber of  fine  horses  at  Riverview  Stock 
Farm,  near  Wilmington ;  owns  425  acres 
of  good  farm  land.  Married  in  1854  to 
Miss  Esther  Rockfeleller,  who  was  born 
in  the  State  of  New  York. 

SAMUEL  RAUWORTH,  proprietor 
of  the  City  Meat  Market,  Wilmington ; 
born  in  Sheffield,  England,  May  12, 1842  ; 
came  to  this  country  in  October,  1860,  lo- 
cating in  Wilton  Tp.,  this  county,  where 
he  engaged  in  farming,  working  in  the 
packing  houses  in  the  city  of  Chicago  dur- 
ing the  winters ;  in  1870,  he  returned  to 
England,  remaining  there  about  six  months ; 
on  his  return,  he  took  up  his  residence  at 
former  location,  where  he  resided  until 
1877;  then  locating  in  this  city  and  en- 
gaging in  his  present  business ;  owns  120 
acres  of  land  in  Iowa,  valued  at  63,240. 
Married  in  1864  to  Miss  Hannah,  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  Robinson  ;  she  was  born  in 
Edwinstowe,  England  ;  had  seven  children 
by  this  union,  five  living — Lotty,  Harry, 
Ellen,  Gracie  D.  and  Eddie  S.;  Joseph  B. 
died  Feb.  26,  1866,  and  Florence  P.  Feb. 
28,  1869.  Mr.  R.  is  a  member  of  Will 
Lodge,  No.  301,  I.  0.  O.  F. 

WESLEY  P.  RAY,  (Ray  &  Thomp- 
son, dealers  in  grain,  coal,  live  and  dressed 
hogs),  Wilmington  ;  born  in  Monroe,  Sara- 
toga Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  28,  1825  ;  removed 
to  Western  New  York  when  about  7  years 
of  age,  his  parents  locating  in  Chautauqua 
Co.;  in  1840,  he  removed  to  the  State  of 
Michigan;  thence  to  Illinois  in  1844,  lo- 
locating  at  Lockport,  this  county,  and  four 
years  later,  came  to  Wilmington,  his  pres- 
ent .home  ;  in  1850,  he  went  to  California, 
by  the  way  of  the  Isthmus,  reaching  San 
Francisco,  then  a  city  of  tents,  in  Novem- 
ber of  that  year,  and  engaged  in  mining 


operations,  which  he  followed  till  1855  ; 
then  returned  to  the  States  ;  his  second 
trip  to  the  Pacific  Slope  was  made  in  1860, 
by  the  overland  route ;  spent  considerable 
time  in  prospecting  in  the  mining  districts 
of  California,  Arizona,  Utah,  New  Mexico, 
Montana,  and,  in  1862, his  exploring  party 
(led  by  a  Mr.  Grimes,  who  was  killed  in  an 
encounter  with  the  Indians)  discovered  the 
Boise  mines  of  Idaho ;  he  was  also 
among  the  first  at  the  Owyhee  mines,  and 
in  1863,  he  discovered  the  Poor  Man's 
Mine,  which  proved  to  be  one  of  the  richest 
silver-mines  of  the  Pacific  Slope.  Married 
Jan.  1,  1850,  to  Miss  Susan  L.  Tuttle,  who 
was  born  near  Portland,  Me.;  had  five  chil- 
dren by  this  union,  four  living — R.  Belle, 
Joseph  H.,  Georgie  L.  and  Susie ;  Frank 
died  in  1876  from  injuries  sustained  while 
getting  off  the  cars  near  Joliet. 

JOHN  P.  RANSOM,  Justice  of  the 
Peace  and  insurance  agent,  Wilmington  ; 
born  in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  29, 
1817  ;  removed  to  Illinois  in  Jime,  1844, 
locating  in  what  is  now  Richmond  Tp.,  Mc- 
Henry  Co.;  served  as  Assessor  in  that  town 
in  1850 ;  this  was  the  first  assessment 
made  after  the  township  organization ;  he 
followed  farming  until  1851  ;  then  en- 
gaged as  millwright  till  1862.  Enlisted  in 
Co.  H,  95th  111.  V.  I.,  Aug  13,  1862  ; 
commissioned  Second  Lieutenant  in  June, 
1863,  having  command  of  the  company  in 
all  the  following  engagements  :  Champion 
Hill,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Red  River  cam- 
paign, Guntown,  Miss.,  siege  of  Mobile 
and  battle  at  Nashville  ;  mustered  out  Aug. 
22,  1865.  Removed  to  Wilmington  in 
1868,  and  engaged  in  the  grocery  business ; 
was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1 873 ; 
re-elected  in  1877.  Married  in  December, 
1842,  to  Jane  M.  Denison,  who  was  born 
in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.;  she  died  in  1849  ; 
had  two  children  by  this  union,  one  living 
— Mariah,  widow  of  Eugene  I.  Thomas ;  El- 
len, wife  of  A.  Brown,  died  in  June,  1866. 
He  was  again  married  in  1850  to  Louisa 
A.  Streeter  ;  she  was  born  in  Ontario  .Co., 
N.  Y.;  had  two  children,  one  living — John 
C.;  Martha  died  in  1855.  Mr.  R.  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208,  A.,  F. 
&  A.  M.  and  Will  Lodge,  No.  301,  I.  0. 
0.  F. 

ORLANDO  D.  ROWE  (Johnson  & 
Rowe.  contractors  and  builders),  Wilming- 
ton ;  born  in  Warren  Co.,  Penn.,  Jan.  12, 


810 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


1843;  moved  to  Ottawa  Co.,  Mich.,  in 
1855,  where  he  resided  until  1870,  remov- 
ing; to  Topeka,  Kan.,  that  year ;  came  to 
Wilmington,  his  present  home,  in  1875. 
Married  in  1871  to  Miss  Frances  E.  Spen- 
cer, who  was  born  in  Branch  Co.,  Mich., 
in  1853 ;  have  three  children  by  this 
union — Elanor  M.,  Mary  A.  and  Eva  M. 
Mr.  Rowe  is  a  member  of  Wilmington 
Lodge,  No.  208,  A.,  F.  &  A.  M.  He  en- 
listed in  the  3d  Mich.  V.  I.  in  June,  1861 ; 
transferred  to  Battery  K,  first  U.  S.  Artil- 
lery, Jan.  3,  1863,  and  remained  in  the 
service  until  June  10,  1864;  participated 
during  his  term  of  service  in  the  following 
battles:  Blackburn's  Ford,  July  18,  19, 
and  20, 1861  ;  first  Bull  Run,  July  21 ;  all 
engagements  on  the  Peninsula  up  to  and 
including  the  battle  of  Williamsburg ; 
Chancellorsville,  May  4,  1863;  Beverley's 
Ford,  June  9  ;  Upperville,  June  19,  20  and 
21;  Gettysburg,  Md.,  July  3 ;  Williamsport, 
July  6 ;  Boonsboro,  July  7  and  8 ;  Brandy 
Station,  Aug.  1  and  4;  Culpeper,  Sept.  13; 
Rapidan  River,  Sept.14;  movements  against 
Richmond  from  May  4  to  June  10,  1864. 

FRANCIS  SHIELDS,  groceries  and 
farming,  Wilmington;  born  in  County 
Roscommon,  Ireland,  in  1833  ;  removed 
to  this  country  in  1852,  locating  in  New 
York  City,  where  he  engaged  as  clerk  in  a 
wholesale  dry  goods  house,  and,  two  years 
later,  came  to  this  State,  locating  at  Wil- 
mington ;  in  1856,  he  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business  ;  owns  410  acres  of  land, 
valued  at  $10,450,  and  city  property 
valued  at  $10,000.  Married  in  1857  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Mahar,  who  was  born  in 
Queens  County,  Ireland  ;  nine  children  by 
this  union,  six  of  whom  are  living — Thomas, 
Mary  A.,  Caroline,  Agnes,  William  and 
Julia ;  lost  three — Francis,  died  in  Sep- 
tember, 1862  ;  Michael,  Sept.  29,  1864 ; 
Ann,  Aug.  21,  1868. 

SAMUEL  SILLIMAN,  boots,  shoes, 
hats  and  caps,  Wilmington  ,  born  in  Will- 
iams Co.,  Ohio,  June  3,  1848,  where  he 
resided  until  his  removal  to  Wilmington, 
his  present  home,  in  1870  ;  engaged  in  his 
present  business  in  the  spring  of  1874. 
Married,  in  1877,  to  Miss  Lettie,  daughter 
of  John  Thomson ;  she  was  born  in  the 
city  of  Wilmington ;  they  have  one  child 
— Chauncy  L. 

CHARLES  E.  STINSON  (Trott  & 
Stinson),  homeopathic  physician,  Wil- 


mington; born  near  Bath,  Me.,  Jan.  22r 
1848,  where  he  resided  until  he  came 
West ;  he  received  his  early  education  at 
Litchfield  Academy,  graduating  at  that 
institution  in  1869.  and,  in  September  of 
the  following  year,  removed  to  Illinois, 
locating  at  Wilmington,  where  he  com- 
menced the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  S. 
E.  Trott ;  he  completed  his  course  of 
study  in  the  Hahnemann  Medical  College  of 
Chicago,  and  graduated  with  the  class  of 
'72  and  '73  ;  commenced  the  practice  of 
medicine  in  this  city  in  1873,  and,  the  fol- 
lowing year,  removed  to  Pontiac,  where  he 
continued  his  practice  for  two  years,  re- 
turning to  Wilmington  at  the  expiration  of 
that  time ;  he  is  a  member  of  the  Will 
;  Lodge,  No.  301,  I.  0.  0.  F. 

ELI  D.  SMALL,  dealer  in  lumber  and 
agent  for  the   negotiation   of  loans,  Wil- 
mington;    born  in  Noblesville,   Hamilton 
Co.,  Ind.,  March  5,  1841,  but  removed  to 
Ohio  in  early  childhood,  wiih  his  father's 
'  family  ;  thence  to  this  State  in  1851,  locat- 
i   ing  in  Wilmington  Tp.,  this  county  ;  came 
j   to  the   city    of  Wilmington,    his   present 
,   home,  in   1854;  since   1862,  he  has  been 
engaged  in  the  lumber  trade  and  boating, 
in    connection    with    other    business ;    in 
i   1867,  he  engaged  in  mercantile  business, 
!   under  the  firm  name  of  Small  Bros.,  which 
|   continued  till  January,  1872,  when  he  dis- 
1   posed  of  his  interest  in  the  store,  and  en- 
i  gaged  in   the  lumber  business  on  a  more 
i  extensive  scale,  under  the  firm  name  of  E. 
i  D.    Small   &    Co. ;    they   own    propeller 
Mohawk  Belle,  and  ship  all  lumber  by  way 
!   of  canal  and  river  to  their  lumber-yards  at 
this  place — Horse  Creek    and   Hanford's 
Landing,  the  one  at  Howe  Creek  opened 
in  1875,  and  the  latter  in  1878.     Several 
experiments  have  been  made  by  different 
parties,  and,  up  to  1866,  over  $260,000 
had   been   expended    on    the    Illinois    & 
Michigan  Canal  and  Illinois  River  in  de- 
i  vising  ways  and  means  by  which   steam 
could  be  made  a  cheaper  means  of  trans- 
!  portation  on  the,  canals  than  horse-power ; 
great  credit  is  due  Mr.  Small,  owner  of  the 
Mohawk  Belle,  and  N.  Rullison,  owner  of 
the     Whale,    for     their    persistency    and 
final    success    in    this    undertaking.       In 
June,    1871,    he   was    married    to     Miss 
Kate   W.,  youngest   daughter    of    I.    B. 
McGinnes,  of  Gardner,  111.;  she  was  born 
|  in  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.;    two  children 


WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


811 


by  this  union — Charles  D.  and    Howard 
McG. 

MALCOLM  N.  M.  STEWART,  bank- 
ing,   Wilmington  ;    born    in    Amsterdam,   j 
Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  24,  1834,  j 
and  is  a  son  of  Peter  and  Elizabeth  Stew-  j 
art ;  in  1836,  his  father's  family  removed 
to   Illinois,  locating  in  the  north  part  of  ! 
the  present  city  of  Wilmington,  the  loca-  | 
tion  having  been  selected  by  his  father  the  j 
year  previous  ;  this  has  been  the  home  of  , 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  since  the  above  j 
date.     At  the  breaking-out  of  the  war  in 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  Chicago  Dragoons  | 
(April  17),  being  the  first  volunteer  from  j 
Will  Co.;  on  the  15th  of  July,  1862,  he 
enlisted  in   the   100th  I.  V.  I.,  receiving 
his  commission  of  First  Lieutenant  of  Co.   i 
A  on  the   30th  of  the  following  month  ; 
promoted  to  Captain  in  September,  1864, 
and  on  the  13th  of  March,  1865,  received 
Brevet   Major's   commission ;    during  his 
term  of  service,  he  participated  in  the  fol- 
lowing battles ;   Phillipi,  Rich   Mountain, 
Laurel  Hill,   Chaplin   Hill,  Stone  River, 
Chickamauga,  Rocky  Face  Ridge,  Resaca, 
New  Hope  Church,  Kenesaw  Mountain, 
Peachtree     Creek,      Atlanta,      Columbia, 
Franklin   and    Nashville.       Owns   several 
tracts  of  farm  and  coal   lands ;    also  city 
property.     Married  in  1871,  to  Miss  An- 
nie, eldest  daughter  of  A.   J.   and  Jane 
Mclntyre ;  two  children  by  the  union — 
Jean  and  Margaret.      Mr.  Stewart  is  giv- 
ing considerable  attention  to  thorough-bred 
horses,  having  imported  from  both  France 
arid  England  some  very  fine  stock. 

JAMES  N.  STEWART,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington ;  born  in  Wilmington  Tp., 
Will  Co.,  111.,  July  14,  1838,  and  is  a  son 
of  Peter  Stewart,  who  settled  there  in  the 
spring  of  1836 ;  this  has  been  the  home 
of  Mr.  Stewart  since  childhood,  and  he  is 
the  oldest  native-born  of  Wilmington  Tp. 
now  living  ;  owns  an  undivided  interest  in 
1,400  acres  of  farm  lands.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  City  Council  in  1868,  and 
has  served  as  President  of  the  Board  of 
School  Inspectors  one  term.  In  1863,  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Emily,  daughter  of 
Charles  Stowell ;  she  was  born  in  St. 
Charles,  Kane  Co.,  111. ;  two  children  by 
this  union — Edward  P.  and  Charles  J. 
Mr.  Stewart  is  giving  considerable  atten- 
tion to  raising  fine  cattle  for  Chicago  and 
other  markets. 


DANIEL  STEWART,  deceased;  born 
in  Scotland  in  the  year  17P9  ;  in  1825,  he 
removed  to  this  country,  locating  in  Her- 
kimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  resided  until 
1836,  when  he  removed  to  Illinois,  locating 
near  Wilmington  in  the  fall  of  that  year ; 
here  he  engaged  in  farming,  which  was 
his  occupation  up  to  the  time  of  his  d«ath, 
which  occurred  Aug.  15,  1874.  His  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Calphurnia  Jackson,  of 
Herkirner,  N.  Y.,  was  in  1836 ;  she  sur- 
vived him  but  a  few  years,  her  death  occur- 
ring Nov.  9,  1877  ;  by  this  union,  there 
were  seven  sons,  only  two  of  whom  are 
living — Peter  D.  and  Jerome  B.,  now  res- 
idents of  Wilmington.  Thomas  enlisted 
in  the  39th  I.  V.  I.  in  August,  1861; 
wounded  Oct.  13,  1864,  at  the  battle  of 
Petersburg,  and  died  of  wounds  on  the 
30th  of  the  same  month ;  Lincoln  died  at 
Chicago  May  15,  1875. 

JOHN  D.  SMALL,  general  stock  of 
merchandise,  Wilmington ;  born  in  Find 
lay,  Hancock  Co.,  Ohio,  July  10,  1846 ; 
removed  to  Illinois  in  the  spring  of  1852, 
locating  in  Wilmington;  in  1864,  he 
attended  school  at  Notre  Dame,  Ind.,  and 
four  years  later  commenced  business  on  his 
own  account  in  this  city,  purchasing  the 
stock  of  groceries  owned  by  M.  F.  Blish. 
Married  in  1868  to  Lura  Phelps,  who  was 
born  in  Lawrence,  Mich. ;  three  children 
by  this  union.  Mr.  Small  is  extensively 
engaged  in  the  butter  trade,  having  shipped 
over  100,000  pounds  during  the  past  year. 
ROBERT  C.  THOMPSON  (Ray  & 
Thompson,  dealers  in  grain,  coal,  live  and 
dressed  hogs),  Wilmington  ;  born  in  Grallo- 
wayshire,  Scotland,  Nov.  28,  1828 ;  re- 
moved to  this  country  in  childhood  with 
his  father's  family  in  1833,  stopping  in 
New  York  City  until  the  following  spring, 
when  they  removed  to  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y. ; 
in  1853,  he  removed  to  Illinois,  locating  in 
Wilmington,  his  present  home,  and  soon 
after  -engaged  in  boating  on  the  Illinois 
and  Mississippi  Rivers,  which  he  followed 
some  five  years,  and  then  took  the  position 
of  foreman  for  Taylor  &  Co,  of  Joliet, 
stone  contractors ;  a  few  years  later,  he 
engaged  in  the  grocery  and  provision  busi- 
ness at  Wilmington,  and,  in  1868,  in  the 
grain  trade  under  the  firm  name  of  Ray 
&  Thompson.  Has  served  as  Deputy 
Sheriff  of  Will  Co.  four  years,  Supervisor 
of  Wilmington  Tp.  three  years,  and  mem- 


812 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


ber  of  the  City  Council  six  years.  Mar- 
ried in  1856  to  Miss  Christie  Zuell,  who 
was  born  in  Johnston,  Fulton  Co.,  N.  Y. ; 
one  child — Sarah  L.  Mr.  Thompson 
served  as  foreman  on  the  mason  work  in  the 
construction  of  Rush  and  Madison  Street 
Bridges,  Chicago,  using  the  debris  of  old 
Fort  Dearborn  for  the  abutment  of  the 
former. 

DAVID  C.  THOMPSON,  manufact- 
urer of  carriages  and  farm-wagons,  Wil- 
mington ;  born  in  Wigtonshire,  Scotland, 
Oct.  20,  1820  ;  came  to  this  country  with 
his  father's  family  in  1834,  settling  in 
Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  in  1850,  he  removed 
to  Illinois,  locating  in  Wilmington,  his 
present  home,  and  four  years  later  engaged 
in  his  present  business,  in  which  he  has 
continued  since.  Owns  eighty  acres  of 
land  in  this  county,  valued  at  $1,500; 
eighty  acres  in  Minnesota,  valued  at  $1,000, 
and  city  property  valued  at  $10,000.  Mar- 
ried in  1847  to  Miss  Ellen  Wright,  who 
was  born  in  England ;  she  died  in  1 853 ; 
three  children  by  this  union,  one  living — 
James  W.  John  C.  died  in  1849 ;  Samuel 
in  1853.  Was  again  married  in  1856  to 
Miss  Helen,  daughter  of  H.  D.  Risley; 
she  was  born  in  Salina,  Onondaga  Co..  N. 
Y. ;  five  children  by  this  union,  four  living 
— Ellen  E.,  Jesse  D.,  Frederick  W., 
Helen  J.  Minerva  J.  died  Nov.  24, 
1871. 

STINSON  E.  TROTT  (Trott  &  Stin- 
son),  homeopathic  physician,  Wilmington; 
born  in  Whitefield,  Lincoln  Co.,  Me.,  Oct. 
26,  1842 ;  he  received  his  early  education 
at  the  Maine  Wesleyan  Seminary,  located 
at  Readfield,  Me. ;  in  the  winter  of  1864 
and  1865,  he  attended  lectures  at  the  Com- 
mercial Hospital  and  Eclectic  Medical  In- 
stitute at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  graduating  at 
the  Eahnemajin  Medical  College  at  Chi- 
cago in  1867  ;  he  commenced  the  practice 
of  medicine  in  Iroquois  Co.,  this  State,  in 
1866,  and  two  years  later  removed  to  Wil- 
mington, his  present  home,  where  he  has 
been  in  the  constant  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion since,  having  also  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  business  interests  of  the  city,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  the  water-power, 
being  instrumental  in  securing  the  location 
of  the  paper-mill  and  the  adoption  by  the 
City  Council  of  the  Holly  system  for  pro- 
tecting the  city  from  fire ;  elected  Mayor 
of  the  city  of  Wilmington  in  March, 


1877,  and  is  the  present  incumbent.   Ma 
ried  in  1873  to  Miss  Augusta  J.   Swart 
hout,  who  was  born  in  Romulus.  Seneca 
Co.,  N.  Y. ;    one  child  by  this  union — Jo- 
sephine. 

EDWIN  RUTHVEN  WILLARD, 
physician  and  surgeon,  Wilmington  ;  bora 
in  Aurora,  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  29, 
1829  ;  his  father,  Samuel  Willard,  was 
the  son  of  Nathaniel  Willard,  of  Lancas- 
ter, Mass.  ;  he  received  his  education  at 
Fowler's  and  McElvane's  seminaries,  in 
the  States  of  New  York  and  Michigan, 
and  commenced  the  study  of  medicine  ia 
the  office  of  Samuel  Niles,  M.  D.,  in  1848  ; 
attended  Rush  Medical  College,  Chicago, 
graduating  at  that  institution  in  1852,  lo- 
cating at  Wilmington,  his  present  horner 
the  same  year.  Served  as  Vice  President 
of  Will  Co.  Medical  Society  in  1861,  Sec- 
retary in  1865,  President  in  1876  and 
member  of  the  Board  of  Censors  of  the 
same ;  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Illinois 
State  Medical  Society  and  the  American- 
Medical  Association  ;  his  contributions  to 
medical  literature  consist  of  papers  on 
"  Puerperal  Fever,"  "  Inversion  of  the 
Uterus,"  "  Extraordinary  Surgical  Cases," 
"  Perineal  Section,"  "  Placenta  Prsevia," 
"  Diphtheria,"  etc. ;  he  has  also  furnished 
the  press  with  frequent  contributions. 
During  the  war  of  the  rebellion  he  wa& 
Surgeon  of  the  13th  I.  V.  C. ;  held  also 
the  different  positions  of  brigade,  division- 
and  post  surgeon  ;  he  continued  in  active 
service  in  the  medical  department  until 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  and  during  his 
term  of  service  was  at  the  following  bat- 
tles :  Shiloh,  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Bayou 
Metre,  Austin,  Little  Rock,  Benton, 
Batesville.  Pine  Bluff,  Arkadelphia,  Oko- 
lona,  Little  Missouri  River,  Prairie  de 
Ann,  Camden,  Jenkins'  Ferry,  Cross 
Roads,  Mount  Elba,  Douglas  Landing  and 
Monticello.  Served  as  Supervisor  in  1866 
-67,  School  Inspector  several  terms  and 
member  of  the  City  Council  in  1866-67. 
In  1868,  he  engaged  in  the  drug  business, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Willard  &  Fox, 
and,  the  following  year,  purchased  his  part- 
ner's interest;  owns  315  acres  of  land, 
valued  at  $15,750,  and  city  property  val- 
ued at  $10,000.  Married  Sept.  27, 1853, 
to  Miss  Ann  Mclntosh,  who  was  born  in 
New  York  ;  five  children  by  this  union — 
George  E.,  now  practicing  medicine  in  the 


WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


813 


city  of  Chicago ;  Eugene  S.,  Marcia  G. 
A . .  Samuel  and  Daniel  Mel.  The  Doctor 
has  been  in  the  constant  practice  of  his 
profession  in  this  vicinity  since  1852. 

ANDREW  D.  WRIGHT,  dry  goods, 
Wilmington  ;  born  near  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land, Aug.  6,  1833,  but  removed  to  Can- 
ada in  early  childhood,  with  his  parents ; 
in  1858,  he  came  to  Illinois,  locating  at 
Chicago,  where  for  a  time  he  was  employed 
as  clerk  in  the  wholesale  and  retail  establish- 
ment of  Potter  Palmer;  in  1861,  he  removed 
to  Elgin,  Kane  Co.,  and  engaged  in  the  dry 
goods  business,  under  the  firm  name  of 
Wright  &  Martin  ;  some  two  years  later, 
he  sold  his  interest  in  the  store  to  his 
partner,  and  afterward  was  engaged  in 
business  at  Seneca,  La  Salle  Co.,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Wright  &  Duck ;  re- 
moved to  Wilmington  in  1868,  and  en- 
gaged in  his  present  business.  Married  in 
1863  to  Miss  Susanna  B.  H.  Duck,  who 
was  born  near  Naperville,  111. ;  four  chil- 
dren by  this  union — Archibald  D.,  Mabel 
J.,  Lottie  L.  and  Georgie  L. 

CHARLES  M.  WILLARD,  Wilming- 
ton; born  in  Friendship,  Allegany  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Aug.  25,  1820,  where  he  resided 
until  1859,  then  removing  to  Steuben  Co., 
Ind. ;  while  a  resident  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  he  followed  teaching  for  many  years  ; 
in  March,  1869,  he  came  to  this  State, 
locating  at  Wilmington,  engaging  as  clerk 
in  the  drug  store  of  E.  W.  Willard  for 
several  years.  Mr.  W.  is  a  member  of 
Will  Lodge,  No.  301,  I.  0.  0.  F. 

ERASTUS  W.  WILLARD,  druggist, 
books   and  stationery,  Wilmington ;  born 
in  Allegany  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  22, 1838;  re-  : 
moved  to  Illinois  in  January,  1856,  locat-  j 
ing  at  Wilmington,  where  he  engaged  as  ! 
clerk  in  the  drug  store  of  Dr.  Matthew  J. 
Johnson ;  this  was  the  first  store  of  its  ! 
kind  established  in  the  city  ;  Mr.  Willard's 
present  store  contains  a  part  of  the  furni- 
ture and  fixtures  of  the  former  establish- 
ment, and,  as  a  relic  of  former  days,  has  in   ! 
his    possession    a    druggist's   show-bottle, 
first  owned  by  Dr.  Bowen,  and  then  by  i 
Henderson  &  Stewart,  from  whom  he  pur- 
chased it  and  its  contents,  the  latter  said  to 
have    been    manufactured  at  Alden's  dis- 
tillery,   and  the  age  now  not  less  than  30 
years.    In  1860,  he  returned  to  his  native 
State,  and  enlisted  in  the  23d  N.  Y.  V.  I., 
in  April,  1861,  remaining  in  the  army  till  i 


May,  1863 ;  served  as  Chief  Hospital 
Steward  at  Falls  Church,  Va.,  and  after 
the  army  moved  to  other  points,  he  was 
commissioned  First  Lieutenant  in  the  78th 
N.  Y.  V.  I.,  but  did  not  muster;  in  Mayr 
1863,  he  was  appointed  Enrolling  Officer, 
and  during  the  following  months  enrolled 
the  township  of  Friendship,  Allegany 
Co. ;  returned  to  Illinois  in  September, 
1863,  and  enlisted  in  the  138th  111.  V.  I. 
the  following  April ;  commissioned  First 
Lieutenant  June  21, 1864.  Engaged  in  his 
present  business  in  1865,  and,  two  years 
later,  built  the  store  he  now  occupies. 
Married  in  1871  to  Miss  Jessie  R.,  daughter 
of  Dr.  Daniel  and  Jessie  Duck ;  she  was 
born  near  London,  England  ;  two  children 
— Francis  D.  and  Erastus  J.  Mr.  Willard 
is  a  member  of  the  following  Masonic 
bodies :  Wilmington  Lodge,  No.  208, 

i  Wilmington  Chapter,  No.  142,  and  Joliet 

i   Commandery  No.  4. 

JAMES    WRITTEN,  Cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank,  Wilmington;   born 

1  in  Canada  May  2,  1829,  and  is  a  son  of 
Andrew  and  Janet  (McPhee)  Whitten, 
both  natives  of  Scotland,  the  former  born 
Jan.  12,  1801,  and  the  latter  Dec.  13r 

|  1803;  they  left  Scotland  May  21,  1821, 

i  and  located  to  Canada  the  same  year ;  the 
removal  of  the  family  to  Illinois  was  in 
1838,  locating  first  in  Dresden,  Grundy  Co., 
thence  to  Wilmington  in  1841  ;  the  subject 

1  of  this  sketch,  together  with  his  brother, 
John  Whitten,  J.  W.  Stewart,  and  others 
from  this  place,  made  the  overland  trip  to 
California ;  they  were  afterward  joined  by 
a  company  from  Joliet,  but  became  sepa- 
rated from  both  the  Wilmington  and  Joliet 
companies,  making  the  last  four  to  six 
weeks  of  the  journey  alone,  reaching  the 
Pacific  Slope  in  1850 ;  he  spent  about  two 
years  in  the  mining  districts  of  California 
before  his  return ;  for  several  years  he  was 
engaged  in  merchandising  and  farming 
prior  to  the  opening  of  the  First  National 
Bank  of  Wilmington,  which  was  organized 
in  1863,  and  commenced  business  the  fol- 
lowing year,  at  which  time  he  became 
Cashier,  and  has  since  held  the  position. 
Owns  680  acres  of  coal  lands,  valued  at 
$68,000  ;  500  acres  of  farm  lands,  valued 
at  $30,000,  and  city  property  valued  at 
$20,000. 

ABNER  WRIGHT,  stone  and  brick 
mason,  Wilmington  ;  born  in  Steuben  Co., 


814 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


N.  Y.,  Dec.  27,  1812,  afterward  residing 
in  Livingston  Co.,  that  State,  for  several 
yeais  prior  to  his  coming  West ;  in  1836, 
he  came  to  Illinois,  Wilmington  being  his 
first  location,  which  he  reached  in  Decem- 
ber of  that  year.  Mr.  Wright  has  been 
engaged  in  his  present  business  for  the 


most  part  since  his  residence  here,  a  perk 
of  forty-two  years,  and  in  a  greater  portic 
of  the  buildings  in  this  city  he  can  see 
handiwork.     Owns  forty  acres  of  land 
Ouster  Tp.,  this  county,  valued  at  $1,00( 
also  city  property  in  Wilmington. 


WHEATLAND    TOWNSHIP. 


THOMAS  BURNET,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Tamarack  ;  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1811, 
and  is  the  son  of  James  Burnet,  a  weaver 
by  trade;  Mr.  Burnet,  at  the  age  of  12, 
commenced  to  learn  his  trade — weaver ; 
this  business  he  followed  while  in  Scot- 
land ;  in  1834,  he  emigrated  to  America ; 
he  first  stopped  in  Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y. ; 
here  he  remained  about  one  and  a  half 
years,  then  West  to  Michigan  and  thence 
to  Connecticut ;  from  Connecticut  he  re- 
turned to  New  York,  and,  in  1852,  he 
came  West  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  111.  ; 
here  he  has  remained  ever  since.  Mr. 
Burnet  is  one  of  the  deacons  in  the  Union 
Scotch  Church  in  Wheatland.  Married 
Miss  M.  Willie,  of  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  by 
whom  they  have  three  children.  Mr. 
Burnet  owns  105  acres  of  improved  land. 
He  was  the  cause  of  naming  Tamarack,  as, 
•when  he  came  West,  he  brought  some 
tamarack  trees  with  him ;  these  were 
planted,  and  the  present  post  office  Tama- 
rack derived  its  name  from  these  trees. 

WARREN  W.BOUGHTON,deceased, 
Wheatland  Tp. ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  among  the  first  settlers  of  Wheatland 
Tp. ;  was  born  in  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  10,  1817,  and  was  the  son  of  Orris 
and  Sibyl  Ann  (Newel)  Boughton,  who 
emigrated  West,  with  six  children,  to  Illi- 
nois, and  settled  in  Wheatland  Tp.,  Will 
Co.,  May,  1 842 ;  here  they  set  out  in 
farming.  Orris  Boughton  died  in  August, 
1843,  at  61  years  of  age;  his  wife,  Sibyl 
Ann,  died  in  February,  1860.  Mr.  War- 
ren W.  Boughton  married  Mary  Scott, 
born  in  Geauga  Co.,  Ohio,  Jan.  9,  1822. 
Mr.  Boughton,  in  1850,  started  for  the 
gold-field  of  California,  and  died  on  his 
way,  leaving  a  wife  and  two  children- 
Newel  J.,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  late 
war;  enlisted  (1861)  in  Co.  L,  Boulton's 


Battery,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the 
war;  was  honorably  discharged;  he  died 
in  1876.  William  D.  is  working  on  the 
old  homestead,  engaged  in  farming ;  was 
born  in  Wheatland  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111., 
Feb.  28,  1846.  Married  Miss  Emma  J. 
Boardman,  daughter  of  Franklin  and  Mina 
(Bates)  Boardman,  who  settled  in  Will 
Co.  in  1844. 

JAMES  BARCLAY,  farmer;  P.  0. 
East  Wheatland ;  was  born  in  Ayrshire, 
Scotland,  July  16,  1820,  and  is  the  son  of 
Andrew  Barclay,  a  weaver  by  trade ;  Mr. 
Barclay  learned  the  trade  of  weaver,  and 
was  foreman  in  a  weaving  department ;  in 
1856,  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  came 
direct  to  Will  Co.,  111. ;  here  he  has  re- 
sided ever  since,  engaged  in  farming.  He 
married  Miss  Rachel  McMicken,  of  Scot- 
land. Member  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church. 

FRANKLIN  BOARDMAN,  farmer; 
P.  0.  East  Wheatland ;  this  gentleman  is 
one  of  the  best  known  farmers  in  Wheat- 
land  Tp. ;  was  born  in  Colchester,  Vt., 
March  15,  1818,  and  is  the  son  of  Amos 
and  Harriett  (Ames)  Boardman  ;  father 
was  born  in  Burlington,  Vt.,  October, 
1789  ;  was  a  farmer,  and  also  engaged  in 
the  lumber  business ;  was  a  soldier  of  the 
war  of  1812  ;  he  died  March  17,  1877  ; 
mother  was  born  in  Vermont  July  22, 
1791 ;  died  July  29,  1846.  Mr.  Board- 
man was  raised  on  his  father's  farm ;  in 
1844,  he  emigrated  West,  via  canal  and 
lake,  to  Chicago;  thence  by  wagon  and 
team  to  Will  Co. ;  he  first  lived  with  his 
uncle  two  years;  then  to  the  present 
homestead ;  here  he  has  remained  ever 
since,  engaged  in  farming.  Mr.  Board- 
man has  held  several  offices  of  public  trust ; 
was  Supervisor  in  1854,  1855  and  1856; 
has  held  office  as  Township  School  Treas- 


CHANNAHON 


// 


, 

USWERSIW 


WHEATLAND   TOWNSHIP. 


817 


urrr  since  1852  ;  was  appointed  Postmas- 
ter at  East  Wheatland  in  about  1870.  Mr. 
Boardman  is  a  Republican  in  politics,  and 
a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  of  Plain- 
field.  He  was  married  Sept.  2,  1842,  to 
Mina  Bates,  of  Colchester,  Vt.,  daughter 
of  George  Bates,  who  was  born  in  Thom- 
son, Conn.,  1786,  died  about  1875,  and 
Mary  (Hine)  Bates,  born  in  Colchester, 
Vt,,  March  1,  1788;  died  in  the  fall  of 
1874.  Mr.  Boardman  came  West  and 
landed  in  Chicago,  having  but  $33  in 
money ;  he  came  to  Will  Co. ;  with  hard 
labor  and  good  management,  to-day  owns 
a  fine  improved  farm. 

JAMES  CLOW,  farmer;  P.  0.  East 
Wheatland;  came  to  Will  Co.,  in  1844; 
was  born  in  Dumfriesshire,  Scotland. 

AUGUSTUS  B.  COTTON,  farmer; 
P.  0.  East  Wheatland ;  Justice  of  the 
Peace ;  was  born  in  Isle  of  Wight,  Eng. , 
Sept.  14,  1828,  and  is  the  son  of  William 
and  Jane  (Brett)  Cotton,  who  emigrated 
to  America  in  1841,  with  four  children ; 
came  direct  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled 
in  Plainfield;  here  they  remained  until 
1843;  then  to  Wheatland  Tp.  William 
Cotton  was  born  in  Fresh  Water,  Isle  of 
Wight,  Sept.  28,  1790;  his  wife,  Jane 
Cotton,  was  born  May  15,  1798;  they 
returned  to  England,  and  father  died  at 
Plymouth,  Eng.,  October,  1870 ;  mother 
died  at  Leamington,  Eng.,  May,  1870. 
The  children  are  Caroline  (married  E. 
Clark),  born  Jan.  12,  1818,  died  in  the  fall 
of  1853  ;  John,  born  April  16,  1824,  died  j 
in  February,  1842;  Cornelius,  born  Jan. 
21,  1838,  died  in  September,  1854  ;  Will- 
iam, born  July  6,  1840,  and  Augustus  B., 
who  married  Georgianna  Robins,  of  En- 
gland, daughter  of  James  and  Sarah  Rob- 
ins ;  came  to  Will  Co.  in  September,  1843; 
parents  both  dead. 

DETMAR  DELIUS,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Aurora;  was  born  in  Germany  May  12,  ! 
1812,  and  is  the  son  of  William  Delius.  : 
Mr.  Delius  emigrated  to  America,  and  i 
landed  in  New  York  City  in  1852 ;  he  i 
came  West  and  settled  nfear  Naperville, 
111.;  then  to  the  present  farm ;  he  owns  j 
eighty  acres  here ;  he  and  his  brother  i 
William  have  been  engaged  in  farming;  i 
his  brother  William  is  now  dead,  having  ! 
died  in  August,  1878. 

GEORGE  W.  DA  VIS,  farmer;  P.  0.  ! 
Aurora.      The  subject  of  this  sketch  was 


born  in  Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  and  is  the  son  of 
Jonathan  and  Jerusha  (Lochlin)  Davis, 
who,  in  1842,  emigrated  West  and  settled 
in  Wheatland  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.;  here 
they  lived  until  their  death.  Jona- 
than Davis  was  a  soldier  in  the  war  of 
1812,  died  Jan.  10,  1850,  aged  64  years 
and  6  months ;  Jerusha  Davis  died  Feb. 
9,  1850,  aged  61  years ;  they  came  to  this 
country  very  poor ;  they  first  settled  near 
what  is  now  known  as  the  Vermont  School- 
house,  which  was  erected  by  the  settlers 
from  Vermont,  in  about  1847.  Mr.  Davis 
is  the  only  male  that  is  left  in  the  neigh- 
borhood out  of  a  large  settlement  that  set- 
tled in  here  from  Vermont ;  he  has  been 
engaged  in  farming  and  at  his  trade,  wag- 
on-making, in  Will  and  Grundy  Counties. 
To-day  owns  a  fine  improved  farm  of  160 
acres  of  land.  Married  in  1847,  to  Miss 
Harriet  Curtis,  of  Vermont,  daughter  of 
Thaddeus  and  Charlotte  (Kimble)  Curtis,  of 
New  Hampshire  ;  have  ten  children. 

DAVID  DAGUE,  farmer  and  stock - 
raiser ;  P.  0.  East  Wheatland  ;  was  born 
in  Washington  Co.,  Penn.,  Feb.  9,  1826; 
son  of  Jacob  and  Catharine  (Belman) 
Dague ;  father  was  a  farmer,  now  living  in 
Wayne  Co.,  Ohio,  having  emigrated  there 
when  Mr.  Dague  was  but  6  years  old ; 
here  Mr.  Dague  remained  until  he  came  to 
Will  Co.,  111.,  April  15,  1854;  here  he 
has  remained  ever  since,  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising,  having  brought  to 
Wheatland  Tp.,  the  first  Jersey  stock ; 
this  he  is  engaged  in  breeding  for  dairy 
stock ;  owns  140  acres  of  fine,  im- 
proved land,  and  ranks  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing farmers  of  Will  County.  Married 
Miss  C.  Grill,  of  Pennsylvania,  by  whom 
he  has  had  five  children,  three  living. 

JOHN  EICHELBERGER,  farmer; 
P.  0.  Naperville ;  this  gentleman  was  born 
in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  Dec.  21,  1814, 
and  is  the  son  of  George  Eichelberger,  of 
Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  who  was  a  farmer 
here;  Mr.  Eichelberger  was  brought  up 
on  a  farm  and  farmed  it  through  life  ;  in 
1848,  he  came  West  to  Illinois  and  pur- 
chased fifty -four  acres  of  "land,  paying 
$200  for  the  same  ;  he  returned  East,  and, 
in  1852,  with  his  wife  and  two  children, 
came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled  in 
Wheatland  Tp.;  here  he  has  remained  ever 
since  ;  been  engaged  in  farming,  and,  with 
hard  labor  and  good  management,  to-day 

11 


818 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


owns  a  fine,  improved  farm,  276  acres. 
He  married  Susan  Hembright,  of  Lancas- 
ter Co.,  Penn. 

S.  B.  ERASER,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Plain- 
field';  this  gentleman  was  born  in  Sullivan 
County,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  24,  1832,  and  is  the 
son  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  (Brown) 
Fraser,  natives  of  Ireland,  having  emi- 
grated to  America  when  they  were  young ; 
Mr.  Fraser  was  brought  up  on  his  father's 
farm,  and  has  been  engaged  in  farming  ever 
since ;  in  1847,  he  started  West  with  his 
father  and  mother,  but  on  the  way  his 
mother  took  sick  on  the  lake  and  died  in 
Chicago ;  came  to  Will  Co.  and  first 
settled  near  Plainfield,  then  near  Lock- 
port,  thence  to  Wheatland  Tp.  here  he  has 
remained  ever  since;  owns  to-day  160 
acres  of  fine,  improved  land.  Mr.  Fraser 
married  Miss  Ann  Brown,  daughter  of 
James  Brown. 

DAVID  FRY,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Plain- 
field  ;  was  born  in  Wayne  Co.,  Ohio,  Dec. 
7,  1850,  and  is  the  sou  of  Jacob  and 
Catherine  (Grill)  Fry,  who  emigrated  from 
Pennsylvania  to  Ohio  in  1841,  then,  in 
1854,  to  Wheatland  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.; 
Mr.  Fry  was  brought  up  on  his  father's 
farm,  and  has  farmed  it  through  life.  He 
was  married,  Dec.  19,  1872,  to  Miss 
Mariah  Bopp ;  she  was  born  in  York  Co., 
Penn.,  June  27,  1857,  and  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  William  Bopp,  who  was  born  in 
Saxony,  Germany,  in  July,  1821,  and 
Catherine  (Ganserd)  Bopp,  born  in  Baden, 
Germany,  in  1828;  they  emigrated  to 
America  in  1852  ;  came  to  Illinois  in 
1864.  Mr.  Fry  is  a  member  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  Church,  of  which  Church 
his  father,  Jacob,  is  one  of  the  first 
members.  Have  three  children. 

JACOB  FRY,  farmer;  P.  0.  Plain- 
field  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of 
the  successful  farmers  of  Wheatland  Tp.; 
was  born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  March 
9,  1816,  and  is  the  son  of  Henry  Fry,  a 
farmer ;  Mr.  Fry,  when  he  was  1 2  years 
of  age,  was  sent  out  and  brought  up  among 
strangers,  and  remained  in  his  native  State 
until  1841  ;  he  then  emigrated  West  to 
Ohio,  and  settled  in  Wayne  Co.  ;  here 
he  was  engaged  at  his  trade,  blacksmith- 
ing,  and  remained  until  1854  ;  then  came 
to  Will  Co.  and  settled  in  Wheatland  Tp.; 
here  he  has  remained  ever  since,  engaged 
in  farming.  He  was  married  to  Miss 


Catherine  Grill,  of  Berks  Co.,  Penn. ;  hac 
four  children;    when  he  married,  he  wa 
worth  about  $150  cash ;   he  went  to  worl 
at  his  trade,  blacksmithing,  saved  a  littl 
money,  and  invested  in  land,  the  preser 
farm,  and,  with  hard  labor,  good  manage 
ment  and  industry,  to-day  owns  871  acre 
of  fine,  improved  land,  with  improvement 
that  rank  among  the  first  of  Will   Co. : 
Mr.  Fry  is  one  of  the  first  members  of  the 
German  Lutheran  Church  of  Wheatland 
Township. 

SAMUEL  GRILL,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Plainfield;  was  born  in  Berks  Co.,  Penn.r 
1820,  and  is  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Han- 
nah Grill,  of  Pennsylvania  ;  his  father  was 
a  farmer;  Mr.  Grill  was  brought  up  on 
his  father's  farm  ;  in  1841,  he  moved  to 
Wayne  Co.,  Ohio;  here  he  was  engaged 
in  farming,  and  remained  there  until  he 
came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  in  1854,  and  settled 
on  the  farm  he  now  owns ;  when  he  first 
came  here,  he  was  worth  about  $3,000  ;  he 
invested  in  land,  and  to-day  is  one  of  the 
successful  farmers  of  Will  Co. ;  owns  404 
acres  of  fine,  improved  land.  Married 
Miss  L.  Dague,  by  whom  he  has  had 
eleven  children,  eight  living. 

GEORGE  HERZOG,  farmer;  P.  O. 
Plainfield  ;  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany, 
July  9,  1836,  and  is  the  son  of  George 
and  Razan  (Swenty)  Herzog ;  father  was 
a  farmer ;  Mr.  Herzog  was  raised  on  farm, 
and,  in  1852,  emigrated  to  America,  with 
his  parents  ;  they  first  settled  in  York  Co.r 
Penn. ;  here  they  were  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, and,  in  1858,  he  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Will  Co. ;  here  he  has  remained 
ever  since  ;  Mr.  Herzog  came  to  this  county 
very  poor,  but,  with  hard  labor  and  good 
management,  owns  204  acres  of  land,  with 
improvements  that  rank  with  the  best  in 
Will  Co.  He  married  in  1860  Miss 
Sarah  Grill,  ot  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  by 
whom  he  has  had  five  children,  four 
living.  His  father  is  now  living,  at  the 
good  old  age  of  69  years ;  mother  died  at 
52  years  of  age. 

LEONARD  HAAG,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Aurora;  was  born  in  Germany  Dec.  7, 
1826,  and  is  the  son  of  Peter  Haag,  of 
Germany,  a  weaver  by  trade;  in  1842, 
with  his  father,  mother  and  family,  emi- 
grated to  America;  first  settled  in  New- 
York  State ;  remained  there  about  one 
and  a  half  years,  then  went  West  to  Illi- 


WHEATLAND  TOWNSHIP. 


810 


nois,  and  settled  in  Kendall  Co. ;  thence  to  i 
Kane  Co. ;  here  four  years ;  he  then,  in 
1869,  settled  on  the  present  farm.     Mr. 
Haag    married    Miss    Mary    Bruner,    of 
Germany,   by  whom    he  has   eight  chil- 
dren.    Mr.  Haag  came  to  the  State  very  j 
poor,  but,  with  industry,  he  is  one  of  the  \ 
successful    farmers    of    Wheatland   Tp. ; 
owns  280  acres  of  improved  land. 

CHARLES  KINLEY,  deceased ;  was  | 
born  in  Nova  Scotia,  1821,  and  the  son  of  j 
William  Kinley,  who  was  a  farmer ;  Mr. 
Kinley  was  brought  up  on  his  father's 
farm,  and  engaged  in  farming  through 
life ;  he  came  to  Will  Co.  about  1843,  and 
settled  on  the  present  homestead  with  his 
father  and  mother  and  eight  children;  his 
father,  William  Kinley,  died  in  Oswego, 
111.,  aged  84  years  and  7  months;  Mr. 
Charles  Kinley  was  a  man  who  was  loved 
and  honored  by  his  fellow-men ;  he  died 
June,  1861,  leaving  an  estate  of  200  acres 
of  land,  which  had  been  made  by  hard 
labor  and  good  management,  to  his  wife 
and  five  children.  He  married  in  1849 
Miss  Mary  Vinson,  born  in  Prince  Ed- 
ward Island,  in  1831,  daughter  of  Will- 
iam and  Mary  (Cory)  Vinson,  of  En- 
gland, who  emigrated  to  America  1845; 
now  residents  of  Plainfield,  Will  Co.,  111. 

DANIEL  LANTZ,  farmer;  P.  0.  Au- 
rora ;  this  gentleman  was  born  in  Erie  Co., 
Penn.,  Nov.  23,  1831,  and  is  the  son  of 
Peter  and  Catherine  (Schelly)  Lantz,  of 
Lancaster  Co.,  Penn. ;  father  was  a  farmer, 
and  died  in  Pennsylvania,  at  about  53 
years  of  age ;  his  mother  came  West  to 
Will  Co.,  and  died  in  1870,  at  73  years  of 
age ;  Mr.  Lantz  was  raised  on  a  farm  ;  he 
came  West  with  mother  and  family,  and 
settled  in  Wheatland  Tp. ;  here  they  first 
purchased  eighty  acres  of  land,  set  out  and 
commenced  farming,  and  has  been  engaged 
in  farming  in  Wheatland  Tp.  ever  since ; 
to-day,  owns  a  fine,  improved  farm  of  120 
acres.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Holdi- 
man,  of  Pennsylvania,  by  whom  he  has 
had  ten  children ;  seven  children  living. 
Mr.  Lantz  has  held  several  offices  of  public 
trust ;  was  Constable  some  ten  years  ;  also 
School  Trustee.  Is  a  member  of  the 
Evangelical  Church,  and  is  one  of  the 
Trustees  of  this  Church. 

JOHN  LANTZ,  farmer;  P.  0.  Naper- 
ville ;  was  born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  Nov. 
26, 1815,  and  is  the  son  of  Peter  and  Cath- 


erine (Schelly)  Lantz,  of  Pennsylvania ; 
father  a  farmer ;  Mr.  Lantz  was  raised  on 
his  father's  farm,  and,  in  1850,  came  West 
to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  Wheat- 
land  Tp.;  here  he  has  been  engaged  in 
farming ;  they  first  purchased  eighty  acres 
of  land,  and  Mr.  Lantz,  by  hard  work  and 
good  management,  at  one  time  owned  480 
acres  of  land.  He  married  Annie  M. 
Schott ;  have  six  children — Isaac  V.,  born 
1840  (married  Lena  Staedle,  of  Germany, 
who  died  April,  1876;  four  children;  he 
is  now  farming  the  old  homestead  of  200 
acres);  Jacob,  born  1842  (married  Isa- 
bella Fendeman,  of  Illinois ;  five  chil- 
dren); Betsey  Ann,  born  1843  (married 
Christian  Schaal ;  seven  children)  ;  Sarah 
L.  (married  Israel  Stark ;  seven  children)  ; 
Peter,  born  1 846  (married  Amelia  Minnich, 
of  Pennsylvania ;  two  children) ;  Susan 
born  1850  (married  John  Stoner ;  four 
children).  Mr.  Lantz  has  had  forty  grand- 
children. Is  a  member  of  the  Evangel- 
ical Church. 

JOHN  LEPPERT,  JR.,  farmer ;  P.  0. 
Naperville ;  was  born  in  Baden,  Ger- 
many, Sept.  26, 1833,  and  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Magdalene  (Baum)  Leppert,  of  Ger- 
many ;  they  started  for  America  with  six 
children,  and  landed  in  New  York  City  in 
January,  1854;  they  came  to  Will  Co., 
111.,  and  arrived  in  Wheatland  March  20, 
1854;  here  they  set  out  in  farming;  first 
purchased  the  160  acres  now  owned  by 
Mr.  George  Leppert,  at  810  per  acre ; 
here  they  have  remained  ever  since.  Mr. 
John  Leppert,  Sr.,  waa  born  in  Baden, 
Germany,  Dec.  15,  1804.  Mrs.  Magda- 
lene (Baum)  Leppert  was  born  March 
12,  1803;  she  died  June  11, 1878.  John 
Leppert,  Jr.,  was  married,  Jan.  24,  1861, 
to  Miss  Elizabeth  Studle,  of  Germany; 
have  three  children  ;  own  160  acres  of  fine, 
improved  land,  which  improvement  waa 
made  principally  by  his  father. 

GEORGE  LEPPERT,  farmer ;  P.  0. 
Aurora ;  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  in 
1838,  and  is  the  son  of  John  and  Magda- 
lene (Baum)  Leppert ;  father  a  farmer ; 
was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  Dec.  15, 
1804;  mother  born  March  12,  1803; 
with  six  children  emigrated  to  America, 
and  in  January,  1854,  landed  in  New  York 
City;  they  first  went  to  Ross  Co.,  Ohio; 
here  they  remained  about  two  months, 
then  went  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Wheat- 


820 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


land  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  on  the  farm  that  is 
now  owned  by  Mr.  George  Leppert;  here 
they  set  out  in  farming ;  being  poor,  they 
worked  very  hard,  and  to-day  they  rank 
among  the  successful  farmers  of  Will  Co. 
Mr.  John  Lepperb,  Sr.,  is  one  of  the  first 
members  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church 
of  Wheatland  Tp.;  he  and  Mr.  Jacob  Fry 
were  the  first  Trustees ;  these  gentlemen 
took  a  very  active  part  in  erecting  the 
present  Lutheran  Church  of  Wheatland 
Tp.  Mrs.  Magdalene  Leppert  died  a 
Christian  lady,  June  11,  1878.  Mr. 
George  Leppert  has  been  married  twice ; 
first  wife  was  Miss  Wilmina  Schaefer,  of  < 
Germany ;  died  in  1868 ;  second  wife,  ! 
Miss  Elizabeth  Westphal,  of  Germany;  ! 
two  children — one  by  first  wife  and  one 
by  second  wife.  Owns  160  acres  of 
land. 

JACOB  MATTER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Naperville ;  was  born  in  Dauphin  Co., 
Penn.,  Feb.  1,  1818,  and  is  a  son  of  Chris- 
tian Matter  (was  a  soldier  of  the  war  of 
1812),  was  a  shoemaker  by  trade  and  was 
engaged  in  farming  the  latter  years  of  his 
life.  Mr.  Matter  learned  the  shoemaker 
trade,  but,  on  account  of  his  health,  turned 
his  attention  to  farming ;  moved  to  Jeffer- 
son Co.,  Penn.,  with  his  parents;  here  his 
father  died,  leaving  a  wife  and  five  chil- 
dren. In  1844,  he  came  West  to  Illinois ; 
first  settled  in  Naperville ;  his  first  pur- 
chase was  eighty  acres  of  Government 
land,  at  SI -25  per  acre,  the  present  farm 
now  farmed  by  his  son  Abraham;  Mr. 
Matter  was  a  resident  of  Aurora  eight  ! 
years.  Married  Miss  Nancy  Milliren,  of  I 
Jefferson  Co.,  Penn.,  by  whom  he  has  had 
ten  children — five  boys  and  five  girls. 
Abraham  was  a  soldier  in  the  late  war; 
was  taken  sick  at  Vicksburg,  Miss.;  Was 
honorably  discharged. 

JOHN  McMICKEN,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Aurora ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Ayrshire,  Scotland,  January,  ' 
1815,  and  is  the  son  of  William  McMicken, 
a  shoemaker  by  trade ;  he,  with  wife  and 
four  children,  emigrated  to  America  in 
1843 ;  came  West  same  year  to  Milwaukee, 
Wis.,  then  to  Chicago,  thence  to  Aurora, 
111.;  he  purchased  160  acres  of  Govern- 
ment land,  at  $1.25  per  acre,  situated  on 
Sec.  6,  Wheatland  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  in  1843  ; 
this  is  supposed  to  be  the  first  entry  of 
Government  land  in  that  part  of  Wheat- 


land  Tp.  William  McMicken  inarrie 
Grace  McCracken,  of  Ayrshire,  Scotland; 
both  were  members  of  the  Union  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Scotland,  he  being 
Elder  of  the  Church  for  a  number  of 
years;  he  died  August,  1848,  aged  6J 
years;  she  died  in  1857,  aged  73  yea 
Mr.  John  McMicken  is,  perhaps,  one 
the  best  known  farmers  of  Wheaton  Tp.; 
has  held  several  offices  of  public  trust ;  ir 
1857,  he  was  elected  Assessor  of  Wheat- 
land  Tp.;  this  office  he  filled  until  1877 ;  this 
year  he  was  elected  Supervisor  of  Wheat- 
land  Tp.,  which  office  he  still  holds  ;  also, 
has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  the  last 
twelve  years  ;  in  all  of  these  offices  he  has 
given  entire  satisfaction,  having  proved 
himself  a  gentleman  of  acknowledged  abil- 
ity, whose  duties  have  been  performed  in 
a  faithful  manner.  He  is  a  Republican  ii 
politics.  Mr.  McMicken  was  married  in 
1852  to  Miss  J.  Harvey,  of  Scotland, 
daughter  of  James  Harvey.  Owns  130 
acres  of  fine,  improved  land. 

JAMES  PATTERSON,  farmer;  P. 
0.  East  Wheatland  ;  was  born  in  Dum- 
friesshire, Scotland,  January,  1832,  and  is 
the  brother  of  D.  Patterson,  who  was 
born  in  Dumfriesshire,  Scotland,  Oct.  8, 
1829,  who  came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  set- 
tled in  Wheatland  Tp.  in  1849 ;  came 
here  very  poor,  but,  with  industry,  to-day 
they  own  440  acres  of  land,  with  improve- 
ments that  rank  with  the  best  of  Will  Co ; 
in  1853,  they  purchased  the  present  farm 
from  John  H.  Hall,  who  had  erected  a 
house  12x14,  two  stories  high,  the  first 
floor  used  for  a  horse-stable,  and  the  sec- 
ond story  used  to  sleep  in;  this  house  was 
also  the  home  of  Messrs.  D.  and  J.  Patterson 
for  several  years,  and  is  now  standing  on 
the  farm.  Mr.  D.  Patterson  married  in 
1859  Miss  Jane  Williamson,  of  Scot- 
land, daughter  of  John  Williamson,  a 
farmer  of  Lake  Co.,  111. 

THOMAS  PATTERSON,  farmer;  P. 
O.  East  Wheatland  ;  was  born  in  Scotland 
Jan.  14,  1822,  and  is  the  son  of  John  and 
Jane  (Howell)  Patterson,  of  Scotland ; 
father  was  a  farmer  ;  Mr.  Patterson  emi- 
grated to  America  in  1858,  and,  same 
year,  came  to  Will  Co.,  111.;  here  he  has 
remained  ever  since.  He  married  Miss 
Agnes  Palmer,  of  England ;  have  three 
children,  two  daughters  and  one  son. 
Owns  120  acres  of  improved  land. 


WHEATLAND  TOWNSHIP. 


821 


MUNQO  PATTERSON,  farmer;  P. 
0.  East  Wheatland ;  was  born  in  Dum- 
friesshire, Scotland,  and  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Jane  (Howell)  Patterson ;  his  father 
was  a  farmer ;  Mr.  Patterson  was  raised 
on  his  father's  farm;  in  1841,  he  emi- 
grated to  America,  and  landed  in  New 
York  City ;  he  then  went  to  Wayne  Co., 
N.  Y.;  here  he  was  engaged  in  farming, 
and  remained  thereuntil  1844.  While  in 
New  York,  he  was  married  in  1842  to 
Miss  Agnes  Clow,  of  Scotland.  In  1844, 
they  emigrated  West  to  Illinois,  and  set- 
tled in  Wheatland  Tp.,  Will  Co.;  here  he 
has  remained  ever  since,  engaged  in  farm- 
ing. Mr.  Patterson  is  a  Presbyterian  in 
religion.  Have  six  children ;  John  was 
in  the  late  war ;  enlisted  in  the  52d  I.  V. 
I.,  served  full  time  and  at  the  close  of  the 
war  was  honorably  discharged,  and  is  now 
living  in  Indiana. 

SAMUEL  E.  RANCK,  farmer;  P.  0. 
East  Wheatland ;  was  born  in  Lancaster  Co., 
Penn.,  Jan.  9,  1834 ;  his  ancestry  came, 
in  an  early  day,  from  "der  Faderland," 
and  settled  in  the  State,  purchasing  their 
land  directly  from  William  Penn ;  Mr. 
Ranck  is  able  to  trace  his  descent  in  a  di- 
rect line  through  six  generations,  extend- 
ing through  a  period  of  200  years;  his 
early  life  was  that  of  a  farmer's  son ;  he 
enjoyed  the  advantages  of  the  public 
schools,  and  acquired  a  good  common- 
school  education ;  having  lost  his  father 
when  he  was  14  years  of  age,  his  older 
brother  and  himself  conducted  the  home 
farm  till  he  grew  to  manhood  ;  in  March, 
1859,  he  came  West  to  Illinois,  and  pur- 
chased eighty  acres  in  Du  Page  Tp.,  Will 
Co.,  built  a  residence  thereon,  and  farmed 
it  six  years;  he  then  sold  out,  and  pur- 
chased where  he  now  lives.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1856,  to  Catherine  M.  Emery,  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania ;  she  died  in  1867  ; 
his  second  marriage,  to  Mrs.  Barbara  Mus- 
selman,  occurred  in  1868;  from  first  wed- 
lock, six  children  were  born — Maggie  A., 
Carrie  E.,  Ida  F.,  Mary  C.,  Effie  C.,  Min- 
nie A. ;  of  these,  Mary  C.  is  deceased. 
Owns  165  acres,  valued  at  812,000.  Has 
held  the  office  of  School  Director  for  the 
past  twelve  years.  He  also  owns  160  acres 
in  Texas. 

JOHN  ROBINS,  farmer;  P.  0.  East 
Wheatland ;  was  born  in  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  England,  Feb.  7,  1824,  and  is  the 


son  of  James  and  Sarah  Robins ;  his 
father  was  a  pilot ;  he,  with  wife  and  fam- 
ily in  1843,  emigrated  to  America;  came 
direct  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Wheatland 

j  Tp.;  here  they  purchased  forty  acres  of  land, 
and  built  a  small  house  and  commenced 
farming ;  father  died  the  second  winter 
after  they  came  here ;  mother  died  Oct. 

I  6,  1870,  "aged  78  years. 

DANIEL  SLICK,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Na- 

i  perville  ;  was  born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn., 
Aug.  7,  1823,  and  is  the  son  of  John  and 
Annie  (Stoner)  Slick,  of  Lancaster  Co., 
Penn. ;  father  was  a  carpenter  by  trade  ; 
Mr.  Slick  at  18  commenced  to  learn  his 
trade,  shoemaking,  and  followed  this  prin- 
cipally while  in  Pennsylvania  ;  in  1844, 
he  emigrated  West  to  Illinois,  and  first  set- 
tled in  Du  Page  Co.  While  here,  he 
married  Margaret  Swilly,  of  Lancaster  Co., 
Penn. ;  he  then  came  to  Will  Co. ;  returned 
to  Du  Page ;  thence  to  the  present  farm 
here;  he  has  been  engaged  in  farming  ever 
since ;  Mr.  Slick  first  made  a  purchase  of 
forty  acres  of  Government  land,  at  $1.25 
per  acre ;  owns  to-day  120  acres  of  fine, 
improved  land ;  when  he  came  West  he 
was  very  poor  ;  to-day  is  one  of  the  suc- 
cessful farmers  of  Wheatland  Tp.  Mem- 
ber of  the  Evangelical  Church. 

CHRISTIAN  SCHAAL,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Naperville  ;  was  born  in  Germany  Aug. 
7,  1832,  and  is  the  son  of  Christian  and 
Annie  Mary  (Leib)  Schaal,  of  Germany ; 
emigrated  to  America  in  1856  ;  came  to 
Illinois,  and  was  very  poor  ;  he  first  was 
working  on  a  farm  by  the  month  near 
Naperville ;  then  to  Will  Co. ;  here  he 
worked  very  hard ;  he  saved  his  money, 
invested  in  land,  and  to-day  owns  a  farm  of 
120  acres,  with  good  improvements.  He 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Lantz,  of  Lancas- 
ter Co.,  Penn.,  daughter  of  John  and  Annie 
Mary  Lantz,  who  were  among  the  early 
settlers  of  Wheatland  Tp. ;  have  seven 
children. 

JACOB  STARK,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Na- 
perville ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  and  is  the 
son  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Coller) 
Stark,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  emigrated 
West  in  1844,  with  nine  children,  and 
settled  on  the  present  farm  that  Mr.  Stark 
now  owns ;  here  they  set  out  in  farming 
and  made  all  the  improvements  on  the  farm, 
as  the  country  was  comparatively  new ; 


822 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES 


Mr.  William  Stark  has  retired  from  farm- 
ing, being  in  his  78th  year;  'now  living  in 
Du  Page  County ;  Jacob  Stark  married 
Miss  Mary  1 1  art  man,  daughter  of  Adam 
and  Susan  (Buget)  Hartman,  of  Lancaster 
Co.,  Penn.,  who  emigrated  West  to  Illinois, 
in  1842;  have  ten  children.  Is  a  member 
of  the  Evangelical  Church.  Owns  220 
acres  of  fine,  improved  land. 

ISRAEL  STARK,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Naperville ;  was  born  in  Lancaster  Co., 
Penn.,  Dec.  11,  1842,  and  is  the  son  of 
William  and  Elizabeth  (Coller)  Stark ;  his 
father  was  born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.; 
his  mother  was  born  near  Philadelphia,Penn; 
in  1844,  with  nine  children,  emigrated 
West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Wheatland 
Tp.,  Will  Co.,  on  the  farm  where  his  son 
Jacob  now  lives  ;  here  they  set  out  in  farm- 
ing ;  Mr.  Wm.  Stark  having  retired  from 
farming,  he  moved  to  Plainfield,  then  to 
Naperville ;  at  present,  he  is  living  in  Du 
Page  Co.,  at  the  good  old  age  of  78  years. 
Mr.  Stark  married  Miss  Sarah  Lantz,  of 
Erie  Co.,  Penn.,  by  whom  he  has  seven 
children.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Evangel- 
ical Church.  His  brother  Martin  was  in 
the  late  war  ;  enlisted  in  the  33d  111.  V.  I.; 
served  until  the  end  of  the  war  and  was 
honorably  discharged. 

A.  S.  THOMAS,  farmer;  P.  0., 
East  Wheatland ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  one  of  the  old  settlers  of 
Wheatland  Tp.,  Will  Co.;  was  born 
in  Franklin  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  26, 
"  1809,  and  is  the  son  of  E.  and 
Lepha  (Smith)  Thomas,  who  both  died  in 
New  York ;  his  father  was  a  shoemaker, 
tanner  and  currier,  by  trade  ;  Mr.  Thomas 
learned  the  shoemaking  trade,  and  followed 
this  and  farming,  while  in  New  York ;  in 
1837,  he  and  Mr.  Orland  Royce  started 
in  a  wagon  drawn  by  two  horses,  for 
Illinois,  then  the  Far  West,  taking  them 
the  whole  of  November  to  make  the  trip  ; 
they  arrived  in  1837  ;  Mr.  Thomas  pur- 
chased 160  acres  of  the  present  farm  at  a 
Government  land  sale  in  Chicago,  in  1839, 
at  $1.25  per  acre;  he  states  there  was  not 
a  house  between  his  farm  and  Plainfield 
when  he  first  came  here,  only  a  shanty 
standing  on  what  is  now  known  as  Jacob 
Fry's  farm, and  also  says  the  first  frame  house 
built  in  this  vicinity  was  on  the  farm  now 
owned  by  Wm.  King.  Mr.  Thomas  mar- 
ried in  1872. 


, 


ADAM  THOMSON,  farmer;  P.  0. 
East  Wheatland ;  was  born  in  Dumfriesshire, 
Scotland,  Sept.  6,  1822,  and  is  the  son  of 
Benjamin  Thomson,  of  Scotland ;  when 
Mr.  Thomson  was  but  17  years  of  age, 
he  commenced  to  learn  the  carpenter  trade ; 
this  business  he  followed  for  over  twenty- 
three  years,  working  in  Scotland,  England 
and  America ;  in  1854,  he  emigrated  to 
America,  and  landed  in  New  York  City, 
and,  on  June  29,  1854,  arrived  in  Will 
Co.,  111.;  here  he  has  lived  ever  since. 
Mr.  Thomson  has  held  several  offices  of 
public  trust ;  at  present,  holds  office  as 
Township  Assessor,  which  office  he  was 
elected  to  in  1877.  Is  a  Republican  in 
politics,  an  da  Presbyterian  in  religion.  He 
married  Miss  Mary  Patterson,  of  Scotland. 

THOMAS  VARLEY,  far.;  P.  0.,  Au- 
rora ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in 
Yorkshire,  England,  June  25,  1824,  and 
is  the  son  of  William  and  Mary  (Newsam) 
Varley,  of  England ;  Mr.  Varley  was  a 
laborer;  in  1850,  he  emigrated  to  Ameri- 
ca, and  came  West  to  Will  Co.,  111.;  here 
he  worked  by  the  day,  farming ;  he  saved 
a  little  money  by  hard  labor,  and,  in  1854, 
sent  for  his  wife  and  three  children,  who 
arrived  the  same  year  ;  he  then  settled  on 
a  small  piece  of  land  ;  to-day  he  ranks  as 
one  of  the  successful  farmers  of  Wheatland 
Tp.;  owns  280  acres  of  fine,  improved 
land.  He  married  Martha  Craven,  of  En- 
gland, who  died  with  dropsy,  May,  1878. 

HENRY  WESTPHAL,  farmer;  P.  0., 
Aurora;  was  born  in  Germany,  Feb.  15, 
1824,  and  is  the  son  of  Henry  and  Dori.*, 
(Leapstolf )  Westphal,  of  Germany;  his 
father  was  a  farmer  ;  here  Mr.  Westphal 
was  raised  on  his  father's  farm,  and,  in 
1857,  with  his  parents,  emigrated  to 
America;  he  came  direct  to  Illinois,  and 
settled  in  Du  Page  Co.;  then  to  Will  Co., 
and  settled  in  Wheatland  Tp.;  his  father 
and  mother  both  died  in  Wheatland  Tp.; 
when  they  came  to  this  country  they  were 
very  poor,  but,  with  hard  labor  and  good 
management,  Mr.  Westphal  ranks  to-day  as 
one  of  the  successful  farmers  of  Will  Co.; 
owns  245  acres  of  fine,  improved  land. 
He  married  Miss  Sophia  Worn  key,  of 
Germany,  by  whom  he  has  had  six 
children — four  living.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  German  Lutheran  Church,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  members  of  this  Church 
in  Wheatland  Tp. 


JACKSON  TOWNSHIP. 


823 


JACKSON    TOWNSHIP. 


ARA  BROWN  deceased ;  was  born  in 
New  York,  near  Syracuse,  Feb.  19,  1820. 
He  married  Miss  Martha  Hougham  Oct. 
11,  1846;  she  was  born  in  Butler  Co., 
Ohio,  April  6,  1824;  they  had  thirteen 
children,  seven  living,  viz.,  Sarah,  Elias, 
Ara,  Nancy  Jane,  Mary,  Frank  and  Mar- 
tha May.  He  lived  in  New  York  four- 
teen years,  when,  with  his  parents,  he  came 
to  Will  Co.,  111.  (then  Cook)  ;  this  was 
in  1835  ;  he  settled  in  this  township ;  his 
father,  Peter  Brown,  was  from  New  York  ; 
he  died  March  7,  1841,  aged  59  years  10 
months  and  4  days ;  his  mother  was  Miss 
Mary  Teeple ;  she  died  Sept.  17,  1840, 
aged  55  years  9  months  and  2  days ;  he 
lived  with  his  parents  until  their  death; 
he  died  on  the  old  homestead  Sept.  8, 
1865. 

W.  Z.  BROWN,  farmer,  Sec.  15 ;  P. 
0.  Elwood ;  was  born  on  his  present  place 
May  11,  1843.  He  married  Miss  Susan 
Gonter  March  13,  1867;  she  was  born 
near  Joliet  April  18,  1845  ;  they  had  four 
children,  three  living,  viz.,  Daniel  N., 
George  R.  and  Willis  G.  He  began  farm- 
ing on  his  own  account  when  17  year's  old- 
and  has  always  lived  on  his  present  place. 
His  father,  John  Brown  (deceased),  was 
born  in  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  14, 
1814,  and  died  Dec.  15,  1848.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Susan  Zarley ;  she  was  born  in 
Scioto  Co.,  Ohio,  Jan.  2,  1820;  but  three 
of  their  children  are  living,  viz.,  Sarah  M., 
Mary  E.  and  W.  Z. ;  he  was  among  the 
first  settlers  of  this  township,  having  set- 
tled herein  1834.  Mr.  W.Z.  Brown's  wife's 
father,  Michael  Gonter,  was  born  in  France 
Aug.  2,  1812,  and  died  Nov.  11,  1873; 
he  married  Miss  Catheron  Arnholt  Aug. 
28,  1833 ;  she  was  born  in  France  May 
3,1808;  they  had  four  children,  three 
living,  viz.,  Catheron,  Michael  and  Susan  ; 
they  came  to  the  United  States  in  1839, 
and  settled  near  Joliet;  in  1851,  they 
came  to  this  township.  Mrs.  Gonter  lives 
here  with  her  daughter. 

JOSHUA  BUSH,  farmer,  Sec.  31  ;  P. 
O.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  12, 
1845.  He  married  Miss  Margaret  R. 
Grant  Jan.  1,  1867  ;  she  was  born  in  this 
township  Oct.  30,  1847  ;  her  father,  John 


Grant,  was  born  in  Scotland    March  12' 

i  1816.      He  married  Miss  Rosanna  Lanr 

i  ping  March  10,  1839;    she  was  born  in 

!  New  York  Feb.  18,  1821,  and  died  April 

16,  1843;  one  child  living— William  C. ; 

he  married  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Kelly, 

:  formerly  Miss  Adaline  Frazer.  March  13, 

1844;  she  was  born  in  Virginia  Dec.  18, 

1815;  they  have  three  children  living — 

Margarette   R.,  John  A.  and  James   M. 

He  settled  on  this  farm  about  1839,  and 

died  Sept.  12,  1854.     Mrs.   Grant   came 

to   this   county  in  1834,  and    settled  in 

i  Wesley  Tp.     Mr.  Bush   had   a   family  of 

five    children,   three   living — Mary    Ella, 

Eva  May  and  Harry  E.     He  came  to  this 

county  with  his  parents  when  2  years  old  ; 

in  1869,  he  came  to  his  present  place.     In 

1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  100th  111.  Inf. ; 

was  in  the  service  till  the  close  of  the  war  ; 

waf>  in  fche  battles  of  Chickamauga,  Stone 

River,  Chattanooga,  Atlanta,  etc. ;  he  was 

wounded  at  Franklin. 

G.  E.  CO  WELL,  M.  D.,  physician, 
Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
bora  in  Bradford  Co.,  Penn.,  April  27, 
!  1843.  He  married  Miss  Catheron  M.  Fer- 
ryman Nov.  8,  1868  ;  she  was  born  in 
Guernsey  Co.,  Ohio,  Aug.  16, 1843  ;  they 
have  one  child  living,  viz., Nellie  G.  He  lived 
in  Pennsylvania  twenty-two  years,  when 
he  came  West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Grundy  Co.,  at  Minooka,  where  he  read 
medicine;  in  1871,  he  graduated  at  the 
Hahnemann  Medical  College,  of  Chicago, 
then  settled  at  Elwood,  where  he  has  fol- 
lowed his  profession  since.  In  1862,  he  en- 
isted  in  141st  Penn.  Vol.  Inf.,  and  was  in  the 
service  about  eighteen  months  ;  at  the  bat- 
j  tie  of  Chancellorsville  he  received  five  sep- 
!  arate  wounds,  which  disabled  him  from 
further  service.  He  has  held  the  office  of 
Alderman  and  was  President  of  the  Tem- 
perance Society.  . 

MERRITT  0.  CAGWIN,  grain  dealer, 

Elwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch   was 

born  in   Brockport,  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y., 

May  14,  1828;  in  1836,  he  came  West 

with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Cook  Co. 

(now  Will),  two  and  a  half  miles  east  of 

the  present  city  of  Joliet,  who.re  his  father 

i  built    a   saw-mill    near   the  site    of    the 

i  present    grist-mill,     located    on    Hickory 


824 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


Creek,  known  as  the  Red  Mill.  The  first 
board  sawed  at  this  mill  was  the  occasion  of 
a  grand  ball.  In  Joliet,  on  Sept.  6,  1849, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Jane  Wheeler ; 
she  was  born  in  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March 
22,  1829,  and  died  Julyl9,  1850  ;  his 
present  wife  was  Miss  Ambrosia  R.  Higin- 
botham,  a  cousin  of  his  first  wife,  and  the 
second  wedding  was  performed  in  the  same 
house  as  the  first,  Jan.  8,  1852 ;  she  was 
born  in  Joliet,  Cook  Co.  (now  Will)  Oct. 
1,  1834.  He  remained  at  home  with  his 
parents  until  1844,  when  he  was  employed 
in  a  dry  goods  store  in  Joliet,  owned  and 
managed  by  Messrs.  J.  T.  McDougal  and 
F.  L.  Cagwin,  where  he  remained  until 
October,  1 848,  when  he  went  to  Chicago, 
and  was  engaged  as  an  auctioneer  until  his 
return  to  Joliet  in  May,  1849,  when  he 
again  entered  the  employ  of  Messrs.  McD. 
&  C. ;  but  this  time  he  was  engaged  in 
selling  goods  form  a  wagon  on  the  road ; 
his  route  was  an  extensive  one,  reaching 
into  the  Wabash  country  in  Indiana,  and 
his  average  sales  were  $2,000  per  month ; 
in  April,  1850,  he  again  severed  his  con- 
nection with  the  Messrs.  Me.  D.  &  C.,  and 
purchased  a  stock  of  dry  goods  from  Geo. 
H.  Woodruff,  Esq.,  which  he  was  then 
closing  out,  and  disposed  of  them  on  the 
road,  mostly  in  exchange  for  stock — sheep 
and  horses ;  the  folio  wing  year  he  abandoned 
his  wagon,  and  bought  and  drove  sheep 
from  Southern  and  Central  Illinois  and 
Indiana  to  Chicago  this  he  continued 
until  May,  1853,  when  he  was  taken  with 
the  gold  fever,  and  embarked  for  California, 
where  he  remained  but  one  year,  engaged 
in  transporting  goods  by  mule  pack  over 
the  mountains  to  furnish  traders'  posts  and 
mining  camps  ;  on  his  return  to  Joliet, 
he  entered  the  grain  business,  and,  in  the 
following  year,  built  the  Masonic  Block, 
which  was  destroyed  in  1864  by  fire ;  in 
1 858,  he  exchanged  his  Joliet  property  for 
a  tract  of  1,000  acres  of  land  in  Wilton 
Township  at  the  head  of  the  Twelve- Mile 
Grove,  situated  about  twelve  miles  southeast 
of  Joliet,  and  there  removed  and  engaged 
in  farming  and  stock-raising.  He  was 
Supervisor  from  Wilton  for  five  successive 
years,  and  introduced  before  the  Board  the 
resolution  creating  a  fund  for  the  protection 
of  soldiers  wives  and  children.  He  disposed 
of  his  land  in  Wilton  and  returned  to 
Joliet  in  November,  1864,  and  there  again 


entered  the  grain  trade  in    copartnershij 
with  his  father,  where  he  remained  unt 
October,  1866,  when  he  removed  to  Wil 
mington,  111.,  and  engaged  in    same  busi- 
ness, and  he  was  the  first  regular  buye 
on  the  railroad  at  that  station.   While  ther 
he  was  a  member  of  City  Common  Council 
and  was  one  of  the  original  "  Building  Cor 
mittee,"  who  accepted  the  plans  and  speci 
fications  for  the  present  magnificent  pul 
lie   school-building.     He  also  was  a  char 
ter  member  with  Messrs.  Whitten  Brc 
and  to  whom  he  sold  his  interest,  of  t\ 
firm  who  built  the  White  Cloud  Flouring 
Mills,  in  August,  1869,hecameto  Elwood, 
111.,  where  he  has  since  resided,  and  engaged 
in  the  grain,  lumber  and    coal   business ; 
three  months  later,  in  November,  his  eleva- 
tor filled    with  grain,  was  burned  to  the 
ground  ;  he  continued  bis  lumber  and  coal 
business,  although  somewhat  enlarged,  and 
in  copartnership  with  D.  B.  Curran,  Esq. 
until  January,  1872,  when  he  built  a  ware- 
house at  Braidwood,  and  commenced  busi- 
ness as  the  first  grain  buyer  of  the  city  ; 
he   purchased    and    cribbed    that    winter 
45,000  bushels  of  ear-corn  ;  he  continued 
the  business    until    December,    handling 
over  200,000  bushels  of  grain,  when  he 
sold  to   Wm.    H.    Odell,  Esq. ;  in  May, 
1874,  he  purchased  of  Ed.  H.  Aiken  the 
West  Side  Elevator   in    Joliet,  which  he 
still   operates  in   copartnership   with   his 
father. 

PETER  W.  CORBIN,  farmer,  Sec. 
30;  P.  0.  Elwood;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Vermont  Aug.  29, 
1831.  He  married  Miss  Sarah  Hill  Feb. 
19,  1861  :  she  was  born  in  Vermont  Jan. 
12,  1834;  they  had  six  children,  five 
living,  viz.,  Hellen  I.,  Julia  M.,  Carrie 
E.,  Warren  H.  and  Aug.  E.  He  lived 
lived  in  Vermont  until  he  was  21  years 
of  age ;  he  then  went  to  California, 
his  object  being  mining  ;  but  not  meeting 
with  much  luck,  he  engaged  in  farming, 
and  remained  there  seven  years  ;  he  then 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  on  his  present 
place  ;  he  started  in  poor  circumstances, 
and  now  owns  185  acres  in  this  township. 
His  father  settled  in  Will  Co.  while  he  was 
in  California,  and  now  lives  in  Wilmington 
Township. 

CAPT.  ED  WARD  B.  CRAFTS,  farmer, 
Sec.  13;  P.  0.  Joliet;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Derby,  Conn.,  Jan.  13, 


JACKSON  TOWNSHIP. 


825 


1814,  where  his  ancestors  have  lived  ever 
since  the  settlement  of  New  Haven  in 
1640,  and  one  of  whom  (Maj.  Moses  Mans- 
field) destroyed  the  power  of  the  Pequods 
in  a  battle,  on  the  site  of  which  was  after- 
ward located  the  village  of  Mansfield, 
named  in  honor  of  the  victory.  He  married 
Miss  Sarah  Ann  Thompson  Oct.  9,  1846  ; 
she  was  born  in  Durham,  Greene  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Nov.  21,  1813;  her  parents  were  from 
Connecticut;  they  have  two  children,  viz., 
Edward  Thompson  and  Elizabeth  Mansfield. 
His  son  is  a  physician,'and  resides  in  Florida; 
his  daughter  is  married,  and  lives  in  Joliet. 
He  lived  at  his  birthplace  until  he  was  15 
years  old,  training  himself  for  college  with 
the  intention  of  becoming  a  physician,  but 
failing  in  health  he  took  passage  on  a  brig 
bound  for  Barbadoes  ;  this  was  in  1829  ; 
he  then  engaged  as  a  sailor,  being  promot- 
ed until,  in  1835,  he  was  made  Captain; 
during  one  of  his  voyages  he  was  ship- 
wrecked on  Long  Island  ;  he  then  shipped 
as  mate,  but  was  soon  again  made  Captain. 
He  quit  the  sea  in  1846,  and  engaged  in 
general  merchandise  in  Connecticut;  in 
1850,  he  bought  his  present  place,  and 
built  and  occupied  same  in  1851.  He  has 
been  Supervisor  three  years,  also  School 
Trustee  and  Road  Commissioner.  He  owns 
160  acres  in  this  township. 

P.  F.  DOOLEY,  farmer,  Sec.  10 ;  P. 
0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Aug. 
3,  1835.  He  married  Miss  Sarah  M. 
Brown  March  21,  1864;  she  was  born  in 
this  township  May  27,  1839;  they  have 
six  children,  viz.,  Susannah,  Eleanor, 
Gertrude,  Sarah  F.,  James  C.  Z.  and  Fran- 
cis B.  When  3  years  old,  his  parents  left 
New  York  and  went  to  Chicago,  111.,  where 
they  remained  a  few  months,  and  then 
came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  Channahon 
Tp.,  and  engaged  in  farming.  Mr.  P.  F. 
remained  there  until  he  was  17,  when  he 
went  to  California ;  engaged  in  mining 
and  remained  until  1861,  when  he  came  to 
this  county  ;  in  1864,  he  went  to  Montana, 
and  remained  three  years,  when  he  returned 
to  Will  Co.  and  settled  on  his  present  place. 
He  is  now  serving  on  his  third  term  as 
Justice  of  the  Peace ;  he  has  also  been 
School  Trustee  and  Director.  He  owns 
209  acres  in  this  county.  His  parents 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Channahon. 
His  father,  James  Dooley,  died  in  1856 ; 
his  mother  died  in  1853. 


HARMON  DEUTSCHMAN,  farmer, 
Sec.  34 ;  P.  0.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in- Germany  Feb.  25, 1851. 
He  married  Miss  Sarah  Gockley  Nov.  16, 
1871  ;  she  was  born  in  Lancaster  Co., 
Penn.,  Sept.  25,  1854 ;  they  have  three 
children,  viz.:  Clara,  born  Dec.  10,  1872; 
Frank,  born  March  30,  1875;  Ellen,  born 
June  5,  1877.  He  lived  in  Germany  until 
he  was  15  years  old ;  he  then  came  to  the 
United  States  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  with 
his  parents.  His  father,  William,  came  to 
this  county  in  1855,  and  worked  on  the 
farm  until  1873,  when  he  bought  his  pres- 
ent place  ;  he  lost  his  wife  in  Germany, 
and  he  died  here  in  1875  ;  they  had  but 
the  one  child.  Mr.  Harmon  came  to  his 
present  place  in  1874  ;  he  owns  160  acres, 
which  are  well  improved. 

DANIEL  EATON,  farmer,  Sec.  10 ; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Antrim  Co.,  Ireland,  Sept.  26, 
1827.  He  married  Miss  Mary  McClintock 
Aug.  15,  1848;  she  was  born  in  same 
place  Nov.  8,  1829  ;  they  had  ten  children, 
six  living,  viz.,  Joseph,  Daniel,  Robert, 
Nancy,  Ann  and  Mary.  He  lived  in  Ire- 
land until  1855  ;  was  engaged  in  farming  ; 
he  then  came  to  the  United  States,  and  set- 
tled in  Kendall  Co. ,111.,  where  he  engaged 
in  farming,  and  remained  until  1862, 
when  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled 
on  his  present  place.  He  is  no  office- 
seeker,  his  only  office  being  connected  with 
the  school  and  road.  He  came  here  in  poor 
circumstances,  and  now  owns  300  acres, 
which  he  has  principally  earned  by  his  own 
labor. 

GEORGE  EIB,  farmer,  Sec.  7  ;  P.  0. 
Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
in  Harrison  Co.,  W.  Va.,  March  17,  1816. 
He  married  Miss  Mary  Ann  Zumaalp ;  she 
was  born  in  Adams  Co.,  Ind. ;  they  had  nine 
children,  seven  living,  viz.,  Peter  B.,  Louisa, 
Elmenda,  Mary  Alinda,  Catheron  Amanda 
George  W..  and  Jacob  L.  He  lived  in 
West  Virginia  about  ten  years,  when  with 
his  parents,  he  moved  to  Columbus,  Ohio, 
where  they  remained  two  years  ;  they  then 
moved  to  Fountain  Co.,  Ind.,  and  remained 
there  six  years  ;  in  1833,  they  came  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  on  their  present  farm. 
His  mother  was  Miss  Matalena  Gilbert ; 
born  in  Pennsylvania  and  died  in  Ohio  ; 
his  father,  Peter  Eib,  died  here ;  he  was 
born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.  There  were 


826 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


but  a  few  families  in  this  township  when 
they  came  here,  they  being  among  the  first 
settlers. 

FREEMAN  GAY,  farmer,  Sec.  16 ; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Kennebec(now  Franklin)  Co., 
Me.,  Aug.  9,  1817.  He  married  Miss 
Agusta  S.  Gay ;  she  was  born  at  the  same 
place  Aug.  3,  1820 ;  they  have  four 
children,  viz.,  Leslie  F.,  Elsie  R.,  Ernest 
L.  and  Clementine  M.  He  lived  in  Maine 
until  he  was  18  ;  then  went  to  Boston  and 
learned  the  mason's  trade ;  remained  ten  \ 
years ;  then,  came  West,  and  settled  on 
Hickory  Creek,  Will  Co.,  111. ;  this  was  in 
1845  ;  he  then  went  near  Wilmington,  i 
then  back  to  Hickory  Creek ;  then  to  Five-  ! 
Mile  Grove,  and,  in!850,  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia and  remained  four  years,  when  he 
came  to  his  present  place  and  has  lived 
here  since ;  he  started  in  poor  circum- 
stances, and  now  owns  390  acres,  which 
he  has  earned  by  his  own  labor. 

SETH  GIBLER,  farmer,  Sec.  10 ;  P. 
0.  Joliet;  was  born  in  Scioto  Co.,  Ohio, 
April  2, 1839.  He  married  Miss  Mary 
Brown  Feb.  11,  1862;  she  was  born  in 
this  township  Feb.  11,  1842  ;  they  have 
two  children,  viz.,  Bertram  W.  and  Oscar. 
He  lived  in  Ohio  about  fourteen  years, 
when  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  lived 
with  Mr.  Gabriel  Noel  until  he  was  21  ; 
he  then  engaged  in  farming,  in  company 
with  Mr.  W.  Z.  Brown,  for  two  years, 
when,  on  being  married,  he  came  to  his 
present  place ;  this  was  in  the  spring  of 
1863.  He  has  been  Assessor  some  three 
years.  He  owns  135  acres  in  this  county. 
His  mother  died  in  Ohio  ;  his  father,  Mor- 
gan 'abler,  lives  in  Piatt  Co.,  this  State. 

G.  F.  GURNEY,  farmer,  Sec.  36 ;  P. 
O.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Gloucestershire,  England,  July  2, 
1832.  He  married  Miss  Eliza  Brighton 
Feb.  26, 1857  ;  she  was  born  in  Liverpool, 
England,  April  12,  Irf37  ;  she  went  to 
Scotland  when  young,  and  lived  there  un- 
til she  was  17,  when  she  came  to  the 
United-  States  ;  they  had  eight  children — 
seven  living,  viz.,  Francis  R.,  Elsie  A., 
Elmer  G.,  James  A.,  Eliza  M.,  Nellie  J. 
and  Otto  H.  He  lived  in  England  until 
1844,  when  he  came  to  the  United  States 
and  settled  in  Joliet.  111.  ;  engaged  in  la- 
boring on  the  farm  ;  remained  one  year  ; 
then  to  Channahon  Tp.,  where  he  remained 


one  year  ;  he  then  went  to  Grundy  Co., 
remaining  one  year,  and  went  to  Wilming- 
ton, Will  Co.,  where  he  remained  two 
years;  then  to  Channahon,  remaining 
several  years ;  then  to  Florence ;  then  to 
Wilton;  and,  in  1867,  he  settled  on  his 
•  present  place  ;  he  started  without  any  capi- 
tal, and  now  owns  over  500  acres  in  this 
county. 

W.  W.  GIFFORD,  of  the  firm  of  E. 
Gifford  &  Son,  general  merchandise,  El- 
wood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
in  Chautauqua  Co.,  N.  Y.,  March  4, 1844. 
He  married  Miss  Lydia  Bryan  Sept.  24, 
1867;  she  was  born  in  Stark  Co.,  111., 
May  12,  1845;  they  have  two  children, 
viz.,  Edson  B.  and  M.  Estella.  He  lived 
in  New  York  three  years,  when,  with  his 
parents,  he  moved  to  Grundy  Co.,  111., 
where  they  remained  until  1855,  and  then 
they  moved  to  Kendall  Co.,  where  they  re- 
mained until  1872,  when  they  came  to 
Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled  in  Elwood  and 
engaged  in  their  present  business.  In 
1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  36th  I.  V.  I.; 
was  in  the  service  two  years  and  four 
months ;  was  in  the  battles  of  Pea  Ridge, 
Perry ville,  Stone  River  and  Chickamauga ; 
at  the  latter  place,  he  was  wounded  and 
disabled  from  further  service.  He  has 
held  the  offices  of  Town  Clerk,  and  Vil- 
lage Clerk,  Trustee  and  Treasurer. 

EDSON  GIFFORD,  of  the  firm  of  E. 
Gifford  &  Son,  general  merchandise, 
Elwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Washington  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  10, 
1820.  He  married  Miss  Lydia  Whipple ; 
she  was  born  in  New  York ;  they  have  had 
five  children,  two  living ;  his  wife  died 
while  in  Grundy  Co. .  His  present  wife  was 
Miss  Harriet  Kendall,  who  was  the  first 
child  born  in  a  frame  house  in  Big  Grove 
Tp.,  Kendall  Co.,  111.;  in  1846,  he  left  New 
York,  and  came  to  Grundy  Co.,  111.,  and 
engaged  in  farming  ;  then  went  to  Kendall 
Co.,  and  engaged  in  general  merchandise  ; 
then  to  Morris,  engaging  in  general  mer- 
chandise, and,  in  1872,  he  came  to  Will 
Co.,  and  settled  in  Elwood,  where  he  en- 
gaged in  his  present  business,  and  has  con- 
tinued here  since. 

J.  L.  HARLEY,  farming,  Sec.  33;  P. 
0.  Elwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Washington  Co.,  Va.,  March  29, 
1830.  He  married  Miss  Ellen  Turpie 
Oct.  28,  1 859 ;  she  was  born  in  Cincin- 


JACKSON  TOWNSHIP. 


827 


nati,  Ohio,  Oct.  11,  1833;  they  had  ten 
children,  nine  living,  viz.,  Bruce  T.,  Ruth 
A.,  Ida  B.,  James  E.,  Ralph  J.,  Theodore 
L.,  Joel  A.,  Mary  and  George  W.  He 
lived  in  Virginia  three  years,  then  moved 
with  his  parents  to  Clinton  Co.,  Ind.,  and 
lived  there  about  five  years ;  while  there, 
his  father  died  Sept.  10,  1835  ;  they  then 
moved  to  Carroll  Co.,  Ind.,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1852  ;  from  there  he  went  to 
California  ;  object,  mining,  which  he  pur- 
sued four  years,  with  fair  success  ;  he  then 
came  to  his  present  place.  He  is  no  office- 
seeker,  his  only  offices  being  connected  with 
the  school  and  road.  He  started  in  poor 
circumstances;  he  owns  160  acres  in  this 
township,  which  he  has  earned  by  his  own 
labor.  His  mother  died  in  this  county. 

CYRUS  HEM PH ILL,  farming,  Sec. 
17 ;  P.  0.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  this  township  March 
14,  1837.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth 
Linebarger  March  14,  1861 ;  she  was  also 
born  in  this  township  Oct.  7,  1840  ;  they 
have  four  children,  viz.,  Daniel  E.,  Alvin 
W.,  Luella  E.  and  Herbert  H.  He  has 
always  lived  in  this  township,  except  two 
years  in  Florence,  and,  except  one  child, 
all  the  family  were  born  here.  He  has  not 
been  an  office-seeker,  his  only  offices  being 
connected  with  the  school  and  road.  His 
father,  James  Hemphill,  was  born  in 
Adams  Co.,  Ohio,  Jan.  24,  1803.  He 
married  Miss  Rachel  Porter ;  she  was  born 
in  same  place  June  18, 1808,  and  died  Oct. 
11,  1872;  his  father  died  Sept.  6,  1863; 
they  were  among  the  first  settlers  in 
this  township,  having  settled  here  in 
1831. 

JOHN  HIBNER,  farming,  Sec.  8;  P. 
O.  Joliet;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Guernsey  Co.,  Ohio,  about  1804. 
He  married  Miss  Nancy  Kirtz  in  1837  ; 
she  was  born  in  York  Co.,  Penn.;  they  have 
had  fourteen  children,  twelve  living,  viz., 
George  W.,  Frank  A.,  James  C.,  David, 
Martin  E.,  John  W.,  William  A.,  Elizabeth, 
Phebe  Jane,  Nancy  A.,  Sarah  A.  and 
Lucinda.  He  lived  in  Ohio  till  1847,  when 
he  moved  to  Missouri,  where  he  remained 
one  year;  from  here  he  went  to  Wisconsin, 
remaining  six  months ;  in  1 848,  he  came 
to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled  on  his  present 
place,  and  has  lived  here  since ;  he  has 
not  been  an  office-seeker;  he  started  in 
poor  circumstances,  and  now  owns  about 


500  acres  in  (his  county,  which  he  has 
earned  principally  by  his  own  labor. 

J.  P.  HEMPHILL,  farming,  Sec.  20  : 
P.  0.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Adams  Co.,  Ohio,  Sept.  19, 
1830.  He  married  Miss  Nancy  Nott 
July  4,  1855  ;  she  was  born  in  Washing- 
ton Co.  (now  Morgan  Co.),  Ohio,  Sept.  4, 
1831  ;  they  have  had  ten  children,  eight 
living,  viz.,  Alpha  E.,  Belle  M.,  Alonzo 
P.,  E.  Mary,  Phina  E.,  Sarah  L.,  Roswell 
J.  and  Cyrus  W.  He  lived  in  Ohio  two 
years,  when,  with  his  parents,  he  moved  to 
Fountain  Co.,  Ind.,  where  they  remained 
until  1834,  when  they  came  to  Illinois,  and 
settled  in  Will  Co.,  at  Troutman's  Grove, 
where  he  lived  until  he  was  married ;  he 
then  moved  to  Sec.  8,  this  township,  and 
then  to  Sec.  2 ;  he  next  went  to  Florence 
Tp.,  where  he  remained  five  years  ;  he  then 
came  to  this  township,  and,  in  1868,  he 
came  to  his  present  place;  he  has  held  no 
offices,  except  those  connected  with  the 
school  and  road. 

W.  F.  KEITH,  dealer  in  drugs,  med- 
icines, books,  stationery,  etc.,  Elwood; 
was  born  near  Rome,  Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  11,  1827  ;  his  father  was  a  Method- 
ist clergyman,  a  member  of  the  Genesee 
Conference,  and  died  when  his  son  W.  F. 
was  quite  young  ;  after  his  father's  death, 
the  son  lived  in  Livingston  Co.  and  in  the 
city  of  Buifalo ;  he  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Buffalo  and  at  Rich 
Academy  in  Attica,  N.  Y.;  in  1855,  he 
came  West,  and,  after  spending  two  years 
at  Naperville,  he  came  to  Joliet  in  1857. 
On  the  breaking-out  of  the  war,  he  enlisted 
in  the  19th  I.  V.  I.,  as  a  musician  in  the 
Lockport  Band,  and  remained  until  March, 
1862,  when  he  was  discharged  for  disabil- 
ity ;  returning,  he  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing in  Elwood,  his  being  the  only  store  in 
the  village  for  four  years ;  at  the  end  of 
this  time  he- engaged  in  his  present  busi- 
ness ;  he  has  been  prominent  in  the  build- 
ing-up of  the  village ;  on  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  village  in  1868,  he  was  chosen 
Clerk  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  serving 
two  years ;  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  seven  years,  three  of  which  he  was 
its  President ;  he  has  been  Police  Magis- 
trate two  years,  and  Notary  Public  for  the 
past  twelve  years  ;  he  served  his  township 
two  years  as  Supervisor,  and  has  also 
served  three  years  as  School  Director  ;  in 


828 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


March,  1878,  he  entered  the  office  of  the 
County  Treasurer  in  Joliet,  as  Deputy, 
where  he  is  still  engaged.  He  was  mar- 
ried July  17,  1866,  to  Mrs.  Hannah 
Leverich,  of  Naperville  ;  they  have  two 
children — William  H.  and  Edward  E.;  he 
has  also  one  son,  Clarence  A.,  by  a  former 
marriage. 

WILLIAM  KREIMEIER,  farming, 
Sec.  27;  P.  0.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Prussia  March  5, 
1829.  He  married  Miss  Mary  Pohlman 
March  26, 1854  ;  she  was  born  in  Prussia 
March  6,  1835;  they  had  ten  children, 
nine  living — Ella  M.,  Eliza  A.,  Amanda 
A.,  Susan  M.,  William  F.,  John  E.,  Mina 
S.,  Ida  F.  and  Oliver  F.  He  lived  in 
Germany  about  twenty  years ;  then  came 
to  the  United  States  and  settled  at  Little 
York,  Penn. ;  remained  there  seven  years, 
when  he  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
Will  Co;  this  was  in  1856;  in  1869,  he 
came  to  his  present  place,  and  has  lived 
here  since.  His  only  offices  have  been 
connected  with  the  school  and  road.  He 
came  here  in  poor  circumstances,  and  now 
owns  254  acres,  which  he  has  earned  by 
his  own  labor. 

CICERO  KYRK,  farming,  Sec.  16; 
P.  0.  Elwood  ;  was  born  in  this  township, 
on  his  present  place,  Dec.  1,  1847.  He 
married  Miss  Artha  A.  Houghton  Dec. 
25,,  1873  ;  she  was  born  in  this  township 
Feb.  17,  1857  ;  they  have  two  children — 
Sarah  R.  and  Mary  E.  He  has  always 
lived  in  this  township,  except  three  years 
in  Texas ;  he  now  rents  the  farm  of  the 
estate ;  his  father,  Edward  Kyrk,  was 
born  in  1807,  probably  in  Orange  Co.,  N. 
Y. ;  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Davis  ;  she 
died  in  1843;  they  had  one  child,  viz., 
William  T. ;  his  second  wife  was  Miss 
Mary  Kyrk  ;  she  was  born  in  Ohio ;  they 
had  eight  children,  three  living,  viz.,  Cic- 
ero, Elmira  and  Dennis.  His  wife's  father, 
Andrew  Houghton,  was  born  in  Ireland, 
and  came  to  this  county  when  18 ;  he 
married  Miss  Sarah  Young  ;  she  was  born 
in  this  township  ;  they  now  live  in  Kansas. 

GEORGE  LINEBARGER,  was  born  in 
Lincoln  Co.,  North  Carolina,  June  6, 
1810 ;  at  the  age  of  10,  he  removed  with 
his  parents  to  White  River,  Ind.,  where 
they  remained  until  the  fall  of  1821,  when 
they  emigrated  to  Parke  Co.,  Ind.  Was 
married  Feb.  9,  1832,  to  Miss  Susanah 


Beard.  During  the  following  spring,  came 
to  what  was  then  called  Cook  Co.,  now 
Will  Co.,  and  located  near  the  head  of 
Jackson  Grove ;  only  a  few  days  passed 
when  the  Indian  war  broke  out,  when  he 
returned  to  Indiana  until  September, 
1832 ;  returned  to  his  old  location  at 
Jackson's  Grove.  Had  nine  children,  five 
living;  wife  died  in  1854;  was  married 
same  year ;  had  six  children,  four  are  liv- 
ing at  present  writing. 

JOHN  LINEBARGER  (of  the  firm 
of  John  Linebarger  &  Co.),  dealer  in 
grain,  Elwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Lincoln  Co.,  N.  C.,  Nov.  4, 
1812.  He  married  Miss  Nancy  Stone 
Feb.  12,  1835  ;  she  was  born  in  Ohio,  and 
died  July  2,  1847  ;  they  had  three  chil- 
dren, one  living,  viz.,  Mary  E.;  his  present 
wife  was  Miss  Sarah  C.  Linton,  married 
Feb.  27,  1848;  they  had  nine  children, 
seven  living,  viz.,  William  H.,  Josephine, 
Thomas  C.,  Isabelle,  Minnie  M.,  Carrie 
and  Emma  J.  He  left  North  Carolina, 
with  his  parents,  when  8  years  old,  and 
settled  in  Parke  Co.,  Ind.,  where  he  lived 
until  1850,  when  he  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  near  Wilmington,  and  remained 
there  eighteen  years,  during  which  time  he 
served  as  Supervisor  several  terms ;  he  then 
came  to  Jackson  Tp.,  and  has  remained 
here  since ;  in  1832,  he  assisted  his  brother 
to  move  to  this  county,  and  spent  several 
weeks  here  at  that  time  ;  he  engaged  in 
his  present  business  in  1868. 

A.  J.  LINEBARGER,  farming,  Sec. 
20 ;  P.  0.  Elwood ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  this  township  Jan.  7, 
1834,  and  is,  therefore,  among  the  first 
born  in  this  township.  He  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Phillips  April  30,  1856  ;  she 
was  born  in  Germany,  Jan.  1 , 1 834  ;  they 
have  three  children,  viz.,  Lewis  H.,  Laura 
E.,  Emma  J.  He  has  always  lived  in  the 
township ;  he  lived  with  his  parents  until 
he  was  22  years  of  age,  when  he  was  mar- 
ried and  began  farming  on  his  own  account 
on  his  present  place ;  he  owns  320  acres 
in  this  township. 

J.  J.  LICHTENWALTER,  dealer  in 
grain,  lumber,  etc. ;  P.  0.  Elwood  ;  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  bom  in  Stark  Co., 
Ohio,  Aug.  27,  1829.  He  married  Miss 
Mary  Shull  Feb.  24,  1853  ;  she  was  born  in 
Lebanon  Co.,  Penn.  He  lived  in  Ohio  until 
1860,  and  was  engaged  in  farming  and  car- 


JACKSON  TOWNSHIP. 


829 


pentering  ;  he  then  moved  to  Whitley  Co.,   ; 
Ind., where  he  followed  farming  and  also  op-  ' 
crated  a  lumber-mill,and  remained  about  five 
years ;  he  then  went  to  Springfield,  Ind..  and 
engaged  in  the  grocery  business,  continu- 
ing four  years  ;  in  1868,  he  came  to  Illinois 
and  settled  in  Elwood  ;  he  carried  on  the 
grocery  and  drug  business  for  three  years ;   i 
he  then  took  agency  of  the  Canton  Iron  , 
Bridge   Co.,  and   furnished  the  trade  in 
several   States ;    he  then  engaged  in  the  •, 
lumber  business,  and  has  continued  in  same  , 
since  ;  in  November,  1877,  he  added  the  j 
grain  business. 

MORGAN  BROS.,  farming  and  stock,  ! 
Sec.  31  ;  P.  0.  Elwood  ;  William  and  Sid- 
ney ;  were  born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  where  they  lived  until  1849,  when  they 
came  to  Illinois  with  their  parents,  who 
settled  in  Kendall  Co.,  where  they  remained 
"about  four  years,  and  then  came  to  Will 
Co.  ;  and  in  1855,  they  came  to  the  present 
place.  Mr.  William  R.  married  Miss 
Morriah  Ellenwood  Dec.  27,  1876;  she 
was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov. 
10,  1853 ;  they  have  one  child,  viz.,  Eliza 
A.  Mr.  Moses  Morgan,  deceased,  was 
born  in  Vermont,  Aug.  11, 1815,  and  died 
Aug.  20,  1877.  He  married  Miss  Eliza 
Ann  Storrs  Jan.  9,  1840  ;  she  was  born 
in  Upper  Canada ;  they  had  five  children ; 
four  living,  viz.,  William,  Sidney,  Ltcy  E. 
and  Emily  C. 

MICHAEL  MOYER,  farming,  Sec. 
22  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  was  born  in  Lebanon 
Co.,  Penn.,  July  10,  1803.  He  married 
Miss  Sarah  Erb  April,  1828 ;  she  was 
born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn. ;  they  had 
four  children ;  three  living,  viz  ,  Henry, 
George  L.  and  Michael,  Jr.  He  lived  in 
Pennsylvania  until  1845  ;  was  engaged  in 
farming ;  he  then  moved  to  Dayton,  Ohio, 
where  he  remained  four  months  ;  he  then 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Du  Page 
Co. ;  engaged  in  farming,  and  remained 
there  nine  years ;  and  then  he  came  to 
Will  C<fc  and  settled  on  his  present  place  ; 
he  started  in  poor  circumstances,  and  now 
owns  120  acres,  well  improved. 

WILLIAM  F.  MOORE,  farmer,  Sec. 
34 ;  P.  0.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  the  town  of  Channa- 
hon,  Will  Co.,  111.,  March  6,  1841 ;  he 
married  Miss  Mary  Schoonmaker  Nov.  20, 
1862 ;  she  was  born  in  Rochester,  N.  Y., 
and  died  July  29,  1866  ;  his  second  wife 


was  Miss  Almira  Spencer,  married  May 
13,  1872 ;  she  was  bom  in  Troy  Tp., 
this  county  ;  he  has  one  child  living,  by 
his  first  wife,  viz.,  Lotta,  and  two  by  his 
present  wife,  viz.,  Mary  Jane  and  Laura 
May;  he  has  always  lived  in  this  county, 
except  one  year  that  he  lived  in  McLean 
Co.;  he  came  to  his  present  place 
March  29,  1864;  he  started  in  poor  cir- 
cumstances, and  now  owns  160  acres  in 
this  township. 

JOHN  MEAD,  retired,  Elwood ;  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Saratoga 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  15, 1798 ;  he  married  Mrs. 
Betsy  Cagwell,  formerly  Miss  Luce ;  she 
died  April  11,  1866  ;  they  had  two  chil- 
dren— not  living;  his  present  wife  was 
Miss  Nancy  Cox ;  they  were  married 
April  23,  1867  ;  no  children.  He  lived 
in  New  York  seventeen  years,  and  then 
went  to  Pennsylvania,  where  he  remained 
until  1855,  when  he  came  West  to  Illinois, 
and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  and  engaged 
in  fanning  ;  in  1875,  he  sold  his  farm,  and 
removed  to  the  village  of  Elwood,  and 
has  lived  here  since. 

GABRIEL  NOEL,  farmer,  Sec.  9  ;  P. 
0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Scioto  Co.,  Ohio,  July  2, 1820  ;  he 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Zarley  Oct.  15, 
1848 ;  she  was  born  in  Will  Co.,  near  Joliet, 
Nov.  22,  1831  ;  they  had  twelve  children 
— seven  living — viz.,  Albert  E.,  Calvin 
Z.,  Ervin  R.,  Elvis  C.,  Sue  E.,  Rose  M. 
and  Frank  G.  He  lived  in  Ohio  twenty- 
seven  years,  and  was  engaged  in  farming 
and  milling ;  he  then  came  West  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  in  Joliet.  remaining 
there  one  summer ;  he  came  to  his  pres- 
ent place,  and  has  lived  here  since ;  he 
has  held  the  offices  of  Road  Commissioner, 
School  Trustee  and  Director.  He  owns 
200  acres  in  this  county. 

WILLIAM  NICHOLSON,  hardware, 
etc.,  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Cambridge,  Washington  Co., 
N.  Y.,  March  26,  1838  ;  he  married  Miss 
Caroline  E.  Benedict  Oct.  12,  1863  ;  she 
was  born  in  Dalton,  Mass.,  Aug.  19, 1839  ; 
they  have  four  children,  viz.,  Lewis,  Ed- 
ward B.,  Rollin  H.,  and  Franklin  E.  He 
lived  in  New  York  until  1865  ;  was  en- 
gaged in  farming  ;  he  also  spent  nearly  four 
years  at  the  Troy  University ;  he  then 
came  West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  this 
township  ;  engaged  in  farming,  which  he 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


followed  until  1868,  when  he  removed  to 
Elwood  and  engaged  in  his  present  busi- 
ness, forming  a  partnership  with  George 
A.  Pearson,  whom  he  afterward  bought 
out;  in  May.  1874,  his  place  was  burned, 
with  his  entire  stock ;  on  June  10,  he 
was  doing  business  in  an  old  wooden 
building,  hauled  to  the  site  of  his  former 
store,  and  the  first  of  the  following 
October  he  occupied  his  present  briok 
store.  He  has  held  the  offices  of  Town 
Clerk  and  Village  Trustee. 

JACOB  PALMER,  JR.,  farmer,  Sec. 
12;  P.  O.  Joliet;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Stark  Co.,  Ohio,  Aug. 
13,  1824.  He  married  Miss  Eliza  Bucher 
March  11,  1847  ;  she  was  born  in  Stark 
Co.,  Ohio,  May  3,  1830 ;  they  had  seven- 
teen children  ;  twelve  living,  viz.,  William 
D.,  Ephron,  Eldin  P.,  Francis  W.,  Marion, 
John  J.,  Daniel,  George  E.,  Elmer  E., 
Dora  E.,  Alvin  and  Hiram.  He  lived 
in  Ohio  until  1857,  when  he  came  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  on  his  present  place,  and 
has  lived  here  since.  He  has  been  Road  Com- 
missioner nearly  twenty  years.  He  started 
in  poor  circumstances,  at  first  renting  his 
place,  and  now  owns  200  acres  in  this 
township.  His  father,  Jacob  Palmer,  Sr., 
was  born  in  Virginia  Feb.  10,  1792.  He 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Cutchall ;  she 
was  born  in  Maryland  and  died  in  Ohio ; 
his  second  wife  was  Mrs.  Sarah  Bucher 
(Hoffman) ;  she  also  died  in  Ohio ;  his 
third  wife  was  Mrs.  Weaver  (Cring)  ;  she 
was  born  in  Pennsylvania  and  died  in 
Ohio ;  he  has  five  children  by  his  first  and 
three  by  his  second  wife.  He  came  to 
Will  Co.,  Til.,  in  1871,  and  lives  on  Sec. 
11,  this  township. 

WILLIAM  POHLMAN,  farmer,  Sec. 
36  ;  P.  0.  Elwood ;  was  born  in  Prussia 
May  16,  1828.  He  married  Miss  Amelia 
Harming  Feb.  3,  1853;  she  was  born  in 
Prussia  in  February,  1836  ;  they  had 
eleven  children,  nine  living,  viz.,  Mary  E., 
Catheron  M.,  Emma  C.,  Charles  F., 
Henry  F.,  George  T.,  J.  Edward,  Sarah 
R.  and  Francis  L.  He  lived  in  Prussia 
sixteen  years  ;  he  then  came  to  the  United 
States,  and  landed  at  Baltimore,  and  re- 
mained in  that  neighborhood  about  six 
years,  engaged  in  farm  labor  ;  then  moved 
to  York  Co.,  Penn. ;  engaged  in  quarry- 
ing and  lime-burning  ;  remained  five  years ; 
then  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  this 


township,  engaging  in  farming;  in  1868, 
he  came  to  his  present  place.  He  is  no- 
office-seeker,  his  only  offices  being  con- 
nected  with  the  school  and  road.  He  came 
to  this  county  in  poor  circumstances ;  he 
now  owns  422  acres  in  this  township, 
which  he  has  earned  by  his  own  labor. 

DANIEL  RICHARDS,  farmer,  Sec.  1 ; 
P.  0.  Joliet;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  4, 
1826.  He  married  Miss  Elmira  Cooley 
Dec.  10,  1848;  she  was  born  in  Ononda- 
ga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  22,  1828 ;  they  had 
three  children,  two  living,  viz.,  Euratus 
and  Elsey  G.  He  lived  in  New  York  un- 
til June,  1839,  when  he  moved  to  Huron 
Co.,  Ohio,  and  engaged  in  farming.  While 
here,  he  was  married,  and,  in  1853,  he 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Joliet ;  in 
1857,  he  came  to  his  present  place,  and 
has  lived  here  since.  He  has  not  been  an 
office-seeker.  He  came  West  in  poor  cir- 
cumstances, and  now  owns  220  acres, 
which  he  has  principally  earned  by  his  own 
labor. 

ROBERT  SPAFFORD,  Postmaster, 
Elwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Upper  Canada  Sept.  30,  1822. 
He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Beckwith 
April  20,  1847  ;  she  was  born  in  Upper 
Canada  March  5,  1827  ;  they  have  eight 
children,  viz.,  Moses,  Sarah  E.,  Irinda, 
Daniel,  Robert,  Jr. ;  Mary,  Rachel  and 
Norah.  He  lived  in  Canada  about  twenty- 
six  years ;  was  engaged  on  his  father's 
farm  ;  he  then  moved  to  Illinois,  and  set- 
tled in  Will  Co.,  in  1848,  and  engaged  in 
farming  in  Jackson  Tp.,  and  has  lived 
here  since,  except  three  years  in  Mar- 
seilles ;  he  followed  farming  until  1860, 
when  he  took  the  position  of  railroad 
agent  at  this  place,  and  continued  eight 
years ;  he  then  clerked  in  a  general  mer- 
chandise store  for  four  years;  in  1872,  he 
was  appointed  Postmaster,  and  has  held 
the  office  since.  He  has  been  Assessor 
several  years ;  also  Constable,  Town  Trustee 
and  School  Director. 

HENRY  SP  ANGLER,  farmer,  Sec. 
12  ;  P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Summit  Co.,  Ohio,  Feb.  26, 
1837.  He  married  Miss  Rachel  Grove  in 
February,  1857  ;  she  was  born  in  Summit 
Co.,  Ohio,  April  26,  1836;  they  had  five 
children,  four  living,  viz.,  Samuel  M.,  Elvy 
G.,  Alvin  0.  and  Dora  A. ;  Amanda  M. 


JACKSON  TOWNSHIP. 


831 


died  July  13,  1878;  he  lived  in  Ohio 
twenty  years,  then  came  to  Illinois  and 
settled  on  his  present  place,  and  has  lived 
here  since.  He  has  been  Supervisor  of 
this  township  ten  terms,  Justice  of  the 
Peace  eight  years,  also  Collector  and  Road 
Commissioner.  He  was  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances when  he  came  here ;  he  bought 
an  eighty,  going  in  debt  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  same ;  he  now  owns  400  acres 
in  this  township  which  he  has  principally 
earned  by  his  own  labor. 

HENRY  SNOAD,  of  the  firm  of  H. 
Snoad  &  Co.,  dry  goods  and  groceries,  El- 
wood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
in  Kent  Co.,  England,  Sept.  26,  1819. 
He  married  Miss  Julia  Caswell  Oct.  20. 
1847 ;  she  was  born  in  Orleans  Co., 
N.  Y.,  and  died  March  6,  1857  ;  they  had 
three  children,  none  living ;  his  present 
wife  was  Mrs.  Betsy  A.  Winslow,  for- 
merly Miss  Sheldon  ;  she  was  born  in 
New  York  Aug.  9,  1822,  and  married 
Jan.  3,  1858.  He  lived  in  England  twenty- 
two  years  ;  then  came  to  the  United  States 
and  settled  in  Tioga  Co.,  Penn.,  and  en- 
gaged in  farming ;  remained  four  years  ; 
then  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Will 
Co.,  at  Plainfield,  where  he  engaged  as 
clerk  in  general  merchandise  store;  re- 
mained three  years,  when  he  moved  to 
Joliet  and  engaged  in  grocery,  and  remained 
one  year  ;  he  then  went  to  Kankakee  Co., 
engaged  in  farming,  and  next  returned  to 
Will  Co.,  and,  in  1853.  he  engaged  in  farm- 
ing in  Jackson  Tp.,  and  followed  same  un- 
til 1867,  when  he  engaged  in  his  present 
business.  He  has  held  the  offices  of  Post- 
master, Justice  of  Peace  and  Town  Clerk. 
He  formerly  was  Station  Agent  on  C.  & 
A.  R.  R. 

THOMAS  TAIT,  farming,  Sec.  2  ;  P. 
0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  on  one  of  the  principal  Isles  of  Shet- 
land, Sept.  23,  1830.  He  married  Miss 
Catharine  A.  Shutts  Oct.  12,  1858;  she 
was  born  in  Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept. 
19,  1840;  they  had  eight  children,  seven 
Kving,  viz.,  John  S.,  Magnus  P.,  Margaret, 
Thomas  H.,  Fred,  Cassius  and  Sarah  V. ; 
Kate  died  in  infancy.  He  lived  at  the 
place  of  his  birth  until  May  14,  1838, 
1  when  he  took  ship  for  America,  arriving 
in  Chicago,  111.,  the  19th  of  July  follow- 
ing ;  remaining  but  a  short  time,  he  went 


to  Lake  Co.,  111.,  and  remained  there  until 
the  winter  of  1841,  when  he  came  to  Will 
.Co.,  111.,  and  remained  about  one  year ;  he 
then  went  to  Canada,  and  remained  until 
1846,  when  he  returned  to  Will  Co.  and 
settled  in  Homer  Tp. ;  remained  two  years, 
and  then  moved  to  Joliet  Tp.,  where  his 
father  still  lives;  he  bought  his  present 
place  in  June,  1851,  and  moved  on  same 
in  fall  of  1858.  He  has  held  the  offices 
of  Supervisor,  Road  Commissioner,  Town 
Trustee  and  Collector.  He  owns  170 
acres,  well  improved,  wlych  he  has  earned 
by  his  own  labor. 

WILLIAM  W.  WOOD,  farming,  Sec. 
20;  P.  0.  Elwood;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Brasher,  St.  Lawrence 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  11,  1835.  He  married 
Miss  Esther  C.  Edgerton  Oct.  18,  1861 ; 
she  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y., 
April  16,  1837  ;  they  have  seven  children, 
viz.,  Hattie  M.,  Emma  E.,  Frank  W.,  E. 
Blanche,  Alice  M.,  Jessie  P.  and  Harvey 
E.  He  lived  in  New  York  until  1865, 
being  engaged  in  farming ;  he  then  came 
West  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  on  his 
present  place,  and  has  resided  here  since  ; 
his  parents  live  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y.  j 
he  came  here  in  fail)  circumstances  ;  he 
owns  270  acres  in  this  township. 

SHELDON  YOUNG,  farming,  Sec.  9 ; 
P.  0.  Elwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec. 
3, 1820.  He  married  Miss  Eliza  Hougham 
Dec.  1,  1842  ;  she  was  born  Aug.  18, 
1822,  in  Fayette  Co.,  Ind. ;  they  had  thir- 
teen children,  eight  living,  viz.,  Ara  B., 
Lena  Ann,  Albert  L.,  Mary  Ella,  Emma, 
Julia  E.,  Martha  E.  and  Walter  H.  He 
lived  in  New  York  eighteen  years,  and,  in 
1838,  he  came  West  and  settled  in  this- 
township ;  in  1844,  he  settled  on  his  pres- 
ent place ;  Mrs.  Young  lived  two  years  in 
Fayette  Co.,  Ind. ;  moved  to  Butler  Co., 
Ohio,  where  she  remained  three  years; 
moved  to  Parke  Co.,  Ind.,  lived  there  twelve 
years,  when  she  came  to  this  county  on 
horseback,  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  to 
visit  a  sister,  where  she  lived  until  she  was 
married.  Mr.  Young  has  been  Supervisor, 
Road  Commissioner,  School  Trustee  and 
Director.  He  came  here  without  any 
means,  in  fact,  was  in  debt ;  he  now  owns 
112  acres  in  this  township. 


832 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


CHANNAHON    TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  ALEXANDER,  farm  and 
stock,  Sec.  15 ;  P.  0.  Channahon ;  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  this 
county,  on  Hickory  Creek,  Oct.  27,  1837. 
He  married  Miss  Emma  Bedford  Feb.  14, 
1860  ;  she  was  born  in  New  Jersey  Nov. 
11,  1841  ;  they  had  seven  children,  five 
living,  viz. :  Janet,  Hattie,  Mary,  John  and 
Jessie.  He  has  always  lived  in  this  coun- 
ty ;  he  has  been  Road  Commissioner  ten 
years  and  Collector  several  terms  during 
the  past  twenty  years ;  he  has  been  deal- 
ing largely  in  stock  ;  he  bought  an  inter- 
est in  a  creamery  during  the  past  year,  and 
since  that  time  he  has  added  the  dairy  busi- 
ness to  his  farming  and  stock  business ; 
he  owns  650  acres  in  this  county.  His 
father,  John  Alexander,  deceased,  was  born 
in  Scotland  June  7,  1811.  He  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  Turner  Dec.  25,  1833 ;  she 
was  born  in  England  Sept.  22,  1812  ;  they 
had  seven  children,  six  living,  viz.,  Ann, 
George,  Elizabeth,  John,  Isabella  and  Mo- 
riah.  He  lived  in  Scotland  eleven  years, 
then  moved  to  England,  where  he  lived 
eleven  years  ;  he  then  came  to  the  United 
States ;  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  five  times, 
and  finally,  in  1835,  he  settled  on  Hickory 
Creek,  this  county ;  in  1838,  he  came  to 
his  present  place,  living  in  a  log  cabin, 
which  yet  remains  on  the  farm.  He  superin- 
tended some  twenty  miles  of  the  Iron  Moun- 
tain Railroad,  and  was  for  some  time  fore- 
man of  a  stone-quarry,  now  owned  by  his 
son.  He  died  Sept.  15,  1856,  and  had 
lost  his  wife  March  23,  1853. 

DANIEL  BAILEY,  farm  and  stock, 
Sec.  13 ;  P.  0.  Elwood ;  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  married  Miss  Rebecca 
Bordman ;  they  had  one  child,  viz.,  Al- 
exander, now  living  in  Missouri.  His 
present  wife  was  Mrs.  Brown,  formerly  Miss 
Susan  Zarley  ;  they  were  married  July  14, 
1848  ;  they  have  two  children,  viz.,  Cal- 
neh  and  Ella.  He  left  Pennsylvania  when 
1  year  old,  and  moved  to  Ohio  with  his 
parents  ;  they  then  moved  to  Champaign 
Co.,  111.,  where  his  parents  died.  In  1838, 
he  settled  on  his  present  place  ;  he  started 
in  poor  circumstances,  and  owns  about  500 
acres  in  this  county.  His  son,  Calneh, 
was  born  on  the  present  place  July  18, 
1849.  He  married  Miss  Ella  Cagwin 


March  18,  1874;  she  was  born  in  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  April  4,  1852.  In  1869,  he 
began  farming  on  his  own  account ;  he  has 
about  forty  acres  in  his  own  name,  which 
he  has  earned  himself.  He  has  been  • 
School  Director  some  five  years,  and  Clerk 
of  Board  some  time. 

E.  E.  BATES,  blacksmith  and  wagon- 
rnaking,  Channahou  ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Penobscot  Co.,  Maine, 
Sept.  16,  1830.  He  married  Miss  Nancy 
M.  Hutchins  (formerly  Miss  Knapp)  Oct. 
15,  1854;  she  was  born  in  Montpelier, 
Vt.  He  lived  in  Maine  eighteen  years ; 
he  then  moved  to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  pork  and  butter  busi- 
ness, remaining  there  until  1852  ;  he  then 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Plainfield, 
engaging  in  blacksmithing,  and  remained 
there  until  1856,  when  he  came  to  Chan- 
nahon, and  engaged  in  the  blacksmithing 
and  wagon  business,  which  he  continued 
until  1866  ;  he  then  engaged  at  driving  a 
wholesale  notion  wagon  from  Chicago,  con- 
tinuing in  same  until  1873,  when  he  en- 
gaged in  his  present  business  in  its  present 
location. 

ALLEN  P.  CARPENTER,  farming, 
Sec.  5 ;  P.  0.  Channahon ;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Orleans  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Jan.  27,  1834.  He  married  Miss  Ellen 
Spencer  Jan.  10,  1855.  They  had  two 
children;  both  died.  He  lived  in  New 
York  until  1853,  when  he  came  West  and 
settled  in  Joliet,  where  he  remained  one 
year  and  then  came  to  this  township,  and 
engaged  in  farming  ;  remained  three  years ; 
then  he  went  to  Troy  Tp.,  and  lived  there 
two  years ;  he  then  went  to  Minooka, 
Grundy  Co.,  111.,  and  engaged  in  the  grain 
business ;  remained  two  years  ;  then  he  en- 
gaged in  same  business  at  Minooka  Land- 
ing ;  remained  three  years  ;  then  in  1865 
he  came  to  his  present  place ;  in  1868,  he 
became  partner  with  Marshall  Truby,  in 
the  grain  business  at  Joliet  and  Bird's 
Bridge  ;  they  carried  on  the  business  seven 
years.  He  came  West  in  poor  circum- 
stances, and  now  owns  178  acres  in  this 
township. 

WILLIAM  H.  CAVENDER,  farming, 
Sec.  3 ;  P.  0.  Bird's  Bridge  ;  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Greenfield,  N. 


CHANNAHON  TP. 


' ; 

OF  THE 
flHLLJNOJS 


CHANNAHON  TOWNSHIP. 


835 


H.,  Feb.  22,  1828.  He  married  Miss  P. 
A.  Steel  April  27,  1856  ;  she  was  born  in 
Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  11,  1841  ;  they 
have  seven  children,  viz.,  Francis  E., 
Dora  E.,  Libbie  M.,  Mary  A.,  Emma  C., 
Sinclair  S.  an9  Anna  Belle.  He  lived  in 
New  Hampshire  seven  year^,  when  his  par- 
ents moved  to  Michigan,  where  he  lived 
until  1849  ;  he  then  went  to  California, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  mining  and  stock 
business,  meeting  with  good  success,  hav- 
ing accumulated  over  812,000  during  four 
years;  in  1854,  he  returned  to  Michigan, 
and  remained  until  1865  ;  he  then  went  to 
Texas,  and  bought  a  drove  of  cattle,  his 
family  coming  to  Joliet  at  the  same  time ; 
.he  returned  from  Texas  the  same  year,  and 
marketed  his  stock  in  Chicago,  and  then 
came  to  Will  Co.  and  settled  in  Troy  Tp., 
and  engaged  in  the  grain  business  at  Bird's 
Bridge  ;  in  1868,  he  came  to  his  present 
place.  He  started  in  poor  circumstances, 
and  now  owns  165  acres  in  this  town- 
ship. 

GEORGE  B.  DAVIS,  farm  and  stock, 
Sec.  16  ;  P.  0.  Channahon  ;  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Schoharie  Co., 
N.  Y.,  May  7,  1821.  He  married  Miss 
Olive  Coinstock  Jan.  12,  1843  ;  she  was 
born  in  Tompkins  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  8, 
1824  ;  they  had  nine  children,  four  liv- 
ing, viz.,  George  H.,  Sarah,  Oliver  C.  and 
Wilber  B.  He  lived  in  New  York  about  six- 
teen years,  when  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  TIL, 
with  his  parents,  and  settled  in  this  town- 
ship ;  in  1846,  he  came  to  his  present  place  ; 
he  has  been  School  Director  and  Trustee  of 
the  School  Fund  ;  he  started  in  poor  circum- 
stances, and  now  owns  187  acres  in  this 
township  and  300  in  Texas,  which  he  has 
earned  by  his  own  labor  and  management. 
His  parents  were  from  Rhode  Island  ;  his 
father,  Joseph,  was  born  Aug.  13,  1787, 
and  died  Sept.  30,  1838.  He  married 
Miss  Martha  Burlingame ;  she  was  born 
March  5,  1787,  and  died  July  25,  1863. 
His  father  settled  in  this  township  in  1836, 
and  the  family  followed  in  .1837.  His 
wife's  father  was  Dr.  Alexander  Comstock  ; 
he  Was  born  in  Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept. 
9,  1788.  He  married  Miss  Esther  Salt- 
marsh  Feb.  10,  1823;  she  was  born  in 
Columbia  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  17,  1790  ;  they 
came  to  Joliet  in  the  fall  of  1836,  where  he 
practiced  medicine  until  he  died,  July  9, 
1854  ;  Mrs.  Comstock  died  Aug.  7,  1874. 


JOSEPH  FITCH,  M.  D.,  physician, 
druggist  and  general  merchandise,  Chan- 
nahon ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was*born  in 
Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  29,  1825.  He 
married  Miss  Harriet  A.  Duncan  July 
20,  1852 ;  she  was  born  in  Dearborn  Co., 
Ind.,  Feb.  2,  1826  ;  they  had  two  chil- 
dren, one  living,  viz.,  Mary  E.  He  lived 
in  New  York  until  1847  ;  was  engaged  in 
teaching,  also  read  medicine ;  he  then 
went  to  Dearborn  Co.,  Ind.,  and  engaged 
in  teaching ;  he  also  finished  his  course  in 
medicine,  graduating  in  the  Indianapolis 
Medical  College  in  1 850  ;  returning  to 
Dearborn  County,  he  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine;  in  April,  1852,  he  came 
to  Channahon,  and  soon  returned  to  Indi- 
ana, where  he  married  and  came  back  to 
Channahon,  and  commenced  practicing ; 
in  1862,  he  added  his  present  business; 
he  started  in  poor  circumstances,  leaving 
home  at  the  age  of  17  ;  he  educated  him- 
self, and  now  enjoys  a  fair  practice  and 
good  general  business. 

CALEB  FOWLER,  general  merchan- 
dise, Channahon  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  9, 
1818.  He  married  Miss  Harriet  Handy 
June  23, 1842 ;  they  had  eight  children,  five 
living,  viz.,  Charles  E.,  Frank  D.,  Mary  H., 
Ella  F.  and  Hattie  A.  He  lived  in  New 
York  about  twenty-four  years  when  he 
was  married  and  moved  to  Ashland  Co., 
Ohio,  where  he  engaged  at  his  trade  of 
carpenter,  and  remained  there  until  1854; 
he  then  came  to  this  township,  where  he 
followed  his  trade  until  1870,  when  he 
and  his  son,  C.  E.,  bought  out  Mr.  C. 
Bradford  and  established  their  present 
business  ;  he  has  held  the  offices  of  Town- 
ship Treasurer  twelve  years,  School  Trust- 
ee, Town  Cle'rk  and  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

J.  N.  FRYER,  farm  and  loan  agent,  Sec. 
17  ;  P.  0.  Channahon  ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Schodack  Landing, 
Rensselaer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  11, 1818.  He 
married  Miss  Charlotte  Beardsley  Oct.  1, 
1849 ;  she  was  born  in  Litchfield  Co., 
Conn.,  Nov.  24,  1822 ;  they  had  six  chil- 
dren, five  living,  viz.,  Jennie  J.,  Kittie  L., 
Chauncey  M.,  Lotta  B.  and  Leonard  S.; 
Albertine  M.  died.  He  lived  in  New 
York  until  1834,  when  he  came  to  Illinois 
and  settled  on  his  present  farm,  and  lived 
at  home  until  1849,  when  he  built  his 
present  home  (the  first  regular  frame  built 

12 


836 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


in  this  township)  and  has  lived  in  same 
since ;  he  was  one  of  the  Commissioners 
appointed  to  divide  the  county  into  town- 
ships ;  he  has  held  the  office  of  Justice  of 
the  Peace  for  twenty-five  years,  and 
School  Director  for  fifteen  years ;  he  has 
been  Town  Collector  and  is  now  serving  in 
his  fourteenth  term  as  Supervisor ;  he 
started  in  limited  circumstances  and  now 
owns  between  three  and  four  hundred 
acres  in  this  township ;  his  father  died  in 
Albany,  N.  Y.;  his  mother,  Mrs.  Sarah 
Schermerhorn  Four,  married  Mr.  M.  More- 
house  in  1832,  and  is  now  Jiving  on  an  ad- 
joining farm. 

STEPHEN  GLIDDEN,  farming  and 
stock  ;  P.  0.  Channahon  ;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  New  Hampshire, 
Sept.  15,  1820.  He  married  Miss  Mary 
L.  Barnet,  July  4,  1849  ;  she  was  born 
in  New  York ;  they  had  eleven  children, 
five  living,  viz.,  Pernelia,  Sarah  J., 
Melissa,  Ella  and  Harvey  O.  His  parents 
left  New  Hampshire  when  he  was  six 
months  old,  and  moved  to  New  York, 
where  he  lived  twenty-seven  years ;  he 
then  came  to  Illinois  and  remained  one 
year ;  he  then  returned  to  New  York  and 
married,  and  then  came  to  Will  Co. 
and  settled  in  this  township  ;  he  came 
here  in  poor  circumstances  and  now  owns 
1,036  acres  in  this  township,  all  of  which 
he  has  earned  by  his  own  labor  and  man- 
agement. 

D.  C.  HEMPHILL,  farmer,  Sec.  25  ; 
P.  0.  Elwood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Adams  Co.,  Ohio,  Sept.  19, 
1830.  He  married  Miss  Hannah  Russell 
March  14,  1856 ;  she  was  born  in  Mont- 
gomery Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  15,  1834;  they 
had  ten  children,  nine  living,  viz.,  Laura, 
Ida  May,  Russell  J.,  Arthur  D.,  Charles 
E.,  Frederick,  Burton  C.,  Kitty  and  Wil- 
bur. He  lived  in  Ohio  two  years ;  then 
moved  to  Indiana,  where  they  remained 
two  years,  when  they  came  to  Will  Co., 
111.,  and  settled  at  Troutman's  Grove;  he 
remained  with  his  parents  until  he  was  21 
years  of  age,  when  he  went  to  Reed's 
Grove  and  engaged  in  farming ;  remained 
one  year,  when  he  was  married  and  set- 
tled on  his  present  place;  he  owns  152 
acres  in  this  township,  which  he  has  earned 
principally  by  his  own  labor. 

DR.  IRA  O.  KNAPP,  farmer,  Sec. 
8  ;  P.  0.  Channahou  ;  the  subject  of  this 


sketch  was  born  in  Barre,  Vt.,  Feb.  12r 
1810  ;  he  married  Miss  Almira  Joslyn 
July  8,  1833;  she  was  born  in  Waits- 
field,  Vt.,  Jan.  26,  1810,  and  died  April 
13,  1862;  they  had  six  children,  four  liv- 
ing, viz.,  George,  Orren,  Melinda  and 
Solon,  all  married;  his  present  wife  wa^ 
Mrs.  Ann  S.  Peebles;  they  were  married 
Sept.  10,  1864 ;  she  was  born  in  England  ; 
they  have  no  children.  He  lived  in  Ver- 
mont until  he  was  23,  when  he  came  to  Will 
Co.,  111.,  and  lived  in  Plainfield  Tp.  three 
months  and^then  came  to  his  present  place  ; 
he  followed  his  profession  for  some  fifteen 
years  after  coming  here,  and  since  then  he 
discontinued  his  practice ;  he  came  to  this 
county  in  debt,  and  has  owned  considera- 
ble land,  here,  but  has  disposed  of  all  but 
about  one  hundred  acres.  He  has  not 
been  an  office-seeker,  his  only  office  being 
that  of  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

MICHAEL  LONG,  farmer ;  Sec.  10  ; 
P.  0.  Bird's  Bridge;  was  born  in  Thur- 
lass  Co.,  Ireland,  in  1811  ;  he  married 
Miss  Bridget  O'Brien ;  she  was  born  in, 
Ireland  ;  they  had  six  children,  five  living, 
viz.,  James?,  John,  Michael,  Jr.,  Johanna  and 
Mary.  He  lived  in  Ireland  until  1834r 
when  he  moved  to  Canada,  and  lived  there 
two  years  ;  he  then  moved  to  Syracuse,  N. 
Y.;  he  then  went  to  Chicago,  and  next 
engaged  on  the  canal;  he  then  settled  on 
his  present  place.  He  came  here  in  poor 
circumstances;  his  son  James  owns  160 
acres  in  this  township,  which  he  bought 
of  his  father,  in  1878. 

JOSEPH  LEWIS,  general  merchan- 
dise and  farming,  Channahon ;  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Tunbridge 
Wells,  Kent  Co.,  England,  Dec.  15,  1812. 
He  married  Miss  Ann  Towner  in  1835  ; 
she  was  born  in  Peckham,  Kent  Co.,  En- 
gland, and  died  in  the  winter  of  1842 ; 
they  had  five  children,  three  living,  viz., 
Mary,  Catheron  and  Jane,  all  married. 
His  present  wife  was  Miss  Harriet  Scott ; 
she  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y., 
March  24,  1820,  and  married  Nov.  30, 
1845  ;  they  had  seven  children,  five  liv- 
ing, viz.,  Alta  F.,  Harriet  S.,  Anna  C., 
Henry  D.  and  George  A.  He  lived  in 
England  until  he  was  22  years  of  age;  he 
then  came  to  the  United  States,  and  set- 
tled in  what  is  now  Grundy  Co.,  111., 
where  he  engaged  in  farming,  and  remained 
fifteen  years;  he  then,  in  1850,  came  to 


CHANNAHON  TOWNSHIP. 


837 


Channahon,  and  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandise, and  continued  same  until  1864, 
when  he  came  to  his  present  place  and  en- 
gaged in  farming,  and  has  remained  here 
since ;  he  has  held  the  offices  of  School 
Director,  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Notary. 
His  wife's  parents  were  among  the  first 
settlers  of  this  county,  fleeing  to  the  Wa- 
bash  during  the  Black  Hawk  war. 

CHARLES  McCOWAN,  farmer,  Sec. 
7  ;  P.  0.  Channahon  ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  New  York,  Sept.  28, 
1832 ;  he  married  Miss  Myra  Newton, 
Jan.  1,1854;  she  died  in  1861;  they 
had  two  children,  one  living,  viz.,  Carrie ; 
his  present  wife  was  Miss  Lamm  Curtis ; 
they  were  married  March  17,  1865 ;  they 
had  four  children,  one  living,  viz.,  Roy ; 
he  lived  in  New  York  about  three  years, 
then  came  to  this  county,  with  his  parents, 
who  settled  in  this  township ;  he  came  to 
his  present  place  about  1857,  and  has  lived 
on  same  since ;  he  has  been  Poormaster 
and  School  Trustee ;  he  was  considerably 
in  debt  on  starting,  and  now  owns  sixty- 
five  acres  in  this  township.  His  father, 
Peter  McCowan  (deceased),  was  born  in 
Edinburgh,  Scotland;  he  married  Miss 
Isabelle  Tarrant;  she  was  born  in  En- 
gland ;  they  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
this  township  ;  both  have  since  died. 

GEORGE  W.  McCUNE,  farming,  Sec. 
26;  P.  0.  Elwood  ;  was  born  in  Will  Co., 
111.,  Feb.  25,  1841.  He  married  Miss 
Clara  E.  Houghton  Jan.  28,  1869;  she 
was  born  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  April  6, 1849 ; 
they  have  four  children,  viz.,  James  B., 
Etta,  Emma  and  William  G.  He  has  al- 
ways resided  in  this  county  ;  he  is  no  office- 
seeker,  his  only  office  being  connected  with 
the  schools  ;  he  began  farming  on  his  own 
account  on  becoming  of  age,  and  owns  325 
acres  in  this  township,  which  he  has  earned 
principally  by  his  own  labor ;  his  parents 
settled  here  prior  to  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  and  fled  to  Chicago  during  the 
same. 

JOHN  T.  RANDALL,  farming,  Sec. 
9  ;  P.  0.  Channahon ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Orleans  Co.,  Vt.,  Aug. 
2, 1815.  He  married  Miss  B.  S.  Russell 
Sept.  4,  1836 ;  she  was  born  in  Wilbra- 
ham,  Mass.,  April  24,  1815  ;  they  had  six 
children,  five  living,  viz.,  Albert  T.,  Oscar 
T.,  Gershom  A.,  Laura  A.  and  Mary  ; 
Joseph  R.  died  Jan  21,  1872.  He  lived 


in  Vermont  ten  years,  when  his  parents 
moved  to  Western  New  York,  where  he 
lived  until  1835  ;  he  then  went  to  Cuya- 
hoga  Co.,  Ohio,  where  he  was  married,  and 
lived  there  until  1839,  when  he  returned 
to  his  old  home  in  New  York,  and  lived 
there  until  1849,  when  he  came  to  Will 
Co.,  111.,  and  settled  in  Troy  Tp.,  and  lived 
there  five  years,  when  he  came  to  his 
present  place.  Three  of  his  sons  were  in 
the  army  for  the  greater  part  of  the  war. 
He  has  been  Supervisor  of  this  and  Troy 
Tps.,  and  other  offices  connected  with  the 
school  and  road.  He  started  in  poor  cir- 
cumstances, and  now  owns  271  acres  in 
this  township. 

CHARLES  C.  SMITH,  farm  and  stock, 
Sec.  20 ;  P.  0.  Channahon ;  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Jefferson  Co., 
East  Tenn.,  May  2,  1818.  He  married 
Miss  Corinza  Burr  July  24,  1850  ;  she 
was  born  inTippecanoe  Co.,Ind.,  June  19, 
1831 ;  they  had  ten  children,  nine  living, 
viz.,  Barton,  Emma  Jane,  William  T..  Ella 
May,  Charles  W.,  Lucy  M.,  Corinza  A., 
Sarah  E.  and  Floyd  H.;  Edgar  F.  died 
Sept.  5,  1873.  He  lived  in  Tennessee  ten 
years,  when  his  parents  moved  to  Fountain 
Co.,  Ind.,  and  engaged  in  farming; 
remained  until  1835  ;  they  then  moved  to 
Joliet,  111.,  where  they  carried  on  a  general 
teaming  business  until  1840  ;  he  then  fol- 
lowed peddling  until  1847,  when  he  came  to 
his  present  place,  and  followed  stock-raising 
during  the  the  summer,  and  acted  as  buyer 
for  the  American  Fur  Company  during 
the  winters  until  1852,  when  he  turned 
his  entire  attention  to  his  farming  and 
stock  interests ;  his  business,  though 
starting  in  a  very  small  way,  has  grown  to 
enormous  proportions,  and  he  is  at  present 
farming  over  3,000  acres ;  he  is  also  very 
largely  interested  in  stock-raising  ;  during 
the  past  year,  he  has  bought  an  intern  t  in 
a  creamery  at  Channahon,  111.,  since  which 
time  he  has  added  a  dairy  of  150  cows  to 
his  farming  and  stock  business.  He  has 
been  Road  Commissioner  some  five  years, 
and  was  Supervisor  four  years,  one  year 
receiving  the  unanimous  vote.  His  father, 
Barton  Smith,  continued  his  residence 
in  Joliet  until  he  died  in  September,  1862  ; 
his  mother,  Mrs.  Fatha  Smith,  died  in 
1875.  Mr.  Smith  practiced  as  a  veteri- 
nary surgeon  in  Joliet,  and  was  Justice  of 
the  Peace  and  Police  Magistrate. 


838 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES: 


FRANKFORT    TOWNSHIP. 


B.  BAUMGARTNER,  general  mer- 
chant, Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born  in 
Switzerland  June  6,  1833;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1851,  and  settled  in  Illi- 
nois ;  his  first  permanent  residence  in  the 
State  was  in  Frankfort  Tp.,  commencing 
in  1862.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Char- 
lotte Maue,  who  was  born  in  Germany  in 
1839  ;  they  have  had  five  children,  two  of 
whom  are  living,  viz.,  Emma  and  Albert ; 
deceased,  George,  Frankie  and  Lena.  Mr. 
B.  is  at  present  holding  the  office  of  Town- 
ship Trustee ;  has  held  office  of  Collector 
and  several  other  offices  previously. 

D.  BRUMUND,  farmer  and  stock-rais- 
er ;  P.  0.  Mokena ;  was  born  in  Germany 
Jan.  23,  1815;  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1849,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  111.  ;  he 
has  been  a  resident  of  Frankfort  Tp.  since 
1850  ;  his  farm  consists  of  300  acres,  val- 
ued at  $18,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Lena  Folkers  ;  they  have  seven  children, 
viz.,  J.  H.,  Peter,  Delia,  Lena,  Julia, 
Helen  and  Eliza. 

GEORGE  BAUCH,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born 
in  Germany  Nov.  6,  1826;  came  t.o  the 
United  States  in  1851,  and  to  Illinois  in 
the  same  year,  when  he  located  on  his 
present  farm,  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co.  ;  it 
contains  eighty  acres,  valued  at  $5,000. 
He  .was  married  to  Miss  Katie  Siepp,  who 
was  born  in  Germany ;  they  have  had 
seven  children,  all  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
Dan,  John,  Katie,  Mary,  George,  William 
and  Jacob. 

JOHN  BREIDERT,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  New  Bremen ;  one  of  our 
early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Germany  June 
24,  1812 ;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1846,  and  this  State  and  settled  in  Frank- 
fort in  the  same  year ;  his  farm  consists  of 
100  acres,  valued  at  $6,000.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Christina  Press,  who  was 
born  in  Germany  ;  they  have  had  seven 
children,  six  of  whom  are  living,  viz, 
Elizabeth,  Christina,  Gottlieb.  John,  Mar- 
garet and  George  ;  deceased,  Peter.  The 
farm  of  Mr.  B.  is  situated  on  Sees.  -12 
and  11. 

JOSEPH  S.  CLAUS,  of  the  firm  of 
Glaus  Brothers,  general  merchants,  Frank- 
fort Station;  was  born  in  Cook  Co.,  111., 


Dec.  29,  1844;  came  to  Frankfort  in 
1868,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He 
was  married  May  22,  1872,  to  Miss  Mary 
E.  Carpenter,  who  was  born  in  Oneida  Co., 
N.  Y.,  June  18,  1845,  and  who  died  Sept. 
9,  1875.  Mr.  Glaus  is  at  present  holding 
the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which 
position  he  has  maintained  nearly  two 
years. 

NORMAN  A.  CARPENTER,  retired, 
Frankfort  Station ;  was  born  in  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  4,  1818:  came  to  this 
State  in  April,  1855,  and  settled  in  Frank- 
fort;  at  that  time,1  Mr.  Carpenter  says 
there  was  but  one  store  in  the  village  ;  it 
was  at  that  time  owned  by  one  Mr.  Higley; 
he  built  immediately  upon  his  arrival,  and 
opened  a  store  for  general  merchandise, 
which  he  continued  until  1866 ;  he  was 
the  second  merchant  in  Frankfort ;  the 
railroad  running  through  this  place  had 
at  this  time  just  commenced  doing  business. 
Mr.  C.  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E. 
Stantial,  who  was  born  in  England  Sept. 
22,  1822;  they  have  had  three  children, 
two  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Emily  and 
Eva ;  deceased,  Mary  E.  Mr.  C.  acted  as 
first  Postmaster,  under  Mr.  M.  Van  Horn,  in 
Frankfort  Village  ;  the  was  the  first  official 
in  that  position  in  the  village. 

JOHN  CAPPEL,  of  the  firm  of  Krapp 
&  Cappel,  butchers  and  dealers  in  live 
stock,  Mokena  ;  one  of  our  natives  of  Illi- 
nois ;  was  born  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  111., 
May  26.  1846,  and  is  the  son  of  the  late 
Frederick  Cappel,  deceased,  who  was  one 
of  our  first  settlers  and  pioneers.  Mr.  J. 
Cappel  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Werner,  who  was  born  in  Illinois ;  they 
have  had  five  children,  all  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  Julia,  Emma,  John,  Willie 
and  George.  Mr.  C.  has  held  the  office  of 
Deputy  Sheriff  four  years  ;  Collector,  one 
year,  and  Township  Clerk  six  years ;  his 
property,  which  contains  eight-five  acres, 
is  situated  on  Sec.  10,  and  is  valued  at 
$4,000. 

CHARLES  CLAYES,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station; 
one  of  our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in 
Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  4,  1819;  came 
to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  1835; 
and  in  Frankfort  Tp.  in  1837 ;  his  present 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


839 


farm  contains  295  acres,  is  situated  on 
Sees.  21  and  16,  and  is  valued  at  $18,000. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza  A.Williams; 
they  have  had  seven  children,  six  of  whom 
are  living,  viz.,  Amelia  L.,  Emma  S., 
Mary  J.,  Charles  W.,  Mattie  H.  and 
Addie  E.;  deceased,  an  infant.  Mr.  C. 
was  the  first  Township  Clerk  in  the  town- 
ship after  its  organization. 

W.  B.  CLEVELAND,  farmer  t  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ; 
one  of  our  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  New 
York  Sept.  21,  1820;  came  to  this  State 
and  settled  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  in 
1844  ;  his  farm  consists  of  125  acres,  sit- 
uated on  Sees.  1 9  and  20,  and  is  valued  at 
67,000.  He  was  married  May  22,  1865, 
to  Miss  Stella  M.  Martin,  who  was  born  in 
Vermont  Aug.  6,  1846  ;  they  have  had 
six  children,  five  of  whom  are  living,  viz.; 
Lillian  E.,  Willie  J.,  Clarence  M.,  Mabel 
S.  and  Eva  M. ;  deceased,  Emily  L.  Mr. 
C.  has  held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the 
Peace  eight  years,  Supervisor  two  years 
and  School  Trustee  several  years. 

HENRY  ENGELMANN,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ; 
was  born  in  Germany  Oct.  30,  1824;  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1853,  and  settled  in 
Monee  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.;  he  removed  from 
there  to  Frankfort  in  1863  ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  120  acres,  valued  at  $6,000.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Voigt ;  they 
have  had  four  children,  viz.,  Mary,  Henry, 
Sophia  and  Louisa. 

JOHNSON  FOLKERS,  butcher  and 
dealer  in  smoked  and  salt  meats,  Frankfort 
Station ;  was  born  in  Germany  June  1 1 , 
1835  ;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1846, 
and  settled  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  111., 
in  1850.  He  was  married  to  Sophia  Eber- 
hart,  who  was  born  in  Germany ;  they 
have  three  children — Frank,  Willie  and 
Peter.  Mr.  F.  was  a  participant  in  our 
late  war ;  he  enlisted  in  the  20th  I.  V.  I. ; 
served  two  years  and  was  discharged  with 
honor  on  account  of  disabilities,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1864. 

GEORGE  FINK,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born 
in  Germany  Jan.  13,  1839 ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1851,  and  settled  in 
Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  111. ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  109  acres,  valued  at  $7.000,  and 
is  situated  on  Sec.  27.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  Christina  Briederdt ;  they  have  had 


i  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are  living, 
i  viz.,  Mary,  Emma,  George,  Henry,  Gus- 
tave  and  John ;  deceased,  Mattie.  Mr. 
F.  was  elected  Township  Collector  in  April, 
1877  ;  his  time  for  the  same  office  expires 
April,  1879. 

HENRY  GRONOW,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station;  one  of 
our  natives  of  Illinois  ;  was  born  in  Frank- 
fort, Will  Co.,  April  16,  1850;  he  is  the 
son  of  John  Gronow,  who  is  one  of  our 
early  settlers.  The  farm  of  Mr.  G.  con- 
sists of  130  acres,  valued  at  $6,500. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Sophia  Pauling 
Feb.  11,  1877,  who  was  born  in  Du  Page 
Co.,  111.,  Sept.  23,  1851 ;  they  have  one 
child — Aurelia. 

MRS.  C.  W.  HARPER,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser;  P.O.  Mokena ;  one  of  our  early 
settlers ;  was  born  in  Kentucky,  Aug.  3, 
1834 ;  is  the  widow  of  the  late  Thomas 
Harper,  deceased,  who  was  born  in  England 
May  21, 1832  ;  died  July  28,  1870.  He 
was  one  of  our  first  settlers  and  pioneers. 
They  were  married  March  5,  1857,  and 
have  .had  four  children,  all  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  Elizabeth  F.,  Ann  W.,  Susan 
E.  and  Thomas  P.  Mrs.  H.  continues 
the  business  in  which  her  husband  was 
engaged,  namely,  that  of  a  farmer  and 
stock-raiser;  her  farm  consists  of  180 
acres,  valued  at  $10,000. 

THOMAS  HERSCHBACH,  general 
hardware,  Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born  in 
Joliet,  Will  Co.,  Aug.  31,  1844;  is  the 
son  of  Henry  Herschbach,  who  was  one  of 
our  first  settlers  and  pioneers.  Mr.  H. 
was  married  to  Miss  Alvina  Maue,  who 
was  born  in  Germany ;  they  have  three 
children,  all  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
Charles,  Otto  and  Emma. 

N.    P.    HOLDEN,    M.    D.,   retired, 

Frankfort  Station ;  one  of  our  early  and 

most  prominent  settlers;  was  born  in  New 

Hampshire    June   20,    1820 ;    received  a 

liberal  education   in  boyhood  ;  at  the  age 

of  23,  he  entered   Rush  Medical   College, 

at    Chicago;    graduated    and    received    a 

diploma  in  1846;  his  practice   continued 

until  the  time  of  his  retirement  in  Febru- 

|  ary,    1878;  in     1854,  he  purchased  the 

:  property    he,   now    owns,  and    which    is 

|  located    on    Sees.  26  and   25,   and  which 

contains   400    acres,  valued    at  $20,000. 

j  Dr.    H.    was    married    to    Miss  Caroline 

i   Parrish  June  30,  1847  ;  they  have  had  six 


840 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living, 
viz.,  Wright,  Milton  and  Franklin  ;  de- 
ceased, Charley,  Janies  and  Sarah. 

PHINEAS  HEMMENWAY  HOL- 
DEN, was  born  in  Hollis,  N.  H.,  May  6, 
1792 ;  was  the  son  of  David  Holden  and 
Bridget  Atwell ;  his  father  was  born  July 
31,  1769,  and  his  mother  was  born  in 
1770  :  they  were  married  July  31,  1788, 
and  had  fourteen  children,  to  wit:  David, 
born  July  31,  1789  ;  died  Dec.  12, 1700; 
William  Cummings,  born  Aug.  16,  1790; 
Phineas  Hemmenway,  born  May  6,  1792, 
died  Feb.  23,  1872 ;  Bridget,  born  Jan. 
19,  1795,  died  Aug.  9,  1796;  Josiah  | 
Rhodes,  born  Feb.  22,  1797;  Bridget,  | 
born  Dec.  10,  1798,  died  Sept.  12, 1800; 
Mira,  born  Nov.  28,  1800 ;  David,  born  | 
Dec.  27,  1802,  died  Dec.  11,  1833;  Mil-  j 
ton,  born  July  11,  1804;  Adam  Mont-  \ 
gomery,  born  May  18,  1806,  died  Oct.  5, 
1863;  Sarah,  born  March  10,  1808; 
Lucetta,  born  March  4,  1810 ;  Charles 
Coisworth  Pinckney,  born  Jan.  10,  1812, 
died  March  7,  1816;  Mary  Ann,  born 
Sept.  17,  1814;  died  July  24,  1841;  of 
these,  Rhodes,  Milton,  Sarah  and  Lucetta, 
are  still  living ;  Mr.  Holden's  grandparents 
were  David  Holden,  born  Dec.  10,  1738, 
and  Sarah  Hemmenway,  born  Oct.  25, 
1739  ;  they  were  married  July  13,  1761, 
and  had  nine  children.  David  Holden, 
died  Aug.  8,  1803,  and  Sarah  Hemmen- 
way Holden,  died  April  7, 1830  ;  his  great- 
grandparents  were  John  Holden,  born 
about  1695,  and  Sarah  Davis,  born  in  1700; 
they  were  married  Nov.  22, 1715,  and  had 
ten  children  ;  she  died  Dec.  21,  1753,  and 
he  died  Dec.  27,  1753  ;  John's  grand- 
parents were  Richard  Holden,  born  in 
1609,  and  Martha  Fosdick;  they  were 
married  between  1634  and  1639;  they 
had  nine  children  ;  he  died  March  1, 1696, 
aged  87  years;  she  died  in  1681.  John, 
the  last  named,  and  his 'brother  Justian, 
were  born  in  Suffolk  Co.,  Eng'.;  they  were 
arrested  in  the  streets  of  London  for  their 
adherence  to  Puritanism,  but  through  the 
influence  of  a  member  of  Parliament, 
named  Holden,  they  were  released  and 
fled  to  America ;  they  embarked  at  Tip- 
wich,  in  April,  1634,  in  the  ship  Francis, 
and  settled  in  Watertown  and  Cambridge, 
in  Massachusetts.  The  father  of  Phineas 
Hemmenway  was  a  cooper  by  trade,  and, 
with  his  young  wife,  early  removed  to 


Groton,  N.  H.,  where  they  settled  on  a 
small  farm,  where  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  received  as  good  an  education  as 
the  country  at  that  time  afforded.  His 
father  was  for  many  years  one  of  the 
Selectmen  of  the  town,  quite  a  prominent 
position  at  that  time,  and  died  Oct.  13, 
1823;  his  mother  died  Dec.  30,  1839; 
Mr.  Holden  was  married  April  17,  1817, 
to  Betsey  Parker,  daughter  of  Levi  Parker, 
who  was  born  June  25,  1752,  and  Abigail 
Pool,  of  Hollis  ;  her  father  had  by  his 
first  wife,  who  was  Rebecca  Fletcher,  of 
Westford,  Mass.:  Levi,  born  Jan.  9, 1778; 
William,  born  in  1780;  George,  born  Oct. 
11,  1783;  by  his  second  wife,  whom  he 
married  in  1785:  James,  born  Jan.  6, 

1787;  Luther,  born  ;  Calvin,    born 

;  Betsey,  Jan.  14, 1792,  and  Samuel, 

June  23,  1800.  Her  grandparents  were 
William  Parker,  of  Groton,  and  Susanna 
Kemp,  who  were  married  March  30, 1736, 
and  had:  Susanna,  born  Feb.  10,  1737; 
William,  Sept.  28,  1741;  Tytil,born  May 
1,  1744;  Samuel,  March  7,  1746  ;  Isaac, 
bora  Jan.  22, 1749  ;  Levi,  June  25. 1752; 
Susanna,  Oct.  10,  1755,  and  Ruth,  no  date 
given.  Mrs.  Holden's  mother  died  July 

16,  1823,  aged  64  years  ;  her  father  died 
Sept.   10,    1825,   aged   72  years ;  of  the 
children,  Samuel  only  is  living ;  he  resides 
at  Davenport,  Iowa ;  is  now  78  years  old, 
but  in  good  health.     Mrs.  Holden's  father 
was  an  officer  of  the  Revolution,  and  was 
attached  to  the  command  of  Gen.  Wash- 
ington, and  stationed  near  West  Point  at 
the  time   of  the  treason  of  Gen.   Arnold, 
and  at  which  time   Major  Andre  of  the 
British   army,  was  detected  as  a  spy  and 
arrested  at  Tarrytown,  N.  Y\,and  executed 
at  TappUn,  on  the  Hudson  River ;  Lieut. 
Levi  Parker  saw  him  hung,  and,  so  long  as 
he  lived,  related  the  sad  spectacle,  and  re- 
gretted that  Arnold  could   not  have  been 
hung  in  his  stead ;   Lieut.  Parker   was  a 
meritorious   and  'gallant    officer,    serving 
during  the  war.     Mr.  and   Mrs.    Holden 
were  married  at  Dunstable,   Mass.,  April 

17,  1817,    and    immediately    commenced 
life  together  on  a  small  farm  in   Groton, 
N.  H.  ;  here  they  lived  until  1830,  when 
they    removed    with    their   family  of   six 
children   to   West  Hartford,   Vt;  at  this* 
place,  Mr.  Holden  purchased  80   acres  of 
land,  mostly  timber,  and  commenced  his 
new  farm  with  that  energy  only  known  to 


FRANKFORT 

those  who  have  seen  the  ups  and  downs  of  | 
New  England  life ;  they  remained  here  ; 
until  the  spring  of  1836,  when  they  sold  j 
their  little  homestead,  and,  on  June  1,  | 
emigrated  with  their  family  of  nine  chil- 
dren, for  Illinois,  arriving  at  Chicago  June 
30,  1836  ;  Mr.  Holden's  younger  brother, 
Josiah,  had  settled  in  Will  County,  near 
Joliet,  in  1834,  whither  Mr.  Holden  and 
his  family  immediately  proceeded;  they 
found  him  and  his  family  finely  located  on 
the  Du  Page  River,  about  seven  miles  below 
Plainfield,  and  were  received  with  true 
Western  hospitality  ;  shortly  after  this,  Mr. 
Holden  located  a  claim  of  160  acres  at 
Skunk  Grove,  on  the  headwaters  of 
Hickory  Creek  (now  Frankfort),  where 
they  commenced  life  in  earnest  on  the 
prairie ;  they  erected  a  snug  log  house, 
and  here  they  struggled  together  for  many 
years  to  raise  their  large  family,  working 
early  and  late,  and  economizing  in  •  every 
possible  manner ;  when  they  began  their 
prairie  home,  the  county  was  entirely  new, 
the  nearest  neighbor  on  the  south  was 
thirty  miles,  at  Bourbonnais  Grove ;  the 
nearest  post  office,  fourteen  miles,  at  Joliet. 
Their  claim  was  on  the  Sac  trail,  a  path 
worn  deep  in  the  ground  by  the  Indians ; 
this  trail  had  been  traveled  for  centuries, 
by  all  appearances — it  was  the  Indians' 
direct  route  from  Detroit  to  the  Far  West 
— it  ran  nearly  on  a  bee-line ;  the  Indians 
had  displayed  such  good  judgment  in  lay- 
ing out  this  trail,  that  the  settlers,  as  the 
country  became  settled,  adopted  it ;  in 
many  places  this  trail  was  worn  for  more 
than  two  feet  in  the  earth,  and  no  man  of 
this  day  can  tell  or  form  any  idea  as  to  how 
long  it  had  been  traveled  by  the  red  man. 
Their  family  now  consisted  of  Elizabeth 
W.,  born  in  Tyngsboro,  Mass.,  April  27, 
1818;  Newton  P.,  born  at  Groton,  N.  H., 
June  20,  1820;  Mary  Emeline,  born  in 
Groton,  N.  H.,  Sept.  13,  1822;  David  L., 
born  in  Groton,  N.  H.,  Nov.  13,  1824  ; 
Charles  C.  P.,  born  in  Groton,  N.  H.,  Aug. 
9,  1827  ;  Sarah  Ann  C.,  born  in  Groton, 
N.  H.,  Sept.  3,  1829:  George  M,,  born  in 
West  Hartford,  Vt.,  July  11,  1831  ;  Mira 
Jane,  born  in  West  Hartford,  Vt.,  June 
30,  1833,  and  Levi  Parker,  was  born  in 
West  Hartford,  Vt.,  July  14,  1835  ;  Mary 
Emeline  was  married  to  J.  W.  Freer,  then 
a  farmer  on  the  Kankakee  River,  above 
Wilmington,  in  this  State,  Feb.  22,  1844; 


TOWNSHIP.  841 

she  died  of  consumption,  Nov.  28,  1845, 
leaving  one  son,  Henry  C.  Freer ;  Sarah 
Ann  C.,  died  of  consumption,  Feb.  13, 

1847  ;  she  was  a  lovely  girl,  admired   by 
all  who  knew  her ;  she  was  the  idol  of  her 
father's    family ;  the    loss    of   these    two 
loving  daughters  weighed  heavily  upon  Mr. 
Holden,  as  also  upon  the  whole  family ; 
Elizabeth   W.   was  married   to   Cromwell 
Wilson,  of  Fort  Madison,   towa,  Jan.  9, 

1848  ;  Mr.  Wilson  is  a  retired  capitalist ; 
they  have  never  had  any  children ;  they 
reside  at  Fort  Madison.     Newton  P.  was 
married  to  Caroline  Parish,  June  30,  1847, 
at    Bristol,  111. ;    they  have    had :   Sarah, 
Wright    P.,    Milton    and   Frank ;  Sarah 
died  Feb.    11,  1873,  with  consumption  ; 
Wright    is    studying    law;   Frank    is    at 
school,  and  Milton  is  on  his  father's  farm, 
at  Frankfort ;  David   L.  was   married   to 
Miss  Esther  Parish  in  1871,  and  has  four 
fine  boys — Homer  Phineas,  Charles  C.  P., 
Howard    and    Morton;     George    M.    was 
married  in  1856,  to   Minerva  Butler,  and 
had    several    children,  two  of  whom  only 
are   living — Charles    and    William ;  Mira 
Jane  was  married   to  J.    M.    Brown,  and 
has  had  several  children,  two  of  whom  only 
are  living — Malcolm    and    Willis ;     Levi 
Parker  was  married  to  Charlotte  E.   Rey- 
nolds in    March,    1865;    they   have  two 
lovely    little    girls  —  Birdie    and     Cora ; 
Charles  C.  P.  was  married,  Sept.  17, 1855, 
to  Sarah  J.  Reynolds,  who  died  July  26, 
1873,  of  purpura   hemorrhagica,  aged  37 
years    3   months  and   15  days ;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.    Holden   lived   to   see   the  country, 
which  was  a  wilderness  when  they  came  to 
it,  settled  up  and  dotted  all  over  with  first- 
class  farms,  with  villages  in  every  direction, 
railroads  running  through  all  parts  of  the 
State,  with  one  through  their  own  farm ; 
they  had  lived  to  see  all  these  things  ac- 
complished, and  their  children  well  settled 
in  life.     April  17,  1867,  they  had  their 
golden  wedding,   all  their  children  being 
present,    except    Elizabeth ;    many    came 
from    Chicago   to   congratulate   the  aged 
couple  on  their  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their 
wedding ;  it  was  a  happy  time  for  all — chil- 
dren   and  grandchildren.       Mrs.    Holden 
was   afflicted    with  a  cancer  in   the  face, 
which  first  made  its  appearance  in  about 
1864;  it  continued  to  grow    and  spread, 
until  Sept.  24,  1869,  when  she  yielded  up 
other  life    this  dreaded  disease  ;  during  the 


842 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


last  years  of  her  life,  she  had  suffered  the 
most  excruciating  pain,  but  bore  it  all  with 
a  meekness  and  forbearance  seldom  to  be 
met  with  in  this  world  ;  from  her  youth, 
she  had  been  a  consistent  Baptist,  not 
merely  in  word  but  in  deed  ;  the  privations 
she  had  to  endure  during  many  years  after 
her  removal  to  Illinois,  were  met  without 
a  murmur,  saying  "  it  is  all  for  the  best"; 
she  lived  for  her  family,  and  those  she  left 
behind  her  are  sad  witnesses  of  this  fact ; 
she  always  had  a  kind  word  for  everybody 
and  none  knew  her  but  to  love  her;  Mr. 
Holden  took  her  death  very  hard,  but 
would  fill  up  the  time  as  best  he  could  in 
visiting  his  children  in  Chicago,  Joliet  and 
elsewhere ;  he  had  been  in  his  neighbor- 
hood quite  a  prominent  man,  always  taking 
an  active  part  in  politics,  but  never  seeking 
office  ;  he  had  been  an  original  Henry  Clay 
Whig,  but  since  that  party  had  become 
extinct,  he  had  joined  the  Republicans ; 
when  Lincoln  was  nominated  for  the  Presi- 
dency the  first  time,  in  1860,  he  was  an 
anxious  looker-on  in  the  lobby  of  the 
Convention  ;  Lincoln  having  been  an  old 
Whig,  he  claimed  that  he  would  make  a 
safe  and  good  President ;  of  this  he  was 
sure ;  the  truthfulness  of  this  assertion  has 
been  verified  to  the  letter.  Mr.  Holden 
was  present  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone for  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument, 
which  corner-stone  was  laid  by  Gen.  La- 
fayette, June  17,  1825  ;  he  was  a  careful 
observer,  and'  read  much  from  the  news- 
papers of  the  day,  keeping  well  posted  as 
regards  current  events  ;  early  in  February, 
1872,  he  took  a  severe  cold,  caused  by  a 
trip  which  he  had  taken  to  visit  his  chil- 
dren in  Chicago ;  his  condition  was  not 
thought  to  be  dangerous,  when,  suddenly 
he  was  taken  away,  dying  on  February  23, 
1872,  at  the  good  old  age  of  79  years  9 
months  and  18  days  ;  he  died  on  his  farm, 
that  which  he  located  in  August,  18.%; 
he  was  buried  by  the  side  of  Mrs.  Holden 
and  his  two  daughters,  Emeline  and  Sarah, 
in  a  beautiful  lot  in  Oakwood  Cemetery, 
near  Joliet. 

HON.  CHARLES  C.  P.  HOLDEN, 
Chicago ;  is  a  native  of  Groton,  New 
Hampshire ;  he  was  born  on  the  9th  of 
August,  18.i7,  and  is  the  son  of  Phineas 
H.  and  Betsey  P.  Holden.  His  mother 
was  the  only  daughter  of  Lieut.  Levi 
Barker,  of  the  Continental  army.  His 


parents  had  a  small  farm  among  the  rugged 
hills  of  New  Hampshire.  In  1830,  they 
removed  to  West  Hartford,  Vermont,  set- 
tling on  an  eighty-acre  farm,  where  they  re- 
mained until  June  1,  1836,  at  which  time 
they  removed,  with  their  family  of  nine 
children,  to  Illinois!  Arriving  in  Chicago 
on  the  morning  of  June  30,  1836,  the 
family  at  once  obtained  conveyances  and 
started  for  the  country,  first  seeking  the. 
home  of  Josiah  R.  Holden,  brother  of  the 
senior  Holden,  who  lived  a  few  miles  below 
Plainfield,  on  the  Du  Page  River,  in  Will 
County.  After  a  brief  visit,  Mr.  Holden 
located  a  claim  at  Skunk  Grove  on  the 
headwaters  of  Hickory  Creek,  now  Frank- 
fort. Mr.  Holden  received  but  a  very 
limited  education,  having  to  go  with  his 
brothers  and  sisters  a  distance  of  three 
miles  to  a  school  kept  in  a  rude  log  hut. 
Subsequently,  the  family  had  a  school 
taught  in  their  own  house,  and  the  teacher 
of  the  school  was  Mr.  A.  B.  Safford,  now 
a  leading  banker  of  Cairo.  111.  .In 
1842,  his  father  placed  him  in  Charles 
Sweet's  grocery  store  on  North  Water 
street,  where  the  freight  house  of  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railway  now 
stands.  In  1845,  he  went  into  W.  W. 
Barlow's  bookstore,  where  he  remained 
on  a  salary  of  $12  per  month  until  the 
spring  of  1847,  at  which  time,  the 
Mexican  war  still  raging,  he  enlisted  in 
Company  F,  5th  Regiment  Illinois  Volun- 
teers. Mr.  Holden  carried  his  musket  for 
nineteen  months,  serving  until  the  close  of 
the  war.  After  a  short  visit  to  his  home 
he  entered  the  employment  of  A.  H.  & 
C.  Burley,  booksellers,  at  that  time  at  122 
Lake  street  in  this  city.  He  remained  in 
their  service  until  March  19,  1850,  at 
which  time  he  left,  in  company  with  seven 
others,  by  the  overland  route,  for  California, 
where  he  arrived  early  in  July  of  that 
year.  Mr.  Holden  immediately  commenced 
mining,  and  following  it  closely  for  fifteen 
months  in  the  dry  diggings  of  Logtown, 
and  on  the  Middle  Fork  of  the  American 
River,  when  in  October,  1851,  he  joined 
his  old  employer,  W.  W.  Barlow,  and  went 
to  Napa  Valley,  where  he  entered  into  farm- 
ing and  stock-raising,  remaining  here  until 
the  fall  of  1853,  when  he  closed  up  his 
operations,  and  took  passage  on  the  steam- 
ship Winfield  Scott  from  San  Francisco, 
December  1,'for  home.  The  second  night 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


out,  when  off  Santa  Barbara,  in  a  dense 
fog,  the  steamship  was  wrecked  by  running 
on  the  rocks  of  Anna  Capa  Island.  The 
passengers,  however,  were  safely  landed, 
arriving  in  New  York  January  1,  1854. 
From  New  York  he  went  to  New  England, 
returning  to  Chicago,  March  18,  1854. 
February  20,  1855,  he  entered  the  service 
of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company 
in  its  land  department,  with  which  cor- 
poration he  continued  until  February  4, 
1873.  September  17,  1855,  Mr.  Holden 
was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Reynolds, 
daughter  of  Isaac  N.  and  Rue  Ann  Rey- 
nolds, of  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  111. 
His  wife  was  born  on  the  farm  where  he 
married  her ;  her  mother,  Mrs.  Reynolds,was 
a  daughter  of  the  late  Abraham  Holder- 
man,  who  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in 
northern  Illinois,  having  located  a  large 
tract  of  land  at  Holderman's  Grove,  La 
Salle  and  Kendall  Counties,  in  1830.  Mr. 
Holderman  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania. 
In  1858,  Mr.  Holden  was  a  delegate  to 
the  State  Convention  at  Springfield,  111., 
at  which  Convention  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
first  brought  prominently  before  the 
American  people.  In  April,  1861,  Mr. 
Holden  was  elected  to  the  Common  Coun- 
cil of  Chicago.  When  Mr.  Holden  first 
entered  the  Council,  the  war  had  just  been 
declared.  The  Council  voted  money  and 
.supplies  liberally  to  its  citizen  volunteers, 
and  through  his  own  effort,  in  1862,  he 
raised  a  company  (E)  for  the  88th  Illinois 
Volunteers.  This  company  was  com- 
manded by  his  brother,  Levi  P.  Holden, 
who  had  enlisted  in  the  service  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  in  the  20th  Illinois 
Volunteers.  Subsequently  Capt.  Holden 
was  promoted  to  Major  of  the  same  regi- 
ment. He  had  one  other  brother  in  the 
service,  David  L.  Holden,  who  was  com-, 
missary  Sergeant  of  the  53d  Regiment. 
Mrs.  Holden  also  had  two  brothers  in  the 
service,  one  of  whom,  John  H.  Reynolds, 
a  Sergeant  in  Company  E,  88th  Illinois 
Volunteers,  died  January  23,  1863,  in 
hospital  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  just  after  the 
battle  of  Stone  River.  Joseph  S.Reynolds 
another  brother,  was  a  Captain  in  the  Yates 
Sharpshooters ;  and,  after  going  with  Sher- 
man to  the  sea,  he  returned  home  a  Brig- 
adier-General. Mr.  Holden  had  a  repre- 
sentative in  the  army  in  the  person  of 
Alonzo  C.  Ide;  Mrs.  Holden  had  hers  in 


the  person  of  Harris  Durkee ;  and  her 
sister,  Rowena  P.  Reynolds,  had  one  in  the 
person  of  Frederick  A.  Hausmann.  Late 
in  1864,  when  President  Lincoln  called  for 
300,000  more,  Chicago's  quota  was  very 
large,  and  the  various  wards  were  called 
upon  for  their  respective  quota.  Mr  Hol- 
den organized  a  draft  association,  of  which 
he  was  President,  for  his  ward  (at  that 
time  the  Tenth),  to  raise  money  to  fill  their 
quota,  and  succeeded  in  raising  nearly 
852,000  for"  this  purpose.  There  was  no 
draft  in  this  ward. 

In  December,  1870,  Mr.  Holden  wa& 
elected  President  of  the  Common  Council, 
and  at  the  time  of  the  great  fire,  when  all 
was  confusion,  the  main  part  of  the  city 
in  ruins,  after  looking  over  the  field  on 
the  morning  of  Oct.  9,  he  quickly  con- 
cluded that  something  had  to  be  done  to 
relieve  the  100,000  people  then  in  dire 
distress,  and  that,  too,  quickly.  Calling 
to  his  aid  Mr.  0.  E.  Moore  and  Capt. 
Miller,  he  took  possession  of  the  church 
on  the  corner  of  Ann  and  Washington 
streets,  and  here  was  formed  a  nucleus 
which  subsequently  became  world-renowned 
for  the  great  good  done.  At  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  of  that  ever  memorable  day,  Mr. 
Holden  had  succeeded  in  getting  together 
the  Mayor  and  Police  Commissioner  Brown, 
when,  at  his  request,  the  Hon.  S.  S.  Hayes 
drew  up  the  following  proclamation : 

WHEKEAS,  In  the  providence  of  God,  to 
whose  will  we  humbly  submit,  a  terrible  ca- 
lamity has  befallen  our  city,  which  demands, 
of  us  our  best  efforts  for  the  preservation  of 
order  and  the  relief  of  the  suffering; 

Be  it  known,  That  the  faith  and  credit  of  the 
city  of  Chicago  is  hereby  pledged  for  the  nec- 
essary expenses  for  the  re  ief  of  the  suffering. 
Public  order  will  be  preserved.  The  police 
and  special  police,  now  being  appointed,  will 
be  responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
peace  and  the  protection  of  property.  All 
officers  and  men  of  the  fire  department  and 
health  department  will  act  as  special  police- 
men without  further  notice.  The  Mayor  and 
Comptroller  will  give  vouchers  for  all  supplies 
furnished  by  the  different  relief  committees. 
The  headquarters  of  the  city  government  will 
be  at  the  Congregational  Church,  corner  of 
West  Washington  and  Ann  streets.  All  per- 
sons are  warned  against  any  acts  tending  to 
endanger  property.  All  persons  caught  in  any 
depredations,  will  be  immediately  arrested. 

With  the  help  of  God,  order  and  peace  and 
private  property  shall  be  preserved.  The  city 
government  and  committees  of  citizens  pledge 
themselves  to  the  community  to  protect  them 


S44 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


and  prepare  the  way  for  a  restoration  of  pub- 
lic and  private  welfare.     It  is  believed  the  fire 
has  spent  its  force  and  all  will  soon  be  well. 
R.  B.  MASON,  Mayor. 
GEORGE  TAYLOR, 
Comptroller.  (By  R.  B.  Mason.) 

CHARLES  C.  P.  HOLDEN, 
President  Common  Council. 
T.  B.  BROWN, 
President  Board  of  Police. 
CHICAGO,  October  9,  1871. 

After  the  great  fire  both  political  parties 
nominated  him  for  the  mayoralty.  Hon. 
Joseph  Medill  was  nominated  upon  what 
was  termed  the  fire-proof  ticket  for  the 
same  position.  The  city  press  indorsed 
the  fire-proof  ticket.  Mr.  Holden,  with 
his  associates  on  the  ticket,  made  a  gallant 
fight,  but  were  beaten  at  the  polls,  and  the 
entire  fire-proof  ticket  was  elected.  Mr.  Hol- 
den continued  to  serve  in  theCouncil  until  the 
until  the  expiration  of  his  term,Dec.  1, 1872. 
In  February,  1873,  Mayor  Medill  nominated 
Mr.  Holden  for  the  position  of  Police  Com- 
missioner. Mr.  Holden,  being  largely  engag- 
ed in  building  at  the  time,  declined  the  prof- 
fered position, as  will  he  seen  by  the  following: 
HON.  JOSEPH  MEDILL,  MAYOR, 

Dear  Sir:  From  the  proceedings  of  the 
Council  last  evening,  I  learn  that  my  name 
was  submitted  by  your  honor  as  Police  Com- 
missioner, to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the 
removal  of  Mr.  Reno.  While  I  am  not  only 
willing  but  anxious  to  serve  your  honor  and 
the  best  interest,  of  the  city  in  its  present  diffi- 
culties, my  other  positive  engagements  will  not 
allow  me  to  fill  the  proffered  position.  Thanking 
you  most  kindly  for  your  preference,  I  have  to 
ask  that  you  will  submit  some  other  name  and 
•withdraw  mine  from  the  Common  Council. 
I  am,  yours  most  respectfully, 

CHARLES  C.  P.  HOLUEK. 

Mr.  Holden  was  appointed  West  Chi- 
cago Park  Commissioner  by  Gov.  Palmer, 
in  March,  1869,  and  re-appointed  in  1871, 
for  seven  years.  In  1872,  he  was  one  of 
the  Greeley  erectors  on  the  State  ticket ; 
he  was  elected  County  Commissioner  in 
November,  1874,  for  the  term  of  three 
years  ;  Mr.  Holden  was  chosen  President 
of  the  County  Board  on  the  first  Monday 
in  December,  1876  ;  the  Court  House  had 
but  just  been  commenced,  but  during  his 
term  of  office  he  gave  it  his  unqualified 
attention,  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the 
same  July  4,  1877  ;  the  County  Hospital 
was  also  begun  and  carried  to  completion 
during  his  term  of  Commissioner ;  in 
1867,  Mr.  Holden  procured  the  charter 
for  the  Chicago  &  Illinois  River  Railroad, 


and  during  its  first  years  was  its  President ; 
it  is  now  in  operation  between  Joliet  and 
Streator ;  Mr.  Holden  is  now  engaged  in 
building  the  Joliet  &  Mendota  Short  Line 
Railway.  Mr.  Holden's  wife  died  after  a 
long  and  painful  illness,  July  26,  1873 ; 
she  was  a  most  lovely  woman,  adored  by 
all  who  knew  her ;  for  nearly  eighteen 
years  she  had  been  the  joy  of  Mr.  Hold- 
en's  household,  making  all  happy  around 
her,  and  Mr.  Holden  attributes  the  great 
success  which  he  had  during  those  years 
to  his  departed  and  lovely  wife  ;  soon  aft- 
er their  marriage,  and  in  1858,  her  sister, 
Rowena  P.  Reynolds,  came  to  live  with 
the  family,  and  has  ever  since  been  a  mem- 
ber of  it ;  Mr.  Holden's  sister,  Sarah  Ann 
•  C.,  died  of  consumption  in  1847  ;  his  sis- 
ter Mary  Emeline,  wife  of  Dr.  J.  W. 
Freer,  died  of  consumption  in  1846 ;  his 
mother,  Betsey  Parker  Holden,  died  of 
cancer  in  the  face  Sept.  24,  1869^  aged 
78  years ;  his  father,  Phineas  H.  Holden, 
died  of  old  age,  hurried  on  by  a  severe 
cold,  Feb.  23,  1872,  aged  79  years  and  10 
months;  his  wife  and  these  members  of 
his  family  now  rest  in  the  beautiful  Oak- 
wood  Cemetery,  near  Joliet,  in  this  State. 
Mr.  Holden  was  married  to  Miss  Louise  R. 
Jones,  daughter  of  John  Jones,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio,  on  the  28th  of  April,  1875. 
Of  his  father's  family  living,  there  are 
Newton  P.  Holden,  County  Physician  of. 
Cook  Co.;  David  L.  Holden,  station  agent 
for  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  at  Mat- 
teson,  111.;  George  M.  Holden,  long  of 
this  city,  now  in  the  employ  of  the  city  as 
one  of  its  trusted  officers ;  Maj.  Levi  P. 
Holden,  at  Hampton,  Iowa;  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth W.  Wilson,  of  Ft.  Madison,  Iowa, 
and  Mrs.  Mira  J.  Brown,  of  Chicago. 

SARAH  J.  HOLDEN,  daughter  of 
,  Isaac  N.  and  Rue  Ann  Reynolds,  was  born 
April  11,  1836;  she  was  the  second  child 
of  a  family  of  ten  children,  the  eldest  be- 
ing a  boy ;  her  parents,  at  the  time  of  her 
birth,  lived  on  a  farm  seven  miles  east  of 
Joliet,  in  this  State  (now  New  Lenox); 
they  were  among  the  very  first  settlers  in 
Will  Co.,  having  located  there  in  1834 ; 
Mrs.  Holden's  mother  was  the  daughter  of 
the  late  Abraham  Holderman,  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  Northern  Illinois,  having 
located  at  Holderman's  Grove,  in  La  Salle 
Co.,  in  1830.  Mrs.  Holden  being  the 
eldest  daughter  of  the  family,  much  devolved 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


845 


on  her,  as  is  usually  the  case,  especially  in 
a  new  country  ;  and  when  a  mere  child  she 
exhibited  those  traits  of  industry  that  were 
so  noticeable  iu  her  through  life.  At  the 
age  of  7  years,  pieced,  with  her  own  hands, 
a  bedquilt,  which  is  now  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  bereaved  husband  as  a  relic  of 
her  industrious  habits  in  her  younger 
years.,  At  the  age  of  10,  while  gathering 
gum  from  the  wild  rosin  weed,  on  the 
prairie,  in  company  with  her  younger 
brother,  Joseph  S.  (now  State  Senator 
from  Chicago),  she  was  bitten  by  a  rattle- 
snake, and,  being  some  distance  from  her 
home,  ere  she  reached  it  the  virus  had  de- 
veloped itself  throughout  her  system. 
Everything  was  done  that  could  be  to  allay 
the  poison ;  physicians  were  called,  and, 
after  weeks  of  great  suffering,  she  slowly 
recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  bite  of 
this  most  poisonous  reptile.  She  received 
a  good  education  at  the  district  school  and 
in  the  academies  of  Joliet  and  Plainfield. 
Mr.  Holden  can  well  remember  seeing  her 
by  the  roadside,  going  to  and  from  school 
when  a  mere  child,  the  Holden  family  liv- 
ing but  a  few  miles  from  the  Reynolds 
homestead.  On  Sept.  17,  1855,  she  mar-  < 
ried  Mr.  Charles  C.  P.  Holden,  and  from 
that  period  till  the  day  of  her  fatal  sickness,  ' 
it  was  her  greatest  pleasure  to  make  her  ' 
home  pleasant,  and  friends  around  her  hap-  i 
py.  She  always  wanted  some  member  of 
her  parents'  family  included  in  her  house-  j 
hold,  and,  in  the  spring  of  1858,  she  pre- 
vailed upon  them  to  let  her  younger  sister  [ 
(Birdie)  come  and  live  permanently  in  her 
family.  She  loved  her  home,  and  very 
seldom  took  the  usual  pleasure-trips  that 
most  people  enjoy  so  much.  In  1857,  she 
nupanied  her  husband  on  a  trip  to  New 
England  and  the  White  Mountains.  She 
liked  well  enough  the  trip  of  a  couple  of 
days,  to  Springfield,  Cairo,  Dubuque,  or 
-oine  other  neighborhing  city,  but  did  not 
enjoy  long  ones.  On  one  occasion,  Mr. 
Holden  was  going  to  Cincinnati  on  busi- 
ness ;  it  was  in  1870,  and  when  asked  if 
she  would  not  like  to  go  along,  she  replied, 
"  No  ;  I  will  stay  at  home.  Birdie  had 
better  go."  Again,  Mr.  Holden  proposed 
to  go  to  Niagara,  but  Mrs.  Holden  sug- 
gested that  she  preferred  to  remain  at 
home,  and  said,  "  Take  Hattic  and  Birdie." 
And  so  it  was  at  all  times.  When  but  a 
child  it  had  been  her  greatest  delight  to  aid 


.  her  mother  in  her  household  duties.  Long 
before  she  was  large  enough  to  stand  by 
the  side  of  the  table,  she  would  get  a  chair 
and  stand  in  that,  and  by  so  do- 
ing be  enabled  to  wash  and  wipe 
her  mother's  dishes,  which  otherwise 
she  could  not  accomplish.  She  lost 
a  dearly-beloved  brother,  who  died  in 
hospital  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  a  few  days 
after  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Stone  River, 
in  January,1863 — John  H.  Reynolds,who 
but  a  few  months  before  had  enlisted  in 
Capt.  L.  P.  Holden's  company,  in  the  88th 
111.  V.  I ;  and,  the  following  spring,  her 
younger  brother,  C.  C.  P.  Reynolds,  died 
of  scarlet  fever.  The  death  of  these  two 
brothers  seemed  a  hard  blow  to  her.  She 
had  one  other  brother  in  the  army,  Gen. 
Joseph  S.,  whom  she  followed  with  a  sister's 
love  until  he  went  with  Sherman  to  the 
Sea,  and  then  returned  in  safety  to  his 
home.  Her  eldest  brother,  Abram  H. 
Reynolds,  lived  with  his  family  at  Wenona, 
111.,  and  it  was  in  the  spring  of  1867  that 
word  came  that  his  family  were  severely 
sick,  when  by  the  next  train  Mrs.  Holden 
was  en  route  for  Wenona;  and  in  a  few 
days,  when  she  returned,  she  brought  with 
her  his  youngest  daughter,  then  3  years 
old,  a  lovely  little  girl.  She  had  been  named 
after  Mrs.  Holden,  Sarah  J.  She  had 
taken  such  a  liking  for  little  Sadie  that  she 
prevailed  upon  the  parents  to  allow  her  to 
keep  the  child,  and  she  has  ever  since  re- 
mained in  the  family,  Mrs.  Holden  always 
taking  the  greatest  pains  to  properly  bring 
up  and  educate  her.  Before  her  death, 
she  would  often  speak  of  Sadie,  hoping 
that  she  might  continue  to  be  a  good  girl 
and  a  blessing  to  the  family.  Mrs.  Holden 
was  very  benevolent,  and  from  the  time  she 
commenced  housekeeping  until  the  day  of 
her  sickness,  she  had  one  or  more  families 
whom  she  was  aiding  in  various  ways  to 
make  a  livelihood,  and  some  of  those  whom 
she  had  so  befriended,  with  tears  in  their 
eyes,  followed  her  remains  to  the  tomb. 
Early  in  March,  1872,  she  went  to  visit 
her  parents  at  New  Lenox,  as  was  usual 
with  her  several  times  a  year,  and,  whilst 
at  their  home,  on  March  14th,  was  sudden- 
ly prostrated  in  sickness.  She  was  taken 
violently  sick  with  purpura  hemorrhagica. 
Dr.  Holden,  her  brother-in-law,who  resides 
at  Frankfort,  was  called  immediately  to  her 
bedside,  and  did  all  that  could  be  done  to 


846 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


save  her  life.  Dr.  Casey,  of  Joliet,  and 
Freer,  of  Chicago,  were  also  called  in  con- 
sultation. For  four  months  she  lay  at  the 
point  of  death.  Her  mother  and  sisters 
Hattie,  Birdie  and  Lottie  (who  came  from 
Iowa  on  purpose  to  minister  to  her),  were 
constantly  in  attendance,  as  was  also  her 
sister-in-law,  Caroline  P.  Holden,  for  a 
large  portion  of  the  time;  and  her  hus 
band  attributes  the  saving  of  her  life  at 
that  time  to  the  extraordinary  care  and 
attention  that  she  received  from  those 
above  mentioned  and  others ;  he  believes 
if  it  had  not  been  for  Dr.  Holden  she  could 
not  have  survived  that  first  attack.  In 
July,  a  change  took  place,  and  she  slowly 
began  to  recover;  and,  on  Oct.  12,  had 
so  far  recovered  as  to  be  enabled  to  once 
more  look  upon  her  own  home;  and  never 
was  mortal  more  happy  at  the  result  than 
was  Mr.  Holden.  But,  sad  to  say,  she 
was  not  fully  restored  to  health ;  it  was  only 
partial,  and  that  but  temporary.  She  had 
several  severe  attacks  during  the  winter  of 
1873,  the  disease  having  assumed  another 
character,  and  now  appeared  in  disease  of 
the  bladder.  In  the  month  of  April,  she 
expressed  much  anxiety  for  the  health  of 
her  sister  Birdie,  whose  constitution  she 
feared  was  giving  away,  caused  by  over- 
watchfulness  and  care  upon  her  during  her 
long  sickness  ;  and  an  opportunity  having 
presented  itself  by  which  Rowena  (Birdie) 
could  take  a  trip  with  her  brother  Joseph 
S.  Reynolds,  to  Europe,  Mrs.  Holden 
urged  that  she  should  do  so;  "for,"  she 
said,  "it  will,  in  all  probability,  save  Birdie's 
life,  and  her  absence  will  have  no  effect  as 
to  the  final  result  with  myself."  Birdie 
left  Chicago  for  this  trip  May  7,  1873,  in 
company  with  her  brother,  her  sister  Hat- 
tie  immediately  taking  her  place  until  her 
return.  It  was  a  sad  parting,  the  two 
sisters,  who  had  been  sp  closely  allied  to- 
gether for  more  than  fifteen  years,  now  to 
separate,  and  probably  forever.  In  July, 
she  commenced  rapidly  to  fail ;  her  mother 
and  sister  Hattie  were  constantly  with  her 
to  alleviate  her  suffering  as  best  they  could.' 
She  gradually  grew  weaker,  and,  on  Friday, 
July  25,  at  about  3  o'clock  P.  M.,  she 
called  her  husband  to  her  bedside,  when 
she  said  to  him,  "  Charles,  I  cannot  live 
but  a  little  while.  God  has  forgiven  my 
sins,  and  I  am  ready  to  die."  She  then 
made  various  bequests — to  her  sister 


Birdie  she  gave  her  diamond  ring  and 
many  other  articles  of  great  value  and  use- 
fulness ;  to  her  sister  Hattie  she  gave  her 
watch  and  chain  ;  also  a  heavy  plain  ring, 
together  with  other  articles ;  to  her  sister 
Lottie  she  gave  her  pearl  and  jet  jewelry  ; 
to  her  mother,  her  sister-in-law  Caroline 
(Dr.  Holden's  wife),  her  niece  Sadie,  and 
others,  she  gave  beautiful  presents.  While 
making  these  bequests,  she  suddenly 
stopped  and  said,  "  Charles,  what  shall  I 
give  you  ?"  Thinking  for  a  moment,  she 
said,  "Oh,  I  will  give  you  my  books." 
As  she  had  quite  a  collection  of  valuable 
works,  and  knowing  her  husband's  fondness 
for  their  library,  no  doubt  flashed  across 
her  mind  when  she  made  this  valuable 
gift.  Mr.  Holden  asked  her  what  dispo- 
sition she  wished  to  make  of  her  silver- 
ware— for  she  had  a  large  quantity — her 
reply  was,  "Oh.  you  will  need  it."  She 
had,  at  different  times,  brought  money  into 
the  family,  but,  above  all,  had  brought  to 
her  husband's  aid,  for  more  than  seventeen 
years,  her  advice,  which  was  to  him  of 
inestimable  value.  Soon  after  this  conver- 
sation, she  relapsed  into  a  weak  stupor,  but 
was  perfectly  conscious  when  aroused,  and 
during  the  night  repeatedly  assured  those 
caring  for  her  of  her  trust  in  the  Savior. 
Toward  morning  she  was  suffering  very 
much,  and,  as  her  mother  was  ben  ding  over 
her,  in  deep  grief,  the  husband  said, 
"Sarah,  do  you  know  your  mother?"  when, 
quickly  looking  up,  she  replied,  "  Why; 
bless  your  heart,  yes.  The  Messenger 
came  at  10:25  A.  M.,  July  26,  and 
then  passed  away  one  of  the  noblest  and 
best  women  that  ever  adorned  a  house- 
hold. 

"Forever  shall  she  be  in  praise, 

Named  softly  as  the  household  name 

Of  one  whom  God  has  taken." 

Her  father  and  mother  are  still  living. 
Her  brother,  Abram  H.,  married  Martha 
Link,  and  they  have  five  children  living  : 
Sarah,  his  second  daughter,  has  been 
adopted  by  Mr.  Holden.  Her  brothers, 
Isaac,  William  and  Gen.  Joseph  S.,  are 
still  living,  as  also  her  sisters,  Harriet  A., 
Charlotte  E.  and  Rowena  P.  ;  the  latter  is 
a  member  of  Mr.  Holden's  family. 

[From  the  Chicago  Evening  Journal,  July  28, 1873.] 

This  forenoon,  at  11  o'clock,  the  rela- 
tives and  friends  of  C.  C.  P.  Holden,  Esq., 
assembled  at  his  residence,  No.  323  West 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


847 


Monroe  street,  for  the  purpose  of  uniting 
with  him  in  paying  the  last  earthly  tribute 
of  respect  to  his  wife,  deceased  on  Satur- 
day last.  It  will  be  remembered  by  the 
readers  of  the  Journal,  that  early  in  the 
spring  of  1872,  Mrs.  Holden,  while  on  a 
visit  to  her  parents  at  New  Lenox,  Will 
Co.,  in  this  State,  was  taken  violently  sick 
with  purpura  hemorrhagica,  and  for  many 
months  was  not  expected  to  live,  buf.  finally  | 
a  change  took  place,  and  in -the  following 
October  she  so  far  recovered  as  to  be  able 
to  be  brought  home.  She  gained  steadily 
until  the  middle  of  December,  when  she 
was  again  prostrated  by  severe  sickness. 
From  this  attack  she  partially  recovered  in 
the  months  of  March  and  April,  but  in  the 
month  of  May  she  was  again  attacked  with 
more  severity  than  ever,  resulting  in  her 
death,  as  stated.  The  deceased  was  a  few 
months  over  37  years  of  age,  and  was  mar- 
ried to  Mr.  Holdeu  on  Sept.  17,  1855  ; 
she  was  the  daughter  of  Isaac  N.  and  Rue 
Ann  Reynolds,  upon  whose  farm,  in  Will 
Co.,  she  was  born  ;  she  was  a  granddaugh- 
ter of  the  late  Abraham  Holderman,  who 
was  one  of  the  original  pioneers  of  North- 
ern Illinois,  having  settled  at  Holderman's 
Grove,  La  Salle  Co.,  in  1831.  Mrs. 
Holden  was  a  woman  of  most  amiable  dis- 
position and  great  kindness  of  heart.  Her 
manners  were  very  engaging,  and  all  who 
knew  her  were  won  by  the  kindness  which 
always  illuminated  her  face  with  its  attract- 
iveness. She  was  eminently  domestic  in 
all  her  tastes,  finding  the  happiness  of  her 
life  in  her  family,  and  studying  to  make 
home  attractive,  and  those  she  loved  happy. 
During  her  entire  and  most  distressing  ill- 
ness, she  constantly  exhibited  a  childlike 
trust  in  God  and  submission  to  His  will 
that  most  beautifully  illustrated  the  con- 
solations afforded  by  a  religious  faith.  Only 
the  day  before  her  death,  she  called  her 
friends  about  her,  assured  them  of  her  trust 
in  the  Savior,  her  belief  that  she  could  not  | 
live,  her  readiness  to  die,  and  then  passed  i 
away  in  the  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality.  \ 
Mr.  Holden,  in  this  deep  affliction,  has  the 
heartfelt  sympathy  of  an  extended  circle  of 
friends,  as  was  attested  by  the  large  num-  I 
ber  present  at  the  funeral  services  this  I 
morning.  Among  the  prominent  citizens 
present  were  Hon.  L.  L.  Bond,  Samuel 
Hoard,  E.  F.  Runyan,  Alderman  Wilce, 
ex-Aldermen  Daggy  and  Salisbury,  E.  S. 


Albro,  Alderman  Bateham,  and  C.  N. 
Holden.  The  house  was  filled  to  overflow- 
ing with  friends  of  the  family,  all  desirous 
of  viewing  the  face  of  the  "  dear  departed," 
ere  her  remains  should  be  laid  away  for- 
ever in  the  silent  tomb.  In  the  center  of 
the  front  parlor  stood  the  elegant  metallic 
casket  in  which  reposed  the  remains  of 
the  deceased  lady.  The  casket  was  beau- 
tifully adorned  with  flowers  and  sprigs  of 
evergreens,  and  at  the  foot  stood  a  small 
harp  encircled  by  flowers  of  sweetest  fra- 
grance. On  the  top  of  the  burial  case, 
surrounded  by  a  wreath  of  white  roses, 
there  was  a  silver  plate  bearing  the  follow- 
ing inscription  :  "  Sarah  J.  Holden.  Died 
July  26,  1873,  aged  37  years  3  months 
and  15  days."  Around  the  casket  con- 
taining the  sacred  clay  were  gathered  the 
husband,  child,  father,  mother,  brother, 
and  several  other  relatives  of  the  deceased. 
The  solemn  and  impressive  ceremonies 
were  opened  with  music,  a  portion  of  the 
choir  of  the  Second  Baptist  Church  singing 
a  plaintive  dirge,  with  organ  accompani- 
ment. After  the  singing,  Rev.  T.  W. 
Goodspeed,  of  the  same  Church,  read  a 
portion  of  Scripture  from  the  eighth  chap- 
ter of  Romans.  He  then  proceeded  to 
make  some  very  appropriate  and  touching 
remarks,  setting  forth  the  more  prominent 
characteristics  of  the  deceased,  mentioning 
several  interesting  incidents  of  her  illness, 
and  her  religious  experience,  etc.  He 
spoke  from  a  personal  acquaintance  with 
the  departed  one,  of  her  amiability  and 
many  virtues.  At  the  close  of  his  address, 
the  choir  sang  the  well-known  hymn  com- 
mencing: "Sister,  thou  wast  mild  and 
lovely."  At  the  conclusion  of  this  exer- 
cise, Rev.  E.  S.  Osgood,  D.  D.,  an  old  and 
intimate  friend  of  the  Holden  family,  made 
a  few  remarks  appropriate  to  the  occasion, 
and  then  the  friends  took  k  final  look  at 
the  face  of  the  deceased,  and  amid  sobs 
and  tears  which  told  of  the  heavy  sorrow 
resting  upon  many  hearts,  Uie  casket  was 
closed  and  borne  to  the  waiting  hearse, 
Messrs.  Aldermen  Wilce  and  Bateham, 
E.  S.  Albro,  Prof.  Palmer,  J.  T.  Lit- 
tle and  David  Cole  acting  as  the  pall- 
bearers. A  long  line  of  carriages  was 
then  formed,  and  the  funeral  cortege 
slowly  wended  its  way  to  Rosehill  Ceme- 
tery, where  the  remains  were  deposited  in 
a  vault. 


848 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


LINES  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  MRS.  C.  C.  P. 
HOLDEN. 

0,  weary,  suffering  one, 
How  sweet  must  be  the  blessed  hour  of  rest ! 
Life's  labors  ended,  duties  nobly  done, 
The  tired  hands  folded  on  the  peaceful  breast, 
No  more  life's  road  by  weary  feet  is  trod  ; 
She  rests  in  peace — the  perfect  peace  of  God, 
That  passeth  understanding — all  the  strife, 
The  conflict,  ended,  and  the  crown  of  life 

And  victory  is  won. 

We  will  not  call  her  dead — 
Only  passed  on  a  little  while  before  us  ; 
Though  very  bitter  are  the  tears  we  shed, 
And  dark  the  clouds  of  sorrow  brooding  o'er  us, 
A  light  comes  through  the  open  gates  of  heaven, 
Glimpses  of  Glory  to  our  souls  are  given ; 
The  still,  small  voice,  calming  the  troubled  deep, 
Whispers,  "  He  giveth  His  beloved  sleep;" 

And  we  are  comforted. 

Passed  from  our  longing  sight, 
Like  stars  at  dawn  of  day — not  dead,  but  risen, 
Ascended  to  the  morning-land  of  light ; 
Like  a  glad  bird  escaping  from  its  prison, 
The  soul  has  found  its  wings,  and  soars  on  high, 
Throwing  the  worn-out  mortal  garments  by — 
Borne  by  the  Angels  to  the  realms  of  day, 
Where  God  Himself  shall  wipe  all  tears  away, 

And  there  is  no  more  night. 

The  tears  of  sorrow  shed 
Are  not  for  her,  our  beautiful  departed ; 
But  for  ourselves  we  mourn  uncomforted, 
Left  desolated,  alone,  and  broken-hearted, 
And  longing  with  unutterable  pain 
To  hear  the  sweet  and  loving  voice  again, 
The  dear  companionship  of  love  to  share 
That  once  made  life  so  beautiful  and  fair ; 
What  bitter  grief  to  know  the  holy  light 
Of  loving  eyes  no  more  will  bless  our  sight ! 

Alone  life's  path  to  tread. 

Alone  and  desolate, 

But  not  forsaken.     Love  can  never  perish  ; 
The  faithful  dove  cannot  forget  her  mate, 
Nor  cease  Love's  holy  memories  to  cherish. 
The  faithful  friend,  the  gentle,  loving  wife, 
The  brightest  jewel  in  the  crown  of  life — 
O  Love !  most  precious  gift  to  mortals  given, 
Gone,  but  not  lost, — to  be  restored  in  Heaven — 

For  this  we  pray  and  wait ! 

LOUESA  SANOER. 
FRANKFORT,  Will  Co.,  July,  1874. 

SIMON  HOHENSTEIN,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Mokena ;  was  born  in 
Germany  Sept.  17,  1837 ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1853,  and  to  this  State, 
and  settled  in  this  county  in  the  same  year. 
His  farm  consists  of  eighty- five  acres, 
valued  at  $6,000.  He  was  married  to 
Charlotte  Knapp,  who  was  born  in  Ger- 
many ;  they  have  had  seven  children,  six 
of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Simon,  Charley. 


Daniel,  Conrad,  Charlotte  and  Peter  ;  de- 
ceased, Charlotte  J.  Mr.  H.  is  at  present 
holding  the  office  of  Assessor  ;  he  has  helc 
office  of  Collector  in  Greengarden  one 
year,  and  one  year  in  Frankfort  Tp 

WESLEY  D.  JONES,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Mokena ;  one  of  our  first 
settlers ;  was  born  in  Vermont  Sept.  29, 
18  M  ;  came  to  this  State  with  his  father's 
family  in  1844.  His  farm,  which  is  located 
on  Sees.  5  and  16  in  Frankfort  Tp.,  and 
on  Sec.  32  in  Orland,  Cook  Co.,  consists 
of  220  acres,  and  is  valued  at  $11,000. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Helen  Granger 
Dec.  11,  1854 ;  they  have  had  seven  chil- 
dren, six  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Wright, 
Albert  L.,  Mary,  Nellie,  Allanson  G.  and 
Lottie ;  deceased,  Lloid. 

PHILIPP  KLEPPER,  manufacturer 
of  carriages  and  wagons,  Frankfort  Station  j 
was  born  in  Germany  Sept.  3, 1842  ;  came 
to  the  United  States  with  his  father's  family 
in  1847,  and  settled  in  Frankfort  Tp.  Mr. 
K.  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  DroeslerJ; 
they  have  had  six  children,  three  of  whom 
are  living  —  Henry,  Mary  and  Nannie  ; 
deceased,  Etta,  John  and  Philip. 

KARL  KNAPP,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Mokena;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many Jan.  6,  1818;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1850,  and  settled  in  Ohio,  where 
he  remained  one  year  ;  he  then  removed  to 
Illinois  and  settled  in  Will  Co. ;  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  Frankfort  for  the  past 
eighteen  years.  His  farm  consists  of 
eighty  acres,  valued  at  $5,000.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Katherina  Knapp;  they 
have  had  eleven  children,  eight  of  whom 
are  living,  viz.,  Charlotte,  Karl,  Daniel, 
Christian,  Carolina,  Johannas,  Katherina 
and  August ;  deceased,  Daniel,  Carolina 
and  Nicholas. 

MARTIN  KR  APP,  of  the  firm  of  Krapp 
&  Cappel,  butchers  and  dealers  in  live-stock ; 
P.O.  Mokena;  was  born  in  Germany  Oct.  2, 
1831  ;  United  States  in  1854,  and  to  this 
State  in  the  same  year,  when  he  settled  in 
Blue  Island ;  he  removed  from  there  to 
Mokena.  in  1857.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  Katrina  Steftan  April  25,  1857; 
have  had  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  Sophia,  Louisa  and  Emil.  Mr. 
Krapp  has  held  office  of  Township  Trustee 
in  Frankfort  Tp.  nine  years. 

CHARLES  KARCH,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  9,  1844 ; 
came  to  this  State  with  his  father's  family 
in  1848,  and  settled  in  Frankfort,  Will 
Co.,  111., ;  he  is  the  son  of  H.  J.  Karch, 
who  is  one  of  our  first  settlers  and  pioneers  ; 
his  farm  consists  of  160  acres,  valued  at 
$10,000.  He  was  married  May  17,  1876, 
to  Miss  Mary  Kampe,  who, was  born  in 
Cook  Co.,  111.,  Feb.  27,  1855.  Mr. 
Karch  has,  in  connection  with  his  farming 
pursuits,  the  agency  for  the  sale  of  all  kinds 
of  farming  implements  and  the  Wilson 
Sewing  Machine  ;  also  has  been  general 
insurance  agent  for  five  years. 

FRED  KEMPE,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born 
in  Germany,  April  14,  1826 ;  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1854,  and  to  Illinois 
in  the  same  year;  he  has  been  a  resident 
of  Frankfort  for  the  past  fifteen  years; 
his  farm  consists  of  325  acres  valued  at 
$15,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Lottie 
Haemyn  who  was  born  in  Germany ;  they 
have  had  nine  children,  four  of  whom  are 
living — Mary,  Johnnie,  Fred  and  Katie  ; 
deceased,  Christian,  Doretta,  Willie,  Lottie 
and  Henry. 

PETER  KALMER,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station ;  one  of  our 
early  settlers;  was  born  in  Germany  Nov. 
15,  1828  ;  came  to  the  United  States  with 
his  father's  family  in  1852,  and  to  this 
State  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the  same 
year;  his  farm  consists  of  125  acres,  val- 
ued at  $4,500.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Catherine  Kalmer,  was  born  in  Germany ; 
they  have  had  ten  children,  seven  of  whom 
are  living,  viz.,  Carolina,  Phillipena,  Mary, 
Charley,  Ranta,  Lizzie  and  Albert ;  de- 
ceased, Daniel,  Katie  and  Jacob. 

J.  R.  LETTS,  grain  dealer  and  com- 
mission merchant,  Frankfort  Station ; 
was  born  in  Woodstock,  Ont.,  Oct.  10, 
1830  ;  came  to  this  State  in  1845,  and 
settled  in  Frankfort  in  1855  ;  he  is  a 
son  of  the  late  Jeremiah  Letts,  deceased. 
Was  married  July  26,  1854,  to  Miss 
Hukla  Doty,  who  was  born  in  Ohio,  June 
8,  1830;  they  have  had  nine  children, 
all  of  whom  are  living,  viz.:  J.  W.,  G.  D., 
F.  C.,  J.  B.,  F.  L.,  D.,  B.,  F.  and  L. 
Mrs.  Letts  died  June  29,  1875.  Mr.  L. 
married  again  to  Miss  E.  Williamson,  who 
was  born  in  Ohio  April  16,  1831.  He 
has  held  the  office  of  Constable  one  term, 
and  durina1  the  war  held  the  office  of  War 


Fund  Commissioner  nearly  one  year. 

WILLIAM  H.  LOGAN,  carriage  and 
house  painter,  grainer,  and  proprietor  of 
Sorghum  Works,  Frankfort  Station  ;  was 
born  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  Jan.  20r 
1849;  is  the  son  of  James  Logan,  who  is 
one  of  our  early  settlers.  Mr.  L.  was 
married  to  Miss  Adele  S.  Quackenbush, 
who  was  born  in  New  York  May  25, 
1850  ;  they  have  two  children,  viz.:  Clara, 
Belle  and  Frank  W. 

JOHN  McDONALD,  dealer  in  grain, 
salt,  coal,  flour  and  hay,  Frankfort 
Station  ;  one  of  our  early  and  prominent 
settlers ;  was  born  in  Queens  Co.,  Ireland, 
Dec.  11,  1823;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1841,  and  to  this  State  in  1849; 
his  first  permanent  residence  in  this  State 
was  in  Frankfort,  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. He  was  married  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Doty,  who  was  born  in  New  Lenox, Will  Co., 
111.;  they  have  three  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living,  viz.,  Herbert  J.,  Edward  E. 
and  Charles  H.  He  has  been  a  success- 
ful dealer  in  grain  for  the  past  nineteen 
years ;  he  is  also  serving  his  third  term  of 
office  as  Supervisor  of  Frankfort  Tp. 

JACOB  MUELLER,  general  mer- 
chant, Frankfort  Station;  was  born  in 
Germany  June  19,  1821 ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1855,  and  to  this  State 
in  1856,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.;  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  Frankfort  for  the  past 
nine  years ;  since  his  residence  in  this 
township  he  has  held  the  office  of  School 
Director  three  years.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Catharina  Sheer ;  they  have  had 
seven  children,  four  of  whom  arc  now 
living,  viz.:  Minnie,  John,  Ella  and  George; 
deceased.  Louisa,  Daniel  and  Julia. 

MARTIN  MUFF,  proprietor  of  sample 
rooms  and  meat  market,  Frankfort  Station  ; 
was  born  in  Germany  May  8,  1834  ;  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1852,  and  settled 
in  the  township  of  Frankfort ;  followed 
farming  here  until  1863.  In  1873,  was 
elected  President  of  the  Frankfort  Ger- 
mania  Saengerbund,  which  received  its 
certificate,  duly  signed  and  acknowledged, 
having  been  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  June  22,  1875,  for  the  legal 
organization  of  said  society  ;  the  property 
vested  in  this  society,  and  of  which  Mr. 
Muff  in  President,  consists  of  a  hall  located 
in  the  village  of  Frankfort,  and  three  acres 
of  land,  situated  in  the  same  township. 


850 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


Mr.  Muff  was  married  to  Miss  Maria  Haen  ; 
they  have  had  eleven  children,  eight  of 
whom  are  living,  viz.,  Jacob,  Caroline, 
Theresa,  Henry,  Emma,  Fred,  August  and 
Albert ;  deceased — George  and  Charlotte, 
twins,  and  Henrietta.  He  has  held  office 
of  Constable  six  years  ;  his  term  for  the 
same  expires  in  April.  1880. 

OZIAS  McGOVNEY,  general  mer- 
chant ;  P.  0.  Mokena  ;  one  of  our  first  set- 
tlers and  pioneers  ;  was  born  in  Adams  Co., 
Ohio,  Dec.  4,  1824 ;  came  to  this  State 
with  his  father's  family,  and  settled  in  the 
township  of  Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  in  1831. 
He  received  a  liberal  education  in  boyhood, 
and  at  the  age  of  25,  was  admitted  as  at- 
torney and  solicitor  in  the  courts  of  this 
State.  Since  his  residence  in  the  township, 
he  has  acted  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  twenty - 
ojie  years,  and  post  office  official  three 
years.  He  was  married  Jan.  20,  1846, 
to  Miss  Matilda  J.  Ellsworth,  who  was 
born  in  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  23, 
1829  ;  they  have  had  eight  children,  six 
of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Nancy,  0.  E., 
Emily  M.,  Hattie,  Arthur  W.  and  Jessie ; 
deceased,  Mary  E.  William  W. 

NICHOLAS  MARTI,  farmer  and 
stock -raiser  ;  P.  0.  Mokena  ;  was  born  in 
Switzerland  Sept.  26,  1824 ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1851,  and  to  this  State, 
and  settled  in  this  county  in  the  same  year. 
His  farm  consists  of  155  acres,  valued  at 
$10,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Baumgartner,  who  was  born  in  Switzerland ; 
they  have  nine  children,  viz.,  Nicholas, 
Caroline.  Charlotte,  Albert,  Frederick, 
Frstok,  Mary,  John  and  Emma.  The  farm 
of  Mr.  Marti  is  situated  on  Sees.  9  and  16. 
He  is  at  present  Commissioner  of  Highways. 

ALEXANDER  McGLASHAN,  farm- 
er and  stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Sta- 
tion ;  one  of  our  first  settlers  and  pioneers  ; 
was  born  in  Scotland  May  10, 1822  ;  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1836,  and  to  this 
State  in  the  same  year,  when  he  settled  in 
Chicago  ;  he  removed  from  there  to  Frank- 
fort in  1843.  His  farm  consists  of  320 
acres,  valued  at  $16,000.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Leah  Stone,  who  was  born  in 
England ;  they  have  seven  children,  viz., 
Annie,  William,  Charlotte,  Sue,  Laura,  Jes- 
sie and  Edith. 

HUGH  McKEOWN,  blacksmith, 
Frankfort  Station  ;  one  of  our  early  settlers  ; 
was  born  in  the  city  of  Belfast,  Ireland. 


Feb.  2,1834.  He  is  the  son  of  the  late  Hugh 
McKeown  (deceased),  who  did  an  ex- 
tensive business  in  the  city  of  Belfast  as 
millwright.  Mr.  M.  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1856,  and  to  this  State,  and  set- 
tled in  Will  Co.  in  the  same  year.  He  was 
one  of  our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  the 
city  of  Belfast,  Ireland,  Feb.  2,  1834 ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1856,  and  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the  same 
year.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Margaret 
Magee,  who  was  born  in  Whitehouse,  Ire- 
land, March  21,  1836 ;  they  have  had  six 
children,  four  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
William  C.,  Albert  W.,  Laura  A.  and 
Edith  E. ;  deceased,  Edward  C.  and  Hugh 
Thomas.  Mr.  McKeown  is  the  oldest 
blacksmith  in  the  village  of  Frankfort.  His 
residence  and  shop  are  situated  on  Block 
10,  and  are  valued  at  $3,500. 

HENRY  NETTELS,  grain  buyer, 
Frankfort  Station ;  born  in  Germany  Feb. 
2,  1826;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1853,  and  settled  in  Frankfort.  Will  Co., 
111.  He  is  one  of  the  first  German  settlers 
in  Frankfort.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Sophia  Ilgen  ;  they  have  had  one  child- 
Clara.  Mr.  N.  was  married  again,  to  Miss 
Caroline  Ilgen  ;  they  have  had  seven  chil- 
dren, four  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Hugo, 
Frank,  Isabella  and  Charley ;  deceased, 
Caroline,  Anna  and  an  infant.  Mr.  N.  has 
held  office  of  Constable  in  Frankfort  Tp., 
nine  years,  Collector  one  year  and  Assessor 
seven  years. 

W.  B.  OWEN,  farmer  and  stock-raiser ; 
P.  0.  Frankfort  Station ;  one  of  our  first 
settlers  and  pioneeri ;  was  born  in  Clark 
Co.,  Ky.,  Jan.  24,  1826;  came  to  this 
State,  and  settled  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co., 
in  1834,  at  which  time,  there  was  not  to 
exceed  twelve  families  located  in  this  town- 
ship. He  is  the  son  of  the  late  Francis 
Owen,  deceased,  who  preached  the  first 
sermon,  and  was  the  first  local  minister  in 
the  township.  Mr.  0.  was  married  Jan. 
22,  1861,  to  Miss  C.  A.  Cleveland,  who 
was  born  in  Delaware  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  15, 
1841 ;  they  have  had  seven  children,  viz., 
Mary  Antoinette,  Cora  L.,  Francis  Belle, 
Gracie  E.,  James  W.,  William  C.  and 
Edward  F.  The  farm  of  Mr.  0.  is  located 
on  Sees.  30  and  18  ;  it  contains  110  acres 
and  is  valued  at  $6,500. 

JAMES  L,  OWEN,  farmer  and  breed- 
er of  Norman  or  Percheron  horses  from 


••'->  > 


CHANNAHON  IP. 


V 
OF  TIE 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


853 


imported  stock ;  P.  0.  Mokena ;  one  of 
our  first  settlers  and  pioneers  ;  was  born  in 
Clarke  Co.,  Ky.,  Sept  19,  1824;  came  to 
this  State  with  his  father's  family  and  set- 
tled in  Frankfort  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  in  1834, 
although  the  township  at  that  time  was 
not  organized  and  did  not  have  a  name  ; 
he  is  the  son  of  the  late  Francis  Owen, 
who  purchased  the  first  land  pre-empted 
from  the  Government  that  is  now  in  the 
township  of  Frankfort ;  his  pursuits  have 
been  those  of  a  farmer  and  stock  raiser 
from  boyhood  ;  he  has  been  a  breeder  of 
the  Norman  or  Percheron  horse  since 
1865,  and  a  breeder  of  and  dealer  in  the 
the  English  draft  horse  since  1853  ;  he  is 
now  one  of  our  largest  live-stock  dealers  in 
the  county ;  his  farm  consists  of  400  acres, 
valued  at  $25,000.  He  was  married  Dec. 
23,  1853,  to  Miss  Catherine  Madden,  who 
Tvas  born  in  the  city  of  Dublin,  Ireland, 
Dec.  25,  1822;  Mrs.  Owen,  during  her 
recent  travels  through  Europe  (A.  D. 
1874)  visited  Glassneven  Churchyard,  Ire- 
land, wherefrom  she  plucked  tufts  of  grass 
from  the  graves  of  Daniel  O'Connell  and 
William  P.  Allen  and  also  from  the  graves  of 
Michael  Larkin  and  Michael  O'Brien,  who 
•were  hanged  by  order  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment A.  D.  1867,and  whose  last  words  were, 
"  God  save  Ireland  ;"  the  monuments  had 
Tbeen  newly  decorated  ;  she  had  also  the 
honor  to  visit  St.  Michael's  Churchyard 
•wherein  is  the  grave  of  Robert  Emmett, 
who  was  the  leader  of  the  Irish  insurrection 
of  1 803  ;  the  place  of  burial,  over  which  she 
waved  the  American  flag,  is  marked  ac- 
cording to  his  request,  with  but  a  single 
slab  which  bears  no  epitaph. 

Most  tombs  are  engraved  with  the  names  of  the 

dead, 
But  yon  dark  slab  declares  not  whose  spirit  has 

fled 

D.  W.  PADDOCK,  retired  ;  P.  O.  Mo- 
kena ;  one  of  our  first  settlers  and  pio- 
neers ;  was  born  in  Washington  Co.,  N. 
T.,  June  7,  1810;  came  to  Illinois  in 
1834,  and  settled  in  Cook  Co. ;  he  re- 
moved to  Will  Co.  in  1849,  and  settled  in 
New  Lenox ;  he  has  been  a  resident  of 
Mokena  for  the  past  twenty-five  years. 
He  has  held  the  office  of  Postmaster  eleven 
years  and  three  months.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Julia  N.  Campbell  May  1,  1853; 
they  have  had  six  children,  one  of  whom 


infants  unnamed  and  Ira,  aged  4  years  and 
6  months. 

CHARLES  RAHM,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station ;  one 
of  our  early  settlers;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many Jan.  21,  1835;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1847,  and  to  Frankfort, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  in  the  same  year;  his  farm 
consists  of  240  acres,  is  situated  on  Sec. 
36,  and  is  valued  at  $12,000. 

ALEXANDER  REID,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  one 
of  our  first  settlers  and  pioneers  ;  born  in 
Scotland  March  22,  1816 ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1838,  and  to  this  State, 
and  settled  on  the  Yankee  Settlement  in 
the  same  year ;  he  removed  from  there  to 
Frankfort  in  1846.  His  farm  consists  of 
475  acres,  valued  at  $28,000  ;  it  is  situated 
on  Sees.  12  and  13. 

JAMES  SUTHERLAND,  manufact- 
urer of  carriages,  wagons  and  farming  im- 
plements, Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born  in 
Scotland  Sept.  16,  1842  ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1864,  and  settled  in 
Frankfort  in  1869.  His  business,  since 
his  residence  in  the  township,  has  been  that 
of  a  manufacturer  and  dealer  in  carriages 
and  farm  implements.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Dunnett.  who  was  born  in 
Scotland;  they  have  seven  children,  viz., 
Mary,  Maggie,  Matilda,  Kenneth,  Edith, 
Evan  and  Harold. 

D.  S.  STEPHEN,  of  the  firm  of  Stephen 
Bros.,  manufacturers  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments, wagons,  buggies,  etc.,  Frankfort 
Station ;  one  of  our  early  settlers ;  was  born 
in  Scotland  March  14,  1836  ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1843,  and  to  Illinois  in 
1844,  when  he  settled  in  Homer,  Will  Co., 
excepting  three  years  absence  in  Michigan, 
his  residence  has  been  in  Will  Co.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Addie  C.  Bathrick  ; 
they  have  had  two  children,  viz.,  Marian 
F.  and  Edwin  L. 

JOSEPH  S.  STEPHEN,  Notary  Pub- 
lic, collector  and  conveyancer,  Frankfort 
Station ;  one  of  our  early  and  active  set- 
tlers ;  was  born  in  Scotland  June  10, 
1841  ;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1843. 
He  has  been  a  resident  of  Will  Co.  for  the 
past  thirty-four  years.  Since  his  residence 
in  Frankfort,  which  commenced  in  1847, 
his  business  has  been,  at  first,  that  of  a 
farmer  boy,  receiving  a  liberal  education. 


854 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


business,  also,  at  about  the  same  time,  he  I 
was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace ;  he  re-  ' 
tained  the  position  four  years.     As  a  par-  , 
ticipant  in  the  late  war,  he  served  in  the  i 
20th  and  134th  111.   V.  I.  three  years  and 
six  months.      He  was    married  to  Miss 
Helen  Mitchell  July  3,  1866. 

JOHN  SCHUBERTH,  general  hard- 
ware merchant,  Mokena  ;  one  of  our  early 
settlers ;  was  born  in  Germany  May  9, 
1838  ;  came  to  the  United  States  with  his 
father's  family  in  1847 ;  he  is  the  son  of 
Andrew  Schuberth.  Mr.  John  Schuberth 
was  married  to  Miss  Catherine  Cappel  Jan. 
27,  1863;  she  was  born  in  Germany 
June  17,  1844;  they  have  had  ten 
children,  five  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
John,  Heny,  Andrew,  Georgie  and  Fran- 
cie;  deceased, 'Johnnie.  Elizabeth,  Caro- 
line, an  infant  and  Mary.  Mr.  S.  has 
held  the  offices  of  Collector  and  Super- 
visor in  Frankfort  Township  three  years 
and  six  months. 

PETER  SCHEER,  farmer  and  etock 
raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers  ;  was  bore  in  Germany 
Sept.  18,  1836 ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1847,  and  to  this  State  and 
settled  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  in  the 
same  year;  his  farm  consists  of  180  acres, 
valued  at  $12,000.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  Louisa  Dralla,  who  was  born  in 
Germany;  they  have  had  two  children, 
viz.,  Valentin  and  Emma.  His  farm  is 
situated  on  Sees.  15  and  22. 

MATHIAS  STELLWAGEN,  farmer 
and  stock-raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ; 
one  of  our  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many May  12,  1832  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1842,  and  to  this  State  in  1844, 
when  he  settled  in  Frankfort,  Will  Co.  ; 
his  farm  consists  of  240  acres,  valued  at 
814,000  ;  it  is  situated  on  Sees.  14  and  15 
in  Frankfort  Tp.,  and  Sec.  32  in  Orland 
Tp.,  Cook  Co.  Mr.  S.  was  married  to 
Miss  Margaret  Stellwagen  ;  they  have  had 
six  childrn,  viz.,  William,  John,  Marga- 
ret C..  Henry,  Jacob  and  George  A. 

JOSEPH.  SUTTON,  farmer  and  stock 
raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  England 
June  12,  1833  ;  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1844,  and  to  Illinois  in  the  same  year  ; 
he  has  been  a  resident  of  Frankfort  for  the 
past  thirty-four  years  ;  his  farm  conhists 
of  117  acres,  valued  at  $6,000  ;  it  is  sit- 


uated on  Sec.  29.  He  was  married  March 
18,  J 869,  to  Miss  Sophia  Unruh  ;  they 
have  one  child,  viz.,  Ella. 

FRED  SCHEER,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0  Frankfort  Station ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany,  . 
Sept.  7,  1839  ;  came  to  the  United  Statesr 
with  his  father's  family,  in  1848,  and  set- 
tled in  this  State  ;  his  farm  consists  of  1 80 
acres,  valued  at  $10,000.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Elizabeth  Rheingley,  who  was 
born  in  Germany ;  they  have  had  two 
children,  viz.,  Louisa  and  Herman.  Mr. 
S.  is  now  holding  office  of  Street  Commis- 
sioner. 

MATHEW  VAN  HORNE,  farmer 
and  stock-raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  is 
was  born  in  New  Lenox,  Will  Co.,  Aug. 
18, 1839  ;  he  is  the  son  of  the  late  Mathew 
Van  Home,  deceased,  who  was  one  of  our 
first  settlers  and  pioneers  ;  the  farm  of  Mr. 
V.  consists  of  120  acres,  valued  at  $8,000. 
He  was  married  Dec.  25,  1860,  to  Miss 
Viola  J.  White,  who  was  born  in  La  Porte 
Co.,  Ind. ;  they  have  had  two  children, 
viz.,  Carrie  A.  and  Hattie  C. 

G.  A.  WEINMANN,  manufacturer  of 
and  dealer  in  furniture,  coffins,  caskets, 

|  etc.,  Frankfort  Station ;  was  born  in  Du 
Page  Co.,  111.,  Dec.  3,  1846;  came  to 
Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  in  1876  ;  is  the  so» 
of  J.  M.  Weinmann,  of  Richton,  Cook 
Co.,  111.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Sophia 
Rathje;  they  have  one  child — Frederick. 
MORRIS  WE  ISS,  druggist ;  P.  0.  Mo- 
kena ;  was  born  in  Germany  Jan.  10, 1830;. 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1854,  and 
settled  in  Mokena,  Will  Co.,  111. ;  he  is 
the  first  proprietor,  and  builder  of  the  first 
drug  store  in  the  village.  He  was  married 

i  to  Miss  Julia  Schiek,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  Oct.  18,  1834.  Mr.  W.,  since 
his  residence  in  the  township,  has  held  the 
office  of  Township  Clerk  nine  years  in  suc- 
cession, Justice  of  the  Peace  six  years  and 
is  at  present  Township  Treasurer. 

C.  B.  WILLIAMS,  proprietor  of 
Frankfort  Hotel,  livery  and  sale  stable, 
Frankfort  Station  ;  was  born  in  Maryland 

|  March  27,  1827;  came  to  Illinois,  and 
settled  in  Grundy  Co.,  Norman  Tp. ;  his 
present  farm,  which  is  there  situated,  con- 
sists of  eighty  acres,  and  is  located  on  Sec. 
36 ;  valued  at  $4,000.  He  was  married 
Nov.  17,  1853,  to  Miss  Sophronia  D.  Mis- 
ner ;  they  have  had  two  children,  one  of 


PLAINFIELD  TOWNSHIP. 


855 


whom  is  living,  viz.,  Cynthia  F. ;  deceased, 
Lucinda.  Mr.  W.  has  held  the  offices  in 
Norman  Tp.  of  Road  Commissioner  and 
School  Director  five  years. 

GOTTLIEB  WERNER,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser,  P.  0.  New  Bremen ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Germany, 
March  1, 1821  ;  came  to  the  United  States- 
in  1846,  and  to  this  State,  and  settled  in 
Frankfort,  Will  Co.,  in  the  same  year ;  his 
farm  consists  of  240  acres,  valued  at 


$12,000  ;  it  is  situated  on  Sec.  12,  in 
Frankfort  Tp.,  and  on  Sec.  7  in  Rich  Tp., 
Cook  Co.  Mr.  W.  was  married  to  Miss 
Mary  Cunz,  who  was  born  in  Germany ; 
they  have  eight  children,  viz.,  August, 
John,  George,  Elizabeth,  Martin,  Philipp, 
Henry  and  Reitz.  Mr.  W.,  since  his  resi- 
dence in  the  township,  has  held  the  offices 
of  School  Director  and  Road  Commissioner 
several  years. 


PLAINFIELD    TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  BENNETT,  mason  and 
building-mover,  Plainfield ;  was  born  in 
Detroit,  Mich.,  Sept.  1,  1818.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Ann  Smith  ;  she  was  born  in 
New  York,  and  died  Feb.  14,  1860;  his 
second  wife  was  Miss  Nancy  H.  Langley; 
she  was  born  in  Kentucky,  and  died  April 
10,  1865;  his  present  wife  was  Mrs.  Per- 
nelia  E.  Taylor  Woodruff;  she  was  born 
in  Clear  Point,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  25,  1827,  and 
married  Nov.  22,  1866 ;  she  had  three 
children  by  former  marriage,  viz.,  Alonzo 
E.,  Melissa  L.  and  Clara  A.  He  lived  in 
Michigan  three  years,  when  he  went  to 
Ohio  with  his  parents ;  remained  there  six 
years ;  they  then  went  to  Monroe  Co.,  N. 
Y. ;  then  to  Michigan;  in  1855,  he  came 
to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled  in  Plainfield, 
and  has  lived  here  since,  engaged  at  his 
trade.  He  has  been  Constable  four  years, 
and  is  at  present  Police  Constable. 

LORIN  BURDICK,  deceased,  farmer ; 
was  born  in  Westford,  Chittenden  Co.,  Vt., 
April  30,  1797;  was  the  second  white 
child  born  in  that  town  ;  he  resised  there 
until  his  33d  year,  and  then  went  to  New 
York  State,  where  he  remained  three 
years.  Married  Esther,  a  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Bixby,  now  deceased  ;  she 
was  born  in  Essex,  Vt,,  Aug.  12,  1796. 
Mr.  B.  came  to  this  county  in  1836;  re- 
mained about  nine  months,  and  returned 
for  his  family  ;  he  immediately  engaged  in 
farming ;  he  raised  his  first  crop  on  the 
farm  of  the  late  Reuben  Flagg,  Esq. ;  he 
then  farmed  on  some  land  belonging  to 
'Squire  Matthews,  after  which  he  pre- 
empted 160  acres  of  land  (what  is  now 
known  as  the  McNeff  Farm);  he  resided 


on  that  until  about  the  year  1858  ;  he 
then  settled  at  the  place  Of  his  late  resi- 
dence, and  continued  to  reside  there  until 
the  day  of  his  death,  which  occurred  Aug. 
3,  1878 ;  his  death  was  caused  by  taking 
Paris  green,  by  mistake,  for  sulphur.  Mr. 
Burdick  was  a  volunteer  in  the  war  of 
1812,  and  was  in  the  battle  of  Plattsburg. 
He  had  one  son  in  the  Mexican  war ;  he 
died  in  Mexico  ;  he  also  had  three  sons  in 
the  late  war.  The  names  of  his  children 
are — Maria  (deceased),  Betsy,  Samuel 
(served  in  an  Iowa  regiment  during  the  late 
war),  Charity  (deceased),  Mary,  Joalma, 
Amarilla,  Timothy,  Lorin  (deceased),  Har- 
rison, Seraph,  Lewis  and  Josiah  (served 
in  the  100th  I.  V.  I.  during  the  late  war), 
and  Susan.  Mr.  Burdick  hauled  the  first 
timber  for  the  Court  House  in  Joliet;  he 
hauled  it  from  Chicago,  his  team  consisting 
of  six  yokes  of  oxen  ;  he  hewed  the  first 
timber  for  the  first  bridge,  first  mill,  first 
hotel,  first  church  (Methodist),  in  Plain- 
field;  he  burned  the  first  coal-pit  in  Plain- 
field;  he,  with  Mr.  Bump  and  Brunson, 
laid  out  the  first  grave-yard  (now  the  Plain- 
field  Cemetery);  Mr.  Brunson  was  the 
first  person  buried  there.  Mr.  Burdick's 
descendants  number  over  one  hundred  ;  his 
widow  is  still  living,  and  resides  on  the 
homestead.  Mr.  Burdick  united  with  the 
Church  in  1834;  he  died  with  Christian 
hope. 

HARRISON  BURDICK,  farmer,  Sec. 
20  ;  P.  0.  Plainfield.  Methodist ;  Repub- 
lican. Owns  seventy-nine  acres  of  land, 
valued  at  $65  per  acre;  is  a  son  of  Lorin 
Burdick  (deceased) ;  Mr.  Burdick  was 
born  in  Westford,  Vt.,  March  31,  1833  ; 


856 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


he  came  to  this  State  with  his  parents  in 
1836,  and  resided  with  his  parents  until  he 
was  21  years  of  age,  during  which  time  he 
assisted  his  father  on  the  farm.  Married 
Harriet  Paul ;  she  was  born  in  England 
in  1834,  and  died  Sept.  21,  1870,  leaving 
eight  children — three  boys  and  five  girls — 
Henry,  Alson,  Seraph,  lantha,  Mary,  Char- 
lotte, Alma  and  James  Riley.  Mr.  Bur- 
dick  settled  where  he  now  resides  in  1865. 
Has  not  married  since  the  death  of  his 
wife. 

DANIEL  W.  CROPSEY,  retired 
farmer ;  P.  0.  Plainfield.  Universalist ; 
Republican.  Ownsjhomestead  in  the  vil- 
lage ;  was  born  in  Peterboro,  Madison  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Feb.  15,  1797  ;  resided  with  his 
parents  in  that  county  until  20  years  old; 
he  then  went  to  Ontario  Co.,  and  remained 
five  years;  then  to  Niagara  Co.,  where  he 
remained  twenty-five  years;  his  business 
during  that  time  was  farming ;  in  1846, 
he  came  to  this  county,  and  continued  the 
business  of  farming ;  he  bought  at  that 
time  480  acres  of  Chester  Ingersoll,  and 
settled  on  the  northwest  quarter  of  Sec.  36. 
The  eighty  acres  in  the  northwest  corner 
was  the  farm  that  took  the  first  premium 
as  the  best  cultivated  farm  in  the  county 
in  1859.  The  following  is  a  correct  copy 
of  the  diploma  received,  viz.: 

The  Will  County  Agricultural  Society  award 
this  diploma  to  D.  W.  Cropsey  for  having  on 
exhibition  at  the  annual  fair  of  said  Society, 
A.  D.  1859,  the  best  cultivated  farm  of  eighty 
acres  or  more.  IRA  AUSTIN,  Pres. 

[Signed.]    W.  B.  HAWLKT,  Sec. 

With  the  above  diploma,  he  also  received 
a  set  of  silver  forks,  valued  at  $16.  Mr. 
C.  received  other  premiums  at  different 
times,  once  as  high  as  830  in  silver;  at 
one  time,  he  took  five  animals  to  the  fair, 
and  took  premiums  on  every  one  on  grades. 
Mr.  C.  was  twice  married  ;  first  to  Eliza- 
beth Straight  Feb.  14,  1819 ;  she  was 
born  in  Argyle,  N.  Y.,  in  April,  1797,  and 
died  in  August,  1871 ;  had  nine  children, 
six  now  living — George,  Jacob,  Andrew 
J.  (formerly  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the 
129th  111.  V.  I.,  now  in  Lawrence,  Texas), 
John,  Mary  Ann,  Mahala  (wife  of  D. 
Wyland,  Esq.);  the  names  of  the  deceased 
are  Nancy,  Laura  and  Harriet.  Mr.  C. 
was  the  first  Supervisor  from  the  town  of 
Wheatland,  and  occupied  the  position  of 
Chairman  of  the  Board  ;  was  Poormaster 


(the  first)  one  year ;  no  tax  was  needed 
that  year,  there  being  no  paupers.  Mr. 
C.  is  now'81  years  of  age;  he  never  was 
sick  but  three  days  in  his  life,  to  be  con- 
fined to  the  house ;  he  remembers  well  see- 
ing the  first  steamboat  as  it  came  up  the 
Hudson  in  1808. 

A.  E.  CONANT,  farming,  Sec.  25; 
P.  0.  Plainfield ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  York  Co.,  Me.,  Dec.  9,  1818. 
He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Philbrook 
June  8,  1853 ;  she  was  born  in  Kennebec 
Co.,  Me.,  July  22,  1827  ;  they  have  had 
five  children,  four  living,  viz.,  Addie  E., 
Joe  E.,  Lewis  P.  and  Otis  K.  He  lived 
in  Maine  until  1854;  was  engaged  in 
farming  and  manufacturing  woolen  cloths 
in  Dexter;  in  1854,  he  came  West  and 
settled  on  his  present  place ;  he  owns  285 
acres  in  this  township,  which  he  has  earned 
principally  by  his  own  labor  and  manage- 
ment. 

SERENO  CULVER,  farming,  Sec.  14; 
P.  0.  Plainfield ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Montpelier,  Washington  Co., 
Vt.,  June  22,  1818.  He  married  Miss 
Polly  Miller  Oct.  30, 1842  ;  she  was  born  ' 
in  same  place  June  16,  1826 ;  they  have 
had  six  children,  five  living,  viz.,  Harvey, 
Emiline  B.,  Erwin,  Ella  and  Frank  ;  Lucy 
B.  died  Jan.  18,  1864.  He  lived  in  Ver- 
mont until  1834,  when  he  moved  to  Chi- 
cago, 111.,  with  his  parents,  where  they  re- 
mained a  few  months ;  then  came  to 
Plainfield  in  Cook  (now  Will)  Co.,  where 
they  engaged  in  farming,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1840,  when  he  came  to  his 
present  place.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
of  the  M.  E.  Church  for  the  past  twenty- 
eight  years.  His  parents,  Daniel  and 
Mrs.  Betsey  Lyman  Culver,  were  natives 
of  Connecticut ;  they  died  Aug.  15,  1834, 
and  May  9,  1854,  respectively;  his  wife's 
parents  were  Horace  and  Mrs.  Lucy 
B.ryant  Miller  ;  they  were  natives  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Canada;  they  settled  in 
Plainfield  in  1834,  and  died  Sept.  14, 
1872,  and  Oct.  15,  1876,  respectively. 

G.  N.  CHITTENDEN,  general  mer- 
chandise, Plainfield.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Middlebury,  Portage 
(now  Summit)  Co.,  Ohio,  April  15,  1818. 
He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Cauffinan  July 
23,  1845  ;  she  was  born  in  the  same  place 
Sept.  14,  1824 ;  they  had  six  children, 
four  liring,  viz.,  William  H.,  Henry  K., 


PLAINF1ELD   TOWNSHIP. 


857 


Mary  and  Granville  I.  He  lived  in  Ohio 
until  the  spring  of  1847 ;  his  early  days 
were  spent  in  clerking  in  the  general  mer- 
chandise business ;  in  1838.  he  began  read- 
ing medicine  with  Dr.  Wm.  Bowen,  and  be- 
gan the  practice  in  1843  ;  in  1847,  he  went 
to  Michigan  and  engaged  in  farming,  remain- 
ing two  years ;  he  then  went  to  South 
Bend,  Ind.,  and  engaged  as  superintend- 
ent of  a  woolen-mill;  in  1851,  he  moved 
to  Lockport,  Will  Co.,  and  engaged  in  gen- 
eral merchandising;  remaining  one  year; 
he  then  came  to  Plainfield  and  engaged  vin 
his  present  business,  which,  excepting  one 
year,  he  has  followed  since.  Though  be- 
ing at  the  head  of  the  firm,  he  has  placed 
the  principal  management  of  the  business 
in  the  hands  of  his  son,  William  H.,  and 
Alfred  T.  Corbin,  who  are  the  junior  mem- 
bers of  the  firm.  He  takes  but  a  passing 
interest  in  politics,  and  has  held  the  offices 
of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Township  Treas- 
urer and  Collector;  he  has  been  a  Dele- 
gate to  County  Conventions,  to  two  State 
Conventions  and  to  the  National  Conven- 
tion of  1876,  at  Cincinnati;  he  has  been 
identified  with  the  M.  E.  Church  for  the 
past  twenty  years,  and  actively  assisted  in 
the  building  of  the  present  elegant  edifice 
of  that  denomination  in  this  village.  He 
has  been  more  or  less  interested  in  real 
estate,  both  here  and  in  Joliet,  having  laid 
out  extensive  additions  to  both  places. 

ELIHU  CORBJN,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
Plainfield.  Thesubject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  May  28,  1813. 
He  married  Miss  Eliza  A.  Fish  AprillG, 
1 837  ;  she  was  born  in  Connecticut ;  they 
have  six  children,  viz.,  Alfred  T.,  Edward 
W.,  Lewis  D.,  Hannah  J.,  Emily  M.  and 
Mary  E.  He  lived  in  Vermont  twenty- 
two  years,  when  he  moved  to  Chicago,  and, 
the  following  winter,  he  went  to  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  and  engaged  in  tanning  and  shoe- 
making,  remaining  until  1852,  when  he 
came  to  his  present  place.  He  has  held 
the  office  of  Commissioner  for  the  schools 
and  roads,  and  has  been  Justice  for  the 
past  twenty  years ;  he  has  been  largely 
interested  in  real  „ estate  in  this  village, 
having  divided  about  one  hundred  acres 
into  village  lots.  His  parents  are  not  liv- 
ing ;  his  wife's  parents  were  among  the  first 
settlers  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

JOHN  DRAUDEN,  farming;  P.  0. 
Plainfield.  The  above  gentleman  was  born 


in  Prussia  in  March,  1831  ;  he  married 
Miss  Elizabeth  Roush  Oct.  3,  1868;  she 
was  born  in  Prussia  Sept.  28,  1834;  they 
had  seven  children,  six  living,  viz.,  Maggie, 
Mary,  John,  Michael,  Edward  and  Matilda. 
He  lived  in  Germany  twenty-three  years, 
when  he  came  to  the  United  State  and  set- 
tled in  New  York ;  engaged  in  farming, 
and  remained  four  years  ;  he  then  came  to 
Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled  in  Plainfield 
Tp.;  in  1867,  he  came-to  his  present  place. 
He  has  held  no  office  except  connected 
with  school  and  road ;  he  came  to  this 
county  without  any  capital,  and  now  owns 
240  acres  which  he  has  earned  by  his  own 
•labor. 

M.  H.  EVANS,  farmer,  Sec.  17  ;  P. 
0.  Plainfield ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Clark  Co.,  111.,  Oct.  8,  1831. 
He  married  Miss  Hannah  C.  Tenny  Nov. 
14.  1850;  she  was  born  in  Grafton  Co., 
N.  H.,  Aug.  29,  1826;  they  had  eight 
children,  six  living,  viz.,  Sarah  A.,  Eunice 
A.,  Walter  A.,  Milton  H.,  Ira  E.  and 
Carrie  H. ;  Mary  E.  and  William  H.  died; 
he  lived  four  years  in  Clark  Co.,  and  then 
came  to  Will  Co.,  with  his  parents,  who 
settled  in  this  township  and  engaged  in 
farming;  he  lived  here  until  1852,  when 
he  moved  to  Kendall  Co.,  111.,  and  en- 
gaged in  farming;  remained  until  1865; 
he  then  came  to  his  present  place ;  he 
owns  189  acres  in  this  township,  which  he 
has  earned  by  his  own  labor.  He  has 
been  connected  with  the  M.  E.  Church 
for  the  past  twenty-eight  years  ;  he  is  now 
the  Steward,  and  has  been  Trustee,  Class 
Leader  and  Sabbath  School  Superintend- 
ent. 

WILLIAM  H.  FLAGG,  farmer,  Sec. 
10;  P.  0.  Plainfield;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  the  youngest  son  of  Reuben  and 
Mrs.  Betsey  (Kendall)  Flagg;  he  was 
born  in  this  township  May  8,  1841,  on  the 
old  homestead,  settled  by  his  father  about 
1834.  He  married  Miss  Margarett  Van 
Horn  Dec.  10,  1867  ;  she  was  born  in 
Paterson,  N.  J.,  Aug.  1,  1841  ;  they  had 
five  children — four  living,  viz.,  Kate  0., 
Bessie  L.,  Warren  Lee  and  Henry  C.  He 
has  always  lived  in  this  township,  and  has 
followed  his  occupation  of  farmer ;  he 
started  in  very  limited  circumstances,  and 
now  owns  eighty-four  acres  adjoining  the 
village  of  Plainfield,  which  he  has  earned 
by  his  own  labor  and  management. 


858 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


H.  R.  FRASER,  hardware  and  grocer- 
ies, Plainfield ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Sullivan  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  30, 
1834.  He  married  Miss  Roxanna  Wright 
Feb.  6,  1866 ;  she  was  born  in  Plainfield, 
111.,  Dec.  19,  1845 ;  they  have  one  child, 
viz.,  Manford  S.  He  lived  in  New  York 
twelve  years,  when  he  moved  to  Plain- 
field  ;  his  mother,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Brown) 
Fraser,  died  in  Chicago  while  on  their 
way  here ;  his  father  and  family  came  to 
this  township  and  engaged  in  farming  near 
this  village,  continuing  in  same  until  his 
death,  July,  1857  ;  Mr.  H.  R.  moved  to  a 
farm  about  four  miles  southeast  of  this 
village.  He  remained  there  until  1861, 
when  he  enlisted  in  the  13th  I.  V.  C., 
serving  three  years  and  two  months,  tak 
ing  part  in  the  battles  of  Arkansas  Post, 
capture  of  Little  Rock,  Red  River  expe- 
dition, etc..  etc.  In  the  spring  of  1865, 
he  engaged  in  his  present  business,  style  of 
firm  being  Smiley  &  Fraser,  and  continued  I 
seven  years  ;  the  firm  then  became  H.  R.  I 
Fraser  &  Co.,  and  has  so  continued. 

LYMAN  FOSTER,  retired  farmer;  P. 
0.  Plainfield.  Non-sectarian  ;  Democratic. 
Owns  house  and  lot  in  village ;  was  born 
March  30,  1793,  in  the  town  of  Meriden, 
New  Haven  Co.,  Conn. ;  at  the  age  of  11, 
his  parents  removed  to  Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y. ; 
remained  with  them  until  13  years  of  age, 
and  was  then  apprenticed  to  paper-making ; 
served  until  he  was  21  ;  then  went  to 
Chenango  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  took  charge  of 
a  paper-mill  for  two  and  one-half  years  ; 
he  then  went  to  Cooperstown,  and,  in 
company  with  others,  built  a  paper-mill  at 
that  place,  which  he  conducted  three  years 
and  then  sold  out ;  he  then  went  to  Little 
Falls,  N.  Y.,  and  for  two  years  took  charge 
of  the  largest  paper-mill  in  the  State,  after 
which  he  went  to  Esperance,  N.  Y. ; 
stopped  one  year ;  then  went  to  New  Ber- 
lin ;  stopped  one  year  ;  he  then  went  to  i 
Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y.,  and  farmed  about  five 
years;  then  to  this  township  in  1844, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming  until  his 
retirement,  about  nine  years  ago ;  during 
the  time  he  engaged  in  farming,  he  sold 
Mr.  Norton  30JOOO  bushels  of  corn.  Mr. 
F.  has  been  twice  married  ;  his  first  union 
was  with  Esther  Blood,  when  he  was  27 
years  of  age  ;  she  was  born  in  Vermont, 
and  died  about  fifteen  years  ago ;  had 
eight  children  by  that  marriage,  six  of 


whom  are  now  living,  viz.,  Giles  D.,  Fayette, 
Mercy  A.,  Mary  A.,  Helen  and  Cornelia;  the 
names  of  those  that  died  are  Louisa  J.  and 
Isaac  J. ;  Mr.  F.'s  second  marriage  was 
with  Mrs.  Emily  Pearsons,  April  18. 1869. 
Mr.  F.  remembers  when  the  death  of 
Washington  occurred,  and  a  funeral  ser- 
mon that  was  preached  on  that  occasion, 
in  1799 ;  he  also  remembers  seeing  the 
British  fleet  as  it  passed  up  New  York 
Harbor,  in  1813  or  1814,  to  attack  New 
York  City.  At  the  age  of  24,  he  was 
appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Otsego 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  by  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  then 
Governor  of  that  State,  which  office  he 
held  continuously  for  fourteen  years.  Mr. 
F.,  during  two  years  of  his  stay  in  Otsego 
Co.,  N.  Y  ,  supplied  the  Albany  Argus 
with  paper,  that  then  being  the  leading  , 
newspaper  in  the  State. 

JASON  FLANDERS,  deceased ;  was 
born  in  Hebron,  Vt.,  Aug.  18,  1810;  re- 
sided there  about  twenty  yaars,  then  re- 
moved to  Boston,  Mass.,  where  he  re- 
mained seven  years  ;  from  there  he  went 
to  Lowell,  where  he  remained  five  years, 
during  which  time  he  was  engaged  as 
clerk  in  a  store.  He  was  married  to  Lucy 
Ann  Clark  March  29, 1833  ;  she  was  born 
in  Amherst,  N.  H.,  Nov.  4,  1810  ;  she  is 
still  living,  and  resides  in  Plainfield ;  Mr. 
F.  started  for  this  State  in  company  with 
his  wife  May  19,  1833,  and  arrived  in  this 
county  June  20,  of  the  same  year ;  he 
came  by  canal  and  lake  to  Detroit,  and 
from  there  here  with  a  wagon  ;  he  first 
bought  Government  land  near  Troy,  in  this 
county,  and  farmed  eight  years  ;  he  then 
purchased  the  place  (thirty  acres  in  the 
village  of  Plainfield)  where  Mrs.  F.  now 
resides,  and  continued  there  until  his  death, 
which  occurred  Feb.  26,  1874;  Mr.  F. 
was  the  first  Constable  elected  in  Plainfield 
and  held  that  office  a  great  many  years  ;  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  he  owned  between 
three  and  four  hundred  acres  of  land. 
Mrs.  F.  says  that  during  their  early  life  in 
this  county,  she  has  known  three  months 
to  elapse  without  seeing  any  other  human 
being  but  her  husband  ;  Mr.  F.  was  highly 
respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  Mr.  F.  had 
six  children,  three  of  whom  are  now  living 
— James  (now  Prosecuting  Attorney  in 
Joliet),  Martha  (now  Mrs.  McElhose), 
Sarah  (deceased),  Emma  (now  Mrs.  Bra- 
gow)  and  George  (deceased),  formerly  a 


PLAINFIELD  TOWNSHIP. 


859 


member  of  the  100th  I.  V.  I.;  he  died  at  ; 
Bowling  Green,  Ky.,  Nov.  25,  1862 ;  his 
remains  were  brought  home  and  interred 
in  the  Plainfield  Cemetery. 

N.  S.  H  AMLIN,  retired  farmer ;  P.  0. 
Plainfield ;  born  in  Madison  Co.,  N.  Y., 
May  27,  1824;  resided  with  his  parents 
until  the  age  of  27 ;  then  emigrated  to 
this  town.  Married  Parnel  Keeler  April 
25,  1849.  Engaged  in  farming  soon  after 
his  arrival  here,  which  he  continued  with 
success  until  about  eight  years  ago ;  is  at  | 
present  living  a  retired  life  in  Plainfield 
village  ;  has  held  the  office  of  Road  Com- 
missioner five  years ;  also  office  of  School 
Director  five  years,  which  office  he  now 
holds.  The  Hamlins  of  America  are  all 
descendants  of  one  David  Hamlin,  one  of 
the  party  who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower 
an  1620. 

J.  D.  HAHN,  farmer,  Sec.  1  ;  P.  0.  | 
Plainfield.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Columbiana,  now  Mahoning,  Co., 
Ohio,  July  3,  1826.  He  married  Miss 
Rebecca  Shreffler  June  7,  1849  ;  she  was 
born  in  Pennsylvania  April  4, 1829  ;  they 
have  six  children — William  T.,  Helen  R., 
Kate  J.,  Alice  M.,  John  D.  S.  and  Nettie 
M.  He  lived  in  Ohio  twenty  one  years, 
when  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  settled 
in  Plainfield  Tp.;  he  engaged  in  farming, 
and,  in  1857,  he  came  to  his  present  place 
and  has  lived  here  ever  since  ;  he  is  no 
office-seeker,  his  only  offices  being  connected 
with  the  school  and  road.  He  owns  207 
acres  of  land  in  this  county,  which  has 
been  principally  earned  by  his  own  labor 
and  management. 

ALONZO  HEMSTREET,  retired 
butcher,  Plainfield.  Non-sectarian ;  Demo- 
crat. Owns  house  and  twelve  acres  in  the 
village;  was  born  in  Herkimer  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Oct.  6,  1815;  his  parents  removed  to 
Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y.,  when  he  was  2  years 
of  age;  he  remained  there  with  his 
parents  until  he  was  22  years  of  age ;  he 
then  went  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  where  he  re- 
mained nine  months,  during  which  time 
he  was  employed  variously  in  a  lumber 
yard  and  grocery;  he  then  came  to  this 
place,  arriving  July  3,  1837  ;  he  soon 
after  hired  out  to  Daniel  Ashley,  and 
worked  nine  months  on  a  farm,  after 
which,  he  worked  five  months  for  Daniel 
W.  Lamb ;  he  then  went  to  Fox  River, 
and  worked  another  year  on  a  farm,  after 


which,  in  company  with  Daniel  Ashley, 
he  built  a  shanty,  and  broke  100  acres 
of  prairie,  and  sowed  it  to  wheat ;  the 
rust  destroyed  it,  and  this  enterprise  was 
a  failure ;  this  was  the  first  time  wheat 
ever  blasted  in  this  county  (1840) ;  in 
1841,  he  drove  an  ox-team  to  Prairie  du 
Chien  for  Ralph  Smith  and  Alonzo  Waldo, 
where  he  remained  two  years ;  he  then 
came  to  Plainfield  and  rented  a  saw-mill 
of  Jonathan  Hagar,  and  run  it  two  years ; 
in  1846,  he  commenced  butchering,  and  fol- 
lowed it  for  twenty  years.  Mr.  Hemstreet 
married  Augusta  M.  Foster,  daughter  of 
Lyman  Foster,  Esq.,  Oct.  26,  1848 ;  she 
was  born  in  Esperance,  Otsego  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Dec.  20,  1826 ;  have  had  seven  children,- 
only  two  of  whom  are  living — Albert  E. 
and  Andrew  J.;  the  names  of  the  deceased 
are  Harriet  E.,  Esther  A.,  Charles  D., 
Alonzo  Monroe  and  Frank  F.  Has  held 
the  office  of  Constable  twelve  years :  Pres- 
ident of  Village  Board  of  School  Directors, 
which  office  he  holds  at  present.  Mr.  H. 
has  always  been  a  strong  Democrat. 

JONATHAN  HAGAR,  retired  mer- 
chant, Plainfield.  Congregational ;  Re- 
publican. Owns  400  acres  in  Will  Co., 
valued  at  $60  per  acre ;  also  280  acres  in 
Kendall,  valued  at  $60  per  acre ;  was  born 
in  Quebec,  Canada,  Feb.  19,  1807  ;  when 
2  years  old,  his  parents  removed  to 
Montreal,  where  they  remained  eight 
years ;  then  to  Middlebury,  Vt.,  where 
they  remained  eight  years  ;  then  to  Way- 
bridge,  Vt.,  where  he  remained  two  years, 
working  on  a  farm  which  his  mother 
owned ;  his  father  was  a  sea-captain,  and 
owner  of  a  vessel ;  he  died  of  yellow  fever, 
in  South  America,  Jan.  29,  1821,  during 
a  voyage  to  that  country ;  his  mother's 
family,  at  that  time,  consisted  of  four 
brothers,  besides  himself  and  one  sister. 
In  1830,  Mr.  Hagar  started  West ;  he 
stopped  in  Cleveland  two  years,  during 
which  time  he  was  employed  in  a  crockery 
store;  he  then  went  to  Michigan,  re- 
mained there  two  years,  and  taught 
school ;  then  to  this  place,  in  company 
with  Samuel  Sargeant,  with  a  stock  of 
goods  for  a  country  store ;  they  opened 
the  first  store  in  Plainfield  ;  it  was  kept 
in  a  wagon-shop,  owned  by  a  man  named 
Bill ;  about  a  year  after  their  arrival,  they 
built  a  store  of  their  own  aad  -removed 
their  stock  into  it ;  Mr.  H.  continued  to 


860 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


do  business  in  this  town  until  the  com- 
mencement of  the  late  war,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  four  years  that  he  was  engaged 
in  milling,  in  company  with  Messrs. 
Goodhue  &  Burrell ;  the  storehouse  that 
he  put  up  still  stands,  and  is  now  occu- 
pied as  a  parsonage  for  the  Congregational 
Church.  Mr.  H.  was  married  twice, 
first  to  Catherine  Goodhue,  Sept.  14, 
1 843 ;  she  was  born  in  New  Hampshire, 
and  died  March  19,  1858,  leaving  two 
children — Edwin  C.  (now  of  Joliet),  and 
Ellen  E.  (now  Mrs.  Charles  E.  Fraser). 
Mr.  H.  held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the 
Peace  for  eighteen  years. 

WM.  M.  JOHNSON,  farming;  P.O. 
Plainfield  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Caselton,  Rutland  Co.,  Vt.,  Aug. 

5,  1827.     He   married  Mjss  Louisa  M. 
Eaton  Dec.  6,  1854 ;    she  was  born  in  the 
same  place  Jan.  13,  1834 ;  they  have  two 
children — Hattie  C.  and  Ida  F.     He  lived 
in  Vermont  seventeen  years,  when,  with 
his  parents,  he  came  to  Will  Co.  and  set- 
tled in   Wheatland,    where  he  lived   ten 
years ;  he  then  moved  to  Du  Page  Tp.  and 
engaged  in  farming,  remaining  until  1871, 
when  he  came  to  Plainfield,  and  has  lived 
here  since;  his  parents,  Hiram  and  Mrs. 
Sarah  Ann  Gault  Johnson,  are  natives  of 
Vermont ;  his  father  died  April  13, 1875 ; 
his  mother  is  living  here  with  her  son. 

ALLEN  JORDAN,  retired;  P.  0. 
Plainfield ;  the  above  gentleman  was  born 
in  Columbia  Co.,  'N.  Y.,  Feb.  3,  1798. 
He  married  Miss  Jane  P.  Cook  Dec.  6, 
1837  ;  she  was  born  in  New  York  March 

6,  1813 ;  they  had  eight  children,  seven 
living — William  A.,  Harriet,  Richard  C., 
Edward,  Allen,  Jr.,  John  and  Ambrose  L. 
He  remained   a   resident   of  New    York 
until  1847,  during  which  time  he  read  law, 
and  practiced  as  an  attorney  for  twenty-five 
years  in  the  city  of  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  of 
which    city   he  was   Mayor  for  the  year 
1839;  in    1847,   he  came  to   Plainfield, 
111.,  and  remained  for  two  years,  when  he 
went  to  Kendall  Co.  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, and,  in  1866,  he  again  came  to  this 
place,  and  has  lived  here  since. 

D.  W.  JUMP,  physician  and  surgeon, 
Plainfield  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Huron  Co.,  Ohio,  Aug.  24,  1847. 
He  married  Miss  Alice  E.  Watkins  Nov. 
13,  1873;  she  was  born  in  Plainfield,  111.; 
they  have  one  child — Clyde  W.  He  lived  in 


Ohio  until  September,  1871 ;  his  early 
days  were  passed  on  the  farm  ;  at  the  age 
of  18,  he  began  reading  medicine  during 
the  summers  and  teaching  school  winters, 
continuing  until  1869,  when  he  attended 
the  University  of  Michigan,  graduating 
March  27,  1872;  he  then  came  to  Plain- 
field  and  engaged  in  his  profession.  His 
parents,  William  H.  and  Mrs.  Margaret 
Richards  Jump,  were  natives  of  Maryland 
and  New  York,  respectively;  his  mother 
lives  in  Ohio,  where  his  father  died  Aug. 
31,  1869. 

WM.  S.  KEEN,  blacksmith,  Plainfield; 
owns  residence  and  blacksmith-shop  in  the 
village,  valued  at  $3,000 ;  was  born  in 
Cayuga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Dec,  31, 1821 ;  resided 
there  with  his  parents  until  he  was  14 
years  of  age  ;  he  then  went  .to  Ithaca,  N. 
Y.,  and  learned  the  blacksmith  trade,, 
remaining  seven  years ;  he  soon  after 
started  westward,  and  arrived  in  this  vil- 
lage July  8,  1841,  an  entire  stranger;  he 
very  soon  set  up  business  where  he  is  now 
located,  and  has  continued  there  ever  since, 
with  the  exception  of  three  years  that  he 
was  in  California,  from  1849  to  1852. 
Mr.  K.  was  married  in  the  fall  of  1846  to 
Roxana  E.  Norton  ;  she  was  born  June 
11,  1825,  in  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  and  came  here 
with  her  parents  in  1840 ;  have  three 
children,  all  living  in  this  village — Anson 
C.,  Sarah  L.  and  Florence.  Anson  was  a 
soldier  during  the  late  war ;  he  enlisted  in. 
the  winter  of  1863  and  1864  in  the  8th 
I.  V.  C.,  and  served  until  the  end  of  the 
war,  and  took  a  part  in  all  the  engage- 
ments the  regiment  was  in  during  his 
term  of  service.  Mr.  K.  held  the  office  of 
Trustee  of  the  village  one  term. 

S.  W.  METCALF,  farming  and  stock,. 
Sec.  34  ;  P.  0.  Plainfield  ;  this  gentleman 
was  born  in  the  village  of  Plainfield  Sept. 
16,  1835.  He  married  Miss  Sarah  Bill- 
ing July  4r  1869 ;  she  was  born  in  England 
April  1,  1845.  He  lived  but  a  short  time 
in  the  village,  when,  with  his  parents,  he 
moved  out  on  the  farm,  and,  in  1865,  he 
came  to  his  present  place  and  has  lived 
here  since.  His  parents,  Hardy  and  Mrs. 
Judith  B.  Russell  Metcalf,  were  natives  of 
New  Hampshire  and  New  York ;  they 
were  married  in  New  York  Nov.  24, 1826  ; 
they  came  to  Will  Co.  in  1835,  and  settled 
in  Plainfield,  engaging  in  farming  ;  he  died 
June  29,  1860;  Mrs.  Metcalf  is  living 


PLAINFIELD  TOWNSHIP. 


861 


here   on    the    old    homestead  with    her 
daughter. 

FRANK  H.  METCALF,  farming  and 
teaching ;  P.  0.  Plainfield ;  the  above 
gentleman  is  a  native  of  Ohio ;  he  was 
born  in  Lake  Co.  Nov.  23,  1840.  He 
married  Miss  Augusta  Metcalf  Nov.  20, 
1864  ;  she  was  born  in  Troy  Tp.,  Will  Co., 
111.,  June  21, 1837  ;  they  have  two  adopted 
children,  viz.,  Frank  W.  and  Flora  Nill- 
son.  He  lived  in  Ohio  twenty-three  years, 
and  then  came  to  his  present  place,  engag- 
ing in  farming  and  teaching;  his  early 
days  were  spent  in  the  district  school ;  at 
18,  he  attended  the  Western  Reserve  Acad- 
emy and  Willoughby  Collegiate  Institute, 
and  later  he  attended  the  Oberlin  College. 
While  at  the  latter  place,  he  enlisted  in  the 
100-day  service,  but  was  not  in  active 
service.  He  has  eighty  acres  here  which 
he  has  principally  earned  by  his  own  labor. 
He  has  been  principal  of  the  Channahon 
and  Oswego  schools ;  for  the  past  five  years 
he  has  taught  the  district  school  near  by. 

L.  W.  McCREERY,  farming  and  stock, 
Sees.  33  and  34;  P.  0.  Plainfield;  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  on  the 
present  place  May  10,  1857.  He  married 
Miss  Annie  Bristol  Feb.  18,  1877;  she  j 
was  born  in  Ohio  Nov.  7,  1855 ;  they 
have  one  child,  namely*,  Lena.  He  has 
always  lived  on  the  present  place.  In 
1875,  he  began  farming  on  his  own  ac- 
count on  the  present  farm,  belonging  to 
his  father. 

JOSEPH  McCREERY,  retired  ;  P.  0. 
Plainfield ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Benton,  Ontario  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July 
1,  1810.  He  married  Miss  Abigail  Ann 
Van  Riper  in  November,  1830 ;  she  was 
born  in  New  Jersey  ;  they  had  twelve  chil- 
dren, eight  living,  viz.,  John,  Joseph, 
Charles,  Alfred,  Lewis,  Mary,  Lucy  and 
Isabell.  He  lived  in  New  York  until  1833, 
when  he  went  to  Canada  and  engaged  in 
the  lumber  business  continuing  four  years  ; 
he  then  returned  to  New  York  and  engaged 
in  the  lumber  business  at  Rochester,  where 
he  remained  until  1845;  he  then  came  to 
Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  Plainfield,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming ;  continued  until  1875, 
when  he  came  to  his  present  place.  He  is 
no  office-seeker,  his  only  offices  being  con- 
nected with  the  school  and  road.  He  started 
in  very  poor  circumstances,  and  now  owns 
250  acres  in  this  township.  He  has  been 


connected  with   the  Universalist    Church 
for  the  past  twenty-five  years. 

JOHN  MOTT1NGER,  retired ;  P.  0. 
Plainfield  ;  the  above  gentleman  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  May  8,  1799.  He  married 
Miss  Barbara  Long;  she  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania;  they  have  ten  children, 
viz.,  Suanna,  Elizabeth,  Mary  Ann,  Joseph, 
Leah,  Anna  C.,  Sarah,  Lena,  Rebec  :a, 
Samuel  and  Daniel.  He  lived  in  Penn- 
sylvania until  he  was  13,  when  he  went  to 
Ohio  with  his  parents,  where  his  father 
died  ;  he  then  went  to  Illinois  and  settled 
in  Will  Co.,  engaging  in  farming;  all  his 
children  are  married ;  his  parents,  George 
and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Lashbaugh  Mottinger, 
both  died  in  Ohio ;  they  were  natives  of 
Pennsylvania. 

H.  S.  NORTON,  farming,  Sec.  3 ;  P. 
0.  Plainfield ;  the  above  gentleman  was 
born  on  his  present  place  Dec.  1,  1845. 
He  married  Miss  Matilda  F.  Bender 
March  23,  1870;  she  was  born  in  Lan- 
caster Co.,  Penn.,  Nov.  16,  1852;  they 
had  five  children,  three  living,  viz.,  Alice, 
Frank  and  Hattie.  He  has  always  made 
this  his  residence  ;  soon  after  becoming  of 
age,  he  began  to  farm  on  his  own  account : 
he  owns  fifty  acres,  which  he  has  principally 
earned  by  his  own  labor ;  he  is  operating 
a  pit  of  building  sand  on  his  place,  which 
is  of  very  superior  quality ;  it  was  first 
discovered  by  his  father  in  1 845  ;  his  par- 
ents, Benjamin  K.  and  Mrs.  Harriett 
Yaple  Norton,  were  natives  of  Tomp- 
kins  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  Mr.  Norton  came  to 
this  county  in  1839,  and  Mrs.  Norton  came 
in  1842  ;  they  settled  on  the  present  place 
in  1843;  Mr.  Norton  died  Oct.  17,  1874; 
Mrs.  Norton  lives  on  an  adjoining  farm. 

S.  S.  PRATT,  furniture,  etc.,  Plain- 
field  ;  is  a  native  of  Vermont ;  he  was  born 
at  Bennington,  Feb.  28,  1814.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Esther  A.  Beckwith  Nov.  27, 
1839 ;  she  was  born  in  Norfolk,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  12,  1822  ;  they  had  four  children,, 
three  living,  viz.,  Laura,  Clara  and  Nor- 
man. He  lived  in  Vermont  about  nine- 
teen years,  when  he  moved  to  New  York ; 
remaining  until  spring  of  1834,  when  he 
came  to  Chicago  and  engaged  in  the  furni- 
ture business,  remaining  eighteen  months; 
in  the  fall  of  1835,  he  came  to  Plainfield 
and  engaged  in  same  business,  and  has 
been  identified  with  the  business  since, 
except  ten  years  he  engaged  in  farming ;. 


862 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


he  was  also  interested  in  the  furniture 
business  in  Joliet  during  the  building  of 
the  canal ;  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church  for  the  past  thirty 
years,  and  has  taken  an  active  part  in  its 
affairs.  All  his  children  are  married  and 
living  in  this  village. 

A.  J.  PERKINS,  physician  and 
surgeon,  Plainfield ;  is  a  native  of  New 
York ;  he  was  born  in  Mt.  Upton  March 
20,  1834.  He  married  Miss  Eliza  Bangs 
May  10,  1860;  she  was  born  in  Benning- 
ton,  Vt.;  they  had  two  children,  one  liv- 
ing, viz.,  Harry  A.  He  resided  in  New 
York  until  1855 ;  his  early  days  were 
passed  on  the  farm  in  summers  and  in  the 
district  schools  during  winters ;  he  then 
applied  himself  regularly  to  school  and 
later  engaged  in  teaching,  also  in  reading 
medicine  ;  in  1864,  he  graduated  in  the 
Eclectic  Medical  College  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio ;  he  then  came  to  Plainfield  and 
engaged  in  his  profession.  Though  not  a 
member  he  has  been  actively  identified 
with  the  churches  of  the  village,  and  is 
persistent  in  his  labors  for  the  benefit  of 
the  schools  of  the  place. 

ALEXANDER  ROBERTS,  farmer, 
Sec.  2  ;  P.  0.  Plainfield  ;  was  born  in  Can- 
ada June  9,  1809.  He  married  Miss 
Sallie  Sawyer  Feb.  7,  1831  ;  she  was  born 
in  Canada,  and  died  Aug.  11,  1844;  they 
had  six  children,  three  living — James, 
Alexander  and  Sarah  ;  his  present  wife 
was  Miss  Harriet  C.  Hoag ;  they  were 
married  Feb.  18,  1844;  she  was  born  in 
Weare,  N.  H.,  April  14,  1825  ;  they  had 
four  children,  three  living — Isabell  S., 
Frank  G.  and  Alice  E.  He  lived  in  Can- 
ada until  he  was  24;  he  then  moved  to 
Vermont  and  engaged  in  farming ;  re- 
mained four  years  ;  then  returned  to  Can- 
ada and  engaged  in  general  merchandise  ; 
remained  seven  years,  when  he  went  to 
Michigan  and  engaged  in  "a  farming  and 
stock-raising  four  years ;  he  then  went  to 
Chicago  and  engaged  in  packing  pork  and 
beef;  he  next  engaged  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness at  Palos,  Cook  Co.,  111.;  he  furnished 
the  first  ties  on  the  C.  &  G.  R.  R.;  he 
manufactured  the  first  lard-oil  in  Chicago. 
He  was  Supervisor  of  Palos  Tp.,  and  one  of 
the  Commissioners  that  built  the  first  Court 
House  in  Chicago.  He  assisted  in  furnish- 
ing material  to  build  the  lock  at  Bridge- 
port, and  then  came  to  Plainfield  and  set- 


tled on  his  present  place.  In  1837,  he 
was  living  in  Canada,  and  took  part  in  the 
rebellion  of  that  date,  he  forming  a  com- 
pany to  fight  for  the  liberty  of  Canada  ; 
the  uprising  having  been  put  down,  he  had 
to  flee  for  safety,  there  being  £1,000  reward 
offered  for  his  capture ;  he  took  to  the 
woods  for  one  week ;  then  changing  his 
attire,  he  had  to  cross  a  bridge  guarded  by 
twelve  soldiers ;  he  boldly  walked  up  and 
inquired  of  the  guard  if  they  had  caught 
the  man  Roberts,  stating  that  he  must 
have  lately  passed  there ;  the  guard,  un- 
suspecting, answered  in  the  contrary,  and 
asked  if  he  was  looking  for  him  ;  he  was 
told  "  Yes,"  and  that  he  was  prepared  to 
take  him  dead  or  alive ;  after  some  talk 
they  took  a  drink  of  the  strong,  and  Rob- 
erts went  on,  escaping  to  the  United 
States. 

MILES  ROYCE,  farmer;  P.  0.  Plain- 
field.  Episcopal ;  Republican.  Owns 
about  ninety  acres,  valued  at  $50  per  acre ; 
was  born  in  Bristol,  Hartford  Co.,  Conn., 
Aug.  20,  1806  ;  his  father  died  when  he 
was  3  years  old  ;  Mr.  R.  resided  with  his 
mother  until  15  years  of  age ;  then,  in 
company  with  a  brother,  he  went  to  Onon- 
daga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained  until 
1834,  during  which  time  he  was  variously 
engaged  in  farming  and  manufacturing 
fanning-mills  ;  he  then  came  to  this  place 
and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  fan- 
ning-mills, which  he  continued  for  ten 
years ;  the  first  year  he  made  fifty,  the 
second  seventy-five,  the  third  one  hun- 
dred and  fiifty ;  these  were  the  first 
manufactured  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  State  ;  he  then  engaged  in  farming, 
and  has  continued  up  to  the  present  time. 
He  married  Sarah  G.  Gilman  Jan.  10, 
1837  ;  she  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  May 
12,  1809;  have  three  children  living — 
Philander  C.,  Orland  W.  and  Sarah  Eliz- 
abeth ;  lost  one  son — Stephen  (deceased)  ; 
Orland  served  three  months  in  the  late 
war ;  was  discharged  on  account  of  disa- 
bility. 

JOHN  SENNITT,  Postmaster,  Plain- 
field;  born  in  Stretham,  England,  Jan.  15, 
1830 ;  remained  with  parents  on  a  farm 
until  he  was  24  years  of  age  ;  in  the  fall 
of  1854,  he  emigrated  to  this  country;  he 
stopped  near  Cleveland,  Ohio ;  stopping 
there  nearly  two  years,  during  which  time 
he  worked  on  a  farm ;  then,  in  the  spring 


PLAINFIELD  TOWNSHIP. 


863 


of  1857,  caine  to  this  village  ;  at  the  time 
was  an  entire  stranger ;  worked  on  a  farm 
for  Mr.  J.  W.  Pennington  two  years,  and  S. 
.8.  Pratt  one  year;  in  the  spring  of  1860, 
he  was  engaged  in  the  post  office  by  K.  J. 
Hammonds  ;  in  1861,  W.  Wright  was  ap- 
pointed, and  Mr.  S.  continued  ;  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  W.  R.  Fraser ;  he  continued 
until  Grant's  first  election  ;  then  Mr.  S. 
was  appointed  ;  he  still  holds  the  office. 
Married  in  April,  1871,  to  Emma  H. 
Drew ;  she  was  born  in  the  New  England 
States  in  the  year  1839 ;  she  came  with 
her  parents  to  this  State  when  she  was  5 
years  old ;  have  two  children — L.  May  and 
Carrie. 

HORACE  SPENCER,  M.  D.,  physi- 
cian, Plainfield;  was  born  in  Shaftsbury, 
Vt.,  Feb.  11,  1846;  resided  with  his  par- 
ents until  of  age ;  came  to  this  State  in 
1858  ;  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Perkins 
three  years  ;  spent  eight  months  in  the  St. 
Louis  Medical  College,  after  which  he  at- 
tended one  course  of  lectures  in  the  Ben- 
nett Medical  College  of  Chicago ;  gradua- 
ted there  in  1871.  Married  Hattie  Cor- 
"bin  Sept.  29,  1869  ;  she  was  born  May 
20,  1848;  have  two  children — May  and 
Flora.  Mrs.  S.  is  a  daughter  of  Dr.  O.  J. 
Corbin  (deceased)  a  former  resident  and 
practitioner  here;  he  was  born  in  New  Hamp- 
.shire  May  2,  1807  ;  graduated  at  Dart- 
mouth College,  N.  H. ;  came  to  Plainfield  in 
1836,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine until  his  death,  which  occurred  April 
3,  1869  ;  his  wife  was  Mary  L.  Goss  ;  she 
was  born  in  Montpelier,  Vt. ;  came  to  this 
town  with  her  parents  in  1833;  she  died 
in  1 864,  aged  about  48  years.  Dr.  C  was 
well  known  as  a  good  physician  and  had  a 
very  extensive  practice. 

GEORGE  Y.  SMITH,  farmer,  Sec.  1  ; 
P.  0.  Plainfield  ;  the  above  gentleman  is  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania ;  he  was  born  in 
Centre  Co.,  Aug.  8,  1813.  He  married 
Miss  Magdalena  Ream  Oct.  6,  1836  ;  she 
was  born  in  Stark  (now  Summit)  Co.,  Ohio 
Jan.  2,  1818;  they  had  eleven  children, 
nine  living,  viz.,  Sarah,  John  R.,  William 
B.,  Mary  M.,  Andrew  A.,  Conrad  E., 
George  B.,  Adam  K.  and  Amos  M.  He 
lived  in  Pennsylvania  about  eleven  years, 
when  he  moved  to  Stark  (now  Summit)  Co., 
Ohio,  with  his  parents ;  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, and  remained  until  1851,  during  which 
time  he  learned  the  wagon-making  trade  ; 


he  then  came  to  his  present  place.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Evangelical  Church 
since  1835,  and  has  acted  as  Superintend- 
ent of  Sabbath  schools,  Trustee,  Class  Lea- 
der and  Exhorter.  He  owns  176  acres  in 
this  county,  which  he  has  earned  principally 
by  his  own  labor.  His  parents,  John  and 
Mary  Yearick  Smith,  are  not  living;  they 
died  in  1849  and  1850  respectively. 

NOAH  SUNDERLAND,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Plainfield ;  this  gentleman  was  born  in 
Bridport,  Vt,  Dec.  18,  1814.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Caroline  Randall  April  29, 1841 ; 
she  was  born  in  Hoosick  Falls,  N.  Y.,  May 
7,  1812  ;  he  lived  in  Vermont  twenty-four 
years,  he  then  moved  to  Westfield,  N.  Y., 
and  engaged  in  the  milling  business,  re- 
maining ten  years  ;  he  then  came  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  in  Joliet,  remaining  two 
years ;  he  then  came  to  his  present  place, 
and  engaged  in  farming ;  in  1866,  he 
bought  and  conducted  the  flouring-mill  of 
this  place,  and  continued  the  same  until 
1876,  when  he  rented  it  to  its  present  oc- 
cupant. He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  Church  for  last  twenty  years.  His 
parents  were  natives  of  Vermont;  his 
wife's  parents  were  natives  of  Connecticut. 

HARRY  A.  TOUNSHENDEAU, 
barber,  Plainfield  ;  was  born  on  the 
French  frigate  Pathfinder,  on  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  January  14,  1845,  of  French  par- 
ents ;  was  left  an  orphan  in  New  York 
City  before  he  was  one  year  old;  his 
mother  died  the  13th  of  February  follow- 
ing, in  New  York  City,  and  his  father  the 
26th  of  August  following ;  he  was  then 
taken  in  charge  by  a  man  named  Clouney, 
who  resided  in  Newburg,  N.  Y.,  with 
whom  he  remained  six  years  ;  he  then  went 
to  live  with  Mr.  Shannon  (the  famous  hat- 
ter of  New  York  City,  and  remained  with 
him  five  years.  I.  T.  Ashmead  was  then 
appointed  his  guardian  soon  after  he  came 
to  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  where  he  remained 
two  years ;  then  to  Minooka,  and  then  to 
Plainfield  in  1868,  where  he  has  remained 
ever  since.  Married  a  daughter  of  John 
Newsome,  of  Wheatlaud,  Sept.  6,  1869. 
He  opened  a  barber-shop  soon  after  his  ar- 
rival here,  which  business  he  has  continued 
to  follow  ever  since  ;  in  connection  with 
this,  he  has  edited  and  published  a  news- 
paper one  year  (The  Plainfield  Echo). 
Mr.  T.  has  always  been  an  earnest  advocate 
of  temperance,  and  during  the  publication 


864 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


of  his  paper  wrote  a  series  of  articles  on 
that  subject  which  attracted  a  great  deal  of 
attention,  and  which  made  him  both  friends 
and  enemies. 

S.  B.  TYLER,  retired  farmer,  P.  0. 
Plainfield.  Baptist;  Republican.  Owns 
184  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $75  per  acre  ; 
was  born  at  Bethel,  Sullivan  County,  N.  Y., 
February  23,  1811  ;  his  parents  died  be- 
fore he  was  10  years  old.  Mr.  T.  lived  oh 
a  farm  until  he  was  17  years  old  ;  he  then 
learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  and  followed 
that  occupation  until  his  50th  year.  Came 
to  this  State  in  1835.  Married  twice  ;  first 
to  Ruth  W.  Flanders,  sister  of  the  late 
Jason  Flanders ;  she  was  born  in  Hebron, 
N.  H.,  January  10,  1815,  and  died  April 
5,  1873 ;  had  nine  children,  all  living  but 
two — Harriet  M.,  Sarah  M.  (deceased), 
Alfred  H.  (deceased),  Albert  H.,  Simeon 
S.,  A.  Lansing  H.,  Ralph  W.,  Esther  R, 
and  Florian  B. ;  Alfred  and  Albert  served 
in  the  100th  I.  V.  I. ;  Alfred  died  two 
months  after  he  enlisted  (in  1862)  ;  Albert 
served  full  term,  and  participated  in  many 
battles.  Mr.  T.  married  second  time  to 
Mrs.  Adela  A.  Goddard  (daughter  of  the 
late  Dr.  Wight,  and  widow  of  the  late 
Capt.  Goddard),  October  5, 1875 ;  she  had, 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage  with  Mr.  T., 
four  children,  three  boys  and  one  girl ;  her 
late  husband  Capt.  G.,  formerly  commanded 
Company  G,  in  the  100th  I.  V.  I. 

JOHN  VAN  HO.RN,  farming  and  stock, 
Sec.  27  ;  P.  0.  Plainfield ;  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  Berrien  Co.,  N.  J., 
May  17,  1834.  .He  married  Miss  Franc 
H.  Elwell  June  4,  1872  ;  she  was  born 
in  South  Shaftsbury,  Vt,,  Oct.  16, 1839; 
they  have  one  child,  viz.,  Merton  Gates. 
He  lived  in  New  Jersey  nine  years,  when, 
with  his  parents  he  came  to  Plainfield, 
111.,  and  settled  adjoining  the  present 
place,  engaging  in  farming  and  remaining 
twelve  years;  they  then  moved  to  the 
present  place,  and  he  has  lived  here  since  ; 
he  owns  250  acres,  which  he  has  principally 
earned  by  his  own  labor;  his  parents,  Cornel- 
ius G.  and  Mrs.  Ann  (Van  Houten)  Van 
Horn,  were  natives  of  New  Jersey ;  he  died 
April  15,  1877  ;  she  died  May  8,  1872. 

IRA  VANOLINDA,  Police  Magistrate, 
Plainfield ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Saratoga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sej)t.  1, 
1823.  He  married  Miss  Louisa  Craw; 
she  was  born  in  New  York,  and  died  Dec. 


10,  1870 ;  they  had  five  children,  viz  r 
Mary  E.,  Elinor  D.,  Susan  D.,  Clara  E. 
and  Charles  W.  His  present  wife  was 
Mrs.  Wilder,  formerly  Miss  Catheron 
Burdick ;  they  were  married  April  23, 
1874;  she  was  born  in  Orleans  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Feb.  12,  1835;  they  have  one  child, 
viz.,  Lotta  Ruth  ;  Mrs.  Vanolinda  had  five 
children  by  a  former  marriage,  four  living, 
viz.,  Lilly,  Lizzie,  Joseph  and  Carrie.  He 
lived  in  New  York  twenty -five  years ;  he 
then  moved  to  Kendall  Co.,  111.,  and  en- 
gaged in  farming,  remaining  until  1853  ; 
he  also  served  as  Deputy  Sheriff  and 
Constable  twelve  years;  he  then  went 
to  California  and  engaged  in  stock  and 
hotel  business  ;  remained  three  years  ;  he 
then  came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  engaged 
in  general  merchandise  at  Frankfort,  re- 
maining one  year,  when  he  came  to  Plain- 
field  and  engaged  in  farming,  continued 
three  years ;  he  then  engaged  in  general 
merchandise  in  this  village ;  continued  un- 
til 1873  ;  he  has  held  the  office  of  Justice 
of  the  Peace  since  1864. 

R.  D.  WEBB,  wagon-maker,  Plainfield. 
Methodist.  Owns  the  wagon-shop  where 
the  old  foundry  once  stood  ;  was  born  in 
Yorkshire,  England,  Aug.  2, 1829  ;  served 
seven  years  in  that  place,  learning  wagon- 
making  ;  came  to  this  country  and  first 
stopped  in  Milwaukee  in  November,  1850  ; 
remained  there  during  the  following  win- 
ter and  worked  at  joiner  work ;  in  the 
spring  of  1851,  came  to  this  place,  and 
worked  as  a  carpenter  and  joiner  until 
1862;  he  then,  in  company  with  Jacob 
Hoffer,  bought  the  old  foundry  known  as 
the  Dillman  property,  and  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  wagons  and  doing  repair 
work  generally ;  Mr.  W.  and  Mr.  H.  con- 
tinued together  about  six  months ;  at  the 
end  of  that  time  Mr.  Hoffer  sold  out  to 
Mr.  Webb's  father ;  the  new  firm  contin- 
ued together  until  1867 ;  Mr.  W.  then 
bought  his  father  out,  and  since  that  time 
has  carried  on  the  business  alone ;  dur- 
ing the  late  war  twelve  workmen  were 
constantly  employed  ;  the  demand  at  that 
time  was  enormous ;  o^e  year  alone,  dur- 
ing the  war,  Mr.  W.  manufactured  150 
wagons;  in  1854,  Mr.  W.  returned  to 
England  on  a  visit,  and  while  there,  the 
following  year  in  January,  he  married 
Mary  Ward  ;  she  was  born  in  Yorkshire, 
England ;  they  have  no  children.  The 


GREENGARDEN  TOWNSHIP. 


865 


building  that  Mr.  W.  formerly  conducted 
business  in  was  destroyed  by  fire  Jan.  28, 
1877  ;  the  loss  was  about  $3,000  ;  no  in- 
surance ;  Mr.  W.'s  townsmen  and  neigh- 
bors immediately  raised  him  $300  to  pur- 
chase timber  to  rebuild,  and  in  a  very 
short  space  of  time  the  lumber  was  bought 
and  hauled  to  the  ground  free  of  charge, 
and  the  present  shop  was  raised  ;  no  in- 
terruption of  his  business  occurred ;  Mr. 
W.  still  continues  at  the  old  stand  ;  man- 
ufactures wagons  and  does  repairing  on  all 
kinds  of  farm  machinery. 

E.  J.  WOOD,  farming;  P.  0.  Plain- 
field;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
in  Cheshire,  Mass.,  Dec.  21,  1809.  He 
married  Miss  Hester  Ann  Hills  July  7, 
1831  ;  she  was  born  in  Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  1,  1814;  they  had  seven  children, 
five  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  James  D., 
Amelia  E.,  Milton  R.,  Ervin  E.  and 
Elwyn  A.  He  lived  in  Massachusetts  until 
he  was  7  years  old ;  he  then  went  to 
Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y.,  with  an  uncle,  where  he 
lived  until  1845,  except  two  years  in  Seneca 
Co.;  he  was  engaged  at  his  trade  of  car- 
penter and  builder ;  he  served  nine  years 
as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  also  engaged 
in  general  merchandise;  in  1845,  became 
to  this  township,  and  engaged  in  farming  ; 
in  1849,  he  engaged  in  general  merchan- 
dise in  Plainfield  ;  he  was  Postmaster  from 
1849  to  1853  ;  he  has  also  served  as  Road 
Commissioner  and  Assessor ;  he  has  been 
a  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church  for  just  fifty 
years,  and  has  been  Superintendent  of 
Sunday  school  for  twenty-five  years ;  all  of 
his  children  are  married  and  living  out  of 
this  county  ;  all  are  pleasantly  situated,  and 
take  an  active  part  in  the  business  of  their 
respective  communities. 


R.  B.  WIGHT,  M.  D.,  renovator, 
Plainfield;  was  born  in  Kinderhook,  N.Y., 
March  27, 1825  ;  removed  with  his  parents 
to  Chicago,  111.,  in  1831;  in  1832,  his 
parents  removed  to  what  is  now  Naper- 
ville  in  Du  Page  Co.;  his  father,  Dr.  E. 
G.  Wight,  being  one  of  the  pioneers  and 
Founders  of  that  place  ;  Mr.  W.  resided 
with  his  parents  until  he  was  30  years  of 
age ;  during  that  time  he  studied  medicine, 
and  was  one  of  nine  who  composed  the 
first  class  in  Rush  Medical  College ;  soon 
after  graduating,  he  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  during  which  time  he 
also  opened  a  drug  store  (in  1838,  the  first 
in  Plainfield).  Was  married  to  Miss  Eliz- 
abeth T.  Bradley  Jan.  23,  1853  ;  she  was 
born  in  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  22, 
1834;  have  had  seven  children,  six  of  whom 
are  now  living — Lillie  Agnes,  Adelaide 
Harriet,  Lucia,  Nettie,  Burtie,  Willie  and 
Mary  (deceased).  Dr.  W.  was  the  or- 
ganizer of  the  Plainfield  Light  Artillery  in 
1855,  which  organization  continued  to 
exist  until  after  the  war,  during  which 
time  they  achieved  memorable  distinction 
in  many  hard-fought  battles.  Dr.  W.  was 
born  in  Richmond,  Mass.,  Oct.  2,  1793 ; 
died  in  Plainfield  Oct.  13,  1865;  he 
graduated  in  New  York  ;  came  to  Chicago 
in  1831 ;  to  Naperville  in  1832,  and  to 
Plainfield  in  1837  ;  he  practiced  medicine 
until  the  time  of  his  death  ;  twenty  years 
prior  to  his  death,  he  lost  his  sight ;  was 
obliged  to  have  his  horse  led  when  going 
to  visit  his  patients ;  this  ride  extended 
over  a  space  of  120  miles,  from  Chicago  to 
Mineral  Point ;  he  was  the  first  physician 
that  ever  practiced  in  Northern  Illinois 
west  of  Chicago. 


CREENCARDEN    TOWNSHIP. 


WILLIAM  ANDREW,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Greengarden  ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers :  was  born  in  England  ; 
came  to  the  United  States  with  his  father's 
family  in  1854,  and  to  this  State  and  set- 
tled in  Will  Co.  in  the  same  year  ;  his 
farm  consists  of  200  acres,  valued  at 
$10,000.  He  was  married  March  26, 
1854,  to  Miss  Eliza  Foster,  who  was  born 


in  England  ;  they  have  two  children — 
Charles  and  Emma  A.  Mr.  Andrew, 
since  his  residence  in  the  township,  has 
held  the  office  of  School  Director  several 
years. 

JOHN  ALBRECHT,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of  our  early 
settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany ;  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1858,  and  to  this 


866 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


State  in  the  same  year ;  his  farm  contains 
140  acres,  valued  at  $7,000.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Frederica  Beutin,  who 
was  born  in  Germany ;  they  have  had 
eight  children,  six  of  whom  are  living — 
Mena,  Augusta,  William,  Henry,  Amelia 
and  Bertha ;  deceased — Carl  and  an  in- 
fant. Mr.  Albrecht  is  now  holding  the 
office  of  School  Director. 

JOHN  F.  BOBZIEN,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser  ;  P.  0.  Monee  ;  was  born  in 
Germany,  A.  D.,  1844;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1855,  and  to  this  State  in 
the  same  year  ;  he  has  been  a  resident  of 
Will  Co.  for  the  past  four  years ;  his  farm 
consists  of  eighty-five  acres,  valued  at 
$3,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Sophia 
Wishhoer,  who  was  born  in  Germany,  A. 
D.  1849  ;  they  have  two  children — John 
and  Frederick. 

MRS.  SOPHIA  BKOCKMAN,  farm- 
er ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of  our  early  set- 
tlers ;  was  born  in  Germany,  A.  D.  1828 ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1851,  and  to 
this  State,  and  settled  in  Greengarden, 
Will  Co.,  in  the  same  year.  She  is  the 
widow  of  the  late  Henry  Brockman,  de- 
ceased ;  they  have  had  six  children — Karl, 
Lena,  Henry,  Mena,  Lizzie  and  Etta.  The 
farm  of  Mrs.  Brockman  contains  200  acres, 
valued  at  810,000. 

B.  B.  BOEKEN,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Monee;  one  of  our  early 
settlers;  was  born  in  Germany  April  16, 
1811 ;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1852, 
and  to  this  State,  and  settled  in  Will  Co. 
in  the  same  year  ;  his  pursuit  from  his  set- 
tlement in  the  county  until  1854  was  that 
of  a  boot  and  shoemaker ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  122  acres,  valued  at  86,000.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Caroline  Lehman, 
who  was  born  in  Germany  Feb.  24, 1824 ; 
they  have  three  children,  viz.,  Charles, 
Theodore  and  Carolina.  Since  Mr.  Boek- 
en's  residence  in  the  township  he  has  held 
the  office  of  School  Director  twenty  years. 

FREDERICK  BUCHHOLZ,  farmer 
and  stock  raiser;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ; 
one  of  our  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many Jan.  24,  1820  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1850,  and  to  this  State  in  the 
same  year,  and  settled  in  Du  Page  Co., 
where  he  remained  three  years,  when  he 
removed  to  Will ;  his  farm  consists  of  240 
acres,  valued  at  $10, 000.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Henrietta  Hakk,  who  was  born  in 


Germany,  and  was  previously  married  to 
Miss  Caroline  Sonnimaker,  now  deceased. 
They  have  had  seven  children,  viz.,  Henry, 
Sophia,  Mary,  Tina,  Charley,  Minne  and 
Lena.  Sinc-j  Mr.  B.'s  residence  in  the 
township  he  has  held  the  offices  pf  Road 
Commissioner  and  School  Director  fifteen 
years. 

MRS.  B.  CARPENTER,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser;  P.  O.  Monee;  one  of  our 
early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Maryland  Jan. 
6,  1815;  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in- 
Will  Co.  in  1854 ;  she  is  the  widow  of  the 
late  Daniel  F.  Carpenter,  deceased ;  they 
were  married  Sept.  13,  1835;  they  have 
had  fifteen  children,  seven  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  Catharine  J.,  John,  Kezia  C., 
Henry,  Daniel  B.,  Sarah  N.  and  Jemima 
I. ;  deceased,  Samuel,  Daniel,  William, 
Benjamin,  Lydia  B.,  Barbara  V..  Samuel 
and  Kerenhapuch.  The  farm  of  Mrs.  Car- 
penter consists  of  eighty  acres,  valued  at 
$4,000. 

HEN  RY  EISENBRANDT,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ; 
one  of  our  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many May  26, 1829  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1846,  and  to  this  State  in  the 
same  year ;  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Will 
Co.  for  the  past  twenty-nine  years  ;  his 
farm  consists  of  320  acres,  valued  at  $16,- 
000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Dorothea 
Koepke,  who  was  born  in  Germany  Nov.  18, 
1839  ;  they  have  one  child,  viz.,  Christian. 
Since  Mr.  Eisenbrandt's  residence  in  the 
township  he  has  held  the  office  of  Super- 
visor two  terms  and  Collector  one  year  ;  he 
is  now  President  of  the  society  known  as 
the  Greengarden  Insurance  Company, 
which  is  fully  described  in  the  general  his- 
tory of  the  township. 

JOHN  FELTEN,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  one  of 
our  first  German  settlers;  was  born  in 
Germany  July  14,  1827;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1848,  and  to  this  State 
and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the  same  year ; 
his  farm  consists  of  240  acres,  valued  at 
$12,000.  He  was  married  March  5, 
1852,  to  Miss  Mary  Feil,  who  was  born 
in  Germany  Nov.  14,  1 830 ;  they  have 
had  thirteen  children,  ten  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  John,  Caroline,  Minnie, 
Amellia,  Christian,  Margaret,  Mary,  Char- 
lotte, Lizzie  and  Charles ;  deceased,  Dory 
and  two  infants.  Since  Mr.  Felten's  resi- 


GREENGARDEN  TOWNSHIP. 


867 


dence  in  the  township,  he  has  held  the 
office  of  School  Director  several  years, 
Street  Commissioner,  two  years,  and  was 
the  first  German  official  in  the  town- 
ship. 

JOHN  P.  FELTON,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Germany, 
Jan.  11, 1819 ;  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1854,  and  to  this  State  and  settled  in 
Will  Co.  in  the  same  year ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  320  acres,  valued  at  $16,000.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Barbara  Chrisman, 
who  was  born  in  Germany  Dec.  25,  1820  ; 
they  have  seven  children,  viz.,  Minnie, 
Peter,  Jacob,  Mary,  Adam,  Carrie  and 
Lena.  Since  his  residence  in  the  town- 
ship, he  has  held  office  of  School  Director 
six  years,  and  Road  Commissioner  six 
years.  * 

ULR ACH  FOLKERS,  farmer ;  P.  0. 
Frankfort  Station ;  one  of  our  early  set- 
tlers ;  was  born  in  Germany  Aug.  1 , 
1814;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1857, 
and  to  this  State,  and  settled  in  Will  Co. 
in  the  same  year;  his  farm  contains  120 
acres,  valued  at  $6,000.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  Catherine  Ci*use,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  October  16,  1821  ;  they  have 
had  six  children,  viz.,  Anna  Catherina. 
Henry,  Eliza,  Amelia,  Deitrick  and  Fred- 
erica. 

JACOB  FROEHNER,farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Monee;  one  of  our  early  set- 
tlers; was  born  in  Germany;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1852,  and  to  this  State  and 
settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the  same  year ;  his  farm 
consists  of  eighty  acres,  valued  at  $4,000. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza  Briedert, 
who  was  born  in  Germany  ;  they  have 
seven  children,  viz.,  Christina,  Katie,  John, 
Philipp,  Margaret,  George  and  Anna.  Mr. 
F.,  for  the  past  six  years,  has  held  the 
office  of  Treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Road 
Commissioners. 

JOHN  FRIEDRIECHS,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Monee ;  one  of  our  early  settlers  in 
Greengarden ;  was  born  in  Germany ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1849,  and 
to  Illinois  in  the  same  year ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  160  acres,  valued  at  $7,000.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Christina  Jacobs, 
who  was  born  in  Germany  ;  they  have 
three  children  living,  viz.,  John,  George 
and  Henry,  and  two  deceased,  viz.,  Louisa 
and  Minnie. 


AMOS  HARRISON,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  O.  Greengarden ;  one  of  our 
early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  England  April 
25,  1833 ;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1858,  and  to  this  State  and  settled  in  Will 
Co.  in  1860 ;  his  farm  consists  of  140 
acres,  valued  at  $8,000.  He  was  married 
June  30,  1868,  to  Miss  Catherine  Mar- 
shall, who  was  born  in  England  Dec.  21, 
1833  ;  they  have  two  children,  viz.,  Henry 
Marshall  and  Annie  Lina.  Mr.  H., 
since  his  residence  in  the  township,  has 
held  the  office  of  School  Director  three 
years. 

PETER  HANSON,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Greengarden  ;  one  of  our 
early  settlers;  was  born  in  Germany  Sept. 
2^,  1830;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1857,  and  to  this  State,  and  settled  in  Will 
Co.  in  the  same  year ;  his  farm  consists  of 
360  acres,  valued  at  $18,000.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Anna  Wilkins,  who  was 
born  in  Germany  Feb.  24,  1821 ;  they 
have  had  four  children,  all  of  whom  are 
now  living — John,  George,  Louisa  and 
Minnie.  Since  Mr.  Hanson's  residence  in 
the  township,  he  has  held  the  office  of 
School  Director  seven  years. 

FRED  L.  HASENJAEGER,  farmer, 
stock-raiser  and  breeder  of  Norman  and 
Clydesdale  horses ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Sta- 
tion ;  one  of  our  natives  of  Illinois ;  was 
born  in  Greengarden,  Will  Co.,  March  19, 
1854 ;  he  is  the  son  of  Frederick  Hasen- 
jaeger,  who  is  one  of  our  early  settlers ; 
the  farm  of  Mr.  H.  consists  of  240  acres, 
valued  at  $12,000.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  Catherina  Brandan,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  Sept  14,  1857  ;  they  have  two 
children,  viz.,  Rosa  and  Henry. 

ULRICH  H.  HINRICHS,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station ; 
one  of  our  earliest  settlers;  was  born  in 
Germany ;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1855,  and  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Will 
Co.  in  the  same  year  ;  his  farm  consists  of 
160  acres,  valued  at  $8,000.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Caroline  Karch,  who  was 
born  in  New  York  ;  they  have  six  children 
— Henrietta  C.,  Charles  F.,  Margaret  C., 
Elizabeth  F.,  Louis  M.  and  Henry  J. 
Mr.  Hinrichs  was  a  volunteer  in  the  late 
rebellion  ;  he  enlisted  in  the  100th  I.  V.  I.; 
served  nearly  three  years,  and  was  dis- 
charged with  honor  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
1865. 


868 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


CORNELIUS  B.  JACOBS,  farmer 
and  stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of 
the  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany 
Feb.  12, 1814  ;  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1854,  and  to  this  State  in  the  same  year 
and  settled  in  Greengarden,  Will  Co.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Metto  Dierks,  who 
was  born  in  Germany  Sept.  27,  1821  ; 
they  have  eight  children — Anna,  George, 
Hannah,  Catherina,  Carolina,  John,  Mena 
and  Matilda.  The  farm  of  Mr.  Jacobs 
consists  of  121  acres,  valued  at  $5,000. 

HENRY  JANSSEN,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Monee ;  was  born  in  Germany  A.  D.  1824 ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1862,  and  to 
this  State,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the 
same  year ;  his  farm  consists  of  forty  acres, 
valued  at  82,000.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  G.  M.  Jacobs,  who  was  born  in  Ger- 
many April  25, 1833  ;  they  have  had  three 
children — Anna,  Henry  and  Gerry. 

JOHN  JANSSEN,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Monee  ;  one  of  our  early 
settlers;  was  born  in  Germany  May  21, 
1821  ;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1853, 
and  to  this  State  and  settled  in  Will  Co. 
in  1858 ;  his  farm  consists  of  eighty- three 
acres,  valued  at  83,500.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Anna  Jacobs,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  June  23,  1842  ;  they  have  had 
six  children,  four  of  whom  are  living — 
Mary,  Henry,  John  and  Gerhard ;  de- 
ceased— Anna  and  John. 

PAUL  LORENZEN, far. ;  P.  0.  Frank- 
fort Station  ;  one  of  our  early  settlers  ; 
was  born  in  Germany,  Jan.  13,  1816 ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1836,  and  to 
this  State  in  1852;  from  his  boyhood  until 
his  settlement  on  his  farm  in  Frankfort, 
Will  Co.,  his  pursuits  have  been  those  of  a 
sailor,  during  which  time  he  spent  ten  years 
on  the  salt  water,  and  the  balance  on  our 
lakes;  his  farm  consists  of  176  acres,  val- 
ued at  $50  per  acre.  He  was  married  to 
Miss  Gustena  Herre,  who  was  born  in 
Germany.  Since  his  residence  in  the 
township  he  has  held  the  office  of  Consta- 
ble one  year. 

LEWIS  LENNBHE,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Monee  ;  one  of  our  early 
settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany  Nov.  27, 
1827;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1850, 
and  to  this  State  in  the  same  year  ;  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  Will  Co.  for  the  past 
twenty  years;  his  farm  consists  of  170 
acres  valued  at  $9,000.  He  was  married 


to  Miss  Augustina  Holz,  who  was  born  in 
Germany ;  they  have  had  five  children — 
Charles  L.,  Theodore,  Frederick,  William 
and  Caroline.  Since  his  residence  In  the 
township,  he  has  held  the  office  of  road 
boss  two  years. 

ANDREW  MURDIE,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station ; 
one  our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Scot- 
land, A.  D.  1837 ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1857,  and  to  this  State,  and  set- 
tled in  Greengarden,  Will  Co.,  in  1861 ; 
his  farm  consists  of  eighty  acres,  valued  at 
$4,000  ;  it  is  situated  on  Sec.  29,  Green- 
garden  Tp.  He  was  married  July  11, 
1865,  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Scott,  who  was 
born  in  England,  A.  D.  1 839  ;  they  have 
had  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  living 
— William,  Robert,  Nettie,  Emma  and 
Alfred  C.;  deceased,  Harriet  E.  and  Al- 
bert Henry.  Mr.  Murdie,  since  his  resi- 
dence in  the  township,  has  held  the  office 
of  School  Director  nine  years ;  he  is  now 
Township  Clerk. 

JOHN  MOILLER,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  one  of 
early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany  Sept. 
7,  1825 ;  came  to  tKe  United  States  in 
1845,  and  to  this  State,  and  settled  in 
Will  Co.  in  1865 ;  his  farm  consists  of 
eighty  acres  valued  at  $4,000.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Anna  Zentgrbe,  who  was 
born  in  Germany  Sept.  7, 1829 ;  they  have 
had  seven  children,  five  of  whom  are  living 
— William,  John,  George,  Mary  and  Sophia; 
deceased,  Jacob  and  Charles.  Since  his 
residence  in  the  township,  he  has  held  the 
office  of  Road  Commissioner  three  years. 

JOHN  N1ELAND,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser;  P.  0.  Monee;  one  of  our  early 
settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany  March  6, 
1824  ;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1854, 
and  to  this  State  and  settled  in  Will  Co. 
in  the  same  year  ;  his  farm  consists  of  165 
acres,  valued  at  $50  per  acre.  He  was 
married  to  Dora  Bobsien,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  Jan.  29,  1829;  they  have  had 
ten  children,  five  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
John,  Minnie,  Dora,  Charley  and  Freder- 
ick ;  deceased,  Sophia,  Mary,  Louisa, 
Heinrich  and  Ricka.  Since  Mr.  Nieland's 
residence  in  the  township,  he  has  held  the 
office  of  School  Director  and  Road  Com- 
missioner several  years. 

SAMUEL  C.  RUSSELL,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  O.  Greengarden ;  one  of 


• 


BRAIDWOOD 


is  u  ijunr 

OFT8E 
WWEKITYGFSllifllS 


GREENGARDEN  TOWNSHIP. 


871 


•our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  St.  John, 
N.  B.,  Aug.  4,  1823  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1841,  and  to  this  State,  and  set- 
tled in  Greengarden,  Will  Co.,  in  1855  ; 
his  farm  consists  of  eighty  acres,  valued  at 
-$4,000.  He  was  married  Nov.  25,  1846, 
to  Miss  Susan  W.  Avery,  who  was  born 
in  Plainfield  Plain,  N.  H.,  Feb.  15,  1825  ; 
they  have  had  five  children,  four  of  whom 
are  living,  viz.,  Samuel  A.,  Mary  J.,  John 
W.  and  Emma  L. ;  deceased,  Emily  M. 

JACOB  ROSS,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station ;  was 
born  in  Germany  July  4,  1838 ;  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1860,  and  to  this 
State  the  same  year  and  settled  in  Cook 
Co. ;  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Green 
Garden  for  the  past  ten  years ;  his  farm 
consists  of  eighty  acres,  valued  at  $4,000. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Sangmeis- 
ter,  who  was  born  in  Germany  ;  they  have 
one  child,  viz.,  Eliza.  Since  Mr.  R.'s 
residence  in  the  township,  he  has  filled  the 
offices  of  Road  Commissioner  and  School 
Director  three  years.  He  was  also  a  par- 
ticipant in  the  late  war,  having  en- 
listed in  the  57th  I.  V.  I. ;  served  three 
years  and  eight  months,  and  was  dis- 
charged with  honor  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  A.  D.  1865. 

HENRY  RUST,  farmer  and  stock-rais- 
er ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  was  born  in  Germany  Jan. 
14, 1814;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1848, 
and  to  Illinois  in  1852;  he  has  been  a 
resident  of  Greergarden  for  the  past 
fourteen  years;  his  farm  consists  of  160 
acres,  valued  at  $7,000.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Matust,  who  was  born  in 
Germany ;  they  have  had  seven  children, 
five  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Hannah, 
Henry,  Mary,  Carl  and  William ;  de- 
ceased, two  infants.  Since  Mr.  Rust's 
residence  in  the  township,  he  has  held  the 
office  of  School  Director  one  year.  He  was 
also  a  participant  in  the  war  in  Germany 
in  1834. 

M.  F.  SANDERS,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Frankfort  Station  ;  .our  first 
settler  in  the  township,  was  born  in  Rut- 
land Co.,  Vt.,  Aug.  17,  1819;  came  to 
this  State  and  settled  in  Greengarden, 
Will  Co.,  in  1847  ;  although  the  township 
did  not,  at  that  time,  have  a  name.  Since 
his  residence  in  the  township,  he  has  held 
offices  of  Supervisor  several  years,  Town- 
ship Clerk,  and  was  the  first  Justice  of 


the  Peace  in  the  township  after  its  organ- 
ization, and  performed  the  first  marriage 
ceremony ;  his  farm  consists  of  550  acres, 
valued  at  $27,000.  He  was  married  to 
Mrs.  Sarah  Sanders  Nov.  13,  1844,  who 
was  born  in  Windsor  Co.,  Vt.,  March  31, 
1823.  They  have  had  seven  children,  four 
of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Daphna  E.,  Will- 
iam H.,  Charles  R.  and  Josephine  V.; 
deceased,  George  W.,  George  A.  and 
Frank. 

CARL  SCHON,  farmer  and  stock-raiser ; 
P.  0.  Greengarden;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many Jan.  14, 1833  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1864,  and  to  this  State  and  set- 
tled in  Will  Co.  in  the  same  year.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Kregar,  who 
was  born  in  Germany  Sept.  22,  1830; 
they  have  had  two  children,  viz.,  Charley 
and  Frank.  The  farm  of  Mr.  Schon  con- 
sists of  eighty  acres,  valued  at  $4,000. 

HERMAN  HENRY  STASSEN,  farm 
er  and  stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers  in  the  county  ;  was  born 
in  Germany ;  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1854,  and  to  this  State  and  settled  in 
Will  Co.  in  the  same  year ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  160  acres,  valued  at '$7,000  ;  he 
has  held  the  office  of  Supervisor  six  years  ; 
he  has  also  been  a  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture one  term.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
G.  Maria  Dudden;  they  have  two  children, 
viz.,  Charles  and  Menno.'  He  is  also 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  ; 
was  elected  this  present  year ;  he  is  Treas- 
urer of  the  Greengarden  Insurance  Com- 
pany, which  Is  fully  described  in  the  gen- 
eral history  of  the  township. 

CARL  SMIT,  farmer;  P.  0.  Monee; 
one  of  our  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many ;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1862, 
and  to  this  State  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in 
the  same  year ;  his  farm  consists  of  100 
acres,  valued  at  $5,000.  He  was  married 
to  Mrs.  Smit  March  28,  1876 ;  they  have 
one  child,  viz.,  Joanna.  Mrs.  Smit  was 
previously  married  to  Mr.  John  Smit,  now 
deceased ;  they  have  had  seven  children, 
six  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Augusta, 
August,  Amale,  Anchan,  Willie  and  Ernest ; 
deceased,  Frederick. 

JOHN  STASSEN,  nurseryman,  and 
agent  for  Greengarden  Ins.  Co.,  Monee;  one 
of  our  first  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany  ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1856,  and  to 
this  State,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the 

14 


872 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES : 


same  year ;  his  farm  and  nursery  grounds 
consists  of  eighty  acres,  valued  at  $5,000. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Anna  Tolkers, 
who  was  born  in  Germany ;  they  have 
seven  children — Maggie  C.,  Dora  K.; 
Annie  J.,  Gerry  F.,  Henrietta,  Dietrieck 
and  Riecka. 

AUGUST  VOTGT,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of  our  early 
settlers ;  was  born  in  Germany ;  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1858,  and  to  this 
State,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the  same 
year;  his  farm  consists  of  120  acres,  val- 
ued at  $6,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Mena  Sievert,  who  was  born  in  Germany ; 
they  have  four  children — Anna,  Lena, 
Adolph  and  Freda.  Mr.  Voigt  is  now 
holding  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the 
Greengarden  Insurance  Co.,  which  is  fully 
described  in  the  general  history  of  the 
township. 

JOHN  WERNER,  farmer  and  stock- 
raiser  ;  P.  O.  Monee ;  was  born  in  Ger- 


many Nov.  25,  1825  ;  came  to  the  United1 
States  in  1854.  and  to  this  State,  and  set- 
tled in  Greengarden,  Will  Co.,  in  1865 ; 
his  farm  consists  of  160  acres,  valued  at 
$8,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Schde,  who  was  born  in  Germany  March 
15,  1823  ;  they  have  had  six  children,  five 
of  whom  are  living — Dietrick,  Elizabeth, 
William,  Antoine  and  Mary;  deceased, 
John. 

WILLIAM  WATSON,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Greengarden ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Scotland 
Aug.  2,  1828  ;  came  to  the  United  States 
in  1850,  and  to  this  State,  and  settled  in 
Will  Co.  in  the  same  year ;  his  farm  con- 
sists of  83£  acres,  valued  at  $4,000.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Ann  Phillipps,  who' 
was  born  in  England ;  they  have  had  ten 
children,  eight  of  whom  are  living — Ann 
J.,  Sarah  C.,  Mary  E.,  William  J.,  Robert 
A,,  John  H.,  Emma  C.  and  George ;  de- 
ceased, Louisa  and  Agnes  E. 


CUSTER    TOWNSHIP. 


EDGAR  L.  BROWN,  farmer;  P.  0. 

Braidwood  ;  was  born  in  Genesee  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  Aug.  20, 1837,  and  is  the  son  of  Miner 
M.  and  Mary  M.  Brown  ;  his  father  was  a 
farmer;  was  born  in  New  York  about 
1811;  he  remained  in  New  York  until 
1855;  this  year,  with  his  family,  they  em- 
igrated to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Reed  Tp., 
what  is  now  known  as  Custer  Tp. ;  here 
he  purchased  320  acres  of  land  at  $4  per 
acre ;  was  among  the  first  settlers  of  Reed 
Tp. ;  made  the  improvements  on  his  land 
and  engaged  in  farming ;  then  to  Wil- 
mington, where  he  was  engaged  in  keeping 
a  hotel ;  he  died  in  1864,  with  the  con- 
sumption, leaving  a  wife  and  four  children  ; 
his  wife,  Mary  M.  Brown,  died  in  1866. 
Mr.  Edgar  L.  Brown  emigrated  West  to 
Illinois  with  his  parents;  here  he  has  been 
engaged  in  farming  ever  since.  He  mar- 
ried in  1864  to  Miss  Abbie  C.  Marshall, 
of  Pennsylvania,  by  whom  he  has  had 
six  children,  three  living. 

JAMES  BOYD,  farmer;  P.  0.  Wil- 
mington ;  was  born  in  the  Isle  of  Man 
Feb.  3,  1813,  and  is  the  son  of  James  and 
Ann  (Neen)  Boyd  ;  his  father  was  a  tailor 


by  trade,  but  was  engaged  in  farmin  g- 
Mr.  Boyd  was  engaged  in  working  on  a 
farm  owned  by  a  Bishop  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  in  May,  1851,  with  his  wife, 
Ann  Kennaugh,  born  in  the  Isle  of  Man 
in  May,  1813,  emigrated  to  America  and 
landed  in  New  York  City  ;  thence  to  Fair- 
port,  Painesville  and  Cleveland,  Ohio  ;  in 
May,  1855,  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  ID 
Lake  Co. ;  here  engaged  in  farming  until 
1859  ;  then  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  on  a 
farm  owned  by  William  Trainor;  lived 
there  one  year ;  he  then  purchased  forty 
acres  of  the  present  farm  he  now  owns  at 
$25  per  acre ;  Mr.  Boyd  has  made  all  the 
improvements  on  his  farm,  it  being  very 
wild  when  he  first  settled  here ;  when  he 
first  came  to  America  he  was  worth  about 
$7 ;  with  hard  labor,  he  is  to-day  one  of 
the  successful  farmers  of  Custer  Tp.  Five 
children. 

JAMES  CURRAN,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  this  gentleman  ranks  as  one 
of  the  successful  farmers  of  Will  Co. ;  was 
born  in  Ireland  in  1814,  and  is  the  son  of 
Owen  and  Catherine  (Campy)  Curran,  of 
Ireland;  his  father  was  a  farmer;  here 


CUSTER  TOWNSHIP. 


873 


Mr.  Curran  commenced  life,  engaged  in 
farming  from  the  time  he  was  able  to  hold 
the  plow  ;  in  1849,  with  his  parents,  he 
emigrated  to  America ;  thence  West  to 
Illinois,  and  settled  in  Will  Co. ;  in  1852, 
Mr.  Curran  settled  on  the  place  he  now 
lives  on,  the  country  being  very  wild  at 
that  time.  Married  Miss  Nellie  Coregon, 
of  Ireland,  by  whom  he  has  seven  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Curran  owns  240  acres  of  fine 
land  in  Will  Co. 

STEPHEN  CALHOON,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Custer ;  was  born  in  Wood  Co.,  Ohio, 
Jan.  23,  1824,  and  is  the  son  of  Abner 
and  Mary  (Hoyt)  Calhoon ;  father,  from 
New  York  ;  engaged  in  farming  ;  came  to 
Ohio  about  1812 ;  served  as  teamster  in 
the  war  of  1812.  When  Mr.  Calhoon  was 
about  3  years  old,  with  his  parents,  moved 
to  Kalamazoo  Co.,  Mich. ;  herehe  remained 
until  he  was  about  24  years  old  ;  in  1848, 
came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Will  Co.,  on 
the  farm  he  now  lives  on  ;  he  first  pur- 
chased 120  acres  of  Government  land ; 
when  he  first  came  here  the  country  was 
very  wild ;  plenty  of  game ;  he  states  that 
he  has  stood  in  his  door  and  counted  as 
high  as  seventy-five  deer  in  sight  of  his 
house ;  Mr.  Calhoon,  with  his  family, 
moved  to  Benton  Co.,  Ind.,  in  1875,  and 
remained  there  three  years  engaged  in 
farming  and  schooling  his  children  ;  re- 
turned on  the  old  homestead  in  1877. 
Married  in  1848  to  Miss  Weltha  Weller, 
of  New  York  ;  four  children.  Mr.  C.  has 
held  several  offices  of  public  trust.  Is  a 
.Republican  in  politics,  and  United  Brethren 
in  religion.  His  parents  both  are  dead  ; 
father  died  in  1855  ;  mother  in  1878. 

JAMES  DWYER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Braidwood ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is 
one  among  the  oldest  settlers  of  Custer 
Tp. ;  was  born  in  Ireland  about  1825,  and 
is  the  son  of  James  and  Catherine  (Gary) 
Dwyer,  of  Ireland ;  his  father  was  a  car- 
penter and  wagon-maker  by  trade;  lived 
on  a  farm ;  here  Mr.  Dwyer  commenced 
farming,  and,  in  1840,  he  immigrated  to 
America  and  landed  in  New  York  City ; 
thence  to  Susquehanna  Co.,  Penn.,  and 
commenced  farming ;  he  was  a  foreman 
on  the  New  York  &  Erie  Railroad  for 
six  years ;  in  1849,  he  came  West  to  Illi- 
nois, and  settled  in  Will  Co. ;  in  1850,  he 
came  and  settled  on  the  place  he  now  lives 
on,  which  was  a  very  wild  country  at  that 


time ;  plenty  of  wild  game — deer,  wolves 
and  prairie  chickens  ;  he  has  made  all  the 
improvements  on  his  farm.  Mr.  Dwyer 
has  held  several  offices  of  public  trust.  Is 
a  Democrat  in  politics,  and  a  member  of 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  Married  in  1852 
to  Miss  Winnifred  Noonan,  of  Ireland; 
eight  children.  Mr.  Dwyer  came  to  Amer- 
ica a  poor  boy;  by  his  railroading  East 
he  saved  a  little  money,  came  West  and 
invested  it  in  200  acres,  at  $2.50  and 
$5.00  per  acre ;  he  worked  hard  and  by 
good  management  is  one  of  the  successful 
farmers  of  Will  Co.;  owns  310  acres  of 
land. 

JOHN  B.  FEELY,  farmer,  P.  0. 
Braidwood  ;  was  born  in  the  county  of 
Roscommon,  Ireland,  Jan.  3,  1829,  and  is 
the  son  of  Andrew  and  Mary  (Bannon) 
Feely,  of  Ireland  ;  his  father  was  a  farmer  ; 
Mr.  Feely  was  raised  on  his  father's  farm, 
and,  in  November,  1849,  immigrated  to 
America  and  landed  in  Boston,  Mass.  ; 
thence  to  Dorchester,  Mass.,  one  year  on  a 
farm ;  then  West  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
Joliet,  Will  Co.,  April  5,  1851 ;  here  he 
remained  until  1854  ;  he  then  went  to  Cal- 
ifornia and  engaged  in  mining  in  the  gold- 
fields  of  California  for  four  years  and  nine 
months  ;  success  very  good ;  he  then  re- 
turned to  Illinois,  and,  May  29,  1859,  he 
settled  on  the  farm  he  now  lives  on.  Mar- 
ried in  1859  to  Miss  Wineford  Lannon, 
of  Ireland,  by  whom  he  has  had  twelve 
children,  seven  living.  Mr.  Feely  is  a 
Democrat  in  politics,  and  a  member  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  Owns  280  acres  of  land. 
When  he  first  came  here  the  country  was 
very  wild.  Made  all  improvements  on  his 
farm. 

HENRY  HUDSON,  fanner,  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  Huntingdon  Co., 
Penn.,  and  is  the  son  of  Mathew  ;md 
Sarah  (Cook)  Hudson ;  Mr.  Hudson, 
when  he  was  but  3  years  old,  with  his  par- 
ents, moved  to  Trumbull  Co.,  Ohio ;  his 
father  was  a  farmer ;  here  he  set  out  in 
farming,  and,  when  17  years  of  age,  he  com- 
menced to  learn  the  carpenter  and  joiner 
trade  ;  this  he  followed  while  in  Ohio  ;  in 
1846,  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in 
Wilmington,  Will  Co. ;  here,  in  this  vicin- 
ity, he  has  remained  ever  since ;  Mr.  Hud- 
son, before  there  was  a  railroad  in  the 
vicinity,  was  engaged  in  carrying  the  U. 
S.  mail  from  Wilmington,  Will  Co.,  to 


874 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES: 


Pontiac,  Livingston  Co.,  for  nine  years. 
Married  twice  ;  first  wife,  Lydia  A.  Fen- 
ner,  of  New  York  ;  second  wife,  Marian 
Bell,  of  Ohio;  six  children.  Mr.  Hudson 
had  three  sons  in  the  late  war,  who  partic-  : 
ipated  in  some  of  the  hard-fought  battles, 
and  were  honorably  discharged. 

ROBERT  HAWLEY,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington;    was  born   in    Buckingham-   | 
shire,  England,  in  1822,  and  is  the  sou  of  j 
John  and  Fannie  Hawley  ;  who  died  when 
he  was   very   young ;  was   raised   among 
strangers  ;  at  14  years  of  age,  he  worked 
his  passage  on  a  lumber  vessel  to  Quebec, 
Canada,  and  remained   in    Canada   about 
two  years  ;  thence  to  America ;  here   he 
spent  his   time    in    traveling  in   different 
parts  of  the  United  States ;  came  to  Illi- 
nois in  1844,  and  engaged  in  working  on  a  i 
farm    in    Kendall     Co.    about     eighteen  ! 
months;  in  1847,  he  settled  on  the  farm   ! 
he  now  lives  on,  in  Custer  Tp.,  Will  Co. ;   ; 
states   that  there   was  no   house  between  j 
him  and  Wilmington  ;  country  very  wild. 
In  October,  1861,  he  enlisted  as  private  in 
Co.  F,  9th  111.   Cav.  ;   this  regiment  was 
principally  on  scouting  duty,  and  did  good 
service ;  was  mustered  out  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  at  Selma,  Ala.,  in  1865  ;  returned 
to  his  farm  and  remained  here  ever  since. 
Married  Miss  Sarah  Ann   Burd,  of   New 
Jersey.     Mr.  H.  is  about  the  oldest  settler 
of  Custer  Tp. 

JAMES  KE  AY,  farmer;  P.  0.  Custer; 
was  born  in  county  of  Forfarshire,  Scot-  j 
land,  Feb.   24,   1812,  and  is  the  son  of  I 
John  and  Isabella  (Barry)  Keay,  of  Scot-  ! 
land ;  his  father  was  a  Sergeant  Major  in 
the   British  army ;  the  latter  part  of  his  | 
life  he  was  a  toll-keeper ;  when  Mr.  Keay   i 
was  20  years  old,  he  entered  the  manufact-  ' 
uring  business,  and  followed  this  for  three 
years ;  he  then  was  engaged  in  the  mer-  , 
cantile  business  in  Forfar,  the  county  seat 
of  Forfarshire,  and  remained  in  business 
about  twenty  years  ;  in  1855,  he  emigrated 
to  America  with  wife  and  four  children  ; 
landed  in  Quebec,  Canada,  then,  by  lake, 
to  Chicago,  111.;  here  he  attended  a  Gov- 
ernment land  sale  and  purchased  120  acres, 
the  present  homestead  ;  in  1855,  he  came 
to  Will  Co.  and  settled  where  he  now  lives. 
Mr.  Keay  married  in  1834  to  Miss  Jane 
Johnston,  of    Forfarshire,     Scotland,    by 
•wbom  he  has  had  seven   children.     Mr. 
Keay  states  that  when  he  first  came  here  the  < 


country  was  very  wild  and  only  five  houses 
between  his  place  and  Wilmington,  Will 
Co. 

ITHAMER  T.  PALMER,  fanner;  P. 
0.  Wilmington  ;  this  gentleman  was  born 
in  New  York,  March  20,  1846;  his 
father,  Jacob  J.  Palmer,  was  born  in  Ver- 
mont;  emigrated  West  with  his  family, 
and  first  settled  in  Kalamazoo  Co.,  Mich., 
here  they  remained  but  a  short  time,  and, 
in  1849,  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
Will  Co.;  be  was  engaged  in  farming  one 
year  on  what  is  now  known  as  the  Ira 
Smith  farm;  then,  with  his  family* to  the 
present  homestead,  where  Mr.  Palmer  now 
lives;  here  he  purchased  116  acres,  then 
wild  land;  he  made  all  improvements; 
here  he  spent  the  remaining  part  of  his 
life  .engaged  in  farming ;  died  universally 
respected,  leaving  a  wife  and  four  children. 
Mr.  Ithamer  T.  Palmer  was  married  in 
1877  to  Miss  Laura  Williamson,  born  in 
London,  England,  in  1850,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  Thomas  and  S.  (Bruce)  Will- 
iamson. Mr.  Palmer  is  a  Republican  in 
politics.  Has  held  the  office  of  Assessor  of 
Township;  owns  122  acres  of  fine,  im- 
proved land. 

GEO.  W.  PETRO,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  was  born  in  La  Porte  Co., 
Ind.,  and  is  the  son  of  George  and  Cather- 
ine (Concannon)  Petro ;  his  father  was 
engaged  in  farming  and  a  soldier  of  the 
war  of  1812,  and  was  a  native  of  Ohio; 
having  settled  in  La  Porte  Co.,  Ind.,  at  an 
early  day,  being  among  the  first  settlers  of 
that  county ;  Mr.  Petro  was  raised  on  his 
father's  farm,  and  remained  there  until  ho 
was  21  years  of  age;  he  then  entered  the 
mercantile  business  in  Kankakee,  111.;  in 
1872,  he  came  to  Will  Co.  and  settled  on 
the  present  farm;  when  Custer  Tp.  was 
first  organized  as  a  township,  Mr.  Petro 
was  elected  as  Supervisor ;  this  office  he 
now  holds,  having  been  elected  to  same 
office  three  times.  He  is  a  Republican  in 
politics.  Owns  116  acres  of  improved  land. 
Married  Miss  Mary  Kelley,  of  Buchanan, 
Mich.;  have  five  children. 

MICHAEL  SHENK,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Braidwood  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  Aug.  20, 
1818,  and  is  the  son  of  Christian  and 
Magdalene  ( Wolf)  Shenk.  of  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  his  father  was  a  miller  by  trade, 
and  died  when  Mr.  Shenk  was  very  young; 


CUSTER  TOWNSHIP. 


875 


from  Lancaster  Co,,  with  his  mother  and 
children,  moved  to  Erie  Co.,  Penn.,  and 
remained  there  until  1 858 ;  he  then 
emigrated  West  to  Illinois  and  settled  on 
the  place  he  now  lives  on ;  he  first  pur- 
chased 160  acres  at  $20  per  acre;  when 
he  arrived  here  the  country  was  wild  ;  he 
made  all  the  improvements  on  his  farm ; 
Mr.  Shenk,  with  hard  labor,  industry  and 
good  management,  to-day  owns  240  acres 
of  fine,  improved  land,  and  ranks  as  one  of 
the  successful  farmers  of  Will  Co.  Mar- 
ried in  1841  to  Miss  Sarah  Ann  Carter ; 
have  eight  children.  His  mother,  Mag- 
dalene Shenk,  died  in  Erie  Co.,  Penn. 

JOHN  J.  SMILLIE,  farmer  and  mer 
chant;  P.O.Wilmington.  This  gentle- 
man is  one  of  the  oldest  settlers  of  Will 
Co.;  was  born  in  Madison  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Oct. 
24,  1828,  and  is  the  son  of  John  and 
Catharine  (Kern)  Smillie  ;  his  father  was 
a  native  of  Scotland  and  engaged  in  farm- 
ing, having  died  when  Mr.  Smillie  was 
very  young;  his  mother  (of  New  York), 
married  to  Jeremiah  Gray.  Mr.  Smillie  j 
was  raised  on  a  farm,  and  with  his  parents  j 
emigrated  West  to  Illinois  in  1835,  and  j 
settled  in  Will  Co.,  east  of  Joliet,  then  on 
the  forks  of  the  Du  Page  River;  thence  ! 
to  McHenry  Co ;  here  he  remained  until  j 
1850  ;  he  then  went  to  the  gold  fields  of  ! 
California,  engaged  in  mining,  remained  in 
California  about  four  years,  was  very  suc- 
cessful ;  he  then  returned  to  Illinois  and 
settled  on  the  farm  he  now  lives  on ;  he 
first  purchased  160  acres  of  land  at  $3.75 
per  acre,  which  land  was  purchased  with 
money  he  had  made  in  California.  Mr. 
Smillie  has  been  very  successful  in  life  ;  he 
commenced  a  poor  boy,  and  to-day  ranks 
as  one  of  the  successful  farmers  of  Will 
Co.;  owns  674  acres  of  fine,  improved 
land.  He  moved  to  Wilmington  in  order 
to  school  his  children ;  returned  to  the 
farm,  and  has  lived  here  ever  since.  When 
he  first  came  to  Will  Co.,  the  country  was 
very  wild ;  plenty  of  Indians,  and  very 
troublesome  at  times  ;  game  in  abundance, 
deer  and  wolves ;  Mr.  Smillie  has  killed 
many  deer,  being  considerable  of  a  hunter 
in  his  younger  days  ;  has  held  various  offi- 
ces of  public  trust  in  his  township.  Dem- 
ocrat in  politics.  Married  in  1855  to 
Miss  Olive  Reed,  of  Will  Co.,  whose  par- 
ents settled  in  Will  Co.  at  an  early  day ; 
eleven  children,  nine  living. 


IRA  W.  SMITH,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wil- 
mington ;  was  born  in  Huron  Co.,  Ohio, 
Nov.  27.  1834,  and  is  the  son  of  Ira  W. 
and  Louis  (Beckwith)  Smith,  of  Vermont; 
his  father  was  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock-raising,  and  died  universally  respect- 
ed, Feb.  18,  1870,  at  64  years  of  age;  his 
mother  died  June  7, 1847,  37  years  of  age. 
Mr.  Smith  came  West  to  Illinois  in  Novem- 
ber, 1844,  and  settled  in  Rockville,  Kan- 
kakee  Co.,  and,  in  1857,  he  came  to  the 
place  he  now  lives  on  j  here  he  remained 
until  the  breaking-out  of  the  late  war.  At 
the  first  call  forvolunteers  (Aug.  27, 1861), 
he  enlisted  as  private  in  Co.  D,  4th  I.  V. 
C.,  under  Col.  T.  Lyle  Dickey,  who  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Mexican  war;  the  4th  I.  V.  C. 
was  changed  to  the  12th  I.  V.  C.,  and  par- 
ticipated in  some  of  the  hard-fought  bat- 
tles during  the  war — Ft.  Henry,  Ft.  Don- 
elson  (where  the  first  substantial  success 
of  the  war  was  achieved),  at  Pittsburg 
Landing  (where  a  victory  was  snatched 
from  the  jaws  of  death),  in  the  campaigns, 
the  battles  and  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  and 
other  prominent  battles  under  Gen.  Grant, 
Gen.  McPherson  and  Gen.  Dodge;  Co.Dwas 
with  these  generals  as  an  escort ;  in  a  skir- 
mish in  Mississippi,  Mr.  Smith  was  wounded, 
which  caused  him  to  be  off  duty  six  weeks, 
and  four  months'  sickness  ;  excepting  this 
he  served  full  time  and  was  honorably  dis- 
charged ;  mustered  out  as  Captain  of  Co. 
D,  in  December,  1865.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  he  returned  home  here ;  he  has 
remained  here  ever  since.  Married  June, 
1866,  to  Miss  Ella  Hanson,  of  Illinois,  by 
whom  he  has  two  children ;  has  755 
acres  of  fine,  improved  land. 

ELI  N.  SMALL,  Postmaster,  Custer; 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Her- 
kimer  County,  N.  Y.,  June  20,  1828, 
and  is  the  son  of  William  and  Evelina 
(Canfield)  Small  ;  his  mother,  a  native  of 
Connecticut,  his  father  of  New  York,  and 
was  engaged  in  the  wholesale  grocery  busi- 
ness in  the  city  of  New  York.  Mr.  Small 
came  West  to  Will  County  in  1853,  and 
settled  in  Wilmington  ;  then  to  Custer  ; 
here  he  has  remained  ever  since ; 
through  his  influence,  the  township  of 
Custer  was  named,  and  in  honor  of  Gen. 
Custer ;  is  the  Postmaster  (the  first)  of 
Custer  Tp.  Married  in  1857  to  Miss  Alice 
L.  Easton,  of  New  York,  daughter  of 
William  Easton  ;  they  have  three  children. 


876 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


WILLIAM  B.  SMALL,  lumber  mer- 
chant, Wilmington ;  was  born  in  Hancock 
County,  Ohio,  February  24,  1851,  and  is 
the  son  of  Daniel  and  Sophronia  (Hall) 
Small ;  came  West  in  1851 ;  commenced 
the  lumber  business  with  his  brother  E. 
D.  Small,  known  as  E.  D.  Small  &  Co.,  in 
Wilmington,  June  17,  1872  ;  here  they 
met  with  good  success ;  they  then  started 
a  lumber-yard  in  Jersey  City,  Custer  Tp., 
1876  ;  then  a  lumber-yard  at  Smith  s 
Landing;  these  gentlemen  are  the  largest 
lumber  merchants  on  the  Kankakee  River  ; 
buy  their  lumber  by  the  cargo  at  Chicago  ; 
own  one  of  the  best  steamers  on  the  Kan- 
kakee River  used  in  transferring  lumber 
from  Chicago  to  their  lumber-yards  at 
Wilmington,  Jersey  City,  and  Smith's 
Landing ;  their  prices  in  lumber  are  the 
cheapest  in  any  part  of  the  State.  Mr. 
Small  married  Sept.  17,  1873,  to  Miss 
Addie  Warner,  of  Illinois  ;  they  have  two 
children. 

MARTIN  F.  TILDEN,  farmer ;  P.  0. 
Wilmington ;  this  gentleman  is  one  of  the  i 
oldest  settlers  of  what  is  now  known  as  ' 
Custer  Tp.  ;  was  born  in  Orange  County, 
Vt.,  February  6,  1811,  and  is  the  son  of 
Diah  and  Irenah  (Flint)  Tilden  ;  his  father 
was  a  farmer ;  here  Mr.  Tilden  was  brought 
up  on  his  father's  farm  ;  from  Orange  Co., 
he  went  to  St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  here 
he  remained  about  nine  years  engaged  in 
farming  ;  then  West  to  Illinois  and  settled 
on  the  farm  he  now  lives  on,  May,  1849; 
here  with  his  brother  Turner,  and  brother- 
-  in-law  Jacob  J.  Palmer,  settled  on  a  half- 
section  of  land;  when  Mr.  Tilden  first 
came  here  with  his  family,  they  moved  into 
a  log  cabin  and  remained  until  he  made 
improvements  on  his  farm;  the  country 
was  very  wild  at  that  time,  plenty  of  wild 
game ;  with  hard  labor  and  good  manage- 
ment Mr.  Tilden  owns  to-day  one  of  the 
finest  improved  farms  of  Custer  Tp. ,  known 
as  the  "  Evergreen  Home,"  of  170  acres 
of  land.  Married  Miss  Sarah  A.  Kimball, 
of  Vermont,  by  whom  he  has  had  seven 
children,  two  living;  Mr.  Tilden's  parents 
both  are  dead,  his  father  Diah,  died  when 
he  was  near  84  years  of  age  ;  his  mother, 
at  83  years  of  age ;  both  buried  in  the 
family  grave-yard  in  Custer  Tp. 

ROBERT  TRAINER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Wilmington  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  February,  1844, 


and  is  the  son  of  William  Trainer,  who 
was  born  in  the  Isle  of  Man,  1798  ;  was  en- 
gaged in  farming,  and,  in  1853,  emi- 
grated to  America,  starting  with  his  wife 
and  five  children,  but  on  the  way,  at  sea, 
his  wife  died,  leaving  him  with  his  five 
children  ;  they  landed  in  New  York  city ; 
then  went  direct  to  Illinois,  and  settled  on 
the  farm  they  now  live  on ;  when  Mr. 
William  Trainer  first  came  here,  he  was 
worth  about  $1,000,  invested  in  land; 
and,  with  the  help  of  his  four  sons,  they 
labored  hard,  and  at  his  death  he  was  one 
of  the  respected  farmers  of  Will  Co,  leav- 
ing 301  acres  of  land.  The  sons  are, 
James,  William,  Thomas  and  Robert,  all 
born  in  the  Isle  of  Man. 

A.  G.  TAYLOR,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Wil- 
mington ;  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  Co., 
N.  Y.,  and  is  the  son  of  Hiram  and 
Eliza  (Weller)  Taylor;  his  father  was 
born  in  Rutland,  Vt.,  June  30,  1806,  and, 
at  an  early  day,  moved  to  St.  Lawrence  Co., 
N.  Y. ;  here  he  remained  until  1849, 
engaged  in  farming ;  he  then,  with  his 
wife  and  family,  emigrated  to  Illinois,  via 
railroad  and  lake  to  Chicago ;  then  canal 
to  Joliet ;  from  Joliet  they  came  by  wagon 
to  Reed  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  rented  a 
farm  on  the  east  side  of  Horse  Creek,  and, 
in  1853,  Mr.  Taylor  purchased  the  farm 
now  owned  by  Mr.  A.  G.  Taylor  ;  here  he 
remained  until  his  death,  which  occurred 
Feb.  21,  1877;  he  died  respected  and 
honored  by  his  fellow-men,  leaving  a  wifu 
whom  he  was  married  to  Dec.  28,  1826, 
living  together  for  over  fifty  years.  Mr. 
A.  (jr.  Taylor  holds  office  as  Treasurer  of 
Road  Commissioners ;  owns  160  acresiof 
land.  Married  in  1868  to  Miss  Eliza 
Hicks,  of  New  York  ;  four  children. 

WILLIAM  TRAINER,  deceased ; 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  one  of  the 
first  settlers  of  Reed  Tp.  (now  Custer 
Tp.) ;  was  born  in  Scotland  May  21, 
1798;  his  father  was  a  farmer;  Mr. 
Trainer  was  a  farmer,  and  followed  this 
business  principally  throughout  life  ;  when 
he  was  young,  with  his  parents,  emigrated 
to  the  Isle  of  Man ;  here  he  remained  en- 
gaged in  farming ;  he  returned  to  Scot- 
land, remained  there  but  a  few  years,  then 
back  to  the  Isle  of  Man.  He  married  in 
1833,  Margaret  Moore,  of  the  Isle  of  Man, 
born  July  31 , 1807  ;  in  1853,  with  his  wife 
and  five  children,  he  started  for  America; 


PEOTONE  TOWNSHIP. 


877 


during  the  voyage,  Mrs.  Trainer  was  taken 
sick,  and  died  at  sea  Oct.  15,  1853,  on 
board  the  Wm.  Tapscott ;  Mr.  Trainer  and 
his  five  children  landed  in  New  York  Nov. 
12,  1853  ;  left  his  family  in  Cleveland, 
and  came  West  to  find  a  location;  re- 
turned to  Cleveland,  brought  his  family 
and  settled  in  Reed  Tp.  (now  Custer 
Tp.);  he  purchased  120  acres  of  land, 
paying  about  $1,000;  here  he  re- 
mained, except  two  years  in  Dwight, 


Livingston  Co.;  he  died  at  the  old 
homestead,  June  25,  1878,  respected 
and  honored  by  his  fellow-men,  leaving 
four  sons,  all  born  at  the  Isle  of  Man. 
William,  Dec.  30,  1834,  married  Miss 
Margaret  Monty,  of  Canada — four  chil- 
dren; James  T.,  born  Nov.  23,  1836, 
married  Miss  Catherine  McDonald ; 
Thomas  T.,  born  July  18,  1841,  married 
Elizabeth  McDonald;  Robert  T.  born 
Feb.  27,  1844. 


PEOTONE    TOWNSHIP. 


WILLIAM  ANGUS,  merchant,  Peo- 
tone ;  general  merchant,  firm  of  Angus  & 
Fell ;  born  in  Durham  Co.,  England,  March 
18,  1830,  where  he  lived  and  engaged  in 
farming  until  23  years  of  age,  when  he 
emigrated  to  America,  landing  in  New 
York  April  21,  1853,  coming  directly 
West  and  to  Chicago ;  he  was  employed 
upon  the  Galena  Division  of  the  C.  &  N. 
W.  R.  R.  for  a  period  of  five  years,  first 
as  fireman,  then  as  engineer  ;  after  leaving 
the  C.  &  N.  W.  R.  R.,  he  located  in  Lombard, 
Du  Page  Co.,  and  engaged  in  farming  for  a 
period  of  eleven  years,  when  he  came  to 
Peotone,  and,  Aug.  4,  1870,  engaged  in 
general  merchandise,  which  business  he  has 
since  followed.  He  married  Jan.  1,1857, 
Saloma  Wolf;  she  was  born  in  France. 

DAVID  J.  BOARD,  druggist  and 
farmer,  Peotone ;  born  in  Passaic  Co.,  N. 
J.,  April  28,  1820,  living  there  until 
11  years  of  age,  when  he  attended  the 
Crane  Boarding  School,  at  Caldwell,  N. 
J.,  for  four  years;  then  to  New  York 
City  ;  employed  in  jobbing  dry  goods  until 
the  panic  of  1837,  when  he  retired  to  his 
studies  at  Bellville ;  then  to  Morristown, 
where  he  finished  his  studies,  preparatory 
to  the  study  of  law,  which  he  commenced 
in  1840,  with  J.  J.  Scofield,  at  the  above 
place,  where  he  remained  four  years,  being 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1844,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Paterson,  N.  J.,  and  commenced 
practice,  which  he  followed  until  1852, 
when,  on  account  of  ill  health,  he  aban- 
doned his  profession  and  made  an  overland 
trip  to  California,  where  he  engaged  as  j 
Treasurer  of  a  mining  company  ;  also  run  j 
.hotel,  ferry,  dairy  and  ranch ;  selling  out  ! 


his  interest,  he  returned  to  New  Jersey  in 
1854;  remaining  there  a  short  time,  he 
came  to  Jackson  Co.,  111.,  and  contracted 
to  supply  the  I.  C.  R.  R.  with  supplies 
for  building  the  road,  which  business  he 
followed  until  the  completion  of  the  road 
in  that  section ;  coming  to  Will  Co.  in 
1857,  he  located  in  Will  Tp.,  farming,  and 
in  1858,  he  again  contracted  with  the  I. 
C.  R.  R.  to  supply  ties  and  fuel  at  differ- 
ent points  on  the  line  of  the  road,  which 
he  continued  until  1861,  in  connection 
with  running  stores  at  different  points 
upon  the  line  of  the  road;  he  then  en- 
gaged for  about  two  years  in  the  manufact- 
ure of  staves,  at  Ashley,  111.,  which  he  fol- 
lowed until  the  tax  being  placed  upon 
whisky,  he  sold  his  interest  to  the  Ashley 
Woolen -Mill ;  removing  his  family  to 
Monee,  Will  Co.,  he  went  to  Huntsville, 
Ala.,  where  he  engaged  in  running  the 
Huntsville  House  and  speculating  in  Gov- 
ernment vouchers,  cotton,  etc.,  remaining 
until  the  following  season,  when,  selling 
out  his  interest,  he  came  North  and  at- 
tended his  stock  of  upward  of  700  head 
of  cattle,  which  he  had  carried  over  the 
previous  winter  ;  in  1865,  he  located  upon 
his  farm  and  gave  his  attention  to  farming 
and  raising  blooded  stock,  until  1877,  a 
period  of  twelve  years,  when  he  purchased 
an  interest  in  the  drug  business,  which 
business  he  now  follows,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Board  &  Shumway.  He  was 
married  in  November,  1844,  to  Miss  Susan 
P.  Lewis ;  she  was  born  in  New  Jersey ; 
they  have  five  children  by  this  union,  viz  , 
James  L.,  Mary  R..  Ellsworth  M.,  Will- 
iam and  Nathaniel. 


878 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


JAMES  BARNHART,  Postmaster, 
dealer  in  stationery  and  notions  and  mu- 
sical instruments,  Peotone  ;  proprietor  of 
Peotone  Eagle ;  born  in  Perry  Co.,Penn., 
June  15,  1839 ;  his  parents  dying  when 
he  was  an  infant,  he  went  to  live  with  an 
uncle,  in  Franklin  Co.,  where  he  lived 
until  1855,  when  he  came  West  and  set- 
tled in  Pike  Co.,  111.,  living  here  and  work- 
ing on  a  farm  four  years  ;  then  to  Wood- 
hull,  Henry  Co.,  where  he  lived  until 
1861,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  45th  Illi- 
nois Regiment  and  served  three  years ;  he 
was  engaged  in  the  battles  of  Fort  Donel- 
son,  Shiloh,  siege  of  Corinth  and  other  se- 
vere engagements  ;  was  with  Grant  during 
the  entire  siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg, 
the  regiment  being  actively  engaged  from 
the  19th  of  May  until  the  surrender  of 
Vicksburg,  July  4,  meeting  with  heavy 
los,-,  Mr.  Barnhart  being  severely  wounded 
by  the  blowing-up  of  Fort  Hill,  June 
26,  in  the  rear  of  Vicksburg.  After 
being  mustered  out  of  service,  he  removed 
to  Peotone,  in  1866,  where  he  engaged  in 
farming  for  three  years ;  then,  after  sell- 
ing goods  one  year,  was  appointed  Post- 
master of  Peotone,  which  office  he  has 
since  held. 

J.  H.  BRAYTON,  merchant,  Peotone; 
dealer  in  clothing,  boots  and  shoes,  hats 
and-  caps  and  gents'  furnishing  goods  ;  born 
in  New  York  State,  where  he  lived 
until  7  years  of  age,  when  he  removed 
with  his  parents  to  Manteno,  Kankakee 
Co.,  111.,  living  there  until  21  years  of  age, 
when  he  removed  to  Joliet,  Will  Co., 
where  he  lived  one  year,  when  he  came  to 
Peotone  and  engaged  in  the  above  business, 
with  Robert  Wells,  for  six  months,  when  he 
purchased  the  interest  of  his  partner,  en- 
larged the  stock,  and  now  keeps  the  only 
exclusive  stock  of  the  kind  in  Peotone.  He 
married,  Dec.  10, 1873,  Ella  Christian  ;  she 
was  born  Feb.  27,  1854,  in  Du  Page  Co., 
111. 

N.  S.  BEEDY,  hardware  merchant, 
of  the  firm  of  Harsh  &  Beedy,  Peotone ; 
born  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  9,  1835  ; 
lived  there  until  10  years  of  age,  then  he 
went  to  Canada,  where  he  remained  five 
years,  when,  in  1850,  he  emigrated  to  UK 
nois  and  located  at  Lockport,  Will  Co., 
living  there  one  year ;  he  removed  to  Rock- 
ville,  Kankakee  Co.,  and,  with  his  father, 
was  amongst  the  pioneers  and  organizers 


of  the  town  of  Manteno  in  1854;  he  lived 
here  until  1865,  engaged  in  farming,  when, 
he  removed  to  Peotone  Tp.,  and  followed 
farming  until  1874,  when  he  sold  his  farm 
and  went  to  Indiana,  where  he  remained 
two  and  a  half  years,  engaged  in  running 
the  railroad  eating-house  in  Michigan  City ; 
selling  out  the  above  business,  he  returned 
to  Peotone  and  purchased  the  interest  of 
C.  M.  Lewis  in  the  above  business,  which 
he  has  since  followed.  He  married  Sept. 
22,  1858,  Phebe  Goodspeed,  oldest  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  Goodspeed  ;  she  was  born 
in  Will  Co.,  111.;  they  are  the  parents  of 
five  children  by  this  union — Orrel  M., 
Hettie  A.,  Abbie  E.,  Daniel  N.  and  Carl. 
FELIX  W.  CALKINS,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser,  Sec.  6  ;  P.  0.  Peotone ;  born 
in  Burlington,  Louisa  Co.,  Iowa,  May  4, 
1844,  and  removed  with  his  parents  when 
quite  young,  to  Chicago,  living  there  until 
1854;  then  to  Naperville,  Du  Page  Co., 
until  1860  ;  then  to  Lockport,  Will  Co., 
until  July  29,  1862,  when  he  enlisted, 
at  the  age  of  17,  in  the  100th  111. 
Vol.  In.  for  three  years,  and  in  less 
than  one  month  was  with  his  regiment 
doing  active  service  at  the  front ;  he  was 
in  many  hard-fought  battles,  and  at  Stone 
River  was  captured,  but  escaped  during  the 
night,  and  reaching  the  Union  lines  again 
joined  his  regiment  and  was  made  prisoner 
at  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  Sept.  20, 
1863,  and  taken  to  Atlanta,  Ga.;  from  there 
to  Libby  Prison,  where  he,  with  others 
was  formed  in  line,  then  robbed  of  all 
money  and  valuables ;  from  there  he  was 
taken  to  Pemberton  and  Belle  Island  for 
several  months  ;  '  then  to  Danville,  Ga., 
where  they  were  placed  in  large  tobacco 
warehouses  and  remained  during  the  win- 
ter of  1863  and  1864;  the  winter  was 
one  of  unusual  severity  and  the  prisoners 
were  without  clothing  and  were  allowed  no 
fire  during  the  entire  winter ;  during  the 
winter  the  stnall-pox  raged  with  fearful  fa- 
tality, nearly  every  prisoner  being  down 
and  receiving  no  care  except  such  as  re- 
ceived from  their  fellow-prisoners ;  the 
fatal  cases  exceeded  upward  of  50  per 
cent  of  the  entire  sick-list ;  in  May,  1864, 
he  was  removed  to  Andersonville,  where 
he  remained  until  November  following ; 
the  cruelty  inflicted  here  was  in  keeping 
with  its  well-known  acts  of  barbarism ; 
from  Andersonville  he,  with  15,000  others, 


PEOTONE  TOWNSHIP. 


879 


was  taken  to  Charleston,  S.  C.,and  placed 
under  the  most  exposed  part  of  the  fire  of 
the  Union  gunboats  during  the  bombard- 
ment of  the  city  ;  from  there  they  were 
taken  to  Florence  Prison,  S.  C.;  remaining 
here  until  the  21st  of  February,  1865, 
when  they  were  placed  in  box  cars  with 
upward  of  eighty  in  each  car;  and  such  as 
survived  the  journey  were  paroled  in  Rich- 
mond Feb.  28,  1865  ;  Mr.  Calkins  was  in 
rebel  prisons  nearly  two  years,  and  has  his 
health  much  impaired  and  for  a  period  of 
two  years  it  was  feared  he  would  entirely 
lose  his  eyesight ;  he  received  his  discharge 
for  disability  in  St.  Louis  June  16,  1865, 
when  he  placed  himself  under  medical 
treatment  for  one  year  for  physical  disabil- 
ity caused  by  cruel  treatment  while  in 
rebel  prisons.  He  located  upon  his  pres- 
ent place  in  1866  ;  he  owns  200  acres  of 
well-improved  land,  valued  at  $10,000, 
which  he  has  accumulated  by  strict  integ- 
rity, hard  labor  and  industry.  He  married 
Aug.  23,  1865,  Rosaline  Calkins ;  she 
was  born  in  Orleans  Co.,  Vt.,  April  12, 
1842  ;  they  have  three  children  by  this 
union — George  W.,  JEolia.  M.  and  Ettie 
L. 

PETER  CONRAD,  manufacturer  and 
shipper  of  butter  and  cheese,  Peotone ;  born 
in  Odenbach  Rheinphalz,  Bavaria,Germany, 
May  29, 1825,  where  he  lived  until  32  years 
of  age,  when  he  learned  and  worked  at 
the  trade  of  shoemaking  until  he  emigrated 
to  America,  where  he  arrived  May  29, 
1857,  landing  in  New  York ;  coming  di- 
rectly West,  he  located  in  Elmhurst,  Du 
Page  Co.,  living  there  two  years  and  worked 
at  his  trade :  from  there  he  went  to  Pro- 
viso, Cook  Co.,  where  he  lived  seven  years 
and  followed  shoemaking ;  he  then  came 
to  Greengarden  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  and  settled 
upon  a  farm  for  one  year,  when  he  removed 
to  his  present  place  in  1866,  and  again  fol- 
lowed shoemaking  for  a  period  of  five 
years,  since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits.  He  was  married 
in  Germany  June  11,  1849,  to  Katharina 
Gross,  who  was  born  in  the  Earldom  of 
Hesse-Homburg ;  they  are  the  parents  of 
seven  children  now  living — Peter  H.,  Kat- 
arina,  Dora,  Maggie,  Elizabeth,  Bertha  and 
Clara.  Mr.  Conrad  has  held  the  office  of 
Police  Constable,  and  is  now  serving  his 
third  term  as  School  Treasurer  of  Peotone 
Township. 


MICHAEL  COLLINS,  merchant  and 
grain  dealer,  Peotone;  born  in  County 
Clare,  Ireland,  Oct.  15,  1845 ;  he  emi- 
grated to  America  when  3  years  of  age, 
living  two  years  in  Vermont;  then  six 
years  in  Canada,  when  he  removed  with 
his  parents  to  Fajette  Co.,  111.,  where  he 
lived  until  18  years  of  age,  when,  learning 
telegraphy,  he  worked  as  operator  at  Gil- 
naan  awhile,  then  at  Makanda  as  agent  and 
operator  for  the  I.  C.  R.  R.  one  year,  when, 
on  account  of  ill  health,  he  was  transferred 
to  Peotone,  where  he  filled  the  different  po- 
sitions of  agent  and  operator  of  the  I.  C. 
R.  R.,  and  agent  for  the  American  Express 
Co.  for  a  period  of  ten  years  when  he 
resigned  and  engaged  in  the  grain  and  hay 
trade;  and  now,  in  connection  with  F. 
Schroeder,  is  largely  engaged  in  buying  and 
shipping  grain  to  Chicago  and  Eastern 
markets;  he  is  also  engaged  in  general 
merchandise  of  the  firm  of  Schroeder,  Smith 
&  Collins.  He  married  Dec.  2,  1869, 
Carrie  Folke,  daughter  of  Dr.  Henry  Folke ; 
she  was  born  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  May  22, 
1852 ;  they  have,  by  this  union,  three 
children — Kittie,  Grace  and  Paul.  Mr. 
Collins  has  held  the  offices  of  School  Di- 
rector and  Justice  of  the  Peace  ;  is  now 
serving  his  third  term  as  Supervisor. 

JOHN  CONRAD,  hardware  dealer  and 
Police  Magistrate,  Peotone  ;  born  in  Oden- 
bach Rheinfels,  Bavaria,  Germany,  April 
15,  1830,  where  he  worked  at  shoemaking 
until  he  emigrated  to  America  ;  he  landed 
in  Philadelphia  July  19,  1850,  going  to 
New  York,  where  he  lived  until  1854, 
when  he  came  to  Illinois  and  located  at 
Elmhurst,  Du  Page  Co.,  where  he  worked 
at  his  trade  until  April  15,  1865,  when  he 
run  a  saloon  for  nine  months  ;  then  opened 
a  general  country  store,  following  this  busi- 
ness until  1869,  when  he  removed  to  Peo- 
tone and  opened  the  New  York  House, 
which  ho  run  for  eighteen  months,  then 
selling  out,  he  opened  a  general  store,  which 
business  he  followed  for  two  years,  when, 
being  elected  Police  Magistrate,  he  sold  his 
store  and  devoted  his  whole  time  to  the  du- 
ties of  his  office  and  collections  for  a  period 
of  six  years  ;  Mr.  Conrad  engaged  in  1875 
in  partnership  with  his  son-in-law,  August 
Schugman,  in  the  general  hardware  and 
stove  business,  which  business  has  run 
quite  successfully  under  the  firm  name  of 
Conrad  &  Schugman,  Mr.  Conrad  still  re- 


880 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


taming  the  office  of  Police  Magistrate  and 
collection  agent.  He  married  July  19, 
1855,  to  Caroline  Schaubel  ;  she  was  born 
in  Baden,  Germany,  Jan.  23,  1837  ;  they 
have  by  this  union  nine  children  living — 
Charlotte  M.,  Caroline  K.  (now  Mrs.  A. 
-Schugman),  John  P.,  Frank  H.,  Harry  F., 
Freddie  P.,  Hattie,  Jennie  and  Charlie. 

JACOB  DEWITZ,  wagonmaker  and 
dealer  in  pumps,  Peotone ;  born  in  Rendel, 
Dukedom  of  Hessen,  Germany,  Oct.  17, 
1831,  where  he  lived  and  followed  the  trade 
of  wagonmaker  until  1855,  when  he  emi- 
grated to  America,  landing  in  New  York 
June  27  of  the  same  year,  coming  directly 
to  Danby,  Du  Page  Co.,  where  he  remained 
six  months  ;  then  to  Grundy  Co.,  where 
he  engaged  in  farming  until  1857.  when 
he  returned  toBloomingdale,  DuPage  Co., 
for  one  year  ;  he  then  went  to  Kansas  for 
a  short  time,  returning  to  Bloomingdale, 
-where  he  lived  four  years,  farming ;  in 
October,  1863,  he  removed  to  Monee  and 
engaged  at  his  trade  until  March  15,  1865, 
when  he  removed  to  Peotone  and  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  wagons,  which  he 
has  since  followed.  He  married  May  21, 
1866,  Mary  M.  Offner ;  she  was  born  in 
Crainthal,  Kingdom  of  Wurtemberg,  Dec. 
10,  1841 ;  they  have  by  this  union  five 
children — Theodore  H.,  Mary,  August  C., 
Otto  and  Ludwig  C.  Mr.  Dewitz  has  held 
the  office  of  Town  Trustee,  and  is  now 
serving  the  fifth  year  as  School  Director. 

JOHN  ELLIOT,  farmer,  Sec.  13  ;  P. 
0.  Peotone ;  born  in  Dumfriesshire,  Scot- 
land, in  August,  1822  ;  lived  there  until 
20  years  of  age ;  he  emigrated  to  America 
in  1842,  landing  in  Kingston,  C.  W., 
where  he  engaged  at  his  trade  of  stone- 
mason for  six  years,  until  1848,  when  he 
located  in  county  of  Huron,  C.  W.,  and 
engaged  in  farming  and  also  working  at  his 
trade  until  1875,  when  he  sold  out  all  his 
interest  in  lands  and  emigrated  to  Peotone, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  and  located  upon  his  present 
place,  where  he  has  since  lived ;  he  owns 
120  acres  of  well-improved  lands,  valued 
at  $40  per  acre,  which  he  has  earned  by 
his  own  hard  labor.  He  married  in  Octo- 
ber, 1851,  to  Isabella  Habkirk,  a  native  of  I 
Canada ;  they  have  two  children  by  this  j 
marriage — Janette  and  William.  Mrs.  | 
Elliot  died  in  1858.  He  married  for  his 
second  wife  Margaret  Cowan ;  she  was  born  ; 
in  Scotland ;  they  have  four  children  by  j 


this    union — Agnes,    Isabella,  John    and 
Elizabeth. 

HENRY  FEDDE,  furniture,  Peotone ; 
born  in  Holstein,  Germany,  Sept.  9,  1827, 
where  he  lived  and  worked  at  the  trade  of 
brickmason  until  he  emigrated  to  Ameri- 
ca, landing  in  New  York  May  27,  1854, 
coming  directly  to  Joliet,  WTill  Co.,  111.; 
he  worked  at  his  trade  for  one  year,  then 
worked  at  the  furniture  business  four  years ; 
he  moved  to  Momence,  Kankakee,  Co., 
where  he  started  in  the  furniture  business, 
which  he  followed  for  a  period  of  eight 
years,  when,  in  1867,  he  settled  in  the  fur- 
niture business  at  Peotone,  Will  Co.,  111., 
which  he  has  since  followed  ;  he  carries 
the  only  stock  of  furniture  in  Peotone. 
He  married  June  30,  1857,  Miss  Anna 
Hecht ;  she  was  born  in  Holstein,  Ger- 
many ;  they  are  the  parents  of  three  chil- 
dren— John  F.,  born  Aug.  13,  1858; 
Henry,  born  May  5,  1860,  died  Aug.  15, 
1861 ;  Edward  H.,  born  Feb.  13, 1867. 

SAMUEL  GOODSPEED,  farmer,  Sec. 
30  ;  P.  0.  Peotone  ;  born  in  Troy,  N.  Y., 
Feb.  21,  1812  ;  he  removed  with  his  par- 
ents to  Tioga  Co.,  Penn.,  when  4  years  of 
age  ;  here  he  lived  until  22  years  of  age, 
working  upon  a  farm  in  summer  and  attend- 
ing school  in  winter ;  he  emigrated  West 
in  1835,  and  located  upon  Fox  River  near 
Oswego  for  one  year ;  then  to  Plainfield, 
Will  Co.,  where  he  lived  eighteen  years  ; 
he  located  upon  his  present  place  in  1855  ; 
he  owns  320  acres  of  well-improved  land, 
with  good  buildings,  valued  at  816,000, 
which  he  has  accumulated  by  his  own  hard 
labor  and  industry.  He  married  May  24, 
1835,  to  Caroline  B.  Clark  ;  she  was  born 
in  New  York  April  5,  1817.  They  had 
by  this  union  six  children,  viz.,  John, 
Phoebe,  Eunice.  Emily,  George  and  Henry. 
Mrs.  G.  died  Feb.  23,  1847;  Mr.  G.'s 
second  wife  was  Sarah  M.  Messenger,  mar- 
ried January,  1848  ;  she  was  born  in  Ohio 
Aug.  8, 1825.  They  had  six  children  by 
this  union,  viz.,  Francis,  Caroline,  Edward, 
William,  Harriet  and  Samuel.  Mrs.  G. 
died  July  25,  1869.  He  married  for  his 
third  wife  Mrs.  Harriet  Bryan  Nov.  20, 
1869  ;  she  was  born  in  New  York  Aug.  13, 
1820.  Mr.  Goodspeed  has  held  the  office 
of  School  Trustee  for  upward  of  fourteen 
years  and  Supervisor  for  four  years. 

HENRY  GATES,  general  merchandise, 
Peotone ;  born  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July 


PEOTONE  TOWNSHIP. 


881 


12,  1833  ;  living  there  eight  years,  he  re- 
moved to  Orleans  Co.,  Vt.,  where  he  lived 
and  engaged  in  farming  for  a  period  of 
thirteen  years  ;  he  emigrated  to  Illinois  in 
1854,  and  settled  in  Huykes'  Grove,  and 
engaged  in  farming  in  the  summer  and 
teaching  school  and  carpentering  in  the 
winter  for  six  years,  when,  in  1860,  he 
went  to  Joliet  and  engaged  in  traveling, 
selling  goods  and  collecting  for  six  years ; 
he  then  removed  to  Peotone,  and  engaged 
in  buying  and  shipping  stock  to  Chicago, 
and  butchering  for  the  home  market  for 
one  year  ;  then  engaged  in  the  painting 
business  for  two  years,  when  he  again  re- 
sumed traveling,  selling  goods  for  two 
years :  in  1871,  he  engaged  in  the  general 
merchandise  trade,  which  business  he  still 
continues.  He  married  Oct.  31,  1860, 
Miss  Eunice  Goodspeed,  daughter  of  Sam- 
uel Goodspeed ;  she  was  born  in  Will  Co.^ 
111.,  May  5,  1840.  They  are  the  parents 
of  three  children,  now  living,  viz.,  Flor- 
ence L.,  Fred  A.  and  Richard.  Mr.  Gates 
has  been  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  four 
years  and  Town  Clerk  for  six  years. 

C.  H.  GILKERSON,  dealer  in  grain, 
lumber,  lime,  coal,  cement, stone  and  drain 
tile,  of  the  firm  of  Warden  &  Gilkerson, 
Peotone  ;  born  in  Caledonia  Co.,  Vt.,  Sept. 
20,  1848  ;  emigrating  West  with  his  par- 
ents in  1854,  they  settled  in  Cass  Co.,  111., 
then  to  Huykes'  Grove,  Will  Co.,  where 
they  lived  and  followed  farming  for  a  peri- 
od of  eleven  years;  in  1865,  he  removed 
to  Peotone,  and  then,  after  attending  the 
Monmouth  Academy  two  years,  he  attend- 
ed Bryant  &  Stratton's  Commercial  Col- 
lege in  Chicago ;  then  returning  to  Peo- 
tone, in  1871,  he  purchased  his  father's 
interest  in  the  above  business,  which  he 
has  since  followed.  The  firm  of  Warden 
&  Gilkerson,  of  which  he  is  a  member,  do 
a  large  business,  buying  and  shipping  grain 
to  Chicago  and  Eastern  markets ;  they  also 
supply  all  the  lumber  for  Peotone  and  the 
surrounding  country.  He  married  June 
18,  1872,  Julia  Sultzbaugh,  oldest  daugh- 
ter of  Phillip  Sultzbaugh  ;  she  was  born  in 
Pennsylvania  Dec.  3, 1854.  They  are  the 
parents  of  three  children,  viz.,  Eda  A., 
Susan  M.  and  Phillip  H. 

DAVID  MORRISON,  farmer,  Sec. 
18;  P.  0.  Peotone;  born  in  County  Mon- 
aghan,  Ireland,  April  15,  1831,  where  he 
lived  until  20  years  of  age,  attending 


school  until  18  years  of  age,  then  engaged 
in  farming  two  years,  when  he  came  to 
America,  landing  in  New  York  May  12, 
1851,  where  he  lived  four  years,  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits  ;  then  to  New  Jer- 
sey, as  attendant  in  the  New  Jersey  State 
Lunatic  Asylum  for  two  years ;  he  emi- 
grated to  Illinois  in  April,  1857,  and  lo- 
cated in  Carroll  Co.,  where  he  farmed  in 
summer  and  taught  school  in  winter  for  a 
period  of  six  years  ;  he  removed  to  Peo- 
tone Tp.,  Will  Co.,  May,  1863  ;  he  owns 
283  acres  of  well-improved  land,  valued  at 
$40  per  acre,  which  he  has  secured  by  his 
own  hard  labor  and  industry.  He  married 
March  30,  1857,  Matilda  Duncan ;  she 
was  born  in  Antrim  Co..  Ireland,  Feb.  6, 
1835,  and  emigrated  to  this  country  in 
1847.  They  have  four  children  by  this 
union,  viz.,  William  A.,  George  A.,  David 
H.  and  Mary  E.  Mr.  Morrison  held  the 
office  of  Assessor  for  three  years  in  Carroll 
Co.;  has  held  the  following  offices  in  Will 
Co.,  viz.:  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which  he 
!  now  holds  and  has  held  for  nine  years  ; 
!  School  Director  for  nine  years,  and  other 
'  offices  at  different  times.  He  has  taught 
I  school  three  terms  while  living  in  this 
township. 

ANDREW    MELVILLE,     physician 

!  and  surgeon,  Peotone ;  born  in  Glasgow, 

j  Scotland,  Jan.  2,  1840 ;   when  5  years  of 

j  age,   he   emigrated   with   his   parents   to 

j  Canada,  where  he  lived  until  17  years  of 

age,  engaged  in  his  studies,  when,  in  1 854, 

he   commenced   the    study   of   medicine, 

|  which    he    pursued    lor    three   years    in 

|  Canada;  in  1857,  he  went  to  New  York 

and  finished  his  studies;  in  March,  1862, 

I  he  engaged  with  the  Allan  line  of  steamers 

as  Emigrant   Surgeon,    running   between 

Glasgow,  Scotland,  and  New   York,  after 

!  which  he  went  as  Assistant  Surgeon  in  the 

j  79th    Regt.    of    Highlanders    from   New 

I   York,     remaining     with     the     regiment 

j  eighteen  months ;  on  account  of  ill  health 

i  he  then  resigned,  returning  to  Canada ;  he 

graduated  in  June,  1864 ;  then  purchased 

j  in  Prescott,  Can.,  the  drug  jobbing  busi- 

i  ness  of  his  old  preceptor,  which  he  run  for 

three  years ;  then  practiced  medicine  for 

three  years  in  Traverse  City,  Mich.,  when 

I  he  came  to  Peotone  in  1870,  where  he  has 

j  since  followed  his  profession.     He  married 

I  June  13,  1866,  Catherine  Melville;  they 

|  are  the  parents  of  three  children — Fred- 


882 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


erick  W.  W.,  Andrew  H.  and  Anna 
Bella. 

DANIEL  ROSS,  farmer,  Sec.  5 ;  P.  0. 
Peotone  ;  born  in  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland, 
June  27,  1823,  living  there  until  20  years 
of  age,  when  he  emigrated  to  England  in 
1843,  and  followed  railroading  and  quarry- 
ing for  nearly  eight  years  in  London,  Liv- 
erpool and  the  Channel  Islands.  He 
emigrated  to  America  in  1852,  landing  in 
New  York  Sept.  20,  going  to  Quincy, 
Mass.,  where  he  remained  a  short  time, 
then  to  Illinois,  where  he  engaged  in  quar- 
rying and  railroading  at  Joliet  and  other 
points  until  1854,  when  he  located  upon 
his  present  place,  where  he  has  since  lived. 
He  owns  120  acres  of  well-improved  land, 
valued  at  $40  per  acre.  He  married 
April  6,  1858,  to  Annie  Anderson ;  she 
was  born  in  West  Point,  Orange  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  May  24,  1840;  her  father  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  Will  Co.,  securing  his 
farm  of  240  acres  directly  from  the  United 
States  Government ;  they  are  the  parents 
of  six  children,  now  living — Emma  J.. 
Charles  A.,  David  D.,  William  G.,  Alex- 
ander and  Luella  J.  Mr.  Ross  is  now 
School  Director  in  the  district  which  he 
lives. 

JOHN  I.  RICE,  hay  dealer,  Peotone; 
born  in  Rutland  Co.,  Vt,  Feb.  16,  1837, 
where  he  lived  until  1844,  when  he  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  Wheatland, 
Will  Co.,  111.,  and  worked  upon  a  farm 
until  1862,  when  he  was  engaged  with  the 
army  as  Government  Agent  in  the  Quar- 
termaster's Department  stationed  at  Pilot 
Knob,  Mo.,  for  one  year,  when  he  came 
North  and  contracted  for  the  supply  of 
hay  to  the  Government,  which  business  he 
followed  for  one  year,  shipping  from  Lock- 
port  and  three  other  points  in  Illinois  to 
St.  Louis  ;  in  1864,  he  again  went  South, 
and  was  Government  Agent  in  the  Quar- 
termaster's Department  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  when  he  came  North,  and  again 
located  at  Lockport  in  the  lumber  business 
for  two  years,  when  he  went  to  Chicago  and 
in  the  provision  business,  which  he  fol- 
lowed for  two  years,  when,  being  burned 
out,  he  came  to  Joliet,  and  was  for  several 
months  Steward  of  the  Illinois  State  Peni- 
tentiary ;  in  1871,  he  came  to  Will  Tp. 
and  engaged  in  the  raising,  pressing,  baling 
and  shipping  of  hay  to  the  Chicago  and 
'  Eastern  markets,  which  business  he  now 


follows  at  Peotone  and  Monee.  He  mar- 
ried in  Lockport  Dec.  17,  1868,  to  Fanny 
Goodwin ;  she  died  October  following. 
Married  again  June  11,  1873,  Bella 
Milne,  of  Lockport;  they  have  by  this 
union  one  child — Robert  M.,  born  Oct.  14, 
1875.  Mr.  Rice  was  Supervisor  of  Will 
Tp.  for  1877. 

ROBERT  RAINS,  hay  dealer,  Peo- 
tone ;  born  in  Duckinfield,  Eng.,  June  21, 
1831,  living  there  until  1848,  when  he 
emigrated  to  America,  landing  in  New 
York  Jan.  14,  1848,  going  at  once  to 
New  Jersey,  where  he  engaged  in  boiler 
making  until  1861,  when  he  came  West 
and  settled  in  Peotone,  Will  Co.,  '111.,  and 
engaged  in  farming  until  1869,  when  he 
engaged  in  the  hay  business,  being  in  the 
employ  of  0.  Lippincott  two  years,  then 
with  J.  C.  Willey  two  years ;  he  then 
entered  into  partnership  with  Michael 
Collins-  and  purchased  the  above  business, 
doing  business  under  the  firm  name  of 
Rains  &  Collins  four  years,  when  Mr. 
Sultzbaugh  purchased  the  interest  of  Mr. 
Collins,  and  the  firm  changed  to  Rains  & 
Sultzbaugh,  under  which  style  they  still 
continue ;  they  do  an  extensive  business, 
buying,  pressing,  baling  and  shipping  hay 
to  Chicago  and  the  Eastern  markets.  He 
married  in  New  Jersey  Sarah  A.  Foulston ; 
she  was  born  in  England  in  1829  ;  they 
have  three  children  by  this  union — Martha 
F.,  Ellen  and  Elizabeth.  Mr.  R.  has  held 
the  office  of  Town  Trustee  for  two  years. 

LUIS  SCHMID,  proprietor  Peotone 
Hotel,  Peotone ;  born  in  Sigmaringen, 
Hohenzollern,  Prussia,  Aug.  12,  1842,_ 
where  he  lived  until  22  years  of  age  en 
gaged  at  milling ;  he  emigrated  to  America 
in  1864,  landing  in  .New  York  May  3, 
being  forty -seven  days  on  the  voyage  ;  here 
he  remained  one  year,  being  employed  in  a 
hotel  and  restaurant ;  coming  to  Chicago, 
he  worked  in  a  tannery  one  year,  then 
locating  in  Peotone  in  1866,  where  he 
worked  at  the  carpenter  trade  for  seven 
years,  then,  for  two  years,  was  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits  ;  at  the  expiration  of 
which  time,  he  exchanged  his  residence  for 
the  Peotone  Hotel,  located  just  east  of  the 
depot,  which  he  has  since  successfully  run 
as  a  hotel  for  a  period  of  three  years.  He 
married  Nov.  20,  1869,  to  Miss  Katharina 
Conrad,  oldest  daughter  of  Peter  Conrad ; 
she  was  born  in  Odenbach  Rheinpfels 


PEOTONE  TOWNSHIP. 


883 


Bavaria,  Germany,  Nov.  13,  1851;  they 
are  the  parents  of  three  children,  viz., 
Julia  C.  D.,  Luida  M.  C.  and  Katharina 
A.  D. 

HUGH  SMITH,  merchant,  Peotone; 
general  merchant,  of  the  firm  of  Schroeder, 
Smith  &  Collins ;  born  in  Johnstone,  Scot- 
land, Aug.  28,  1839,  living  there  until  15 
years  of  age  ;  he  emigrated  with  his  parents 
to  America  in  1855  ;  removing  to  Vermont, 
be  lived  seven  years  and  followed  farming; 
then  to  Saxon ville,  Mass.,  a  short  time, 
•where  he  enlisted  in  August,  1862,  in  the 
33d  Mass.  V.  I.,  remaining  with  his  regi- 
ment until  the  close  of  the  war  ;  he  was  in 
many  severe  battles,  among  them  Chancel- 
lorsville  and  Gettysburg  in  the  East ;  Look- 
out Mountain,  Missionary  Ridge,  Resaca 
and  Dallas  with  the  Western  army,  under 
Hooker;  at  the  battle  of  Dallas,  being 
severely  wounded,  he  was  granted  a  fur- 
lough, and,  when  sufficiently  recovered,  he 
again  joined  his  regiment,  and  was  with 
Sherman's  army  on  its  march  to  the  sea, 
and  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when,  being 
mustered  out  of  service,  he  came  West  and 
located  upon  a  farm  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  for  six 
years ;  then  to  Massachusetts  one  year ; 
then  returning  to  Peotone.  he  engaged  in 
the  mercantile  business,  which  he  has  since 
followed.  He  married  June,  1866,  Amelia 
Gilkerson  ;  she  was  born  in  Vermont; 
they  are  the  parents  of  three  children  now 
living,  viz.,  Elmer  T.,  Jessie  A.  and 
Amelia  B. 

EDGAR  B.  SHUM  WA  Y,  physician  and 
surgeon,   Peotone;  born  in  Windham  Co., 
Vt.,   June  27,  1851,  removing  with   his 
parents  to  Londonderry,  Vt.,  when    quite 
young;  where  he  lived  until  15  years  of 
age,  when  he  attended  the  Black  River 
Academy  at  Ludlow,  Vt.,  for  five  years; 
from  there  to  the  Chamberlin  Institute  and  | 
Female  College,  at  Randolph,  N.  Y.;  from  | 
there  he  came  to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  taught  i 
school  one  term ;  then  going  to  Chicago,   j 
he  attended  at  Rush  Medical  College  for  j 
three  years,  when  he  was  interne  one  year  { 
at  Cook  Co.  Hospital.  He  graduated  at  Rush  ; 
Medical  College  in  January,  1874  ;  soon  ; 
after  he  located  in  Peotone,  Will  Co.,  fol- 
lowing his  profession  since  that  date  with   | 
perfect  success.   He  married  May  25,  1875,   1 
Maggie    A.    Kearney ;    she  was   born    in   ", 
Racine,  Wis. ;  they  are  the  parents  of  one  \ 
child  living,  viz.,  Edith  May. 


F.  SCHROEDER,  dealer  in  general 
merchandise,  Peotone  ;  born  in  Holstein, 
Germany,  Nov.  24,  1834,  where  he  lived 
and  followed  blacksmithing  until  the  age 
of  21,  when  he  emigrated  to  America, 
landing  in  New  York  May  9,  1856  ;  then 
coming  directly  West,  he  located  in  Elm- 
hurst,  Du  Page  Co.,  111.,  where  he  worked 
at  his  trade  one  year,  when  he  removed  to 
Monee,  Will  Co.,  and  run  a  blacksmith- 
shop  of  his  own  for  a  period  of  eight  years  ; 
then  selling  out,  he  lived  upon  his 
farm  five  months,  when  he  removed  to 
Peotone.  and  purchased  a  blacksmith -shop, 
but  sold  out  soon  after  on  account  of  ill 
health  ;  he  then  engaged  in  general  mer- 
chandise with  F.  Rathje,  which  business 
he  still  continues  under  the  firm  name  of 
Schroeder,  Smith  &  Collins  ;  he  is  also,  with 
Mr.  Collins,  largely  engaged  in  buying  and 
shipping  grain,  owning  what  is  known  as 
the  Collins  &  Schroeder  Elevator.  He  mar- 
ried Aug.  30,  1857,  Elizabeth  Conrad ; 
she  was  born  in  Odenbach,  Bavaria,  Ger- 
many;  they  are  the  parents  of  seven  chil- 
dren living,  viz.,  Fredrick,  Henry,  Will- 
iam, August,  Carrie,  Ida  and  Elizabeth. 
Mr.  Schroeder  now  holds  the  office  of  Town 
Trustee,  and  is  serving  his  second  term  as 
School  Director. 

PHILIP  SULTZBAUGH,  hay  dealer, 
firm  of  Rains  &  Sultzbaugh,  Peotone; 
born  in  York  Co.,  Penn.,  June  9,  1831, 
where  he  lived  until  18  years  of  age,  at- 
tending school  in  winter  and  farming  in 
summer,  when  he  went  to  Perry  Co., 
Penn.,  and  was  engaged  in  driving  a  six- 
horse  team  for  four  years ;  then  burning 
lime  for  two  years  ;  in  1857,  he  emigrated 
to  Will  Co.,  111.,  and  engaged  in  farming 
for  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  during  which 
time  he  also  was  engaged  in  the  hardware 
trade  for  three  years;  in  1872,  he  en- 
gaged in  general  merchandise,  under  the 
style  of  Schroeder,  Conrad  &  Sultzbaugh, 
which  business  he  followed  four  years; 
then  selling  out,  he  engaged  in  buying, 
baling  and  shipping  hay  and  straw  to 
Chicago,  and  all  the  Eastern  markets.  He 
married  Nov.  15,  1853,  to  Susan  Burrill ; 
she  was  born  in  Perry  Co.,  Penn.,  March 
5,  1831 ;  they  are  the  parents  of  three 
children  now  living,  viz.,  Julia  K.,  born 
in  Pennsylvania  Dec.  3,  1854;  Sadie  E., 
born  March  26,  1860,  in  Will  Co.,  111.; 
Alice  J.,  born  May  1,  1864,  and  throe  de- 


884 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


ceased.  Mr.  S.  has  held  office  of  School 
Director  for  six  years,  Road  Commissioner 
and  School  Trustee,  three  years  each,  and 
is  now  serving  his  fifth  year  as  Trustee  of 
the  town  corporation. 

WILLIAM  YUNG,  photographer, 
Peotone ;  born  in  Wasungen,  Saxe- 
Meiningen,  Germany,  Oct.  26,  1854, 
where  he  lived  until  1871,  when  he  emi- 
grated to  America,  landing  in  New  York 
June  1,  1871,  coming  directly  West;  he 
located  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  where  he 
lived  one  year,  working  at  his  trade  as 


mason ;  then  to  Chicago  two  years,  where 
he  worked  at  his  trade  until  1874,  when 
he  came  to  Peotone,  Will  Co.,  and  en- 
gaged at  his  trade,  which  he  has  since  fol- 
lowed ;  in  1876,  he  purchased  his  present 
residence,  and,  1877,  he  purchased  a  pho- 
tograph gallery,  which  he  has  since  run, 
and  also  continued  the  business  of  mason- 
ry. He  married  Dec.  1, 1876,  Miss  Mag- 
gie Conrad,  daughter  of  Peter  Conrad ; 
she  was  born  in  Cook  Co.,  111.,  Sept.  10, 
1857  ;  they  have  one  child  by  this  union 
— August  Louis,  born  Dec.  10,  1877. 


TROY    TOWNSHIP. 


JOHN  BALTZ,  farmer,  Sec.  19  ;  P. 
O.  Minooka ;  was  born  in  Attandorff,  Al- 
sace, France  (now  Germany),  Dec.  28, 
1820.  He  married  Miss  Thresa  Doosz- 
mann  Dec.  31,  1855  ;  she  was  born  in 
Morschwaeller,  Alsace,  France,  Dec.  8, 
1830  ;  they  had  nine  children,  seven  living 
— John,  Joseph,  Lena  May,  Louisa,  Caro- 
line, Thresa  and  Lawrence.  He  lived  in 
France  thirty-five  years ;  was  engaged  in 
farm  labor,  and  was  seven  years  in  the 
French  army,  serving  in  Africa ;  he  then 
came  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in 
Buffalo,  where  he  lived  about  eighteen 
months  ;  he  then  came  to  Joliet;  this  was 
in  1855,  and.  in  1864,  he  came  to  his  pres- 
ent place,  and  has  lived  here  since;  be 
came  here  in  poor  circumstances  ;  he  now 
owns  140  acres  in  this  township,  which  he 
has  earned  by  his  own  labor. 

PETER  A.  BRONK,  farming,  Sec.  3  ; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Albany  Co.,  N.  Y.,  July  18, 
1836.  He  married  Miss  Harriet  Storrs 
Oct.  8,  1858  ;  she  was  born  in  Clinton 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  21,  1839;  they  had 
eight  children,  six  living — Eugene  J., 
Ephron,  Edward  C.,  Rossie,  Prentice  S. 
and  Emmit.  He  lived  in  New  York  about 
eighteen  months ;  he  then  moved  to  Illi- 
nois with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Ken- 
dall Co.,  where  he  lived  until  1865  ;  he 
then  moved  to  Manhattan  Tp.,  Will  Co., 
and  engaged  in  farming,  remaining  there 
twelve  years  ;  in  the  spring  of  1878,  he 
came  to  his  present  place ;  he  started  in 
poor  circumstances,  and  now  owns  240 


acres  in  this  township,  which  he  has  earned 
by  his  own  labor  and  management.  Hi* 
parents,  Ephron  Bronk  and  Mrs.  Charlotte 
Van  Dolfston-Bronk,  were  natives  of  New 
York ;  they  settled  in  Kendall  Co.  in 
1838,  and  died  Sept.  22,  1865  and  Sept. 
22, 1869,  respectively. 

THOMAS  CRAUGHWILL,  farming; 
P.  0.  Joliet ;  born  in  Galway  Co.,  Ireland, 
in  1828;  he  was  raised  on  a  farm  until  he 
was  20  years  old;  in  1848,  he  came  to 
America  and  landed  in  Boston ;  he  then 
went  to  Watertown  and  worked  on  a  farm  ; 
in  1850,  he  went  to  Lockport,  and  re- 
mained there  a  short  time ;  the  same  fall, 
he  went  to  Plainfield;  in  1853,  he  moved 
to  Joliet  and  bought  a  farm,  where  he  has 
resided  up  to  the  present  time  ;  he  was  the 
son  of  John  and  Mary  Craughwill,  both 
natives  of  Ireland.  Was  married  Oct.  H, 
1850,  to  Mary  Lane,  by  whom  he  has 
seven  children.  Democrat,  and  Catholic. 
He  served  as  School  Director  a  number  of 
years,  and,  in  1874,  was  elected  School 
Trustee.  He  came  to  America  with  only 
a  few  pennies,  and  went  bravely  to  work, 
and  by  good  management  he  has  succeeded 
in  accumulating  a  fortune,  and  to-day  he 
owns  a  beautiful  and  well-improved  farm  of 
600  acres. 

WILLIAM  CAMPBELL,  farming, 
Sec.  13;  P.  0.  Joliet;  the  above  gentle- 
man was  born  in  County  Down,  Ireland, 
June  5,  1825.  He  married  Miss  Cath- 
eron  A.  McMurray  Jan.  28,  1862;  she 
was  born  in  the  same  place  July  3,  1841 ; 
they  have  six  children — James,  William, 


TROY  TOWNSHIP. 


885 


R.,  Maggie  R.  F.,  Alfred,  Martha  and 
Louisa.  He  lived  in  Ireland  until  about 
1852,  when  he  went  to  Australia  and  en- 
gaged in  mining  gold,  meeting  with  fair 
success  ;  he  remained  four  years,  and  then 
returned  to  Ireland  and  followed  farming 
until  1876,  when  he  came  to  the  United 
States,  and,  in  April,  1877,  he  came  to  his 
present  place. 

WILLIAM  A.  DIX,  farmer,  Sec.  18; 
P.  0.  Minooka  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Windham  Co.,  Vt.,  Jan.  17, 
1828.  He  married  Miss  S.  R.  Richard- 
son Jan.  27,  1859  ;  she  was  born  in  Con- 
cord, Vt.,  April  6,  1831 ;  they  have  four 
children,  viz.:  Lucy  E.,  born  June  12, 
1859;  Hattie  E.,  born  Jan.  31,  1861; 
Emma  M.,  born  Nov.  25,  1862,  and  Will- 
iam C.,  born  April  13,  1868.  He  lived 
nearly  eleven  years  in  Vermont,  when, 
with  his  parents,  he  moved  to  Bureau  Co., 
111. ;  this  was  in  1838 ;  they  came  the 
entire  distance  in  a  wagon  ;  they  engaged 
in  farming,  and  remained  there  until  1861, 
when  he  came  to  his  present  place ;  he 
came  here  in  fair  circumstances ;  he 
owns  over  200  acres,  mostly  in  this  town- 
ship, which  he  has  earned  principally  by 
his  own  labor;  his  parents,  Moses  Dix 
and  Mrs.  Lucy  (Stearns)  Dix,  are  living 
in  Mendota,  111. ;  his  wife's  parents,  Ste- 
phen Richardson  and  Mrs.  Erepta(  Wilder) 
Richardson,  are  living  in  Bureau  Co.,  111., 
where  they  settled  in  1839. 

WILLIAM  FORAN,  farmer,  Sec.  19; 
P.  O.  Minooka ;  this  gentleman  was 
born  in  Kildare  Co.,  Ireland,  May  1, 
1842.  He  married  Miss  Elizabeth  C. 
Hayes  Jan.  27,  1869  ;  she  was  born  in 
Will  Co.,  111.,  May  26,  1844 ;  they  have 
six  children,  viz.,  Mary  J.,  James,  Mar- 
garet, Annie  L.,  Allice  E.  and  Fannie  C. 
He  lived  in  Ireland  six  years,  when  he 
came  to  the  United  States  with  his  parents, 
who  lived  one  year  in  New  York  City,  and 
then  moved  to  Kendall  Co.,  111.,  and  en- 
gaged in  farming,  where  he  lived  until  the 
spring  of  1874,  when  he  came  to  his 
present  place ;  he  started  in  poor  circum- 
stances ;  he  now  owns  eighty  acres  here, 
well  improved,  and  seventy  acres  in  Ken- 
dall Co.,  which  he  has  earned  by  his  own 
labor  and  management. 

JOAB  GASKILL,  farmer,  Sec.  29; 
P.  0.  Minooka  ;  is  a  native  of  New  Jer- 
sey ;  he  was  born  July  6,  1805,  and  mar- 


ried Miss  Emily  Green  in  August,  1829  ; 
she  was  born  in  Columbiana  Co.,  Ohio,  in 
the  year  1810,  and  died  in  February, 
1855;  they  had  six  children,  viz.,  W.  G., 
F.  J.,  L.  H.,  J.  J.,  Anna  M.  and  Miletus 
B. ;  the  latter  enlisted  in  the  104th  Ohio 
V.  I.  ;  was  in  service  about  nine  monthsr 
and  died  from  sickness  at  Covington,  Ky. 
Mr.  Gaskill  came  to  this  county  in  1869, 
and  settled  on  his  present  place.  In  1871, 
Mr.  L.  H.  Gaskill  moved  here  and  took 
charge  of  the  farm  ;  he  was  born  in  Colum- 
biana Co.,  Ohio,  March  4,  1834.  He 
married  Miss  Cornelia  W*hittlesey  Jan.  5, 
1871  ;  she  was  born  in  Clyde,  Wayne  Co., 
N.  Y.,  Feb.  18,  1851  ;  they  have  three 
children,  viz.,  Emily  A.,  Clara  W.  and 
Anna  A.  He  lived  in  Ohio  until  he  was 
21,  when  he  came  to  Illinois,  and  settled 
in  Kendall  Co.  and  engaged  in  farming. 
In  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  127th  I.  V.  I. 
as  Orderly  Sergeant ;  Was  in  service  until 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  took  part  in  the 
battles  of  Vicksburg,  Mission  Ridge,  the 
Atlanta  campaign,  etc. 

JAMES  MURPHY,  farmer,  Sec.  8; 
P.  0.  Joliet;  the  above  gentleman  is  a 
native  of  Roscommon  Co.,  Ireland  ;  he 
was  born  July  25,  1834,  and  married 
Miss  Mary  Ann  Rourke  Aug.  13,  1859  ; 
she  is  a  native  of  the  same  place,  and  was 
born  Aug.  15,  1841  ;  they  had  ten  chil- 
dren, seven  living,  viz.,  Mary  E.,  William 
J.,  Patrick  A.,  Thomas  F.,  Thresa  A., 
John  A.  and  Mary  H.  He  lived  in  Ire- 
land until  1850,  when  he  came  to  the 
United  States  with  his  parents,  Patrick 
Murphy  and  Mrs.  Catheron  (Haley) 
Murphy,  who  settled  in  this  township, 
where  they  engaged  in  farming  ;  his  father 
died  in  Joliet  Nov.  15,  1877,  and  his 
mother  died  in  this  township  in  August, 
1867 ;  he  started  in  poor  circumstances, 
and  now  owns  160  acres  in  this  township. 
He  has  held  the  offices  of  Collector  two 
years  and  Assessor  some  seven  or  eight 
years  ;  also,  School  Treasurer. 

FRANCIS  B.  MURPHY,  farming, 
Sec.  13  ;  P.  O.  Joliet ;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Roscommon  Co.,  Ire- 
land, April  10,  1833.  He  married  Miss 
Mary  E.  Brock  Nov  14,  1864;  she  was 
born  in  Chicago,  111.,  Feb.  13, 1845  ;  they 
have  six  children,  viz.,  Patrick,  Catheron 
A.,  Mary,  Francis  B.,  Thomas  W.  and 
Margaret  E.  He  lived  in  Ireland  until 


886 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


1850,  when,  with  his  parents,  he  came  to 
the  United  States  and  settled  in  this  town- 
ship, where  he  lived  until  1855,  when  he 
went  to  California,  remaining  there  three 
years,  engaged  in  mining ;  he  then  went 
to  British  Columbia,  and  returned  the 
same  year  to  California  and  remained  there 
until  December,  1867,  when  he  returned 
to  Will  Co.,  111.,  spending  a  few  months 
in  Troy  Tp.;  he  then  went  to  Reed  Tp. 
and  engaged  in  farming;  remained  three 
years,  when  he  returned  to  Troy  Tp.,  and 
has  lived  here  since  ;  he  settled  on  his 
present  place  in  1875;  he  has  held  the  offices 
of  School  Director.  Collector  and  Town 
Clerk ;  he  started  in  poor  circumstances 
and  now  owns  eighty  acres  which  he  has 
earned  by  his  own  labor. 

D.  J.  RAVER,  mason  and  farmer ;  P. 
O.  Minooka ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  Berks  Co.,  Penn.,  Sept.  16, 
1818.  He  married  Miss  Wilmina  Wiles 
Nov.  15, 1842  ;  she  was  born  in  Frederick 
Co.,  Md.,  in  1819 ;  they  have  three  chil- 
dren, viz.,  Lucetta  L.,  Martha  S.  and 
James  D.  He  lived  in  Pennsylvania  about 
twenty  years,  when  he  moved  to  Ohio  and 
remained  there  until  1864  ;  he  then  came 
to  his  present  place,  and  has  lived  here 
since ;  he  started  in  very  poor  circum- 
stances and  now  owns  fifty-four  acres  of 
land  in  this  township,  well  improved, 
•which  he  has  earned  by  his  own  labor. 

MICHAEL  STEPHEN,  farming,  Sec. 
19;  P.  0.  Joliet;  was  born  in  Alsace, 
France  (now  Germany),  May  22,  1835, 
He  married  Miss  Mary  M.  Blattner  Jan. 
15,  1857  ;  she  was  born  same  place  in 
1836  ;  they  had  seven  children,  six  living, 
viz.,  Mary  J.,  John  A.,  Mary  A.,  Frank 
M.,  George  S.  and  Annie  M.  He  lived 
in  Alsace  about  ten  years  when  his  parents 
came  to  the  United  States,  and,  in  1846, 
they  came  to  Will  Co.  and  settled  in  Joliet, 
and  engaged  in  farming ;  in  1857,  he  came 
to  his  present  place ;  he  has  been  School 
Director  and  Road  Commissioner;  he 
started  in  poor  circumstances  and  now 
owns  140  acres  here  and  240  in  Kendall 
Co.,  which  he  has  earned  by  his  own 
labor.  His  parents,  John  Stephen  and 
Mrs.  Otillia  (Hout)  Stephen,  are  living  in 
Joliet. 

D.  C.  SEARLES,  farmer  and  stock, 
Sec.  16  ;  P.  0.  Joliet;  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  born  in  Summit,  Ohio,  Jan.  30, 


1830.  He  married  Miss  Hattie  Walker 
Oct.  21,  1866 ;  she  was  born  in  Plainfiold 
Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.,  July  8,  1836  ;  they 
had  four  children,  three  living,  viz.,  Maud 
L.,  born  Oct.  8,  1867 ;  Lynn  W.,  born 
June  8,  1369,  and  Edna,  Jan.  14,  1874. 
He  lived  in  Ohio  twenty-one  years,  when 
he  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Plainfield 
Tp.,  where  he  engaged  in  farming ;  re- 
maining until  spring  of  1856,  when  he 
came  to  his  present  place ;  he  has  been 
Justice  of  the  Peace  eight  years,  and  is 
now  serving  in  his  fourth  term  of  Super- 
visor ;  he  started  in  poor  circumstances 
and  now  owns  700  acres  in  this  township, 
which  he  has  earned  by  his  own  labor. 
His  parents,  Amos  Searles  and  Mrs. 
Hannah  (Hulbert)  Searles,  came  to  Will 
Co.  in  the  fall  of  1851  and  settled  near 
Plainfield  ;  they  died  April  5,  1871,  and 
Feb.  9,  1866,  respectively.  His  wife's 
parents,  James  Walker  and  Mrs.  Jane  G. 
(Walker)  Walker,  were  natives  of  North 
Carolina  and  Tennessee ;  Mrs.  Walker 
came  to  Illinois  in  1806,  and  passed 
through  present  Will  Co.  in  1820  and 
built  a  house  where  Plainfield  now  stands  in 
1829  ;  Mr.  Walker  died  in  Plainfield  Aug. 
27,  1850 ;  Mrs.  Walker  died  in  Novem- 
ber, 1859,  in  Iowa,  while  on  a  visit.  Her 
grandfather  was  a  missionary  among  the 
Indians,  and  preached  the  first  Protestant 
sermon  in  Chicago,  also  in  St.  Louis ;  he 
was  of  the  Methodist  denomination. 

WILLIAM  P.THOMSON,farmer,Sec. 
11 ;  P.  0.  Joliet,  The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  born  in  West  Turin,  Lewis  Co.,  N.  Y., 
April  22,  1843.  He  married  Miss  Helen 
A.  Had  cock  Dec.  25, 1867  ;  she  is  a  native 
of  Watertown,  N.  Y.,  and  was  born  Dec. 
25,  1846  ;  they  have  three  children — 
Mary  L.,  Earl  W.  and  Sarah  G.  He  lived 
in  New  York  until  1872,  except  two  years 
spent  in  California  and  Oregon,  where  he 
was  engaged  as  civil  engineer  for  the  city 
of  Portland;  in  1872,  became  to  Illinois, 
and,  in  1873,  he  settled  on  his  present 
place ;  the  only  offices  he  has  held  have 
been  connected  with  the  school  and  road  ; 
he  owns  240  acres  in  this  township  ;  in 
November,  1878,  he  was  elected  on  the 
National  ticket,  Representative  from  the 
Fifteenth  District. 

MARSHALL  TRUBY,  grain,  lumber 
and  stock;  P.O.  Bird's  Bridge;  is  a  native  of 
Armstrong  Co.,  Penn.;  he  was  born  Nov. 


THE  USMRY 
OF  THE 

e?  ILLIOIS 


CRETE   TOWNSHIP. 


889 


1819,  and  married  Miss  Mariah  Mc- 
ckin  Jan.  12,  1845  ;  she  is  a  native  of 
aerset  Co.,  Penn.;  they  had  ten  children, 

_r  living—Mary  A.,  Henry  T.,  Libbie 
and  Lillie  M.  He  lived  in  Pennsylva- 

i  until  1851,  being  engaged  in  boating; 

;  then  came  West  to  Illinois  and  settled 
La  Salle  Co.,  where  he  remained  one 


year  ;  he  then  moved  to  Joliet,  Tp.  and  en- 
gaged in  farming,  continuing  ten  years, 
when  he  moved  into  the  city  and  engaged 
in  the  lumber  business,  remaining  until 
1870,  when  he  came  to  his  present  place  ; 
in  1871,  he  was  appointed  Postmaster  at 
this  office. 


CRETE    TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  W.  AHRENS,  cabinet-mak- 
;r ;  P.  0.  Crete ;  was  born  in  Hessen,  Ger- 
nany,  Feb.  22,  1836,  and  is  the  son  of 
William  Ahrens,  of  Germany,  who  was  a 
ihoemaker  by  trade.  Mr.  Ahrens  com- 
nenced  to  learn  the  cabinet-making  trade 
when  a  young  man,  in  Germany,  and 
served  an  apprenticeship  of  four  years; 
ifter  learning  his  trade,  he  was  engaged  in 
working  in  different  parts  of  Germany, 
and,  in  1858,  with  his  brother  John,  emi- 
grated to  America ;  landed  in  New  York 
City;  came  direct  to  Chicago;  here  he 
started,  in  a  small  way,  in  making  chairs ; 
this  he  followed  about  one  year,  then  he 
commenced  to  have  all  the  custom  work  he 
could  do,  and  made  a  specialty  of 
fine  inlaid  work,  in  which  he  ranks 
among  the  first  in  America,  having  had 
some  of  his  work  at  the  Centennial 
Exposition  of  1876,  and  received  a  medal 
and  a  certificate  of  award  for  .original- 
ity in  design  of  an  extension  table  bav- 
in0" a  compartment  within  it  for  storing 
the  leaves  (which  was  patented,  March  9, 

1875,  by  George  W.  Ahrens) ;    also,  for 
very  superior  quality  of  inlaid  work.     Mr. 
Ahrnes  has  now  one  of  his  fine  tables  at 
his  store  in  Crete,  which  took  the  first  pre- 
mium  at   the   Centennial    Exposition   in 

1876,  and,  without  doubt,   is  pronounced 
as  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  work  in 
America.     Mr.  Ahrens,  in  1865,  started 
in   the  wholesale  business,  as  Ahrnes   & 
Madden,  151   Randolph  St.,  Chicago,  do- 
ing  a   very   extensive    business,   but   on 
account  of   health  he  sold  out,  and,   in 
1867,  moved  to  Crete,  Will  Co.;    here  he 
has  been  engaged  in  the  furniture  business 
ever  since  ;  Mr.  Ahrens  is  also  engaged  in 
the  undertaking  line ;  has  on  of  the  finest 
hearses  in  Will  Co.,  manufactured  by  him- 
self. 


P.  H.  ADAMS,  farmer;  P.  0.  Crete; 
s  one  of  the  old  settlers  of  Will  Co.;  was 
x>rn  in  Rutland,  Mass.,  Dec.  17.  1804, 
and  is  the  son  of  Rubin  Adams,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, a  blacksmith  by  trade;  when 
lie  was  very  young,  with  his  parents, 
moved  to  Massachusetts,  thence  to  New 
Hampshire,  from  there  to  Vermont.  Mr. 
Adams,  when  he  was  about  23  years  of 
age,  learned  the  carriage-making  trade. 
While  he  was  in  Vermont,  he  married 
Mary  Clark,  of  Massachusetts;  in  1845, 
with  family,  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  on 
the  present  h6mestead ;  here  he  has  lived 
ever  since  ;  he  first  settled  on  forty  acres 
of  Government  land ;  his  wife  died  soon 
after  he  settled  here ;  he  .was  married  to 
Mary  Canfield,  of  Massachusetts ;  sixteen 
children,  ten  by  first  wife  and  six  by  sec- 
ond ;  son  Harrison  was  in  the  late  war ; 
enlisted  in  the  8th  111.  Cav  ;  participated  in 
some  of  the  prominent  battles ;  was  honor- 
ably discharged  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

C.  H.  ERASE,  Principal  of  the  Ger- 
man School,  Crete.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  a  self-made  man;  was  born  in 
Hanover,  Germany,  Sept.  14,  1834,  and 
is  the  son  of  Henry  Erase,  a  tailor  by 
trade.  Mr.  Erase  attended  the  schools  of 
Germany,  and  received  a  high-school  edu- 
cation ;  he  taught  school  in  Germany  in 
the  winters  of  1849  and  1850,  this  being 
his  first  experience  in  the  teaching  of 
school.  In  1851,  he  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica, and  his  first  school  was  taught  in  Mor- 
gan Co.,  Mo.;  here  he  remained  until 
1865,  then  to  La  Fayette  Co.,  Mo.,  en- 
gaged in  teaching  until  1873;  he  then 
came  to  Crete ;  here  he  has  been  engaged 
in  teaching  ever  since  ;  the  Crete  school  is 
very  popular  and  well  patronized,  and  re- 
flects great  credit  upon  Mr.  Erase  in  his 

excellent  manner  of  teaching. 

16 


S'.H. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


GUSTAVTJS  BRAUNS,  merchant, 
Crete;  is  one  of  the  best-known  and  high- 
ly respected  business  men  of  Crete ;  was 
born  in  Hanover.  Germany,  Sept.  24, 1832, 
and  is  the  son  of  John  A.  F.  and  Henri- 
etta (Bartels)  Brauns,  of  Germany  ;  father 
was  a  minister  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
Mr.  Brauns  commenced  his  first  experience 
in  business  life  as  a  clerk  in  a  dry  goods 
store  ;  here  he  served  as  an  apprentice  for 
five  years  ;  then  in  a  wholesale  notion  house, 
specialty  of  silk  ribbons ;  here  he  remained 
until  1855  ;  he  then  started  for  America, 
landed  in  New  York  City  Aug.  1,  1855; 
here  he  first  found  employment  as  agent 
for  artists'  outfits;  then  in  a  very  large 
house-fitting  establishment,  and  remained 
thereuntil  1856  ;  he  then  started  West  for 
Illinois ;  arrived  in  Chicago  ;  here  he  re- 
mained about  four  months  out  of  employ- 
ment ;  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  a 
minister  located  in  Crete,  who  advised  him 
to  go  to  Crete  ;  he  arrived  in  Crete  in 
1856,  and  accepted  a  clerkship  with  Charles 
A.  Miller  in  a  general  store  at  $10  per 
month  and  board  ;  here  was  his  first  start, 
and  from  then  up  to  the  present  date  he 
has  been  very  successful  in  business  ;  he 
first  entered  business  in  Crete  with  his 
brother  Leopold,  known  as  L.  &  G. 
Brauns ;  these  gentlemen  also  owned  a 
branch  house  in  Chicago,  and  did  a  very 
large  business,  but  the  panic  of  1857  drove 
them  to  an  assignment  in  1858,  but  they, 
with  hard  work  and  good  management,  paid 
every  dollar  of  their  indebtedness  ;  to-day 
Mr.  Brauns  owns  one  of  the  largest  stores 
of  dry  goods,  drugs  and  groceries  to  be 
found  in  Crete  ;  also  is  owner  of  a  large 
hay-press ;  has  handled  in  two  years  4,500 
tons  of  hay  ;  Postmaster  ;  was  appointed  in 
1860.  A  Republican  in  politics.  Married 
Miss  Sophia  Deersen,  of  Germany;  five 
children — four  boys  and  one  girl. 

MOSES  H.  COOK,  retired  farmer ;  P. 
0.  Crete ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  whose 
portrait  appears  in  this  work,  is  one  of  the 
old  settlers;  was  born  in  Lenox,  Oneida 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  25,  1801,  and  is  the  son 
of  Moses  Harper  and  Polly  (Pyson)  Cook. 
Mr.  Cook  was  the  oldest  child  of  nine 
children  ;  was  raised  on  his  father's  farm ; 
in  1834,  he  started  West  and  stopped  in 
Ohio.  Here  he  married  Hannah  C.  Pixley, 
who  was  born  in  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  March 
30,  1817,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Phineas 


and  Hannah  (Curtis)  Pixley,  of  Massachu 
,  setts  ;  her  father  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade, 
and  was  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812  ;  hi 
is  now  living  in  Lake  Co.,   Ohio,  at  8i! 
years  of  age,  being  one  of  the  oldest  set' 
tiers  of  that   county.     Her    mother  <lic< 
when  Mrs.  Cook  was  but  a  few  days  old: 
;  In  1838,  with  wife   and   one  child,  Mi- 
Cook  moved  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Wil 
;   Co.;  here  he  first  purchased  forty  acres  <> 
i  land  at  $1.25,  and  farmed  until  1865  ;  hi 
then  moved  to  Crete ;  here  he  has  retiree 
j  from  farming.     Two  sons  in  the  late  warj 
]   Myron  H.  and  Joseph  W.,  enlisted  in  tin 
!   8th  111.  Cav.  ;  Myron  H.  was  taken  sick  &\ 
|  Hope  Landing,  Va.,  and  died  March  1^0 
:   1863;  Joseph  W.  participated  in  some  o 
the  prominent  battles,  and  was  hononibh 
discharged  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

SAMUEL  GUSHING,  Crete;  waii 
born  in  Salisbury,  N.  H.,  Jan.  23,  17!)!' 
and  is  the  son  of  Theodore  and  Abigail 
( Jackman)  Gushing ;  his  mother  was  a 
native  of  New  Hampshire ;  father  of  Mas-] 
sachusetts ;  was  a  mechanic  and  farmer 
when  Mr.  Gushing  was  about  7  years  old 
he,  with  his  parents,  moved  to  Vermont 
here  he  was  brought  up  on  his  father'i 
farm  ;  at  the  age  of  22,  he  commenced  to 
learn  his  trade  with  his  father  as  chairmak- 
er;  he  went  to  Monroe  Co.,  N.  Y.;  herfj 
he  was  engaged  at  his  trade,  chair  making) 
Married  twice  ;  his  first  wife  was  Miss  Rej 
becca  Lee,  who  died ;  he  then  married) 
Miss  Elizabeth  Stone ;  she  was  born  ia 
Massachusetts  March  28,  1804,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  Elias  Stone,  who  was  a  soldien 
in  the  Revolutionary  war  ;  in  1838,  withj 
wife  and  two  children,  started  West  fon 
Illinois  in  a  two-horse  wagon ;  camej 
j  via  Buffalo,  N.  Y.;  here  they  took  steamer 
i  to  Detroit,  Mich.;  thence  by  wagon  and! 
j  team  to  Illinois,  taking  them  some  five 
|  weeks  to  make  the  trip  ;  never  traveled  mi 
!  Sundays,  and  always  managed  to  stop  over 
Sundays  at  points  where  there  was  a  place! 
of  worship,  that  they  might  attend  church 
and  Sunday  school ;  they  first  settled  in 
Du  Page  Co.;  here  but  a  short  time,  then 
to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  Crete  Tp.;  here 
he  has  remained  ever  since,  engaged  in 
farming  and  chairmaking  until  about 
eleven  years  ago  he  retired.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gushing  are  members  of  the  first  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Crete ;  this  Church 
they  took  a  very  prominent  part  in  help- 


CRETE  TOWNSHIP. 


891 


ing  to  organize  ;  the  two  children  who  came 
West  with  them  were  Henry  T.,  who  died 
July  14,  1878,  and  Charles  S.,now  living 
at  Hyde  Park,  111.  Married  twice  ;  first 
wife,  Sarah  Foster,  deceased  ;  second  wife, 
Mrs.  Marcia  Bruce. 

CHARLES  E.  CARTER,  editor  and 
proprietor  of  the  Crete  Enterprise,  Crete ; 
was  born  in  Waukesha  Co.,  Wis.,  April  9, 
1856,  and  is  the  son  of  Hyram  and 
Amanda  ( Annis)  Carter ;  father,  from  New 
York ;  Mr.  Carter  commenced  to  learn 
type-setting  in  Omro,  Wis.,  in  the  Omro 
Journal  office ;  here  he  remained  about 
three  years,  then  to  Oshkosh,  Wis.,  in  the 
Independent  office;  then  to  Wausau,  Wis., 
in  the  Wisconsin  Central  and  Wisconsin 
River  Pilot  offices ;  was  also  engaged  on 
the  State  Journal,  of  Madison,  Wis.;  this 
will  show  that  Mr.  Carter  has  had  a  large 
experience  in  the  newspaper  world,  and  any 
one  who  has  perused  the  columns  of  the 
Crete  Enterprise  can  see  that  Mr.  Carter 
is  thoroughly  master  of  the  pen  ;  the  first 
issue  of  the  Crete  Enterprise  was  Dec.  25, 
1875,  with  a  subscription-list  of  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  ;  to-day  it  has  300  sub- 
scribers, and  ranks  among  the  leading  pa- 
pers of  Will  Co.;  Independent  in  politics; 
to  all  who  may  want  anything  in  the  job- 
printing  line,  call  in  at  the  Crete  Enter- 
prise office. 

R.  G.  COSSAART,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Crete ;  was  born  in  New  York,  Sept.  29, 
1824,  and  is  the  son  of  David  and  Ellenor 
(Griggs)  Cossaart ;  father  a  native  of  New 
York;  soldierof  thewarof  1812;  mother 
from  New  Jersey ;  in  1850,  moved  to 
Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.;  here  he  was  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  scythes,  pitchforks 
and  farming  implements ;  in  1854,  he 
came  West  to  Illinois,  and  was  engaged  in 
working  in  different  parts  of  Will  Co.  at 
the  carpenter  and  joiner  trade  ;  in  1864, 
he  moved  oji  the  present  homestead  ;  here 
he  has  remained  ever  since,  engaged  in 
farming.  Married  twice ;  first  wife,  C. 
Talmage,  of  New  Jersey;  second  wife, 
Sarah  McClain;  have  two  children.  Mr. 
Cossaart  owns  a  fine,  improved  farm  of  228 
acres. 

JOHN  DODGE,  farmer  ;  P.  0.  Crete; 
was  born  in  Crete  Tp.,  Will  Co. ,111.,  Aug. 
11,  1840,  and  is  the  son  of  Enoch  and 
Susan  (Adams)  Dodge,  who  were  among 
the  early  settlers  of  Crete  Tp.,  Will  Co., 


!  111. ;  Enoch  Dodge,  a  farmer,  was  born  in 
I  Beverly,  N.  H.,  Dec.   8,  1795 ;  with  his 
parents,  moved  to  Vermont ;  here  he  mar- 
\  ried  in  Eden,  Vt.,  Nov.  26,  1818,  Miss 
:  Susan    Adams,  born   in    Rutland,   Mass., 
\  in   1803;  in   1838,  they  emigrated  West 
in  a  two-horse  wagon ;  started  Oct.  4,  and 
j  arrived  in  Will  Co.,  111.,  Nov.  26,  1838  ; 
;  they  first  lived  in  a  log  cabin  on  the  Hewes 
farm;  Mr.  Dodge  purchased  160  acres  ot 
I  Government  land  (the  old  homestead);  here 
i  he   made  improvements,  and   moved   his 
|  family  on  the  farm,  and  engaged  in  farming 
I  throughput  life ;  he  died  on  the  old  home- 
j  stead  March  4,  1873,  respected  and  hon- 
ored by  his  fellow-men,  leaving  a  wife  and 
nine  children  to  mourn  his  loss.    Mr.  John 
Dodge  is  engaged  in  farming  on  the  old 
homestead.      He  married  Martha  Wilder, 
daughter  of  Almon  Wilder,  one  of  the  old 
settlers  of  Will  Co.     Mr.  Dodge  enlisted 
in  the  late  war,  in  the  9th  Minn.,  Co.  F, 
as  Sergeant ;  mustered  out  at  close  of  the 
war.     Enoch  enlisted  in   the  100th  I.  V. 
I. ;  participated  in  some  of  the  prominent 
battles  ;  mustered  out  at  close  of  the  war ; 
now  farming  in  Kansas. 

ABRAM  DARLING,  retired;  P.  0. 
Goodenow ;  this  gentleman  is  one  of  the  suc- 
cessful men  of  Crete  Tp.,  who  was  born  in 
Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Jan.  19,  1817,  and  is 
the  son  of  Reuben  and  Sophia  (Goodenow) 
Darling ;  his  father  was  a  native  of  New 
York,  engaged  in  farming  ;  Mr.  Darling 
was  brought  up  on  his  father's  farm.  He 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Irwin,  of  New 
York,  and,  in  1853,  with  wife  and  four 
children,  emigrated  West  to  Illinois,  and 
settled  in  Crete  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  east  ot 
Goodenow  ;  here  he  first  purchased  1 20 
acres  of  land  and  set  out  in  farming,  and 
farmed  until  about  1872  ;  he  then  moved 
to  Goodenow ;  here  he  has  remained  evei 
since.  Mr.  Darling  has  held  the  office 
of  Road  Commissioner  for  the  last  fifteen 
years.  One  son,  in  the  late  war,  Abram 
R.,  enlisted  in  the  100th  I.  V.  I. ;  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Resaca,  then 
transferred  for  duty  at  Indianapolis,  Ind. ; 
here  he  served  until  the  close  of  the  war  ; 
now  living  at  Enterprise,  Kan.,  engaged  in 
the  livery  business. 

GEORGE  W.  GOODENOW,  grocer ; 
P.  0.  Goodenow;  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
is  one  of  the  best  known  men  of  Crete 
Tp. ;  was  born  in  Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y., 


892 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


April  1,  1824,  and  is  the  son  of  Franklin 
and  Betsy  (Smith)  Goodenow,  of  New 
York;  his  father  was  a  farmer;  in  1835, 
with  his  parents,  emigrated  West  to  Indi- 
ana, and  settled  in  La  Grange  Co. ;  here 
they  remained  until  1838 ;  they  then 
moved  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Thorn 
Grove  on  160  acres  of  Government  land, 
$1.25  per  acre ;  here  they  commenced 
farming  in  a  small  way,  being  very  poor  ; 
Mr.  Goodenow  has  been  very  successful 
since  he  came  to  Illinois ;  had  accumulated 
at  one  time  1,840  acres  of  land  ;  laid  out 
the  present  village  of  Goodenow  ;  jn  1870, 
here,  with  his  son  Frank,  started  a  store  ; 
also  in  the  hay-press  business,  which  busi- 
ness they  have  been  engaged  in  ever  since  ; 
Mr.  Goodenow's  father  died  in  1870  at  70 
years  of  age.  Married  twice  ;  first  wife, 
Annie  Batchelor,  of  Bennington  Co.,  Vt., 
died  in  1859  ;  married  second  wife,  Mary 
Wiggins,  of  Cortland  Co.,  N.  Y. ;  eight 
children,  six  living. 

FRANK  J.  GOODENOW,  station 
agent  and  Postmaster,  Goodenow;  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Crete  Tp., 
Will  Co,,  III.,  June  15, 1848,  and  is  the  son 
of  George  W.  Goodenow,  of  New  York,  who 
is  one  of  the  old  settlers  of  Illinois,  having 
made  his  home  here  in  1838.  Mr.  Frank 
J.  was  appointed  Postmaster  and  Station 
Agent  in  1870  ;  these  offices  he  still  fills  ; 
is  in  partnership  with  his  father  in  the 
grocery  business  ;  they  also  are  engaged 
very  largely  in  the  hay-press  business ; 
have  handled  as  high  as  1,000  tons  of 
hay  in  one  year.  Married  in  1875  Miss 
Alice  Hunt,  of  Sheronville,  Hamilton  Co., 
Ohio,  by  whom  he  has  one  child. 

DANIEL  E.  HE  WES,  merchant, 
Crete ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Chittenden  Co.,  Vt.,  March  22, 
1830,  and  is  the  son  of  Luman  and  Lucy 
(  El  well)  Hewes ;  his  father  was  a  farmer, 
and,  in  1835,  with  wife  and  family, 
emigrated  West  via  Detroit,  Mich. ;  from 
thence  they  came  by  wagon  to  Illinois  and 
settled  in  Cook  Co.,  west  of  what  is  now 
known  as  Blue  Island ;  here  they  re- 
mained until  1837,  then  came  to  Will  Co., 
111.,  and  settled  in  Crete  Tp.  Mr.  Luman 
Hewes  first  purchased  eighty  acres  of  land 
and  set  out  in  farming,  and  remained  on 
the  farm  until  his  death.  Daniel  E. 
Hewes  was  brought  up  on  his  father's 
farm,  and  engaged  in  farming  from  the 


time  he  was  able  to  handle  the  plow,  and,  in 
the  winter  months,  attended  the  district 
schools  of  the  period ;  here  he  received  a 
common  school  education  ;  he  taught 
school  one  winter  in  Troy  Tp.;  in  1853, 
with  his  brother,  B.  F.  Hewes,  entered  the 
mercantile  business  in  the  village  of  Crete; 
this  business  they  have  followed  ever  since; 
to-day  they  are  the  oldest  as  well  as  the 
most  successful  merchants  of  Crete.  Mr. 
Hewes  has  held  several  offices  of  public 
tru?t  in  Crete  Tp. — Justice  of  the  Peace 
and  Town  Clerk.  In  1874  and  1878,  he 
received  the  nomination  for  Senator  from 
the  Democratic  party,  but  Mr.  Hewes 
being  a  Democrat  and  Will  Co.  strong 
Republican,  he  was  defeated.  Married 
Miss  Fedelia  L.  Wood,  daughter  of  Wil- 
lard  Wood,  one  of  the  old  settlers  of  Will 
Co.;  have  three  children.  Mr.  Hewes' 
grandfather,  William  Hewes,  participated 
in  the  Revolutionary  war. 

B.  F.  HEWES,  merchant,  Crete;  the 
above-named  gentleman  is  one  of  the  oldest 
settlers  of  Crete  Tp. ;  was  born  in  Chitten- 
den Co.,  Vt.,  in  1828,  and  is  the  son 
of  Luman  and  Lucy  (Elwell)  Hewes,  who 
emigrated  West  to  Illinois  and  settled 
in  Cook  Co.  in  1835,  and,  in  1837,  moved 
to  Will  Co.  and  settled  in  Crete  Tp.  Mr. 
B.  F.  Hewes  was  brought  up  on  his 
father's  farm,  and  farmed  it  until  1850  ;  he 
then  went  to  California;  here  he  was 
engaged  in  mining  for  gold,  and  was  very 
successful;  returned  home  and  purchased 
land ;  in  1853,  he  with  his  brother  Daniel 
E.  entered  the  mercantile  business  in 
Crete,  and  has  been  engaged  principally 
in  this  ever  since;  also  engaged  in  the 
brick  manufacturing  business,  and  proprie- 
tors of  the  Hewes  House,  which  is  the 
only  good  hotel  in  Crete.  The  Hewes 
Bros,  are  the  oldest  merchants  in  Crete, 
and  own  one  of  the  leading  dry  goods, 
notions  and  general  stores  of  Crete. 

WALTER  LOOCK,  general  manager 
of  the  Crete  Manufacturing  Co.,  Crete; 
was  born  in  Berlin,  Germany,  Oct.  15, 
1853;  emigrated  to  America  in  1871;  he 
went  to  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. ;  here  he  was 
engaged  in  a  large  wholesale  book  and 
stationery  house  as  book-keeper,  thence  to 
Chicago ;  from  there  he  came  to  Crete, 
and,  in  1878,  was  appointed  General  Man- 
ager of  the  Crete  Manufacturing  Co. 
This  company  is  quite  extensively  engaged 


CRETE  TOWNSHIP. 


893 


in  the  manufacture  of  sash,  doors,  blinds, 
etc.  It  now  gives  employment  to  about 
fourteen  hands.  An  immense  business  is 
done  for  so  young  a  company;  find  sales 
for  their  goods  in  Joliet  and  surrounding 
country. 

G.  W.  MINARD,  M.  D.,  physician, 
Crete  ;  his  gentleman  was  born  inPrattsville, 
Greene  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  16,  1825,  and  is 
the  son  of  E.  B.  Minard,  a  farmer,  who 
participated  in  the  war  of  1812.  In  1841, 
Dr.  Miuard,  with  his  parents,  emigrated 
West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Cook  Co. ; 
he  first  commenced  the  study  of  medicine 
in  Crete  under  Dr.  H.  Hitchcock,  now  of 
Chicago,  111  ;  he  then  entered  the  Indiana 
.Medical  College  at  La  Porte,  Ind.  ;  here 
he  received  sufficient  knowledge  to  com- 
mence the  practice  of  medicine ;  he  first 
located  in  Lake  Co.,  Ind.  ;  then,  in  1849, 
he  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
Crete  ;  here  he  has  remained  ever  since  ; 
to-day  is  the  oldest  physician  of  Crete. 
He  married  Miss  Melicent  G.  Brownell,  of 
New  York. 

W.  H.  NEVENS,  Principal  of  the  Crete 
school,  Crete  ;  was  born  in  Lewiston,  Me., 
March  9,  1845,  and  is  the  son  of  Charles 
H.  and  Mariah  (Pettengill)  Nevens. 
Father  was  a  farmer ;  here  Mr.  Nevens 
was  brought  up  on  his  father's  farm,  and 
engaged  in  farming ;  in  the  winter  months 
attending  school ;"  in  1862  and  1863,  he 
taught  his  first  school  in  Maine.  In  1864, 
he  enlisted  in  the  32d  Maine  V.  I.,  and 
participated  in  the  late  war ;  was  wounded 
at  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor  June  3,  1864  ; 
was  honorably  discharged  at  the  close  of 
the  war ;  returned  to  his  home  in  Maine. 
Here  he  was  engaged  in  going  to  school  in 
1866-67  ;  then  entered  Bates  College  of 
Lewiston,  Maine;  here  he  received  a  full 
classical  education  ;  in  August,  1869,  came 
West  to  Illinois  ;  taught  school  in  Will 
Tp.,  Will  Co.,  fifteen  months;  May,  1871, 
he  came  to  Crete,  and  commenced  teaching 
here  ;  he  has  been  ever  since,  excepting 
one  year.  The  Crete  school  is  conducted 
in  a  superior  manner,  showing  conclusively 
the  great  advantages  to  be  attained  in  em- 
ploying a  principal  of  the  scholarly  at- 
tainments and  practical  experience  possessed 
by  Mr.  Nevens. 

JOHN  O'MEIER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Crete ;  was  born  in  Germany  Jan.  17, 
1824,  and  is  the  son  of  John  Conrad  and 


Sophia  (Schweer)  O'Meier,  of  Germany, 
who  both  died  in  Germany  ;  his  father  was 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  oil ;  here 
Mr.  O'Meier  was  engaged  in  working 
in  his  father's  factory;  in  1844,  he 
immigrated  alone  to  America,  and, 
August  24,  landed  in  New  York  City,  and 
came  West ;  landed  in  Chicago  Sept.  3, 
1844,  a  stranger  ;  he  set  out  to  find  work, 
and  commenced  work  on  a  farm  at  $6  per 
month  and  board  ;  here  he  remained  until 
the  spring  of  1845  ;  he  then  came  to  Will 
Co.,  and  commenced  Lto  work  for  John 
Miller,  in  Du  Page  Tp.  ;  he  remained 
there  and  saved  sufficient  money  to  pur- 
chase eighty  acres,  in  Crete  Tp.,  of  the 
present  homestead ;  in  1848,  moved  to 
Crete  Tp.,  and  was  engaged  in  renting  a 
farm  two  years;  then  he  had  made  suffi- 
cient improvements  on  his  farm  ;  he  then 
moved  on  here ;  he  has  remained  ever 
since ;  to-day  owns  one  of  the  best  im- 
proved farms  of  Will  Co. ;  owns  380  acres 

j  in  Will  Co.  and  a  half-section  in  Iroquois 
Co.  Mr.  O'Meier  has  held  several  offices 
of  public  trust;  that  of  Supervisor  since 
1869,  excepting  three  years;  in  these 
offices  he  has  given  entire  satisfaction.  A 
strong  Republican  in  politics  and  a  hard 
worker  in  the  ranks.  Married  twice  ;  first 

1  wife  Annie  Rinne ;  second  wife,  Ellen 
Scheiwe ;  thirteen  children,  ten  living. 

J.  0.  PIEPENBRINK,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Crete  ;  was  born  in  Rodenburg,  Ger- 
many, April  24,  1826  ;  son  of  Henry  H. 
and  Lotto  (Myer)  Piepenbrink,  of  Ger- 
many ;  his  father  was  a  farmer ;  Mr.  Piep- 
enbrink was  raised  on  his  father's  farm. 
He  married  Sophia  Wille  and,  in  1849, 
with  his  wife  and  one  child,  immigrated  to 
America,  and  landed  in  New  York  City ; 

,  in  May,  1849,  came  to  Illinois  ;  first  pur- 

'  chased  135  acres  of  land  in  Crete  Tp., 
Will  Co.,  near  the  present  homestead ; 
here  he  set  out  in  farming ;  to-day  ranks  as 
one  of  the  most  successful  farmers  of  Will 
Co. ;  came  here  with  only  $300 ;  to-day 
owns  over  700  acres  of  land,  with  fine  im- 
provements ;  Mr.  Piepenbrink  is  engaged 
largely  in  the  dairy  and  cheese  manufact- 
ture,  which  factory  is  located  on  his  farm. 
Eight  children  —  Otto,  Henry,  Conrad, 
William,  John,  Philip,  Ellen  and  Sophia. 

JOHN    0.     PIEPENBRINK,     JR.,  I 
farm.er;  P.  0.  Crete  ;  was  born  in  Germany 
Jan.  5, 1 847,  and  is  the  son  of  John  0.  and 


894 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


Sophia  (Wille)  Piepenbrink,  of  Germany  ; 
Mr.  Piepenbrink,  with  his  parents,  immigra- 
ted to  America  in  1849,  and  settled  in  Crete 
Tp.,  Will  Co.;  was  brought  up  on  his 
father's  farm ;  was  engaged  at  work  in 
Joliet  a  few  years ;  returned  to  the  farm 
and  has  been  farming  ever  since.  Married 
Miss  Dora  Arkenburg,  of  Germany,  daugh- 
ter of  William  Arkenburg,  Sr.  ;  has  one 
child — William  Otto. 

ERNEST  RINNE,  farmer;  P.  O. 
Crete ;  was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany, 
Feb.  4,  1836,  and  is  the  son  of  William 
and  Sophia  (Harsty)  Rinne,  of  Germany  ; 
in  1844,  with  his  parents,  he  came  to 
America ;  came  direct  to  Illinois,  and  set- 
tled in*  Chicago ;  here  they  remained 
about  six  years ;  then  to  Will  Co.;  here, 
Mr.  William  Rinne  died  on  the  farm,  in 
1874;  Mr.  Rinne  farmed  it  until  1869  ;  he 
then  moved  to  Crete;  has  been  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  brick,  and  in  the 
hay-press  business ;  the  hay-press  em- 
ploys from  three  to  four  men,  and  turns 
out  about  seven  tons  a  day,  when  in  full 
running  order;  when  Mr.  Rinne  first 
came  to  Crete,  he  was  in  the  hotel  busi- 
ness. Married  Miss  Mary  Engelkenng, 
of  Germany ;  ten  children  ;  seven  livipg. 

CHRISTOPHER  SCHEIWE,  farmer; 
P.  O.  Crete ;  was  born  in  Rodenburg, 
Germany,  Feb.  21,  1827,  and  is  the  son 
of  Phillip  and  Sophia  (Swining)  Scheiwe, 
of  Germany  ;  his  father  was  in  the  huckster 
business.  In  1847,  Mr.  Scheiwe,  with  his 
brother  John,  emigrated  to  America ; 
came  direct  to  Chicago ;  was  engaged  in 
working  on  a  farm  on  the  Des  Plaines 
River,  and  received  $8  per  month,  and 
board  ;  in  the  winter  months,  he  only  re- 
ceived 86  per  month ;  he  then  came  to 
Will  Co.,  and  settled  near  Lockport; 
then  to  Michigan  ;  returned  to  Will 
Co.;  his  first  purchase  of  land  was 
in  Crete  Tp.,  80  acres ;  here  he  set  out  in 
farming;  to-day,  with  hard  work  and 
good  management,  he  ranks  among  the 
successful  farmers  of  Crete  Tp.;  owns 
435  J  acres  of  improved  land;  held  sev- 
eral oflices  of  public  trust  in  Crete  Tp. — 
Constable,  Township  Collector,  and  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  ;  Mr.  Scheiwe  is  Presi- 
dent of  the  Crete  Farmer's  Mutual 
Insurance  Company,  of  Crete,  111.  Mar- 
ried Sophia  Lucke,  of  Germany;  eight 

1     •!    1  J     >  & 

children. 


JOHN    SCHEIWE,    farmer;     P. 
Crete  ;  was  born  in  Rodenburg,  German) 
Feb.  7,  1822,  and  is  the  son  of  Philip  and 
Sophia  (Swining)   Scheiwe,  of  German] 
his   father  was   engaged  in  the  huckst 
trade.     In  1847,  with  his  brother  Chris 
topher,  he    emigrated   to    America ;    fir 
landed  in  Quebec,   Can.;  then   direct 
Chicago,  111.;  went  to  work  on  a  fa 
then  on  the  canal,  at  $1  per  day  ;  in  1851 
he  came  to  Will  Co.,  and  settled  in  Cret 
Tp.,  on  the  present  farm ;   he  first  pur 
chased  80  acres   for   $70;  Mr.    Scheiwe 
with  good    management,   to-day    owns 
fine,  improved   farm,  which  ranks  amor 
the    best  improved  farms    of    Will    Co. 
Married  in  Cook  Co.,  111.,  to  Miss  Mar 
Wamhafer,    of    Germany ;    she   came 
America  at  the  same  time  Mr.   Scheh 
did ;  four  children.   Member  of  the  I 
theran  Church. 

HENRY     TATGE,   farmer;    P. 
Crete ;  was    born    in    Germany    June 
1821,  and  is  the  son  of  Henry  and  Chris 
tin  a  Tatge  ;  his  father  was  a  farmer,  anc 
in  1851,  with  his  wife  and  family,  emi- 
grated to   America,  and   landed   in 
York  City ;  came  direct   to   Illinois,  anc 
settled  in  Cook  Co.;    here  his  father  anc 
mother  both  died.       Mr.  Tatge's  fathe 
gave  him  $2,000 ;  he  then  came  to  Wil 
Co.,  and  purchased  320  acres  of  land,  for 
which  he  paid  $1,120  ;  here  he  set  01 
in  farming ;  he  first  built  a  small  frame 
house   on   the   present   farm ;    here,  witt 
good  management,  he  owns  560  acres 
land,  with   fine    improvements.       Marrie 
Catherine  Olendorf,  daughter  of  Conra 
Olendorf,   of   Germany,  who    settled    ir 
Indiana;  have   had   eleven   children;  si: 
living.    Member  of  the  Lutheran  Churcl 

ALMON    WILDER,   farmer;    P. 
Crete ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  or 
of  the  old  settlers  in  this  vicinity ;  wa 
born  in  Onondaga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  21, 
1806.  and  is  the  son  of  Rubin  Wilder, 
farmer,  who   was  an  officer  in  the  war 
1812  ;  when  Mr.  Wilder  was  about  4  y€ 
of  age,  he  went  to  live  with  his  grand- 
•  father ;  when  he  was  6  years  old,  with  his 
grandfather,  moved   to  Ohio ;  here  he 
mained  until  1837  ;  while  there,  he  learne 
the  shoemaker's   trade,  and  followed  this 
business  six  or  seven  years.     He  was  mar- 
ried  in  Ohio  to   Miss  Annie  Corey.     Ir 
1837,  he  came  to   Illinois   and  settled 


DU  PAGE  TOWNSHIP. 


895 


Cook  Co. ;  here  his  wife  died,  about  one 
year  after  they  arrived ;  he  was  married 
the  second  time  to  Mrs.  Louisa  Raymond, 
of  England.  In  1841,  he  came  to  Will 
Co.  and  settled  on  his  present  homestead ; 
here  he  has  remained  ever  since.  While 
here,  he  has  held  several  public  offices  of 
trust;  was  Supervisor  of  Crete  Tp.  in 
1851,  1852,  1853  and  part  of  the  term  in 
1855 ;  held  office  as  Assessor  for  seven- 
teen years,  and  Collector  ;  these  offices  he 
held  in  a  very  creditable  and  efficient 
manner.  Republican  in  politics.  Two 
sons  in  the  late  war — Edwin  A.,  enlisted 
in  the  100th  I.  V.  I.,  served  full  time  and 
participated  in  some  of  the  prominent  bat- 
tles during  the  war ;  George  H.,  enlisted 
in  the  8th  I.  V.  C. ;  these  gentlemen  did 
good  service,  and  were  honorably  dis- 
charged at  the  close  of  the  war. 

EMIL  WALTER,  agricultural  imple- 
ments and  saloon,  Crete;  this  gentleman 
was  born  in  Germany  Feb.  12,  1842,  and 
is  the  son  of  Charles  and  Augusta 
(Schmidt)  Walter,  of  Germany  ;  father 
was  a  minister  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
in  1866,  Mr.  Walter  came  to  America  and 
landed  in  New  York  City ;  he  came  direct  j 
West  to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Chicago  ; 
here  he  was  engaged  as  a  traveling  agent 
for  the  wholesale  liquor  house  of  Schmidt 
&  Cramer  for  two  and  one-half  years. 
He  then  entered  the  U.  S.  Regular  Army, 
and  served  as  Sergeant  Major  for  five 
years  in  the  Western  and  Southern  States. 
He  returned  to  Chicago,  and  entered  the 
wine  and  liquor  business  for  himself  about 
one  year;  he  then  (in  1876)  came  to 
Crete;  here  he  has  been  engaged  in  the 
saloon  business  ;  is  also  agent  for  reapers, 
cultivators,  rakes,  plows,  seeders  and  corn- 
planters.  Mr.  Walter  was  elected,  in 
1878, -to  the  office  of  Town  Clerk.  He 
married  Miss  Eliza  Werner. 

WILLIAM  I.  WOOD,  livery  stable, 
Crete  ;  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 


in  Crete,  Will  Co.,  111.,  March  4,  1846, 
and  is  the  son  of  Willard  and  Diantha 
(Boardman)  Wood,  who  were  among  the 
first  settlers  of  Crete  Tp. ;  Mr.  Wood  is 
engaged  in  the  livery  stable  business. 
Married  in  1871,  to  Miss  Alvira  Hewes, 
of  Crete  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.,  by  whom 
he  has  two  children. 

WILLARD  WOOD ;  P.  0.  Crete ;  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  oldest 
settlers  of  Crete ;  was  born  in  Randolph, 
Vt.,  Aug.  28,  1808,  and  is  the  son  of 
Thomas  and  Ruby  (Newland)  Wood ; 
father  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts;  was  en- 
gaged in  the  iron  foundry  business,  and  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812 ;  died  at  Col- 
chester, Vt. ;  Mr.  Wood  was  raised  on  a 
farm ;  studying  law  at  Hyde  Park,  Vt., 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  to  practice  law. 
In  May,  1836,  with  wife  and  one  child, 
started  West  for  Illinois,  via  Detroit, 
Mich. ;  here  he  purchased  a  wagon  and 
team,  and  arrived  in  Chicago  in  June, 
1836  ;  thence  to  Will  Co. ;  here  he  first 
settled  in  Crete  Tp.,  on  160  acres  of  land, 
and  commenced  farming  in  Will  Co.,  and 
followed  this  business  until,  some  thirteen 
years  ago,  he  retired  from  farming.  Mr. 
Wood  was  the  first  Postmaster,  kept  the 
first  hotel  and  taught  the  first  school  in  the 
village  of  Crete ;  has  also  held  several 
offices  of  public  trust — that  of  Justice  of 
the  Peace  about  twenty  years,  Supervisor 
for  two  terms,  in  1854  and  1856,  and 
County  Commissioner^;  in  these  offices,  he 
has  acquitted  himself  in  a  very  creditable 
and  efficient  manner.  Mr.  Wood  is  a 
Democrat  in  politics.  Married  Miss  Di- 
antha S.  Boardman,  of  Vermont,  daughter 
of  Alfred  Boardman,  by  whom  they  have 
had  eleven  children,  seven  living  ;  one  son 
in  the  late  war — -Willard  S.;  enlisted  in  the 
8th  I.  V.  C.,  and  participated  in  some  of 
the  prominent  battles  ;  was  honorably  dis- 
charged. 


DU    PAGE    TOWNSHIP. 


HORACE  BOARDMAN,  farmer ;  P. 
O.  Naperville ;  was  born  in  Orleans  Co., 
N.  Y.,  July  25,  1819  ;  in  August,  1831, 
he  came  West  with  the  family,  his  father 


settling  on  the  farm  where  his  son  now 
lives  ;  of  his  father,  who  was  one  of  the 
early  pioneers  of  this  section,  much  ap- 
pears in  the  body  of  this  work  ;  he  died 


896 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


May  30,  1877,  at  the  advanced  age  of  83 
years,  and  his  ashes  rest  peacefully  in  the 
beautiful  little  cemetery  on  the  homestead ; 
Horace  remained  at  home  till  28  years  of 
age,  when  he  moved  to  Grand  Traverse 
Bay,  Mich.,  for  the  purpose  of  engaging 
in  lumbering ;  here  he  remained  six  years, 
and,  in  1853,  returned  to  Illinois  ;  in  the 
spring  of  1864,  he  moved  to  Wisconsin, 
and  remained  three  years  ;  in  March,  1867, 
he  returned  to  Illinois,  and  has  since  re- 
sided at  the  old  homestead.  He  was  mar- 
ried May  25,  1843,  to  Laura  A.  Farr,  a 
native  of  New  York  ;  she  died  April  16, 
1846 ;  his  second  marriage,  to  Emily 
Cowles,  a  native  of  New  York,  occurred 
Sept.  3,  1849 ;  she  died  May  2,  1862  ; 
his  third  marriage,  to  Mrs.  Isabella  Lewis 
(Emerson),  widow  of  Chauncey  Lewis, 
was  celebrated  April  28,  1863;  from  first 
marriage,  two  children  were  born — Ellen 
A.,  Maria  A. ;  from  second,  three — James 
C.,  Abby  M.,  Walker  B.  ;  from  third,  six 
— George  E.,  Fannie  E.,  Frank  H.,  Harry 
G.,  Edith  L.,  Charles  Roy.  Owns  248 
acres  in  Du  Page  Tp. ;  in  addition  to  his 
farming,  he  also  keeps  a  large  number  of 
cows  for  dairying  purposes  ;  on  his  farm,  in 
1846,  was  operated  the  first  McCormick 
reaper  ever  used  in  the  limits  of  Will  Co. 
FRANKLIN  E.  BARBER,  farming 
and  dairy  ;  P.  0.  Lemont ;  was  born  in 
Du  Page  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111.,  Aug.  25, 
1835  ;  his  father  came  West  to  Illinois  in  : 
the  spring  of  1862,  and  laid  a  claim 
where  his  son  now  resides;  here  he  ! 
lived  till  the  date  of  his  decease,  which  i 
occurred  Dec.  19,  1876.  Franklin  E.  was 
married  Sept.  2,  1867,  to  Mrs.  Adelaide  . 
Volentine,  a  native  of  New  York  State ; 
he  has  five  children — Emma  E.,  Etta  F.,  | 
Edward  F.,  Jessie  A.,  and  an  infant 
daughter;  Mrs.  Barber  has  one  child  by  '. 
her  former  husband — Mary  J.  His  father 
was  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Du  Page 
Tp.,  and  came  to  Chicago,  or  rather  old 
'Fort  Dearborn,  on  the  boat  that  brought 
Gen.  Scott's  army  to  do  duty  in  the  Sac 
war ;  of  him  mention  is  made  in  the  body 
of  this  work ;  Mr.  Barber  owns  the  old  | 
homestead,  211  acres,  valued  at  $14,000. 
Has  held  the  offices  of  Constable,  Town 
Clerk  and  School  Director.  He  is  a  sue-  I 
cessful  farmer,  and  supplies  a  large  quan- 
tity of  milk  to  the  cheese-factory  now  in 
successful  operation  near  his  residence. 


GEORGE  DIXON,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Lockport ;  was  born  in  Lincolnshire,  En- 
gland, Dec.  25,  1832  ;  he  emigrated  to 
America  in  1851,  and  engaged  in  farm  la- 
bor for  G.  R.  Dyer ;  he  remained  with 
him  six  years,  and  then  labored  for  a  Mr. 
Ray  for  the  same  length  of  time;  in  1856, 
he  purchased  320  acres  of  land  in  Michi- 
gan ;  this  he  purchased  chiefly  for  the  tim- 
ber upon  it,  and,  in  the  great  fire  which 
occurred  throughout  that  region  a  few 
years  ago,  he  suffered  a  loss  of  $3,000  to 
$4,000  ;  subsequently,  he  sold  out  and 
went  to  England,  and,  after  a  sojourn  of 
nine  months,  returned  to  America,  and,  in 
1869,  purchased  where  he  now  resides. 
He  was  married  Sept.  14,  1869,  to  M. 
Jennie  Burgess,  a  native  of  Lincolnshire, 
England.  Owns  160  acres,  worth  $5,000. 
Mr.  Dixon  has  led  a  somewhat  romantic 
life  since  coming  to  America ;  while  a 
young  man,  he  was  accustomed  to  spend 
the  winter  season  hunting  and  trapping  in 
Michigan,  and  always  realized  handsomely 
from  his  winter's  sport ;  much  of  the  time 
was  passed  with  the  Indians,  and  often- 
times he  was  far  from  the  habitations  of 
white  men,  surrounded  by  the  beasts  of 
the  forest,  with  only  the  savage  for  a  com- 
panion. 

NORTON  EATON,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Du  Page  ;  was  born  in  Rutland  Co.,  Vt., 
Aug.  25,  1831  ;  at  the  age  of  14  years, 
he  came  West  to  Illinois,  with  the  family, 
and  settled  in  Kendall  Co.,  near  Au  Sable 
Grove,  and  engaged  in  farming  ;  in  1854, 
he  moved  to  Du  Page  Tp.,  Will  Co.;  in 
1861,  he  moved  to  his  present  residence. 
He  was  married  March  25,  1858,  to 
Esther  A.  Rathbun,  a  native  of  Ohio ; 
she  is  the  daughter  of  S.  R.  and  Maria 
(Lander)  Rathbun ;  four  children  have 
been  born  to  them — Mary  A.,  Carrie  E., 
Gracie  G.,  living ;  one  died,  Edith  E. 
Owns  91  acres  in  Du  Page  Tp.,  valued 
at  $5,000.  Mr.  Eaton  has  held  the 
offices  of  Assessor,  Town  Clerk,  Constable, 
Commissioner  of  Highways,  etc. 

AUSTIN  GODFREY,  farmer ;  P.  0. 
Lemont;  was  born  in  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Aug.  31,  1822;  he  is  the  son  of  Henry 
and  Kansas  (Warren)  Godfrey;  his  father 
came  West  to  Illinois  in  the  fall  of  1833, 
and  stopped  a  short  time  in  Chicago ;  aft- 
er a  sojourn  of  two  months  on  the  Des 
Planes,  west  of  Chicago,  he  came  into. 


DU  PAGE  TOWNSHIP. 


897 


what  is  now  Du  Page  Co.,  and  settled  in 
the  timber  on  the  Des  Planes,  pre-empting 
one-half  section  of  land,  part  of  which 
lies  in  Du  Page,  and  the  remainder  in 
Will  Co.;  here  he  lived  until  his  decease, 
in  1850.  Austin  remained  at  home,  at- 
tending, with  his  brother,  to  the  business 
of  the  farm,  after  attaining  to  manhood. 
He  was  married  Doc.  25,  1847,  toLorenia 
Warren,  a  native  of  New  York  State ;  she 
died  Nov.  27,  1853.  His  second  mar- 
riage, to  Lucy  Denton,  occurred  Dec.  24, 
1857;  she  is  a  native  of  Lower  Canada. 
From  first  wedlock,  two  children — Emma 
A.  (now  wife  of  G.  W.  Potter),  and  Will- 
iam H.,  deceased  ;  from  second  marriage, 
seven — Herbert  A.,  Howard  D.,  Abbie 
C.,  Carrie  M.,  Arthur  M.,  Guy  R.  and 
Roy  S.  Owns  675  acres  of  finely  im- 
proved land,  valued  at  $40,000  ;  has  held 
the  offices  of  Supervisor  and  Road  Com- 
missioner for  the  past  fifteen  years  ;  he 
has  kept  from  60  to  70  milch  cows,  and 
for  the  most  part  ships  his  dairying  to 
Chicago.  Mr.  Godfrey  stands  well  to  the 
front  rank  among  the  farmers  of  his 
section. 

ROBERT  GOUDY,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Du  Page;  was  born  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y., 
Jan.  2,  1822;  in  the  fall  of  1843,  he 
came  West  to  Illinois,  and  settled  in  Du 
Page  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  and  engaged  in  farm 
labor ;  in  1850,  he  moved  to  the  I.  &  M. 
Canal,  and  attended  lock,  two  and  one- 
half  miles  north  of  Lockport,  two  years ; 
he  next  engaged  in  running  a  boat, 
two  years,  for  Norton  &  Co.,  and 
again  returned  to  the  lock,  remain- 
ing five  years ;  in  1859,  he  purchased 
one-quarter  section  of  land  in  Du  Page  Tp.; 
this  he  improved  and  occupied  in  1861  ; 
he  purchased  'where  he  now  lives,  in  the 
winter  of  1867.  He  was  married  Oct.  15, 
1848,  to  Ophelia  Welch,  a  native  of  Ohio  ; 
two  sons,  William  H.  and  Charles  R.,  and 
two  daughters,  Mary  and  Julia,  have  been 
born  to  them ;  of  these,  only  one,  Julia, 
is  living.  Owns  100  acres  of  land,  well 
improved,  and  worth  $7,000.  At  an  early 
age,  he  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade,  but 
not  having  a  fancy  for  the  business  he 
abandoned  it  for  farming ;  has  held  the 
offices  of  School  Director,  School  Trustee, 
and  is  at  present  Commissioner  of  High- 
ways, his  tenure  of  office  extending  over  a 
period  six  and  one-half  years. 


WILLIAM  KING,  retired  farmer ;  P. 
0.  Naperville ;  was  born  in  Hanover, 
Germany,  Dec.  23,  1829;  in  1848,  he 
emigrated  to  America,  and  located  in 
Bloom ingdale,  Du  Page  Co.,  111.;  here  he 
engaged  in  farming,  one  year ;  he  next 
came  to  Du  Page  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  and  en- 
tered the  employ  of  Jonathan  Rbyce,  Sr., 
for  whom  he  labored  two  and  .one-half 
years;  in  March,  1852,  he  went  to  Cali- 
fornia, and  engaged  in  mining  and  butch- 
ering ;  in  1857,  he  returned  to  Illinois, 
and  purchased  one-half  of  the  farm 
originally  entered  by  Robert  Strong,  and 
sold  by  him  to  Samuel  Goodrich  ;  direct 
from  the  hands  of ''Oodrich  it  passed  to 
Mr.  King,  and  is  now  owned  by  him.  He 
was  married  Jan.  27,  1857,  to  Hypsia 
Royce,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Royce  ;  she 
is  a  native  of  New  Hampshire;  in  1870, 
he  left  his  farm  and  moved  to  Naperville  ; 
in  1871,  he  started  a  tile  and  brick  yard, 
which,  to-day,  is  one  of  the  best  paying 
institutions  of  the  town  ;  in  the  spring  of 
1878,  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  fac- 
tory, owing  to  ill  health,  and  has  since  de- 
voted himself  to  superintending  his  farm. 
Owns  360  acres  in  Will  Co.,  valued  at 
$25,000 ;  he  also  owns  a  fine  property  in 
Naperville ;  has  held  the  office  of  Super- 
visor of  Lisle  Tp.,  Du  Page  Co.,  four 
years ;  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  City 
Council. 

ABNER  ROYCE,  farmer  ;  P.  0.  Na- 
perville ;  was  born  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y., 
June  13,  1826  ;  he  is  a  son  of  Jonathan 
and  Polly  (Emery)  Royce  ;  his  father  was 
one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Du  Page  Tp., 
having  settled  in  the  summer  of  1835 
where  his  son  now  lives  ;  here  he  lived  till 
the  date  of  his  decease,  which  occurred 
Dec.  14, 1863,  at  the  age  of  83  years ;  his 
faithful  companion  followed  him  April  25, 
1875,  at  the  advanced  age  of  91  years  ; 
his  father  was  a  very  successful  business 
man,  and  owned  atone  time  between  three, 
and  four  thousand  acres  of  land  ;  he  di- 
vided his  vast  accumulations  of  wealth 
among  his  children,  and  they  are  following 
in  his  footsteps  to  a  successful  life  ;  Abner 
has  always  lived  upon  the  old  homestead, 
except  a  temporary  absence  of  four  years  ; 
in  1850,  he  went  to  California,  and  en- 
gaged in  mining;  in  1854,  he  returned 
home.  He  was  married  October  18, 1855, 
to  Charlotte  Phelps,  a  native  of  Essex  Co., 


898 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES: 


N.  Y.;  has  six  children — Elisha,  Truman, 
Helen  J.,  Irving,  Lottie  E.  and  Abner,  Jr. 
Owns  985  acres  in  Will  Co.,  valued  at 
$65,000  ;  Mr.  Royce  has  met  with  good 
success  in  all  his  undertakings. 

JONATHAN  ROYCE, farmer ;  P.O. 
Naperville  ;  was  born  in  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y., 
May  9,  1822  ;  when  13  years  of  age,  he 
came  with  the  family  to  Illinois,  his  father 
settling  on  the  East  Branch  of  the  Du 
Page  in  the  summer  of  1835  ;  he  remained 
at  home  until  he  had  reached  the  age  of 
25  years;  in  1847,  he  came  upon  his  farm, 
and  engaged  in  cultivating  it  some  six  years 
before  his  marriage.  His  union  with  Sarah 
A.  Mather,  a  native  of  Essex  Co.,  N.  Y.,  was  | 
celebrated  Oct.  18,  1853.  His  life  has 
been  largely  and  successfully  devoted  to 
agricultural  pursuits;  in  the  fall  of  1873, 
he  moved  to  Naperville,  and  entered  the 
banking  business  in  partnership  with  Wil- 
lard  Scott;  in  the  fall  of  1876,  he  returned 
to  his  farm,  and  entered  again  upon  a 
farmer's  life.  Has  five  children — Jonathan 
F.,  George  E.,  Asa  M.,  Maria  P.  and  Em- 
ma M.  Owns  about  five  hundred  acres, 
valued  at  $40,000  ;  has  held  the  office  of 
Supervisor  a  number  of  terms  ;  he  deals 
largely  in  stock,  buying  and  fattening  a 
large  number  of  cattle  annually ;  his  farm 
is  the  best  improved  and  his  buildings  the 
most  substantial  of  any  of  his  entire  neigh- 
borhood. 

S.  R.  RATHBUN,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Plainfield ;  was  born  in  Marcellus,  Onon- 
daga  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  17,  1805 ;  in  the 
spring  of  1832,  he  came  to  Ohio,  and  set- 
tled in  Orange  Tp.,  Cuyahoga  Co.,  where 
he  opened  up  and  improved  140  acres ;  in 
September,  1845,  he  came  West  to  Illinois, 
and  first  settled  in  Du  Page  Tp.,  Will  Co., 
near  his  present  residence  ;  in  July,  1846, 
he  moved  into  Wheatland  Tp.,  and  re- 
mained about  twenty  years  ;  he  then  sold 
out  and  moved  to  Lake  Co.,  where  he  re- 
flided  two  years;  in  February,  1868,  he  j 
came  to  his  present  farm.  He  was  mar- 
ried Sept.  27,  1827,  to  Maria  Lander,  a 
native  of  Florida,  Montgomery  Co.,  N.  Y.;  I 
has  nine  children  living — Volentine,  Will-  i 
iam  M.,  Permelia,  Bela  F.,  Sabrina  L.,  ' 
Mary  J.,  Esther  A.,  Alvin  0.  and  Charles 
W.;  has  five  dead — Hiram  L.,  died  Jan. 
9,  1863,  at  Nashville,  Tenn.;  he  was  a 
member  of  Co.  D,  100th  I.  V.  I.;  he  was 
in  the  march  from  Louisville  to  Nashville, 


when  Gen.  Buell  was  in  pursuit  of  Gen. 
Bragg ;  the  others  died  in  infancy.  He 
owns  480  acres,  valued  at  $33,000  ;  has 
held  the  office  of  Assessor  in  Wheatland 
Tp.  two  or  three  terms ;  also  those  of  Com- 
missioner of  Highways,  School  Trustee. 
School  Director ;  while  a  citizen  of  Ohio, 
he  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1840, 
and  held  the  office  of  Deputy  Sheriff  and 
that  of  Constable. 

THOMAS  J.  SPR  AGUE,  farmer;  P. 
0.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  Hamburg,  Erie 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  23,  1810 ;  he  remained 
at  home  until  his  majority,  experiencing 
the  life  of  a  farmer's  son ;  farming  sum- 
mers and  attending  school  a  short  time 
during  the  winter  ;  in  1837,  he  came  West 
to.  prospect  the  country,  and  in  March, 
1838,  he  settled  in  Du  Page  Tp.;  the  first 
year,  he  tilled  a  farm  owned  by  Joseph 
Bessey,  and  the  following  year  labored  on 
the  I.  &  M,  Canal  on  the  section  just  be- 
low the  Joliet  Mound  ;  in  1840,  he  pur- 
chased 160  acres  on  Sec.  22,  Du  PageTp.; 
this  he  still  owns,  and  here  he  resided  about 
eighteen  years ;  in  the  fall  of  1858,  he  re- 
moved to  his  present  residence,  on  Sees. 
34  and  27.  He  was  married  Jan.  8, 1844, 
to  Mrs.  Lydia  Godfrey,  daughter  of  Shubel 
Swift ;  her  father  was  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Du  Page  Tp.;  have  had  nine  children — 
Charles,  Elizabeth,  Harriet,  Thomas,  Frank 
and  Celia  living ;  Lydia,  Douglas  and  Thad- 
deus,  deceased.  Owns  590  acres,  valued  at 
$30,000  ;  has  held  the  office  of  Township 
Collector  and  that  of  Assessor  three  or  four 
terms.  Mr.  Sprague  was  without  means 
when  he  came  West,  and  by  industry  and 
good  management  has  accumulated  what 
he  has  ;  he  is  also  extensively  engaged  in 
dairying  in  connection  with  his  farming. 

ROBERT  STRONG,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Naperville ;  Mr.  Strong  is  the  only  surviv- 
ing pioneer  of  the  few  that  settled  in  Du 
Page  Tp.,  in  the  early  period  of  1831 ;  was 
born  in  Greensboro,  Vt.,  April  28, 
1806 ;  when  he  was  8  years  of  age,  his 
father  moved  to  Susquehanna  Co.,  Penn., 
and  engaged  in  clearing  land  and  farming; 
in  1819,  the  family  moved  to  Chemung 
Co.,  Penn.,  and  opened  a  farm  where  the 
town  of  Waverly  now  stands  ;  in  1825,  his 
father  moved  to  Ogden,  in  Monroe  Co.,  N. 
Y.;  in  1831,  Robert  came  to  seek  a  home 
in  the  Far  West  and  settled  where  he  now 
resides,  having  purchased  a  claim  of  a  half- 


DU  PAGE  TOWNSHIP. 


899 


section  of  Selby  &  Walker ;  here,  in  com- 
pany with  his  young  and  lovely  bride,  he 
commenced,  amid  the  difficulties  and  priva- 
tions incident  to  pioneer  life,  to  carve  out 
his  fortune.  He  was  married  April  21, 
1831,  to  Caroline  W.  Willey,  a  native  of 
Oneida  Co.,  N.  Y.;  she  was  born  May  10, 
1811  ;  eleven  children  have  blessed  their 
union,  four — Alfred  W.,  Robert  H.,  Mary 
A.  (now  widow  of  James  N.  George)  and 
Albert  M — are  living  ;  seven  are  dead. 
Owns  230  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $17,000. 
Has  held  the  offices  of  Supervisor,  Justice 
of  the  Peace  eight  years,  School  Treasurer 
sixteen  years,  with  the  enormous  salary  of 
$10  for  the  first  ten  years.  And  here  upon 
a  portion  of  his  original  purchase  made 
almost  one-half  of  a  century  ago,  he  still 
lives,  the  only  remaining  landmark  of  those 
who  settled  in  Du  Page  in  1831  or  1832; 
all  the  others  have  either  rested  from  their 
labors  or  changed  their  locations  ;  to  him 
we  are  indebted  for  much  of  the  early 
historv  of  Du  Page  Tp. 

THOMAS  WILLIAMS,  farmer;  P. 
O.  Lockport ;  was  born  in  County  Corn- 
wall, Eng.,  Jan.  18,  1807  ;  he  immigrated 
to  America  in  March,  1825,  and  first  set- 
tled in  Schuylkill  Co.,  Penn.,  when  he 
engaged  in  mining  and  shipping  coal  to 
Philadelphia  about  two  years  ;  he  next 
contracted  and  built  a  portion  of  the  Port- 
age Railroad  across  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains from  Hollidaysburg  to  Johnstown  ; 
in  1 834,  he  came  to  Illinois  and  settled  in 
Chicago;  in  June,  1836,  in  conjunction 
with  Chas.  E.  Boyer,  he  contracted  four 
sections  on  the  I.  &  M.  Canal  and  com- 
menced work  thereon;  in  1848,  he  built 
twelve  miles  of  the  Chicago  &  Galena 
Railroad  between  Chicago  and  Elgin ;  in 
1 850,  they  went  to  California  and  construct- 
ed the  levee  in  front  of  Sacramento  City  ; 
afterward  they  constructed  a  tunnel  1,900 
feet  long,  bringing  the  waters  of  Beaj 
River  down  to  the  flats  of  Ophir;  in  1854, 
they  contracted  on  deepening  the  I.  &  M. 
Canal,  and  finished  the  work  in  1857  ;  he 
located  on  present  place  of  residence  in  1846. 
He  was  married  in  1832,  to  Susan  Homer, 
a  native  of  Pennsylvania  ;  eight  children 
have  been  born  to  them  ;  of  these,  four  are 
living — Julia,  Stephen  J.,  Susan  and  Carrie. 
Owns  500  acres  of  land,  valued  at  $40,000; 
he  is  at  present  Supervisor  ;  has  held  the 
office  of  School  Trustee  and  School  Direct- 


or.      In   all  his  public  enterprises  he  has 
met  with  good  success. 

JONAS  WALKER,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Du  Page ;  was  born  in  Worcester  Co., 
Mass.,  April  5,  1817;  he  is  the  son  of 
James  and  Sally  (Brewer)  Walker ;  he  left 
home  at  the  age  of  13  years  and  engaged 
at  farm  labor  at  $8  per  month  ;  previous 
to  his  majority  he  worked  two  years  in 
the  city  of  Worcester  in  a  wire-factory  ; 
in  1838,  he  came  West  and  located  in 
Greene  (now  Jersey)  Co.,  111.,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming  for  six  years ;  in  the 
fall  of  1844,  he  came  to  Lockport,  Will 
Co.,  and  entered  the  employ  of  Hiram 
Norton,  hauling  flour  to  Chicago  and  bring- 
ing back  goods ;  this  he  followed  two  years ; 
he  then  opened  up  and  improved  the  farm 
now  owned  by  S.  Wilson,  and  remained 
three  years ;  he  also  opened  up  a  farm  on 
Sec.  16,  Lockport  Tp.;  he  lived  in  Lock- 
port  Tp.,  at  various  points,  till  1855,  when 
he  moved  to  Du  Page  Tp.,  and  bought  a 
quarter-section  about  one  mile  south  of  his 
present  residence;  in  March,  1859,  he 
located  on  his  present  farm.  May  6, 
1840,  he  was  married  to  Pualina  H.  Judd, 
a  native  of  Indiana ;  nine  sons  and  three 
daughters  have  been  born  to  them — Henry, 
James,  Charles,  Pemelia,  George,  Clara, 
Hiram  and  Harley  (twins), William,  Walter, 
May  and  Albert ;  of  these  Henry,  James 
and  Albert  are  dead.  Owns  250  acres  in 
Will  Co.,  and  eighty  acres  in  Iroquois  Co. 
Has  held  the  office  of  Road  Commissioner 
five  years,  and  also  the  office  of  Town 
Trustee. 

SYLVESTER  WARD,  farmer ;  P.  O. 
Lemont ;  was  born  in  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y., 
May  29,  1831  ;  he  is  the  son  of  Hannibal 
and  Jane  (Hicks)  Ward;  in  September, 
1833,  his  father  came' West,  and  settled  on 
the  farm  where  his  son  now  lives.  Han 
nibal  Ward  died  Dec.  23,  1874,  and  was 
buried  on  the  homestead ;  Sylvester  re- 
mained at  home  until  his  majority,  his 
early  life  being  that  common  to  a  farmer's 
son ;  in  1854,  he  went  to  St.  Charles, 
Kane  Co.,  and  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  wagon-hubs.  Mr.  Ward  improved  the 
machine  invented  by  his  uncle,  Justice 
Ward,  for  their  manufacture,  and  brought 
it  to  such  perfection  that  three  hands 
could  take  the  timber  from  the  stump  and 
make  one  hundred  hubs  per  day ;  in  the 
spring  of  1857,  in  company  with  two 


900 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES : 


others,  he  purchased  eighty  acres  of  timber 
in  Porter  Co.,  Ind.,  and  placed  upon  it  a 
machine  constructed  during  the  winter  of 
1856,  and  again  commenced  the  manufact- 
ure of  hubs.  Having  sold  out  his  interest, 
in  the  fall  of  1859,  in  company  with  A.  D. 
Shepard,  he  purchased  a  grist-mill  at 
Leland,  La  Salle  Co.,  and  operated  it  two 
and  a  half  years ;  in  1862,  he  returned  to 
the  old  homestead,  where  he  has  since 
resided.  He  was  married  Feb.  22,  1860, 
to  Lorina  Johnson,  a  native  of  Michigan ; 
have  had  two  children — Ida  S.,  born  Feb. 
11,  1861 ;  she  died  Feb.  25, 1863  ;  Eddie 
E.,  born  Oct.  30,  1863.  Owns  355  acres, 
valued  at  $21,000.  Has  held  the  office  of 
School  Treasurer  for  the  past  ten  years, 
Mr.  Ward  owns  and  operates  a  large  cheese- 
factory  erected  at  a  cost  of  $3,000,  located 
about  four  miles  north  of  Lockport. 

J.  S.  WHITE,  farmer  and  stock  dealer; 
P.  0.  Naperville ;  was  born  in  Watertown, 
Jefferson  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  1,  1835;  dur- 
ing the  same  fall,  his  father  moved  to 
Joliet,  Will  Co. ;  here  he  died  as  early  as 
1845.  His  mother  subsequently  married 


Capt.  Harry  Boardman,  one  of  the  pio- 
neers of  Du  Page  Tp.  Young  White 
came  from  the  village  to  the  farm  and  re- 
mained with  his  stepfather  some  seven 
years;  at  the  age  of  18,  he  left  home  for 
Chicago,  where  he  engaged  in  clerking  for 
Thompson  &  Wetmore  in  the  dry  goods 
business  ;  here  he  remained  two  years  ;  in 
1854,  he  went  to  California,  and  engaged 
in  mining  and  operating  a  train  of  pack- 
mules  for  carrying  supplies;  he  remained 
in  California  four  and  a  half  years  ;  on  his 
return,  he  again  engaged  in  farming ;  in 
1874,  he  purchased  where  he  now  resides. 
His  first  marriage  to  Mary  A.  Farmer,  a 
native  of  New  York,  was  celebrated  Dec. 
10,  1860;  she  died  in  March,  1873.  His 
second  wife,  Sabrina  L.  Smith,  is  a  native 
of  Ohio ;  their  marriage  occurred  Sept.  4, 
1874;  three  children  were  born  from  the 
first  wedlock — Cornelia  M.,  Willie  and 
Carrie.  Of  these,  only  Carrie  is  living. 
Owns  313  acres,  worth  $20,000.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  farming,  Mr.  White  deals 
largely  in  stock,  buying  and  shipping  to 
the  Eastern  market  and  to  Chicago. 


MONEE    TOWNSHIP. 


MRS.  J.  P.  BOHLANDER,  propri- 
etress of  American  Hotel,  Monee ;  one  of 
our  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  New  Jersey 
Dec.  20,  1829,  and  is  the  widow  of  the  late 
J.  P.  Bohlander,  deceased,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  Sept.  9,  1829,  and  who  died 
Sept.  16,  1877  ;  he  was  one  of  our  early 
settlers  in  Will  Co.  They  were  married 
April  23,  1853  ;  they  have  had  seven  chil- 
dren, viz.,  Alice  V..  Alda  A.,  J.  Frank, 
Rhoda,  George  W.,  Kate  L.  and  Carrie 
M.  The  farm  of  Mrs.  B.  consists  of 
thirty-three  acres  ;  farm  and  village  prop- 
erty valued  at  $6,000. 

C.  K.  DANIELS,  traveling  agent   of 
the  American  Bible  Society,  Monee ;  one 
of  the  early  and  most  prominent  settlers  of 
the  village  of  Monee ;  was  born  in  Monroe 
Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  1,  1822;  came  to  this 
State  in   1862,  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  j 
the  same  year ;  his   pursuits   since   1867  j 
have  been,  as  aforementioned,  in  the  inter- 
ests  of  the  American   Bible  Society.     He 
was  married  Sept.  19,  1858,  to  Miss  Cor- 


nelia B.  Sleeper,  who  was  born  in  Hills- 
boro  Co.,  N.  H.,  June  21,  1830;  they 
have  had  three  children,  two  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  Florence  E.  and  Carrie  B. ; 
deceased,  George  Clinton. 

LABAN  EASTERBROOKS,  convey- 
ancer, real  estate  and  collecting  agent  and 
Police  Magistrate,  Monee;  one  of  the 
early  settlers ;  was  ,born  in  Bristol  Co., 
Rhode  Island,  March  14,  1814;  came  to 
this  State  and  settled  in  Monee,  Will  Co. 
in  1858.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Sabrina 
M.  Wright,  who  was  born  in  Washington 
Co.,  R.  I.,  Jan.  2,  1830;  they  have 
had  ten  children,  six  of  whom  are 
living,  viz.,  Mary  L.,  Sabrina,  L.  Fill- 
more,  William  G.,  Isabella  and  Robert 
L. ;  deceased,  Ellen  M.,  Sarah  G.,  Ros- 
amond and  Rebecca.  Since  Mr.  East- 
erbrook's  residence  in  the  township, 
he  has  held  offices  of  Township  Clerk 
and  School  Director,  and  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  was  Assistant  Enrolling 
Master. 


901 


HENRY  HOHMANN,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of  the 
early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Germany  Oct. 
15,  1810  ;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1848,  and  to  this  State  and  settled  in  Will 
Co.  in  1853;  his  farm  consists  of  350 
acres,  valued  at  $14,000.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Herveg,  who  was  born  in  I 
Germany  May  28,  1826;  they  have  had 
six  children,  four  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
Martin,  Henry,  Kate  and  Christina ;  de- 
ceased, Mena  and  August. 

GUSTAVUS  JORDANS,  dealer  in 
wines  and  liquors,  Monee;  one  of  our 
early  settlers;  was  born  in  Prussia  Aug.  1, 
1830  ;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1849, 
and  to  this  State  and  settled  in  Monee, 
Will  Co.,  in  1859.  He  was  a  participant 
in  the  late  rebellion,  having  enlisted  from 
and  for  Will  Co.  in  the  82d  I.  V.  I.  as 
musician  ;  he  served  three  years,  and  was 
discharged  with  honor  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  1865. 

CHRISTIAN  KOEPKE,  proprietor  of 
German  House  and  sample  rooms,  Monee ; 
one  of  the  early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Ger- 
many Dec.  2,  1840  ;  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1853,  and  to  this  State  in  the 
same  year  and  settled  in  Greengarden, 
Will  Co. ;  he  removed  to  Monee  in  1869; 
since  that  time,  his  pursuits  have  been 
that  of  hotel  and  livery  keeper,  and  pro- 
prietor of  the  German  House  sample  and 
billiard  rooms.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Mina  Buethe,  who  was  born  in  Germany 
April  19,  1842  ;  they  have  had  five  chil- 
dren, three  of  whom  are  living,  viz., 
Doretta,  Lena  and  Willie ;  deceased, 
Henry  and  Mary.  Since  Mr.  K.'s  resi- 
dence in  Will  Co.,  he  has  held  the  office 
of  Constable  in  Greengarden  Tp.  four 
years. 

SIMON  MILLER,  general  merchant  and 
grain  dealer,  Monee ;  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers ;  was  born  in  Germany  Oct.  9,  1834  ;   j 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1849,  and  to  ! 
this  State  in  the  same  year ;  he  has  been  a  i 
resident  of  Monee,  Will  Co.,  for  the  past 
thirteen  years  ;  his  pursuits  since  his  resi-  i 
dence  in  the  township  have  been  that  of  a' 
grain    dealer  and  general   merchant.     He 
was  married  Jan.  19,  1856,  to  Miss  Eliza-  i 
beth   Bepperling,  who   was  born  in  New 
York  Feb.  19,  1840 ;  they  have  had  five 
children,  three   of  whom   are  living,  viz.,  ! 
Mary,   George  S.    and    August   C. ;    de- 


ceased, John  and  Charley.  Mr.  Miller 
is  now  holding  the  office  of  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  incorporated 
village  of  Monee. 

FREDERICK  PAULING,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  O.  Monee ;  one  of  the 
early  settlers ;  was  born  in  Germany  ; 
came  to  the  United  States  in  1850,  and  to 
this  State  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  1852  ; 
he  is  the  father  of  Henry  D.  Pauling,  of 
Monee  Tp.,  whose  farm  consists  of  133 
acres,  valued  at  $5,000.  He  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  Kolstedt,  who  was  born  in 
Cook  Co.,  111.  ;  they  have  two  children, 
viz.,  William  and  Amelia. 

CHARLES  PRAGST,  general  hard- 
ware merchant,  Monee  ;  one  of  our  early 
settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany  Jan.  19, 
1834;  came  to  the  United  States  in  1853, 
and  to  this  State  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in 
the  same  year  ;  his  present  business  has 
been  his  pursuit  for  the  past  nine  years. 
He  is  now  Clerk  of  the  incorporated  village 
of  Monee. 

A.  ROHMEIER  &  BODEN,  confec- 
tioners and  tobacconists,  Monee ;  both 
born  in  Germany,  and  early  settlers  in  the 
county  ;  their  property  in  said  establish- 
ment consists  of  one  store,  or  place  of  bus- 
iness, and  one  Lot,  No.  i  of  5,  6  and  7, 
in  Block  1,  and  is  valued  at  $3,000. 

CHRISTIAN  SCHOENSTEDT,  man- 
ufacturer of  wagons,  buggies,  etc.,  and 
dealer  in  general  farm  machinery,  Monee ; 
one  of  the  early  settlers  ;  was  born  in 
Germany  Jan.  30,  1837 ;  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1854,  and  to  this  State 
in  the  same  year  ;  he  has  been  a  resident 
of  Monee,  Will  Co.,  since  1859,  and  within 
that  time  his  pursuits  have  been  as  above 
mentioned.  He  was  married  March  5, 
1859,  to  Miss  Louisa  Guntz,  who  was  born 
in  Germany  May  17,  1839.  They  have 
had  seven  children,  six  of  whom  are  living 
— Fred,  Anna,  Leopold,  August,  Louisa 
and  Otto  ;  deceased,  Rudolph. 

PROF.  FRANCIS  STOFFLET,  Prin- 
cipal in  Monee  Public  School,  Monee ;  was 
born  in  Northampton  Co.,  Penn.,  Feb.  22, 
1841  ;  came  to  this  State  and  settled  in 
Will  Co.,  in  1874  ;  and  since  that  date, 
with  the  exception  of  one  year,  he  has  been 
a  resident  of  the  village  of  Monee.  He 
was  married  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Sprague, 
Aug.  13,  1873;  they  have  two  children — 
Elmer  and  Harvey.  Mr.  S.  was  a  volun- 


902 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


teer  in  the  late  rebellion ;  he  enlisted  in 
the  153d  Penn.  V.  I.,  served  ten  months 
and  was  discharged  as  time  for  enlistment 
expired.  His  principalship  in  the  public 
schools  has,  with  the  exception  of  four 
years,  continued  since  A.  D.  1856. 

H.  H.  STASSEN,  SR.,  retired  farmer ; 
P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of  the  early  settlers ; 
was  born  in  Germany  Sept.  15,  1805, 
under  King  Peter  of  Oldenburg ;  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1854,  and  to  this 
State  and  settled  in  Will  Co.  in  the  same 
year;  he  is  the  father  of  H.H.  Stassen,Jr., 
of  Greengarden  Tp.  The  farm  of  Mr.  S. 
consists  of  seventy-seven  acres,  valued  at 
$4,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Meta 
Ulreachs,  now  deceased,  who  was  born  in 
Germany  March  11,  1808,  and  who  died 
Sept.  3, 1865;  they  havehad  eight  children, 
four  of  whom  are  living,  viz.,  Mary,  Henry, 
Matilda  and  Mena ;  deceased,  Anna,  two 
infants  and  Diedrich. 

AUGUST  SCHIFFER,  general  mer- 
chant and  grain-buyer,  Monee  ;  one  of  our 
early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany;  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1855,  and  to  this 
State  in  1857,  and,  in  1858,  he  settled  in 
the  township  of  Monee ;  his  pursuits,  since 
his  residence  in  the  township,  have  been 
that  of  a  general  merchant  and  dealer  in 
grain  ;  he  is  the  builder  and  owner  of  the 
first  elevator  in  this  township.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  Postmaster  from  1861  to 
1866.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Anna 
Schurz ;  they  have  six  children,  viz., 
August,  Antoinette,  Charles,  Otto,  Annie 
and  Minnie. 


WILLIAM  SIEFKER,  farmer  and 
stock-raiser ;  P.  0.  Monee ;  one  of  our 
early  settlers  ;  was  born  in  Germany  March 
15,  1825;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1848,  and  to  this  State  in  the  same  year; 
his  farm  consists  of  160  acres,  valued  at 
$8,000.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Mary 
Holder,  who  was  born  in  Russia;  they 
have  three  children,  viz.,  Lewis,  Mary  and 
William.  Since  Mr.  Siefker's  residence 
in  this  township,  he  has  held  the  office  of 
School  Director  four  years,  and  Roadmaster 
one  year. 

PHILIPP  TRIEM,  merchant  tailor, 
Monee ;  one  of  our  first  settlers  in  Monee 
was  born  in  Germany  Jan.  6,  1832;  came' 
to  the  United  States  in  1854,  and  to  Illi- 
nois and  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  re- 
mained two  years,  when  he  removed  to 
Monee,  where  he  has  since  resided ;  his 
profession  since  his  residence  in  this  town- 
ship has  been  that  of  a  merchant  tailor. 
He  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza  Demmal, 
now  deceased  ;  they  have  had  six  children, 
only  one  of  whom  is  living,  viz.;  Rosa. 

ADAM  VATTER,  JR.,  insurance 
and  lightning-rod  agent,  and  partner  in  the 
firm  of  Vatter  &  Merz,  pop  manufacturers, 
Monee ;  one  of  the  early  settlers ;  was 
born  in  Germany  March  11,  1852  ;  came 
to  the  United  States  in  1855,  and  to  this 
State,  and  settled  in  Monee  with  his 
father's  family  in  the  same  year.  .  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Bertha  Kettering,  who 
was  born  in  Chicago  April  9,  1853; 
they  have  had  two  children,  one  of  whom  is 
living,  viz.,  Julia ;  deceased,  an  infant. 


WILTON    TOWNSHIP. 


CHANCEY  CLINTON,  farmer,  Sec. 
2 ;  P.  0.  Wallingford  ;  owns  230  acres. 
Born  in  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  2, 1825  ; 
at  an  early  age,  his  parents  removed  to 
Pennsylvania;  resided  there  until  1865  ; 
he  then  emigrated  to  this  place,  and  has 
lived  here  ever  since.  Has  been  married 
twice  ;  first,  to  Mary  W.  Ostrom  ;  she  died 
in  January,  1854;  left  one  child — Emily  ; 
she  is  married,  and  at  present  resides  in 
Indiana.  His  second  marriage  was  with 
Harriet  A.  Hullar  Jan.  21,  1858,  in  Penn- 
sylvania ;  have  two  children  by  this  union 


—Ella  May  and  Milo  E.  Has  held  the 
officet  of  Road  Commissioner  and  Post- 
master, the  former  six  and  a  half  years,  and 
the  latter  four  years. 

REV.  ORVILLE    C.    DICKINSON, 
minister,  Sec.  15;  P.  O.Wilton  Center.  Bap- 

!  tist;  Republican.  Owns  sixty  acres;  born  in 
St.  Lawrence  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  10,  1836; 
went  with  parents  to  Michigan  when  8 

,  years  old ;  resided  there  twelve  years  ;  at- 
tended the  High  School  at  Battle  Creek 
three  years ;  came  here  about  the  year 

i   1856;  was  ordained  in  August,  1860  ;   re- 


WILTON  TOWNSHIP. 


303 


sided  and  preached  in  Wilton  Tp.  ever  since, 
with  the  exception  of  three  years  that  he 
was  Pastor  of  a  church  at  Bloomiugdale, 
Mich.;  he  has  preached  continuously  at  this 
place  since  1872.  Married  Susan  Beedle, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Emory  Beedle,  of  Kala-  i 
mazoo,  Mich.  ;  she  was  born  Sept.  1, 1837 ;  | 
have  no  children  of  their  own ;  have  an 
adopted  child  of  the  name  of  Lizzie.  Mr. 
D.  carries  on  farming  in  connection  with 
his  other  duties  ;  had  two  brothers  in  the 
late  war — Anson  and  Albert ;  they  served 
in  the  12th  I.  V.  I.;  Anson  received  a 
mortal  wound  on  the  22d  of  July,  1H64, 
near  Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  died  Aug.  3,  follow- 
ing. 

JABEZ  HARVEY,  merchant,  Sec.  9  ; 
P.  0.  Wilton  Center.  Republican.  Owns 
thirteen  acres  in  village  of  Wilton  Center. 
Was  born  Jan.  20,  1831,  in  Canada  East; 
came  with  his  parents  to  Tazewell  Co.,  111., 
in  1837,  and  to  New  Lenox  in  1838,  and 
then  to  where  Wilton  Center  now  is  in 
1841 ;  was  raised  a  farmer.  Married 
Sarah  Jane  Weliver  Dec.  6,1853;  she 
was  born  in  Butler  Co.,  Ohio,  in  1832  ;  Mr. 
H.  went  to  California  by  land  in  1850; 
remained  there  three  years ;  in  March, 
1858,  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business 
in  this  place,  and  has  continued  it  ever 
since  ;  in  1864,  Mr.  H.  made  a  trip  to  the 
headwaters  of  the  Missouri  River,  where 
he  spent  the  summer,  returning  home  by 
the  way  of  Salt  Lake  and  the  plains,  the 
same  year.  Was  elected  a  member  of  the 
State  Legislature  in  1872,  and  served  two 
sessions.  Mr.  H.  has  four  children — 
Everett,  Ettie,  Judd  and  Jay  C.;  Judd 
accompanied  his  father  to  Springfield,  and 
acted  in  the  capacity  of  page  during  the 
second  session.  Mr.  H.  was  elected  Justice 
of  the  Peace  in  Wilton  Tp.  in  1858,  and  has 
held  that  office  continuously  nearly  ever 
since;  held  the  office  of  Township  Treasurer 
fourteen  years,  which  office  he  still  holds ; 
was  appointed  Postmaster  in  1875,  at  the 
time  the  office  was  established,  and  has 
held  that  office  ever  since. 

JERRY  KENISTON,  farmer,  Sec.  16; 
P.  0.  Wilton  Center.  Republican;  Baptist. 
Owns  150  acres.  Was  born  in  Vermont 
March  '2,  1829;  came  with  his  parents  to 
this  township  in  1854,  and  has  resided 
here  ever  since,  with  the  exception  of 
one  year  in  New  York.  Was  married 
twice — first  to  Martha  Ann  Tiffany  ;  she 


died  Jan.  24,  1862,  about  three  years  after 
marriage ;  left  no  children.  Mr.  K.  en- 
listed in  Co.  H,  100th  I.  V.  I.,  in  August, 
1 862 ;  served  as  a  private  uutil  after  the 
battle  of  Stone  River ;  he  was  then  pro- 
moted to  the  office  of  Second  Lieutenant 
for  meritorious  conduct ;  he  participated 
in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga ;  was  taken 
prisoner  there  and  sent  to  Libby  Prison ; 
was  there  seven  months  ;  then  to  Camp 
Oglethorpe  two  months  ;  then  to  Charles- 
ton two  months  (under  fire)  ;  then  to 
Columbia  ;  from  there  to  Wilmington,  N. 
C. ;  was  liberated  March  2,  1865  ;  after 
his  return  home,  he  settled  down  to  fann- 
ing where  he  now  resides.  Married  Mar- 
tha Lynde  in  Vermont  Feb.  21,  1866  • 
have  five  children — Henry,  John  Lynd, 
Laura  A.,  Charles  Herbert  and  Carroll. 
Served  as  Supervisor  three  years  in  suc- 
cession ;  on  the  5th  of  November,  of  the 
present  year,  was  elected  to  the  State  Leg- 
islature on  the  Republican  ticket. 

WILLIAM  MASON,  farmer  (deceased). 
Sec.  25 ;  P.  0.  Peotone ;  born  in 
Northamptonshire,  England,  Dec.  14, 
1815  ;  was  raised  a  farmer ;  at  the  age  of 
20,  he  entered  the  British  army ;  he  joined 
the  llth  Hussars  (Prince  Albert's  own 
regiment)  ;  he  served  nearly  five  years. 
Was  married  twice — first,  to  Fanny  Farrer 
in  1843;  she  was  born  in  England  Nov. 
17,  1818,  and  died  Sept.  4,  1862  ;  by  this 
union  they  had  nine  children — Denny,  Sa- 
rah, Joseph,  Mary  (the  two  latter  deceased), 
William,  Joseph  and  Mary  (twins,  named 
after  the  two  deceased),  Esther  and  Fanny. 
Came  to  this  State  in  1849;  stopped  near 
Oswego  one  year;  in  1850  came  here  and 
settled  where  he  resided  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  sad  event  occurred  Nov.  29, 
1875  ;  his  second  marriage  was  with  Jane 
Temple  April  25,  1864;  she  was  born 
July  3, 1826,  in  Bennington,  Vt.  Denny 
was  in  the  U.  S.  Navy,  and  served  three 
years  under  Commodore  Porter ;  during 
the  greater  portion  of  his  time  he  was  on 
the  gunboat  Black  hawk  ;  was  with  her 
when  she  burned  ;  he  was  then  sent  to  the 
Eastern  Department  and  remained  ther£ 
until  his  muster-out  at  the  end  of  the  war. 
Mrs.  Mason  had  three  brothers  in  the  Union 
army  during  the  late  war;  one  died  in 
Andersonville  ;  his  name  was  Ira. 

SAMUEL  G.  NELSON, farmer,  Sec.  3  • 
P.  0.  Wallingford  ;  owns  105  acres  ;  born  in 


904 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  : 


Winchester,  Randolph  Co.,  Ind.,  May  8, 
1827;  resided  in  that  State  with  his 
parents  until  1846  ;  then  to  this  town  the 
25th  of  December,  1846.  Married  twice; 
first  to  Abigail  Meacham,  who  died  Aug. 
29,  1854,  aged  24 ;  left  one  child— Eliza- 
beth H.,  born  in  September,  1853  ;  she 
now  lives  with  her  father ;  is  a  school 
teacher;  his  second  marriage  was  with 
Sarah  A.  Thomas  May  1, 1856  ;  have  had 
six  children — Celia  Jane,  born  July  1, 
1857  ;  William  T.,  born  May  21,  1859, 
died  Aug.  24,  1873,  from  injuries  re- 
ceived from  the  kick  of  a  horse ;  Sarah 
Ellen,  Oct.  28,  1861 ;  Mary  M.,  born 
Oct.  8,  1866  ;  James  M.,  Jan.  1,  1872  ; 
Laura  B.,  Nov.  29,  1875.  Enlisted  in 
August,  1862,  in  the  100th  I.  V.  I.,  as 
private ;  elected  First  Lieutenant  at  the 
organization  of  the  regiment,  August, 
1862 ;  promoted  to  Captain  Nov.  21, 
1863,  and  to  Major  March  24,  1865; 
served  full  term ;  in  all  the  principal  bat- 
.tles  in  which  his  regiment  was  engaged, 
including  Stone  River,  Missionary  Ridge, 
Atlanta  campaign  and  Franklin ;  was 
badly  wounded  at  Missionary  Ridge,  in 
the  left  hip  ;  carried  the  ball  three  days  ; 
it  was  extracted,  and  hd  now  has  it  in  his 
possession.  Held  the  office  of  Supervisor 
five  years,  which  office  he  now  holds ;  has 
held  the  office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace 
about  seven  years. 

JOHN  POOLEY,  veterinary  surgeon 
and   farmer,   Sec.    13;    P.    0.   Peotone. 
Methodist;  Republican.    Owns  120  acres. 
Born  in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  England, 
June  6,  1808  ;  served  apprenticeship  as  a 
blacksmith,   and   studied   veterinary   sur- 
gery ;  he  practiced  the  latter  in  England, 
and  also  in  this   country,   with    success. 
Married  Mary  Miller  Nov.  12,  1830,  in 
Methwold,  England ;  she  was  born  Feb. 
4,  1810.     Mr.  P.  came  to  this  country  in 
1855  ;  lived  in   Oswego,  this   State,  six 
years  ;  then  to  the  place  where  he  now  re- 
sides.    They  have   had  twenty  children, 
fourteen  of  whom  lived  to  grow  up ;  four 
of  those  fourteen  are  now  dead,  viz.,  Will-  | 
iam,  Martha,  John  and  Julia ;  the  names  | 
of  those  living  at  present  are  Clara,  Mary,  , 
Ellen,  Sarah,  Mariah,  Susan,  Bessie,  Rob-  ! 
ert,  Sophia  and  Emma  ;  John  was  a  sol-  ! 
dier  in  the  late  war ;  he  was  a  member  of 
Co.  A,  127th  I.  V.  I. ;  he  died  in  the  hos-  ; 
pital  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  March  18,  186)5; 


William  was  also  a  member  of  the  same 
company,  and  served  in  all  the  principal 
engagements  which  the  regiment  was  en- 
gaged in  up  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  July  28, 1864,  on  the  right 
of  Atlanta  ;  he  was  killed  by  a  chain-shot 
striking  him  in  the  side ;  William  was  a 
true  soldier,  and  his  loss  was  deeply  felt  by 
all  of  his  comrades ;  he  was  personally 
known  by  the  writer  of  this  sketch,  who 
was  also  a  member  of  the  same  regiment, 
and  was  near  him  when  befell;  William's 
remains,  also  the  remains  of  a  young  man 
from  Oswego,  of  the  name  of  Murdoch 
(who  was  in  the  same  company  and  fell  in 
the  same  battle),  were  buried  side  by  side 
in  one  grave,  and  covered  by  the  bloody 
ground  where  they  fell. 

FREDERICK  ROBBINS,  farmer,  Sec. 
8 ;  P.  0.  Wilton  Center.  Liberal  Repub- 
lican. Owns  164  acres  in  Wilton  Tp.; 
also  200  acres  in  Wayne  Co.,  Iowa.  Born 
in  Pennsylvania  May  15,  1812 ;  when 
4  years  old,  went  with  parents  to  Ohio ; 
resided  there  until  he  was  22 ;  then  to 
Indiana ;  stopped  there  fourteen  years ; 
then  to  Michigan  four  years ;  then  to  this 
town  in  1851 ;  stopped  at  Twelve-Mile 
Grove  the  first  winter,  then  to  the  place 
where  he  now  resides.  Married  Nancy  M.. 
Woodward  March  9,  1843;  she  was  born 
in  Pennsylvania  Sept.  18,  1818  ;  have  had 
seven  children,  four  now  living — Kate, 
Isaac,  William  and  Fanny;  the  names  of 
those  that  died  were  John,  David  and  Ed- 
ward. Oliver  Sanford,  a  boy  raised  in  the 
family,  was  a  soldier  in  the  2d  Wis.  V.  I., 
and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Antietam. 
Mr.  R.  has  held  the  offices  of  Road  Com- 
missioner and  School  Director. 

WILLIAM  E.  TEMPLE,  farmer,  Sec. 
34 ;  P.  0.  Wilton  Center.  Owns  120  acres. 
Born  in  Madison  Co.,  N.  Y.,  May  6,  1833  ; 
came  to  this  State  in  1853  ;  settled  in  this 
town  in  1856 ;  served  as  a  soldier  in  the 
late  war  in  Co.  H,  100th  I.  V.  I.  Mar- 
ried Jane  Robinson  March  5,  1867;  she 
was  born  March  19,  1839 ;  have  five  chil- 
dren— Ervin  I.,  Otis  M.,  Farmer  E.,  Cora 
A.  and  Frances  A.  Mr.  T.  was  badly 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Chickamauga, 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  will  probably 
never  recover ;  his  health  has  been  very 
poor  ever  since.  Mr.  T.  had  a  brother  in 
the  same  company  and  regiment ;  he  was 
taken  prisoner  the  same  day  that  the  sub- 


WASHINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


905 


jeet  of  this  sketch  was  wounded,  and  sent 
to  Andersonville ;  after  suffering  nine 
months  in  that  prison-pen  he  died,  thus 
adding  another  name  to  the  long  list  of 
martyrs  of  human  liberty.  James  T. 
Douglas,  a  nephew  of  the  above,  was  also 
in  the  same  company  and  regiment ;  he 
was  wounded  June  3,  1864,  during  the 
Atlanta  campaign ;  was  sent  to  the  hospital, 
and  remained  there  until  his  muster-out ; 
he  was  drowned  in  1867  while  bathing  in 
Samuel  Goodspeed's  pasture. 

JOHN  WHITE,  farmer,  Sec.  11 ;  P. 
0.  Wallingford ;  owns  forty-nine  acres ; 
was  born  in  Sligo,  Ireland ;  came  to  this 
country,  with  his  parents,  at  the  age  of  7 ; 
in  September,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the 


42d  I.  V.  I.,  and  served  continuously  with 
the  regiment  until  the  battle  of  Resaca  ;  at 
that  battle  he  lost  his  right  arm  ;  at  that 
time  he  was  First  Sergeant.  Mr.  White's 
name  is  always  mentioned  with  pride  by 
his  brother  soldier ;  up  to  the  time  of 
receiving  his  wound  he  was  always  prompt 
to  the  call  of  duty.  Mr.  W.  was  engaged 
in  the  memorable  siege  of  Island  No.  10, 
Corinth,  Stone  River  and  Chickamauga. 
Mr.  W.,  since  the  war,  married  Mary,  a 
daughter  of  John  Malone,  Esq. ;  they 
have  .seven  children — Margaret,  Lizzie, 
John,  Annie,  James,  Mary  and  Luke. 
Mr.  W.  is  engaged  in  farming,  which  bus- 
iness he  has  been  engaged  in  since  the  war. 


WASHINGTON    TOWNSHIP. 


JOHN  HACK,  merchant,  Eagle  Lake  ; 
was  born  at  Hohen  Vicheln,  State  of 
Mecklenburg,  Germany,  Sept.  1,  1825; 
came  to  America  in  1864,  and  located  in 
Washington  Tp.,  four  miles  south  of 
Beecher,  on  a  farm  of  160  acres,  which  he 
still  owns.  Was  appointed  Postmaster  of 
Eagle  Lake  Postoffice  in  May,  1878. 
Married  Miss  Sophia  Liit  in  March,  1852  ; 
the  names  of  their  children  are  as  follows: 
Herman,  Henry,  Carl  or  Charles,  Frank 
and  Emma. 

SAMUEL  LOEBSTEIN,  merchant  and 
stock  dealer,  Beecher  ;  was  born  in  Jeben- 
hausen,  State  of  Wurtemberg,  Germany, 
Feb.  13,  1830  ;  came  to  America  in  1860  ; 
stopped  in  Dyer,  Lake  Co.,  Ind.,ten  years, 
where  he  dealt  in  live-stock  ;  then  he  came 
to  Washington  Tp.,  where  he  has  remained 
ever  since,  following  his  present  business. 
In  1870,  he  married  Miss  Anna  Hess,  the 
oldest  daughter  of  Mr.  L.  Hess,  the  former 
proprietor  of  the  Hess  House,  Chicago  ; 
Emma  and  Fannie  are  the  names  of  their 
infant  children.  Mr.  Loebstein  owns  a 
well-improved  farm  of  eighty  acres,  two 
and  one-half  miles  southeast  of  Beecher. 

TIMOTHY  L.  MILLER,  cattle- 
breeder  ;  P.  0.  Beecher ;  Mr.  Timothy  L. 
Miller,  Hereford  cattle-breeder,  was  born 
in  Middletown,  Conn.,  April  7,  1817  ; 
moved  to  Cuyahoga  Falls,  Ohio,  in  1842, 
and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  paper ; 


moved  to  Chicago  in  1856,  and  engaged  in 
the  insurance  business  till  1870,  when  he 
moved  to  Washington  Tp.,  where  he  now 
resides  upon  his  stock-farm  of  about  eight 
hundred  acres  and  pursues  the  breeding  of 
fine  stock.  The  town  of  Beecher  was  laid 
out  by  him  in  spring  of  1870.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Abigail  Starr  Elliott  March  2, 
1842,  in  Middletown,  Conn. ;  she  was  born 
at  Gilead,  Conn.,  Sept.  29,  1819,  and  died 
in  Chicago,  Feb.  14,  1858  ;  they  had  five 
children,  four  living — Catharine  E.,  born 
Oct.  6.  1843  (now  Mrs.  G.  B.  Woodward,  of 
St.  Paul,  Minn.);  Abby  E.  (now  Mrs. 
Frank  Gould,  of  Chicago),  born  April  12, 
1846  ;  Mary  P.,  born  Jan.  3,  1848  (now 
Mrs.  A.  C.  Reed,  of  Evanston)  ;  Timothy 
E.  born  Sept.  23,  1850  ;  one  deceased^ 
Henry  Charles,  born  Feb.  7,  1858,  died 
Jan.  3,  1861.  Married  second  wife,  Miss 
Anna  E.  Hodges,  at  Rockford,  111.,  June 
6,  1861  ;  she  was  born  at  Clarendon,  Vt., 
July  22,  1828  ;  one  child  by  her— Abby 
Hodges,  born  here  July  16,  1865,  died 
Aug.  2,  1865. 

LOUIS  METTERHAUSEN,  teacher, 
Beecher;  proprietor  of  the  Metterhausen 
Hotel ;  was  born  in  Gilten,  State  of  Han- 
over, Germany,  Jan.  21,  1840;  taught 
school  in  the  above  State  and  in  the  city  of 
Bremen ;  came  to  the  United  States  in 
1865,  landing  at  New  York  ;  followed  his 
profession  in  the  States  till  at  last  he  loca- 


906 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES: 


ted  in  Washington  Tp.  in  1869,  at  what 
is  now  known  as  Beecher ;  was  its  first 
Postmaster,  conducting  a  general  store  at 
the  same  time,  till  18*75  ;  since  then  he  has 
followed  his  present  vocation.  Married 
Miss  Mina  Klusmeyer  May  6, 1871 ;  Carl, 
their  oldest,  was  born  April  6,  1872; 
Charlotte  was  born  Feb.  9,  1876. 

CHARLES  F.  RUDEN,  physician 
and  surgeon,  Beecher  ;  was  born  in  Prussia, 
near  Berlin,  Jan.  26,  1832 ;  received  edu- 
cation at  the  University  of  Berlin,  which 


institution  conferred  the  title  of  M.  D. 
upon  him  in  1854;  came  to  America  in 
1855,  stopping  at  New  York  City  one  year; 
located  in  Will  Co.  in  1857,  where  he  has 
been  practicing  homeopathy  ever  since; 
he  also  keeps  the  largest  stock  of  drugs  in 
Beecher.  Was  married  to  Louisa  Shilling 
in  1866  ;  she  only  lived  till  1869.  Mar- 
ried again  in  1870  to  Miss  Ida  Wagener  at 
Frankfort  Station  in  Will  Co.,  Ill;  their 
children  are  Libby,  Eddy,  George  and 
Louisa. 


WILL    TOWNSHIP. 


GEORGE  DENBY,  farmer;  P.  0. 
Monee;  born  May  20,  1816,  in  Yorkshire, 
Eng.,  where  he  lived  until  1852,  when  he 
came  to  the  United  States,  and,  after  living 
a  short  time  in  Kankakee  Co.,  he  settled  in 
Cook  Co.,  111.,  where  he  lived  until  the 
spring  of  1869,  when  he  moved  to  his 
present  home  on  his  farm ;  he  was  en- 
gaged on  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  a 
large  portion  of  the  first  twenty-two  years 
after  he  came  to  this  country.  He  was 
married  Dec.  23,  1844,  to  Miss  Anne 
Athern,  of  Yorkshire,  England;  their 
children  now  living  are  Emma,  Charles, 
Amy  and  Robert ;  his  wife,  Anne,  died  in 
1863,  and,  on  May  28,  1864,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Mrs.  Jane  Jackson,  daughter  of 
John  Daft,  of  Staffordshire,  England  ;  they 
have  four  children — Almira,  Maggie,  Ada 
A.,  and  George.  Mrs.  Jackson  had,  when 
married  to  Mr.  Denby,  two  children — 
Lucy  R.  and  Annie  Jackson.  He  has  a 
good  farm  of  160  acres,  valued  at  $8,000. 

JAMES  DOOCY,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Peo- 
tone ;  born  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  Nov.  30. 
1853 ;  when  but  2  years  old,  his  parents 
removed  with  him  to  Grundy  Co.,  this 
State,  and  afterward  brought  him  to  this 


county,  where  he  has  lived  since  his  child- 
hood. Was  married  July  27,  1874,  to 
Johanna  Hurley,  who  was  born  in  Cork, 
Ireland,  in  1857  ;  they  have  two  children 
— Willie  and  Julia. 

CHARLES  J.  O'NEIL,  farmer  and 
fine-stock  breeder;  P.  0.  Peotone ;  born 
in  the  township  of  Alban,  Canada  West, 
March  6,  1839;  in  early  childhood  he  re- 
moved with  his  parents  to  Chicago,  111., 
where  they  remained  about  two  years  and 
thenmoved  to  Kane  Co.,  111. ;  here  spent 
some  seventeen  years  of  his  life  when  he 
returned  to  Chicago,  where  he  lived  until 
the  fall  of  1873  ;  he  then  removed  to  his 
present  home,  "  Wide  Range  Farm,"  which 
he  had  purchased  the  spring  before  ;  this 
is  a  splendid  high  rolling  prairie  farm  of 
640  acres  (being  Sec.  20),  with  fine  build- 
ings, and  beautifully,  centrally  located  on 
a  high  knoll,  overlooking  the  whole  farm 
and  giving  a  fine  view  of  a  wide  surround- 
ing country.  Was  married  April  26, 1872, 
to  Miss  Mary  J.  McDonough,  of  Ottawa, 
111.,  who  was  born  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  March 
17,  1848  ;  they  have  three  children — 
Mary  d,  Daniel  C.  and  John. 


DIRECTORY  OF  REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS. 


act 

Bapt  

I..  Baptist 

lab  

bkpr         

Meth  

Methodist 

bwr  

brewer 

mfr  

manufacturer 

Cath  

Catholic 

mech  

elk 

Ch  

Co 

Prflsh  

dlr  

RPD  

Rev  

Ind 

I  V  I  

I  V  C 

gpjr      

Spiritualist 

I  V   A  

far  

JOLIET    TOWNSHIP. 

(P.  0.  JOLTET.) 


Abrams,  Henry,  engineer. 

Abrams,  Henry,  laborer. 

Achenbach,  Henry,  cigar  manufacturer. 

Adler,  P.  P.,  butcher. 

Adler,  Jasper,  butcher. 

Adler,  Jacob,  butcher. 

Adams,  Anna  E. 

Adams,  Mecagah  L.,  grain. 

Adam,  Wm.,  wire-fence  manufacturer. 

Adams,  Wm.,  lumber  dealer. 

Adams,  W.  L.,  grain  dealer. 

Adelman,  Peter,  merchant. 

Adderly,  William. 

Allison,  A.,  printer. 

Alpaugh,  J.,  laborer. 

Alpine,  Fanny. 

Alfrick,  F.,  blacksmith. 

Alexander,  M.,  General  Roadmaster. 

Albright,  Christ  F. 

Allen,  B.  F. 

Ammerson,  Christian.   . 

Amos,  Washington. 

Anderson,  Thomas. 

Andrews,  A.,  laborer. 

Anderson,  C.  A.,  laborer. 

Anderson,  Peter,  laborer. 

Anderson,  S.,  tanner. 

Andrews,  A. 

Apgar,  M.  Lewis. 

Arnstein,  Frederick,  mason. 

Arsenmacher,  Henry. 


Arnold,  G.,  grocer. 

Assenmacher,  Henry,  mason. 

Ashley,  J.  B. 

Atkins,  A.  W. 

Atkinson,  Wm.,  hotel  proprietor. 

Austin,  Horace. 

Ayres,  H.  H. 

Bakewell,  William. 

Barker,  Peter,  laborer. 

Bassam,  Thomas. 

Bartlow,  Wm.,  carpenter. 

Bacon,  R.  J. 

Bangman,  John. 

Barney,  Amanda. 

Barney,  Edward,  Sun  office. 

Barton,  J.  T.,  barber. 

Barton,  Janette  E. 

Baer,  D.  C.,  grocer. 

Bassett,  William,  farmer. 

Baehm,  Conrad,  stone-cutter. 

Barber,  O. 

Barber,  Francis  C. 

Barber.  R,.  E.,  attorney. 

Bauer,  Win.,  laborer. 

Bauer,  N.  N.,  laborer. 

Bartlett,  Roxanna. 

Baker,  John,  laborer.    . 

Baker,  F.  L.,  laborer. 

Baker,  L.  S.,  insurance  agent. 

Baldwin,  Jesse,  farmer. 

Baldwin,  H.  B. 

1(5 


910 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


13ursjm,  Thomas. 

Bartholme,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Bartholme,  Martin,  laborer. 

Bafthelome,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Bannon,  M.  W.,  stone  dealer. 

Bannon,  P.  R.,  merchant. 

Bannon,  P.  W.,  grocer. 

Barnes,  Henry,  laborer. 

Barnes,  Nathaniel,  farmer. 

Barnes,  Henry,  laborer. 

Barnes,  James,  laborer. 

Bailey,  Leon  R.,  tailor. 

Bailey,  F.  K. 

Bailey,  Fredrick,  laborer. 

Barrett,  Thomas. 

Barrett,  Wm.  F.,  hardware. 

Barrett,  Ann. 

Barrett,  Jesse,  laborer. 

Barrett,  Miles  S.,  blacksmith. 

Becker,  John. 

Bernard,  Burns. 

Belz,  John. 

Bevitch,  George  W. 

Beuttenmuller,  Carlina. 

Berow,  Lewis,  farmer. 

Bergel,  Michael,  farmer. 

Berger,  Thomas  L.,  farmer. 

Bez,  Margaret,  Mrs. 

Belles,  Charles. 

Besmins,  Nicholas. 

Bedford,  J.,  engineer. 

Bierscheidt,  Bernard,  saloon-keeper. 

Beamer,  Gasher,  laborer. 

Bergan,  Martha. 

Benzen,  Catharine. 

Bean,  John. 

Bettylyon,  A.  J.,  plasterer. 

Bennett,  Henry  B.,  liveryman. 

Bennett,  Matthew,  laborer. 

Bennett,  George,  weaver. 

Beldeu,  Samuel  O.,  laborer. 

Bear,  Dawson  C. 

Bears,  Charles,  carpenter. 

Berry,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Berry,  Catharine. 

Beach,  G.  R.,  laborer. 

Beach  A.  E. 

Bickford,  J.  W.,  carpenter. 

Billings,  Herman,  laborer. 

Bierscheidt,  Bart,  laborer. 

Birgel,  Michael,  farmer. 

Birgel,  Francis,  laborer. 

Bigin,  Ann. 

Bissell,  M.  C.,  capitalist. 

Bissell,  A.  A.,  machinist. 

Bickerton,  John  R. 

Bishop,  Wm.  W.,  lumber  dealer. 

Bishop,  J.  M.,  lumber  dealer. 

Blatchford,  E.  W. 

Blackburn,  John,  carpenter. 

Bleimeich,  H. 

Black,  James,  keeper  in  I.  S.  P. 

Blaesser,  Louis,  carpenter. 

Blume),  Jos.,  saloon-keeper. 

Blaas,  Xavier,  saddler. 

Boyd,  Mary  E.,  farmer. 

Bond,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Boerser,  Adam,  laborer. 


Bowers,  Jacob  L. 

Bowers,  Uriah. 

Bowers,  Wm.,  carpenter. 

Boos,  Jeremiah,  mason. 

Botch,  Jacob,  laborer. 

Botch,  Jacob, 

Bowlan,  James,  baker. 

Bowlan,  James,  laborer. 

Bowlan,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Boyle,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Bover,  Norman,  laborer. 

Boylan,  R.  G.,  laborer. 

Boran,  Philip. 

Boyne,  Delia. 

Bowman,  John  A.,  blacksmith. 

Boehme,  Hugo,  engineer. 

Boas,  E.  A.,  prison  guard. 

Brinkerhoff,  M. 

Bradbury,  W.  H.,  laborer. 

Brockman,  Christ,  laborer. 

Brevitz,  A.  J.,  laborer. 

Brahm,  Adam,  stone-cutter. 

Braden,  Jane. 

Brooks,  W.  S.,  hardware  merchant. 

Brooks,  W.  A.  S.,  hardware. 

Bray  ton,  H.  M. 

Brandzer,  John,  laborer. 

Brownson,  David. 

Braun,  Joseph,  saloon-keeper. 

Braun,  C.  C.,  marble-cutter. 

Brophy,  Mary. 

Brison,  Hiram,  laborer. 

Bressingham,  John,  laborer. 

Breidert,  Jacob,  mason. 

Bridert,  Catharine. 

Breidert,  Philip,  mason. 

Brannon,  Dominick. 

Brannon,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Bruce,  James,  farmer. 

Bru.ce,  Mary. 

Brackan,  Daniel. 

Bray,  Mary. 

Bray,  Ellen. 

Bray,  Edward  M.,  druggist. 

Brazil,  Philip,  farmer. 

Brockway,  Henry  S.,  carpenter. 

Bradford,  Chauncey. 

Briggs,  Samuel. 

Brightman,  James  P.,  laborer. 

Brown,  Oliver,  laborer. 

Brown,  Harriet. 

Brown?  J.  D.,  druggist. 

Brown,  Lewis,  cigar-maker. 

Brown,  Nancy  Ann. 

Brown,  R.  S.,  carpenter. 

Brown,  Warren. 

Brown,  S.  J.,  carpenter. 

Brown,  Joseph,  saloon-keeper. 

Brown,  John,  tanner. 

Brown,  Max,  saloon-keeper. 

Brown,  Cornelia. 

Brown,  Margaret. 

Brown,  S.,  farmer. 

Brown,  Erastus,  teamster. 

Brown,  F.  C.,  druggist. 

Bust,  Jannette. 

Burson,  T.  C. 

Burchard,  John. 


JOL1ET  TOWNSHIP. 


911 


Butterman,  John. 

Busk,  C.  H.,  butcher. 

Busk,  John  E. 

Burden,  Alex,  tailor. 

Button,  Henry  J.,  railroad  conductor. 

Burton,  Byron  B.,  carpenter. 

BuhiU,  Martin,  laborer. 

Burns,  Robert,  blacksmith. 

Burns,  Thomas,  blacksmith. 

Buckley,  Michael,  laborer. 

Bunzy,  Leroy. 

Butler,  John,  shoemaker. 

Butler,  Catherine. 

Bush,  Frank,  butcher. 

Bush,  Charles  H.,  butcher. 

Bush,  Harriet. 

Bush,  Harriet,  Mi's. 

Bush,  C.  H. 

Buck,  Henry,  saddler. 

Buck,  Michael,  saddler. 

Buck,  John  E. 

Burke,  Thomas. 

Burke,  James,  laborer. 

Burke,  Bernard,  liveryman. 

Burke,  Bridget. 

Byron,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Campbell,  George,  stone  dealer. 

Campbelle,  J.  H.,  carpenter. 

Campbell,  B.,  farmer. 

Campbelle,  George  M.,  clerk. 

Campbell,  Hugh,  laborer. 

Cavanaugh,  Pat,  laborer. 

Cammerman,  Ann. 

Caton,  Wm.  P. 

Carlin,  Mary. 

Carlin,  Wm.  H. 

Calbert,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Carty,  Timothy. 

Cassan,  George  L.,  laborer. 

Carrens,  Michael. 

Caren,  James,  laborer. 

Carey,  H. 

Carter,  John. 

Carpenter,  Henrietta. 

Carpenter,  E.  D.,  Mrs. 

Carpenter,  Philo,  capitalist. 

Carson,  James,  grocer. 

Calmer,  Elizabeth. 

Callais,  James,  laborer. 

Cameron,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Canella,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Calvin,  P.,  laborer. 

Calhpun,  A.  M. 

Carrington,  Henry,  laborer. 

Carrington,  Henry. 

Carson,  Eliza. 

Callahan,  Michael,  laborer. 

Callahan,  Math. 

Casey,  Ada. 

Casey,  Ada  J. 

Casey,  August,  laborer. 

Casey,  John  R.,  Dr. 

Casseday,  H.  C. 

Casseday,  G.  W. 

Casseday,  Francis,  stone  dealer. 

Cagwin,  H.  A. 

Cagwin,  F.  L.,  banker. 

Cagwin,  F.  L.,  grain  dealer. 


Cagwin,  Abijah,  grain  dealer. 

Cantrill,  L.  M.,  clerk. 

Carroll,  Jane  A. 

Carroll,  Richard. 

Cimmerman,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Chandler,  D.  F. 

Chapman,  Henry  W. 

Chapman,  Permelia. 

Chidsey,  John. 

Chidsey,  Isaac,  laborer. 

Chittenden,  G.  N.,  merchant. 

Check,  Margareth. 

Charlston,  Mary. 

Chesbro,  L.,  laborer. 

Chase,  E.  T. 

Childs,  R.  M.,  agent. 

Chamberlin,  George,  undertaker. 

Clark,  H.,  conductor. 

Clark,  Warren  F. 

Clark,  William,  laborer. 

Clark,  John  W. 

Clark,  Warren. 

Clark,  B.  B.,  merchant. 

Clark,  R.  D.,  wagon-maker. 

Clvde,  John,  farmer. 

Clifford,  Cath. 

Clifford,  Jolm,  farmer. 

Cleveland,  M.  C. 

Cleverdon,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Clemens,  M.  M. 

Clear,  John,  laborer. 

Clarkson,  John,  carpenter. 

Clayes,  Levi  M.,  capitalist. 

Cleghorn,  Ed,  tanner. 

Coll  in,  Scott. 

Collins,  Frank,  laborer. 

Collins,  Isaac,  laborer. 

Collins,  Peter,  blacksmith. 

Collins,  Edward,  clerk. 

Collins,  Jos.,  laborer. 

Collins,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Collins,  Anna. 

Cowley,  Nicholas,  laborer. 

Cochrane,  Michael,  laborer. 

Coon  an,  Ed,  laborer. 

Conlan,  Ann. 

Condroy,  William,  laborer. 

Cornwall,  A.  B.,  farmer. 

Colburn,  S.  A. 

Collmrn,  T.  P.,  hardware  merchant. 

Coon,  Ezra  8. 

Coughlin,  Michael,  laborer. 

Con  way,  Jane. 

Cobb,  W.  H.,  watchmaker. 

Conroy,  John,  laborer. 

Conroy,  Thomas. 

Cornstalk,  Adam,  surveyor. 

Cornstalk,  Esther. 

Corcoran,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Corcoran,  James,  laborer. 

Corcoran,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Coppel,  John. 

Coplanz,  J.  P.,  laborer. 

Connors,  Thomas,  teamster. 

Connors,  James,  laborer. 

Conklin,  R.,  Mrs. 

Cornell,  James  L.,  rag-buyer. 

Cornea,  Jeremiah. 


912 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Cotton,  J.  E. 

Coke,  Henry  W.,  collar-maker. 
Cooper,  A.  J . 
Cooper,  John. 

Cook,  Nathan,  stone-mason. 
Cook,  M.  L.,  liveryman. 
Cox,  Michael,  laborer. 
Cox,  Daniel,  brewer. 
Crandall,  Jane. 
Creed,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Creder,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Cronin,  John,  laborer. 
Cross,  Ellen  C. 
Crogwell,  John,  laborer. 
Crogwell,  John,  Sr.,  farmer. 
Crogwell,  John,  Jr.,  farmer. 
Crow,  James,  laborer. 
Crow,  Henry. 
Crow,  James,  laborer. 
Crowley,  Emma  E. 
Cuff,  Sarah. 
Cullen,  James,  laborer. 
Cummings,  Eliza. 
Cummings,  S.  W.,  farmer. 
Culver,  J.  J.,  butcher. 
Curry,  John,  farmer. 
Culbertson,  Thomas,  laborer! 
Culbertson,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Cunningham,  George,  laborer. 
Cunningham,  Michael,  laborer. 
Cunningham,  Ed.,  laborer. 
Cunningham,  Henry,  laborer. 
Custer,  J.  H. 

Cashing,  James,  drayman. 
Curran,  P. 

Curran,  Robert,  laborer. 
Cutter,  Nehemiah  H. 
Curtiss,  Rozanna. 
Cutting,  Jos.  E.,  painter. 
Cutting,  Abigail,  painter. 
Dames,  John,  furniture. 
D'Arcey,  John,  farmer. 
D'Arcy,  John  R.,  farmer. 
Daley,  Patrick.    • 
Daley,  John,  clerk. 
Daggan,  Mary. 
Dalton,  John"  laborer. 
Dalton,  Dennis,  laborer. 
Daniels,  A.,  laborer. 
Dalphias,  Motins,  laborer. 
Darwin,  John,  farmer. 
Dawson,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Dawson,  Michael,  laborer. 
Dawson,  Ann. 
Daggett,  A.,  doctor. 
Dailey,  Eugene,  undertaker. 
Davidson,  Wm.,  stone  dealer. 
Darey,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Davis,  Margaret  E. 
Davis,  Morgan,  laborer. 
Davis,  Elizabeth. 
Davis,  Samuel. 
Davis,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Davis,  John,  laborer. 
Davidson,  George,  laborer. 
Davidson,  Wm.,  stone  dealer. 
Davidson,  Ann. 
Davidson,  Joseph,  stone  dealer. 


De  Long,  Francis,  teamster. 

Dewes,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Demoriey,  Eliza. 

Deitz,  Valentine,  saloon-keeper. 

Deitch,  Lorenzo. 

Demmond,  Sophia. 

Delaney,  John,  laborer. 

Delaney,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Delaney,  A.,  laborer. 

Deline,  J .  M.,  laborer. 

Dever,  Anna. 

Derby,  John. 

Deutch,  F.,  tobacconist. 

Devine,  Margaret. 

Devine,  Patrick. 

Devine,  Barney,  laborer. 

Degman,  Bernard,  engineer. 

Dean,  Wm.  H. 

Dennis,  James  C.,  mason. 

Dishmun,  Rebecca. 

Dingley,  Wm.,  shoemaker. 

Dillman,  L.  E.,  manufacturer. 

Dillman,  W.  S.,  clerk. 

Dickenson,  Ellen. 

Dickson,  James,  laborer. 

Dibell,  Dorrance,  attorney. 

Divine,  Frank,  laborer. 

Dillon,  John,  farmer. 

Dillon,  Barney,  laborer. 

Dillon,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Downey,  J.  B.,  blacksmith. 

Downey,  Thomas,  blacksmith. 

Downey,  Peter,  blacksmith. 

Downy,  Martha. 

Dobson,  Michael,  carpenter. 

Doyle,  J.,  laborer. 

Doyle,  Michael,  laborer. 

Doyle,  Ann. 

Doyle,  John,  blacksmith. 

Donally,  Simon,  farmer. 

Donnelly,  James,  labor. 

Donnelly,  Timothy,  farmer. 

Donnelly,  Bridget. 

Doney,  Sophia. 

Doolittle,  R.,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Doag,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Doll,  Jonathan,  laborer. 

Dougherty,  Charles. 

Dougherty,  Bernard,  laborer. 

Dolan,  Martin. 

Donahue,  Timothy,  laborer. 

Doney,  Napoleon,  peddler. 

Doran,  Mrs. 

Dorman,  Henry,  laborer. 

Donaldson,  Mrs. 

Doud,  James,  laborer. 

Doud,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Drant,  Albert,  shoemaker. 

Drant,  Ellen. 

Dressier,  Valentine. 

Dressier,  Hellen. 

Drew,  Caroline. 

Drew,  Edward  M. 

Drinkhon,  John. 

Draidsden,  George,  laborer. 

Dromgham,  August,  laborer. 

Dunbar,  A.  P. 

Ducker,  James,  merchant. 


JOL1ET  TOWNSHIP. 


913 


Duffy,  Michael,  laborer. 

Dullard,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Dummermoth,  J.  H.,  Street  Com. 

Dummennoth,  Hannah. 

Duncan,  John. 

Duncan,  E.,  Mrs. 

Duncan,  David,  laborer. 

Dunning,  A.  S.,  merchant. 

Dunning,  Margaret. 

Dunham,  John. 

Dunn,  Michael. 

Du  Puy,  Caroline. 

Du  Puy,  M. 

Duratti,  E. 

Durham,  John,  laborer. 

Durham,  John. 

Dwyre,  Michael,  laborer. 

Dygert,  Abram,  gardener. 

Dyer,  George  K. 

Eagen,  Ann. 

Eames,  E.  H. 

Eastman,  F.  L. 

Ebner,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Edwards,  James  L.,  laborer. 

Edmunds,  J.  W.,  blacksmith. 

Edgworth,  Ab.  B.,  agent. 

Eder,  Henry,  brewer. 

Eich,  Peter,  farmer. 

Eicholzer,  Emil,  carpenter. 

Eick,  Peter,  farmer. 

Eich  off,  Aug.,  saloon-keeper. 

Elwood,  J.  G.,  Mayor. 

Ellis,  A.  N.,  doctor. 

Elderkin,  Joseph. 

Elderkin,  Jeptha. 

Engler,  Paul. 

Engler,  Philip,  farmer. 

Engiman,  John,  farmer. 

Enright,  M. 

English,  John. 

Erhard,  John,  farmer. 

Erhard,  James,  laborer. 

Erhardt,  George  C.,  agricul.  implements. 

Erb,  Wm.,  groceries. 

Erb,  Pantalone,  saloon-keeper. 

Erickson,  E.,  carpenter. 

Etheridge,  Edmond,  laborer. 

Evans,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Evans,  Josiah. 

Eyle,  John. 

Farrell,  P.,  laborer. 

Fahrman,  M.,  butcher. 

Fanning,  Henry,  saloon-keeper. 

Farrington,  Mrs. 

Farget,  P. 

Frasee,  Bernard,  stone-mason. 

Fay,  Barney,  laborer. 

Fay,  Matthew,  laborer. 

Fay,  John,  laborer. 

Fahrner,  J.,  doctor. 

Fant,  Patrick,  grocer. 

Fagoberg,  P.  A.,  laborer. 

Fahay,  Patrick,  saloon-keeper. 

Faroow,  John,  laborer. 

Farley,  Elizabeth. 

Farley,  Philip,  laborer. 

Faust,  Fred.,  butcher. 

Fellows,  Lucy  A. 


Fellrath,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Fender,  Joseph,  Jr.,  laborer. 
Fender,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Ferris,  James,  printer. 
Fettelhohn,  T. 
Fetz,  Michael,  mason. 
Ferguson,  John,  laborer. 
Fell,  Jesse  W.,  laborer. 
Fiddler,  James,  laborer. 
Finney,  James. 
Fish,  Henry,  banker. 
Fiske,  O.  W. 

Fitzgerald,  Thomas,  laborer. 
Fjshburn,  Dan.,  capitalist. 
Fishburn,  John. 
Finerty,  Mary. 
Finnerty,  James  W.,  laborer. 
Fisher,  Eberhardt. 
Fisher,  Prosper,  laborer. 
Fitzpatrick,  Alice. 
Fitzpatrick,  Patrick,  farmer. 
Fitzpatrick,  James. 
Flack,  Mortimer  A. 
Flask,  J.  J. 

Flackscham,  Louis,  boatman. 
Flager,  Catharine. 
Flaught,  Geo.  W.,  carpe/iter. 
Flannagan,  Terrance,  laborer.. 
Flanders,  J.  R.,  State's  Attorney. 
Flood,  Honora. 
Fodack,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Fogle,  Jacob,  laborer. 
Foley,  T.  H.,  laborer. 
Foley,  John  H.,  laborer. 
Folke,  J.  W.,  physician. 
Folker,  R.,  Mrs. 
Follansbee,  Daniel,  laborer. 
Fonda,  Abram,  laborer. 
Foot,  Sam.,  book-keeper. 
Ford,  Hugh,  laborer. 
Ford,  T.  P.  agent. 
Ford,  D.,  laborer. 
Foster,  Geo.  B. 
Fox,  0.,  merchant. 
Frauenhoff,  Julius,  molder. 
Frederick,  Joseph,  farmer. 
Frederick,  Hilanus,  laborer. 
Frederick,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Frederick,  Peter,  farmer. 
Freeman,  Dennis,  laborer. 
Freeman,  Edmund,  laborer. 
Frey,  Margaret. 
Fromhalz,  F.,  stone-cutter. 
Fuller,  Buel  A.,  attorney. 
Fuller,  G.  W.,  printer. 
Furlong,  Rich.,  saloon-keeper.- 
Furlong,  Michael,  laborer. 
Futrell,  Samuel,  laborer. 
Gable,  Mary. 
Gaffney,  John,  carpenter. 
Gaines,  Thomas,  lalwrer. 
Gainor,  John,  laborer. 
Gallizieri,  Philip,  merchant. 
Galagher,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Gans,  Peter,  laborer. 
Garrett,  Milton,  farmer. 
Garrett,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Garrettson,  Martha, 


914 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY; 


Garber,  Michael,  tanner. 

Garrity,  Christie. 

Gardner,  Henry  A. 

Gardner,  Anna,  Mrs. 

Garnsey,  Charles  B.,  attorney. 

Gatchell,  Antone. 

Gaulden,  James. 

Gavican,  John,  laborer. 

Gerolman,  G.  ST. 

Ghegan,  Ann. 

Ghalager,  Michael. 

Ginther,  John  George. 

Giblin,  Michael,  laborer. 

Gibbons,  Miles,  laborer. 

Gibbon,  Michael. 

Gibson,  James,  laborer. 

Gilbert,  D.  C.,  farmer. 

Giles,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Gilmore,  R. 

Gilleger,  P. 

Gill,  Mary. 

Gillespie,  P.,  laborer. 

Gleason,  John,  laborer. 

Gleason,  John,  Sr.,  laborer. 

Gleason,  Wm.,  grocer. 

Glass,  Lydia. 

Glepman,  August. 

Glenforick,  A.,  laborer. 

Godfrey,  Austin,  carpenter. 

Goebel,  Anthony,  tanner. 

Goldf uss,  John,  laborer. 

Golden,  James,  laborer. 

Golyer,  Mrs. 

Gougar,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Gooding,  James,  Mrs. 

Goodman,  H. 

Good  enough,  W.  H. 

Goodspeed,  Charles,  banker. 

Goodspeed,  James,  editor  and  proprietor 

Joliet  Republican. 
Gorges,  Mat.,  carpenter. 
Gorges,  John,  shoemaker. 
Gorman,  L. 

Gorman,  James  O.,  merchant. 
Gordon,  Wm. 

Gottschalz,  August,  farmer. 
Gotschell,  Casper,  stone-cutter. 
Gowan,  John,  laborer. 
Grace,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Grady,  Jane. 

Graeber,  Michael,  tanner. 
Grant,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Gras,  Charles,  laborer. 
Gratz,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Gray,  John,  tanner. 
Gray,  Nicholas,  laborer. 
Gray,  James,  laborer. 
Gray,  Mitchell,  laborer. 
Gray,  George,  laborer. 
Gray,  C- 

Gregg,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Green,  Lucy  L. 
Green,  George  L. 
Green,  Hart  D. 
Green,  George  M.,  laborer. 
Green,  John. 
Green,  Edward. 
Greenwood,John,  farmer. 


Grey,  John,  tanner. 

Grey,  Lawrence,  laborer. 

Griffin,  Peter,  laborer. 

Griffin,  James,  laborer. 

Griffin,  William,  laborer. 

Grill,  Charles,  laborer. 

Grinton,  Sarah  A. 

Grinton,  Anna. 

Grinton,  William,  real  estate  agent. 

Gross,  John,  stone-cutter. 

Gross,  Alexander,  stone-cutter. 

Gross,  Arnold,  mason. 

Gross,  Henry,  laborer. 

Gunlpck,  John. 

Gurrison,  Joseph. 

Haughton,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Hammony,  L.  J. 

Hanly,  J. 

Hanley,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Hanley,  Catherine. 

Hausser,  George. 

Hausser,  Simon,  stone  dealer. 

Hausser,  Vincent,  saloon-keeper. 

Hartshorne,  H.,  clerk. 

Hatchman,  Norman,  molder. 

Haven,  Philo. 

Haven,  J.  M. 

Haven,  James,  laborer. 

Hauck,  Gabriel,  tanner. 

Hauck,  Ann  C. 

Hogan,  John,  laborer. 

Hagen,  Henry,  blacksmith. 

Hart,  Mary  Ann. 

Hawkins,  Ed.,  laborer. 

Hayward,  Lewis  J. 

Hartman.  John,  mason. 

Hatch,  E  D.,  woodworker. 

Hartung,  Joseph,  undertaker. 

Hartong,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Hartong,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Halsey,  N.  H. 

Haley,  Jane. 

Haley,  Patrick  C.,  attorney. 

Havanaugh,  T.,  laborer. 

Hand,  Mathew,  dentist. 

Haughton,  P.,  laborer. 

Hartigan,  John,  policeman. 

Hartigan,  Dennis,  laborer. 

Hamill,  Margaret. 

Harney,  Mary. 

Halway,  Charles. 

Hagar,  E.  C-,  attorney. 

Harless,  B.  A. 

Harless,  Mrs. 

Hahnlein,  William,  laborer. 

Halmleun,  Charles,  laborer. 

Hasey,  Charles  O.,  operator. 

Hasey,  Eliza  A. 

Hay,  Mathew. 

Hardy,  Henry,  laborer. 

Hardy,  E.  E. 

Hardy,  Otis,  capitalist. 

Hanson,  John  H.,  attorney. 

Hanson,  J.  W.,  laborer. 

Harris,  Mark. 

Hayes,  William,  watchman. 

Hack,  Christian,  machinist. 

lladsell,  M.  J.,  farmer. 


JOtlET  TOWNSHIP. 


915 


Harrigan,  Mary. 

Hallem,  J.  W.,  laborer. 

Harms,  John. 

Harvey,  Francis,  laborer. 

Hassen,  Michael. 

Hayden,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Hawley,  W.  B. 

Hamilton,  Margaret. 

Hamilton,  Amos,  laborer. 

Hanna,  James  A. 

Hanna,  John,  laborer. 

Harrington,  Michael,  laborer. 

Harrington,  Benjamin. 

Harrington,  P.,  laborer. 

Harrington,  Harriet. 

Harrington,  Henry,  laborer. 

Hamrakan,  William,  laborer. 

Hagan,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Havaland,  Margaret. 

Haviland,  Francis,  livery  stable. 

Herholzer,  Martin,  plasterer. 

Helmel,  S.,  laborer. 

Hennett,  Edward. 

Heise,  A.  W.,  physician. 

Heber,  Albert,  laborer. 

Heatherwick. 

Heatherwick,  John,  farmer. 

Henry,  J. 

Henry,  J.  A.,  capitalist. 

Henderson,  H.,  Mrs. 

Henderson,  J.  E.,  printer. 

Henchen,  August,  stone-cutter. 

Hewer,  Peter,  laborer. 

Hettigan,  C.,  laborer. 

Hearbach,  George,  carpenter. 

Hebert,  Mary  Ann. 

Hebert,  Joseph,  teamster. 

Herbert,  Francis. 

Heal ey,* Ann.  Mrs. 

Hester,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Heintzelman,  David,  engineer. 

Hefferman,  Ellen. 

Heath,  William  J.,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Herschberger,  Daniel,  wagon-maker. 

Hendricks,  D.  P.,  attorney. 

Hennessy,  David,  laborer. 

Hennessy,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Hibner,  John,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Hibner,  James  C.,  farmer. 

Hibner,  F.  A.,  farmer. 

Hibner,  John,  farmer. 

Hibner,  T.  A.,  farmer. 

Hirater,  H.,  farmer. 

Hiner,  Owen,  laborer. 

Higinbotham,  H.  N. 

Higby,  Henry. 

Higbee,  Henry. 

Hill,  Francis  M.,  clerk. 

Hill,  W.  J. 

Hill,  Hellen. 

Hill,  Charles  A.,  attorney. 

Hill,  John  W.,  laborer. 

Hill,  William  S. 

Hills,  Fanny,  Mrs. 

Hills,  John  W.,  boiler-maker. 

Higgins,  Amanda  D. 

Higgins,  Burr,  engineer. 

Hixson,  John,  merchant. 


Hicks,  Obadiah,  laborer. 

Hicks,  Kate. 

Horner,  Jacob,  carpenter. 

Holland,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Holland,  Ellen. 

Hosmer,  G.  H.,  doctor. 

Hoperick,  Peter,  farmer. 

Hollister,  Mary. 

Houghton,  G.  W. 

Hoefner,  A.,  saloon-keeper. 

Hoeffner,  H.,  laborer. 

Hoffner,  Sophia. 

Honerhaw,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Holden,  Frank,  farmer. 

Horan,  Patrick,  Constable. 

Horan,  James,  laborer. 

Horn,  P.,  laborer. 

Hoag,  T.  C.,  laborer. 

Hobbs,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Hobbs,  Perry  J.,  insurance  agent. 

Howk,  Henderson. 

Horks,  Anthony,  tailor. 

Horton,  F.,  laborer. 

Holsworth,  John,  blacksmith. 

Hogan,  Ed.,  laborer. 

Holt,  Frank,  laborer. 

Holderman,  Catharine. 

Hollister,  Mary. 

Hoffman,  Frank,  insurance  agent. 

Hoffer,  Benedict. 

Hoffer,  D.  H. 

House,  R.,  wagon-maker. 

Humphry,  Horace,  founder. 

Hugh,  L.  D.,  laborer. 

Hughes,  Pat.,  laborer. 

Hull,  Nicholas, 

Hull,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Hull,  Cornelia  A. 

Hulbert,  E.,  merchant. 

Hulbert,  E.,  Mrs. 

Hurley,  C.,  clerk. 

Hubbard.  Joseph  S. 

Hubbard,  Wm.  H.,  carpenter. 

Hyde,  George  W.,  miller. 

Hyde,  Mary  J. 

Hyde,  Jonas. 

Hyland,  James,  farmer. 

Hyland,  N.  H.,  farmer. 

Hunter,  Thomas  N. 

Hunt,  John,  brakeman. 

Hunt,  John  J.,  laborer. 

Hutchins,  T.  H.,  attorney. 

Hutchins,  Thomas,  attorney. 

Hutchins,  W.  H.,  farmer. 

Hunter,  Elijah. 

Hurd,  Edward. 

Hummel,  J.  D. 

Humble,  Francis. 

Hurmel,  Nicholas,  brewer. 

Ibald,  Casper,  mason. 

Ingersoll,  Benjamin,  laborer. 

Ingersoll,  T.  H.,  farmer. 

Ingalls,  L.  E.,real  estate. 

Ingersoll,  Hanna  E. 

Jahn,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Jahn,  George,  stone-cutter. 

Jacquer,  Michael,  laborer. 

James,  Wm.,  laborer. 


916 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


.Jacobs,  L.  C.,  painter. 
.Jackson,  Julia  A. 
Jackson,  Fred.  A.,  clerk. 
Jackson,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Jennings,  Ellen. 
Jenkins,  H.  L. 
Jenkins,  James,  laborer. 
Jenks,  David  C. 
Jessen,  C.  P.,  laborer. 
John,  Susanna,  farmer. 
Jones,  George,  cashier. 
Jones,  Willard  F. 
Jones,  George. 
Johnson,  J.T. 
Johnson,  Heinrich. 
Johnson,  A.,  laborer. 
Johnson,  John,  laborer. 
Johnson,  John,  carpenter. 
Johnson,  August. 
Johnson,  Orin,  carpenter. 
Johnson,  R.  S. 
Jugrich,  J.,  laborer. 
Juks,  L.  C. 

Jungler,  Peter,  laborer. 
Kaniger,  John,  farmer. 
Kaeffer,  Kic,  laborer. 
Kaiser,  Herman,  laborer. 
Karen,  J.  M. 
Karen,  P.  A.,  laborer. 
Kueffner,  Adam,  laborer. 
Kachelhoffer,  Michael,  tailor. 
Kachelhoffer,  X.,  tailor. 
Kanne,  James,  laborer. 
Kaffer,  Francis,  teamster. 
Kastner,  C.,  laborer. 
Kastner,  Wm.,  baker. 
Kavenaugh,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Kane,  Ann  B. 
Kane,  Betsey. 
Keyer.  Ed.,  laborer. 
Keeler,  Tobias. 
Keen,  James  C. 
Kenney,  James,  laborer. 
Kennedy,  Michael,,  laborer. 
Keller,  Joseph,  carpenter. 
Keisnerr,  John. 
Keyes,  Edward,  druggist. 
Keegan,  Mary. 
Keegan,  Thomas,  laborer. 
Kerchival,  James  C.,  farmer. 
Keip,  Philip,  saloon-keeper. 
Keir,  James. 

Kessling,  George,  laborer. 
Kerrigan,  Owen,  laborer. 
Kerwm,  Patrick,  farmer. 
Kerwin,  John,  farmer. 
Kelly,  Robert  T.,  Town  Clerk. 
Kelly,  Mary  W. 
Kelly,  Thomas  J.,  laborer. 
Kelly,  J.  B.,  laborer. 
Kelly,  M.,  laborer. 
Kelly,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Kelly,  Ann. 
Kelly,  Boss. 
Kelly,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Kelly,  James,  laborer. 
Kelly,  Timothy,  laborer. 
Kelley,  Edward,  laborer. 


Kelley,  Margaret. 
Kelley,  F.,  laborer. 
Kivings,  M.,  farmer. 
Kipp,  Philip,  saloon-keeper. 
Kipp,  A.  P. 
Kinney,  A. 

Kilburn,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Kinsella,  S.  A.,  farmer. 
Kier,  James,  farmer. 
Kinnie,  Mary  A.,  jewelry,  etc. 
Kirkham,  Henry,  farmer. 
.Killmer,  George,  farmer. 
Killmer,  Harriet. 
Killien,  John,  laborer. 
Kirk,  Mary  A. 
Kirk,  Philip,  merchant. 
Killeen,  James,  laborer. 
Killeen,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Kimball,  Dan.,  laborer. 
Kimball,  Charles  P. 
King,  Jeremiah,  laborer. 
King,  John  P.,  coal  dealer. 
King,  Maurice  J. 
King,  Anna  M. 
King,  Jeremiah,  farmer. 
Kleneman,  Anton,  farmer. 
Klemme,  John,  blacksmith. 
Kline,  M.,  laborer. 
Knowlton,  D.  W.,  banker.    . 
Knowlton,  Calvin,  banker. 
Knifall,  P.,  laborer. 
Knoerzer,  Erasmus,  saloon-keeper, 
Knox,  Augustus  F.,  attorney. 
Korse,  Nicholas,  farmer. 
Korst,  Nickolas,  farmer. 
Konig,  Frank,  laborer. 
!  Korcillius,  Adeline. 
Kramer,  Ignatz,  saloon-keeper. 
Krause,  Michael,  laborer. 
Kraus,  Julius,  jewelry,  etc. 
Kraker,  Joseph,  shoemaker. 
Krings,  Michael,  farmer. 
Krings,  Kickolas,  farmer. 
Krpnmeyer,  Wm.,  stone  dealer. 
Krichall,  H.,  plasterer. 
Krusella,  F.  B.,  farmer. 
Krusella,  F.  A.,  farmer. 
Krusella,  F.  D.,  farmer. 
Kuntzell,  John,  laborer. 
Kuntz,  John,  farmer. 
Kurtz,  Elizabeth. 
Kurtz,  Charles,  farmer. 
Kunzman,  Adam,  laborer. 
Kunzman,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Kunzman,  John,  laborer. 
Larker,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Latz,  Joseph,  mason. 
Lambert,  Charles. 
Lambert,  John,  keeper  I.  S.  P. 
Langdon,  Mary. 
Lacey,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Laraway,  Charles,  farmer. 
Laib,  Christ. 
Lapham,  David. 
Lawrence,  Richard. 
Lawrence,  Ed.,  laborer. 
Lawrence,  Charles,  farmer. 
Lawlor,  Wm.,  laborer. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


917 


Lawlor,  Michael,  laborer. 
Law  lor,  M.,  farmer. 
Lagger,  Sebastian,  banker. 
Lagger,  John,  laborer. 
Lang,  M.  G. 
Lang,  John  C.,  editor. 
Laytield,  Francis,  carpenter. 
Layfleld,  C.  W.,  carpenter. 
Laderbach,  Adam,  laborer. 
Lamping,  George,  Sr. 
Lamping,  Robert,  farmer. 
Laverne.  E.  F.,  laborer. 
Larkin,  James,  laborer. 
Larkin,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Lean,  A.  M. 
Leisser,  John,  laborer. 
Leisen,  John,  farmer. 
Leissen,  John. 
Leonard,  James,  farmer. 
Lehman,  L.,  musician. 
Lehman,  Marcus,  carpenter. 
Lehman,  Paul,  farmer. 
Lehman,  Paul,  laborer. 
Leffler,  Caroline,  farmer. 
Ley,  John,  farmer. 
Lesser,  Michael,  gardener. 
Lellman,  F.  L.,  saloon-keeper. 
Leach,  Michael,  laborer.    - 
Leach,  L.,  manufacturer. 
Lendor,  F.,  laborer.   . 
Leichten waiter,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Lennon,  John,  marble  cutter. 
Lewis,  John,  painter. 
Lewis,  C.  A. 
Leizer,  John,  laborer. 
Leahy,  Ann. 
Leavey,  John,  druggist. 
Lennon,  John,  grocer. 
Lefontaine,  F.  X.,  ice  dealer. 
Leyman,  Charles  L.,  mason. 
Leyman,  H. 
Lincoln,  M.  Av  laborer. 
Lindell,  J.  B.,  Pastor. 
Line,  Patrick. 
Little,  Mary  J. 
Limperich,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Limpert,  John,  carpenter. 
Logan,  George,  grocer. 
Lowrey,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Loga,  August,  laborer. 
Lowe,  Samuel,  laborer. 
Lott,  Jacob. 

Louks,  Thomas,  carpenter. 
Lots,  Henry,  laborer. 
Long,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Lufkins,  Stephen. 
Lufkin,  Stephen. 
Lyford,  H.  M.,  merchant. 
Lyford,  S.  G. 
Lyman,  George. 
Lyman,  John,  farmer. 
Lyon,  L.  M.,  laborer. 
Lynch,  Patrick,  farmer. 
Man,  Charles,  laborer. 
Mahn,  George. 
Massey,  Hiat. 
Massey,  George,  carpenter. 
Marti,  Jacob,  laborer. 


Malcomb,  Jesse. 
Maloney,  D.,  peddler. 
Macomber,  M.  J.,  Mrs. 
Maxwell,  Jane. 
Mai  cone,  Mrs. 
Maney,  David. 
Mahan,  H.,  laborer. 
Madden,  John,  laborer. 
Mahan,  Francis. 
Maher,  Martin,  laborer. 
Maher,  Thomas,  laborer. 
Matteson,  Joel  A. 
Matteson,  Fred.  W. 
Mahoney,  John,  grocer. 
Mahoney,  Jeremiah,  grocer. 
Malroney,  John,  laborer. 
Mager,  Christian,  blacksmith. 
Martin,  Michael,  laborer. 
Martin,  John,  laborer. 
Martin,  George  B. 
Martins,  Frederick,  laborer. 
Marcan,  Ann. 
Marion,  John. 
Manley,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Manley,  Ann. 
Malone,  Wesly,  farmer. 
Marshall,  Martin,  laborer. 
Marshall,  S.  T. 
Marshall,  Ralph  W. 
Marshall,  A.  O.,  attorney. 
Marsh,  F.  E.,  grain  dealer. 
Marsh,  H.  N.,  station  agent. 
Mason,  Elizabeth  M. 
Mason,  T.  A.,  lumber  dealer. 
Mason,  D.  C.,  laborer. 
Mason,  Patrick,  laborer. 
Mason,  George  A.,  farmer. 
Mason,  Daniel  C. 
Mack,  John,  carpenter. 
Mack,  Timothy. 
Mack,  U.,  merchant. 
Mack,  J.  L. 
Mack,  Adelaide. 
Mack,  John,  shoemaker. 
Mack,  Adelia. 
McAnna,  P. 

McAndrews,  Patrick,  laborer. 
McBride,  Mary. 
McCormick,  John,  laborer. 
McCanna,  Charles,  laborer. 
McCanna,  John,  laborer. 
McCanna,  Daniel. 
McCann,  Edward,  laborer. 
McCann,  Martha  J. 
•  McCawliff,  Mary. 
McClintock,  Alex,  farmer. 
McCabe,  Hugh,  laborer. 
McCarney,  M.,  laborer. 
McClasky,  Michael,  laborer. 
McCarthy,  Elizabeth. 
McCarty,  P.,  laborer. 
McCarty,  Charles,  laborer. 
McCoy,  Owen,  laborer. 
McCoy,  T.,  laborer. 
McCoy,  Oben. 
McConchin,  John. 
McConchie,  John,  engineer. 
McConchie,  Ann. 


918 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


McCreery,  J.,  laborer. 

McCunn,  H.,  farmer. 

McCulloch,  Alex,  engineer. 

McDaniel,  George,  farmer. 

McDaniels,  George. 

McDowell,  Walker. 

McDowell,  Walter,  laborer. 

McDougall,  D.,  Dr. 

McDonald,  Walker,  farmer. 

McDonald,  George. 

McDonald,  Wm.,  teamster. 

McDonald,  John,  gardener. 

McDonald,  E. 

McDade,  Dennis,  laborer. 

McDade,  Chauncey,  nurseryman. 

McElgrew,  Peter. 

McElgrew,  William. 

McElnern,  Daniel,  farmer. 

McElhaney,  Patrick,  laborer. 

McEvoy,  M.,  tinner. 

McFargo,  Elizabeth. 

McFadden,  James,  drayman. 

McFadden,  John,  laborer. 

McGee,  John,  laborer. 

McGee,  Edward,  laborer. 

McGuire,  H.  H.,  laborer. 

McGuire,  H.  H.,  carpenter. 

McGrath,  James,  laborer. 

McGraw,  Michael,  laborer. 

McGann,  Dan,  laborer. 

McGinnis,  John,  blacksmith. 

McGinnis,  John,  laborer. 

McGovern,  Peter,  laborer. 

McGovern,  John,  laborer. 

McGowen,  John. 

McGovney,  Thomas  G. 

McHerron,  George,  laborer. 

McHugh,  Felix,  farmer. 

McHugh,  Thomas,  laborer. 

McHugh,  James,  laborer. 

McHugh,  Patrick,  laborer. 

McHugh,  B.,  Mrs. 

Mclntosh,  Sarah,  teacher. 

McKinzey,  Geo.,  coal  dealer. 

McNinney,  Henry  ^  laborer. 

McNamee,  Owen,"  farmer. 

McNiff,  John,  laborer. 

McPartlin,  Hugh,  laborer. 

McPartlin,  James,  laborer. 

McPherson,  James,  engineer. 

McPhilips,  Barney. 

McQuirk,  John,  laborer. 

McQuade,  Owen,  laborer. 

McQuire,  John. 

McRoberts,  Josiah,  Judge  of  Cir.  Court. 

McVey,  James,  laborer. 

Meil,  August,  farmer. 

Meilley,  A.  E.,  laborer. 

Meachem,  Benjamin. 

Messer,  Louise. 

Meredith,  J.,  laborer. 

Melter,  John. 

Mehr,  John. 

Melchoir,  August,  carpenter. 

Meeker,  A.  B.,  Supt.  Rolling-Mills. 

Meir,  Michael,  mason. 

Meyer,  Michael,  mason. 

Meyer,  Michael,  farmer. 


Meyers,  W.  H.,  farmer. 

Merrill,  C.  H.,  clerk. 

Mead,  A.  B.,  Dr. 

Meacheur,  Harriet  E. 

Meers,  Dennis,  hardware  merchant. 

Metzger,  Conrad,  mason. 

Metzger,  Gabriel,  laborer. 

Miller,  John,  insurance  agent. 

Miller,  W.  F. 

Miller,  John,  clerk. 

Miller,  H. 

Miller,  James. 

Michael,  John,  farmer. 

Millspaugh,  Isaac,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Milley,  John,  mason. 

Milk,  William. 

Miner,  W.  S.,  house-mover. 

Middlebrook,  A.  L. 

Mitchell,  Catharine. 

Mitchell,  L.  C. 

Miles,  Ellen. 

Mick,  John. 

Mills,  William,  farmer. 

Moes,  Mary  A. 

Moran,  John,  laborer. 

Moran,  James,  laborer. 

Moran,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Moran,  Michael,  laborer. 

Moore,  O.  B.,  carpenter. 

Moore,  Clement  J.,  carpenter. 

Moore,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Mock,  John,  carpenter. 

Mock,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Monakan,  P.,  laborer. 

Monakan,  J.,  saloon-keeper. 

Morgan,  Michael,  laborer. 

Morgan,  W.  H.,  pattern-maker. 

Morgan,  M.  L.,  laborer. 

Morgan,  T.  W.,  laborer. 

Morrjs,  Jacob,  laborer. 

Morrissey,  Ann. 

Morrissey,  Andrew,  laborer. 

Morrissey,  John,  laborer. 

Morrissey,  James,  express  messenger. 

Mooney,  Emmet,  saloon-keeper. 

Moriety,  John,  laborer. 

Molenpah,  Fred,  tailor. 

Moffat,  James. 

Moreland,  John  C.,  merchant. 

Monahan,  John,  laborer. 

Morarty,  Miles,  laborer. 

Mollitore,  Joseph,  carpenter. 

Montieth,  Charles. 

Morrison,  AnnJL. 

Moses,  Abbie. 

Mork,  C.,  machinist. 

Mossman,  F.,  carpenter. 

Munday,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Mulligan,  Margaret. 

Muller,  William. 

Mulrooney,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Munson,  G.  S..  laborer. 

Munn,  S.  W.,  attorney. 

Muschel,  Xavier,  laborer. 

Munsey.  Jonathan,  laborer. 

Muncy,  Jonathan,  farmer. 

Murray,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Murray,  Mary  T. 


JOLIET  TOWNSHIP. 


919 


Mupps,  Wm.,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Mupps,  Robert. 

Mupps,  Wm.,  auctioneer. 

Munch,  F.,  coal  dealer. 

Munch,  H.,  farmer. 

Murphy,  H. 

Murphy,  Patrick,  engineer. 

Murphy,  Lawrence,  laborer. 

Murphy,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Murphy,  H.,  laborer. 

Murphy,  D.  Y.,  laborer. 

Murphy,  Martin,  laborer. 

Murphy,  F.  D.,  laborer. 

Murphy,  Michael,  tailor. 

Murphy,  J.  P ,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Murphy,  P.  W. 

Murphy,  J.  D. 

Murphy,  Wm.,  mason. 

Munroe,  Geo.,  grocer. 

Munroe,  G.,  merchant. 

Mullen,  Dennis,  mason. 

Mullen,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Mullen,  Bridget. 

Myers,  Claud. 

Nalte,  F.,  farmer. 

Naur,  Nicholas. 

Newkirk,  Charles,  farmer. 

Newkirk,  Charlotte. 

Neydeggar,  Samuel,  painter. 

Nelson,  Lewis  H.,  laborer. 

Nelson,  C.,  laborer. 

Nelson,  Charles,  engineer. 

Nelson,  George. 

Neubold,  T.,  machinist. 

Niver,  H.,  carpenter. 

Niver,  H.,  painter. 

Nicholson,  Francis,  tailor. 

Nickel,  Henry,  farmer. 

Niles,  S.,  laborer. 

Nobles,  Elisha,  farmer. 

Noonan,  Catharine. 

Nowlan,  John,  laborer. 

Norton,  James,  plasterer. 

Norton,  D. 

Norton,  Pat,  laborer. 

Nolan,  Mary  A. 

Nolan,  James,  laborer. 

Nuischitz,  John,  laborer. 

O'Berman,  Herman,  farmer. 

Oberman,  Herman,  stone-cutter. 

Oberman,  John  F.,  stone-cutter. 

Oberlin,  Edward,  Guard. 

O'Bryen,  Thomas,  Marshal. 

O'Brien,  John. 

O'Brien,  Matthew,  laborer. 

O'Brien,  Wm.,  laborer. 

O'Brien,  Jane. 

O'Brien,  Kate. 

O'Connor,  Catherine. 

O'Conner,  S.,  laborer. 

O'Conuell,  Charles,  painter. 

O'Connell,  Mary. 

O'Connell,  Patrick,  laborer. 

O'Connell,  Hanna. 

O'Connell,  Charles. 

O'Daniel,  Peter,  laborer, 

O'Donnell,  Thomas,  laborer. 

O'Donnell,  John. 


Offerman,  Frank,  farmer. 

Ogilve,  J.,  laborer. 

Ogden,  M.  D.,  physician. 

Ogden,  M.  B.,  Dr. 

O  Harra,  James,  laborer. 

O'Leary,  Timothy,  farmer. 

O'Leary,  Anthony  J.,  laborer. 

Olney,  C.  C.,  marble-cutter. 

Olin,  Benjamin,  County  Judge. 

O'Malley,  C.,  laborer. 

O'Mahoney,  John. 

Onderdonk,  John. 

O'Neil,  Thomas,  laborer. 

O'Neil,  Edward,  farmer. 

O'Neil,  Michael,  laborer. 

Oonovan,  Jerry,  laborer. 

Opeld,  John,  farmer. 

O  Riley,  James. 

O'Rumble,  Thomas,  well-borer. 

O'Rumble,  Thomas,  Jr.,  laborer. 

Ostrander,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Osborne,  P.  Q.,  farmer. 

Oswald,  Erhard. 

O'Toole,  Dennis,  laborer. 

Otter,  Adam,  carpenter. 

Paris,  Mrs. 

Paul,  James,  Sr.,  farmer. 

Patch  el,  John,  clerk. 

Pasold,  Catharine. 

Pasold,  John,  stone-cutter. 

Paesold,  J.  F.,  shoemaker. 

Pasol,  Ferdinand,  shoe  merchant. 

Palmer,  Jacob,  laborer. 

Palmer,  Ella. 

Palmer,  Martha. 

Parent,  Albert,  engineer. 

Paige,  Charles,  laborer. 

Patrick,  J.  F.,  farmer. 

Patrick,  J.  E.,  farmer. 

Parther,  Christ,  farmer. 

Page,  Seneca. 

Parker,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Parker,  Johanna. 

Park,  Mary. 

Park,  D.  S.,  carpenter. 

Parke,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Parks,  G.  D.  A.,  attorney. 

Patterson,  J.  G.,  merchant. 

Patterson,  Harriet,  Mrs. 

Patterson,  Thomas  H.,  lime  dealer. 

Pelkey,  Wm.,  Constable. 

Pederson,  O.,  tailor. 

Peter,  F.,  laborer. 

Peter,  Smith,  laborer. 

Peters,  Henry,  saloon-keeper. 

Perkins,  Lydia. 

Perkins,  Joseph. 

Pease,  Sidney  R.,  carpenter. 

Pettigrew,  John,  laborer. 

Peterson,  Ole,  stone-cutter. 

Phine,  Alexander,  laborer. 

Phelps,  Egbert,  attorney. 

Pickerell,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Pickle,  Mrs. 

Pickards,  Richard,  farmer. 

Pierce,  E.,  Surveyor. 

Pierce,  Robert  M.,  engineer. 

Pierce,  Sanford,  student. 


920 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Pinneo,  J.  D. 

Pinney,  D.  H.,  attorney. 

Picket,  Cicily. 

Pond,  G.  W. 

Pond,  D.  W.,  grocer. 

Powers,  John,  laborer. 

Powers,  Winefred,  laborer. 

Pohl,  Henry,  Sr.,  trimmer. 

Pohl,  H.  E.,  clerk. 

Posta,  Ignatz,  laborer. 

Powles,  Daniel  B.,  laborer. 

Potter,  George  W. 

Potter,  Elvia. 

Potter,  Harriet  A. 

Porter,  Edward,  laborer. 

Porter,  Edwin,  brewer. 

Porter,  J.,  painter. 

Porter,  C.,  painter. 

Prior,  Mich. 

Preston,  Thomas,  tanner. 

Preston,  Maria  L. 

Pratt,  Lydian  C. 

Pratt,  Hiram. 

Pratt,  Mary  A. 

Purvis,  William,  laborer. 

Py,  Joseph,  laborer. 

Py,  Mary. 

Quirk,  Bridget. 

Quilty,  Maurice,  laborer. 

Quiggle,  J.  W.,  well-driller. 

Quiggles,  George  W. 

Quin,  Mortimer,  laborer. 

Quinn,  Michael,  laborer. 

Quinn,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Raub,  Maria  A. 

Raub,  N.  J.,  laborer. 

Raub,  John,  laborer. 

Rancher,  Maria. 

Rawley,  A.  G. 

Ray,  Edward,  horse-doctor. 

Raynor;  George  C.,  physician. 

Rademaker,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Rath,  F.,  laborer. 

Rafferty,  Catherine. 

Raka,  Henry. 

Randall,  A.  S.,  attorney. 

Randall,  S,  W.,  attorney. 

Rapple,  Fred.,  butcher. 

Rapple,  Michael,  farmer. 

Redmond,  Thomas. 

Reuneck,  John. 

Reuben,  John  H.,  railroad  conductor. 

Reid,  John,  farmer. 

Reed,  S.  B.,  civil  engineer. 

Reed,  Lucius  J.,  carpenter. 

Reed,  Charles,  farmer. 

Reed,  Samuel  B.,  farmer. 

Reilley,  Patrick. 

Reithger,  S.,  laborer. 

Reevs,  Marshall. 

Rees,  D.  A.,  marble-cutter. 

Keichmaim,  Mary. 

Reichman,  Joseph,  butcher. 

Reinhart,  John,  store. 

Reitz,  Wm. 

Reamer,  Gustus,  carpenter. 

Reiger,  John,  laborer. 

Regan,  Honora. 


Rhine,  Jacob,  laborer. 

Rhodes,  Margaret. 

Ridgway,  Caleb  J. 

Riley,  T.  H.,  laborer. 

Riley,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Ritzel,  Henry. 

Rindelman,  Mr?. 

Rigdon,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Rickey,  A.,  saloon-keeper. 

Richart,  Fritz,  carpenter. 

Richart,  John,  grocer. 

Risley,  Minerva  P. 

Richmond,  I.  T.,  Mrs. 

Richard,  David,  farmer. 

Richards,  Charles,  physician. 

Richards,  John,  farmer. 

Richards,  C-,  farmer. 

Richards,  George,  laborer. 

Robinson,  Frank,  saloon-keeper. 

Robinson,  Nancy  A. 

Robinson,  A.  J.,  merchant. 

Robinson,  John  H.,  farmer. 

Robinson,  Margaret. 

Robinson,  James. 

Robinson,  Mary  A. 

Robinson,  Frank,  grocer. 

Robinson,  John. 

Roberts,  Pratt. 

Roberts,  John. 

Robertson,  Robert. 

Rove,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Ross,  L.  E.,  farmer. 

Ross,  J.  P.,  farmer. 

Ross,  Joseph. 

Ross,  William  H.,  laborer. 

Roimdtree,  Daniel,  laundryman. 

Rose,  Robert. 

Rodgers,  Alexander,  farmer. 

Rodgers,  Michael,  laborer. 

Rodgers,  Oscar  F. 

Roper,  Jane. 

Roff,  Daniel. 

Rowley,  H.  H.,  Mrs. 

Rockey,  George  E.,  planing- mill. 

Roke,  Henry,  laborer. 

Rohaker,  H.,  mason. 

Rooney,  John,  laborer. 

Rogan,  John  clerk. 

Rowland,  F.  M. 

Rowell,  Hopkins,  capitalist. 

Rudcliff,  Y.  M.,  farmer. 

Rupert,  Anthony,  machinist. 

Rubb,  Henry,  wagon-maker. 

Rudy,  J. 

Rudge,  Henry. 

Rudge,  Samuel. 

Russell,  Phebe. 

Russell,  Elizabeth  J. 

Russell,  Christina. 

Russell,  Amos  C. 

Rubenstein,  Lorenz,  farmer. 

Rubenstein,  Lawrence,  farmer. 

Rudd,  David,  farmer. 

Rudd,  Rossiter,  farmer. 

Rudd,  Rossiter,  laborer. 

Rudd,  Sandford,  machinist. 

Rudd,  Barak,  farmer. 

Ryan,  Mrs. 


JULIET  TOWNSHIP. 


921 


Ryan,  John,  merchant. 

Ryan,  John,  shoemaker. 

Ryan,  James,  laborer. 

Ryan,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Ryan,  J.  H.,  laborer. 

Ryan,  David,  laborer. 

Ryan,  Charles  L. 

Ryne,  George  W.,  laborer. 

Savage,  S.  F.,  Mrs.,  bookstore. 

Sans,  Christian,  Pastor. 

Sanders,  M.,  laborer. 

Sanders,  L.  J.,  laborer. 

Sartoris,  Mary. 

Sawer,  Susan. 

Sawyer,  Henry  J..  Supt.  I.  S.  P. 

Sampson,  Mrs. 

Salter,  George  B.,  dentist. 

Sane,  R.  R.,  laborer. 

Semahan.  M. 

Sandiford,  Thomas. 

Sandiford,  R.,  manufacturer. 

Schall,  Austen  J.,  laborer. 

Schall,  Miles,  laborer. 

Schall,  Phillip,  merchant. 

Scott,  Rosetta. 

Scheulke,  Michael,  laborer. 

Schmeir,  John. 

Scammond,  J.  Young. 

Schroam,  Fred. 

Scheick,  Henry,  saloon-keeper. 

Scutt,  H.  B.,  wire  fence. 

Schanan,  W.,  Miss. 

Schorie,  John,  laborer. 

Scollay,  Bridget. 

Schreffler,  Henry,  tinner. 

Schwertle,  Peter,  laborer. 

Schup,  John,  carpenter. 

Schroder,  F.  W.,  druggist. 

Schuberth,  John,  marble-cutter. 

Schott,  Jacob,  painter. 

Schoedler,  Frank,  trimmer. 

Scheidler,  Maria. 

Schurtz,  M.  W.,  laborer. 

Scheldt,  John,  candy-factory. 

Schosser,  Godfred,  stone-cutter. 

Schaller,  Philip,  mason. 

Schick,  John,  laborer. 

Schwartz,  Xavier,  laborer. 

Schmeiser,  John,  shoemaker. 

Schriver,  John,  laborer. 

Schott,  Rose  T. 

Schoop,  D.  R. 

Schreimer,  Nicholas,  wagon-maker. 

Schweiver,  Michael. 

Schutter,  Anthony,  laborer. 

Sch  wars,  Julius,  laborer. 

Schmears.  August,  laborer. 

Schutts,  John,  farmer. 

Schwitzer,  Conrad,  carpenter. 

Schultz,  Henry,  stone  dealer. 

Schwab,  Maria. 

Schoff,  John. 

Schmitz,  Ignatz,  molder. 

Schneider,  Michael. 

Schneider,  John  B.,  laborer. 

Seitz,  Matilda. 

Seitz,  Stephen,  laborer. 

Seitz,  Anthony,  plasterer. 


Searles,  F.,  clerk. 

Searles,  M.  E.,  clerk  in  P.  0. 

Sehring,  Fred,  brewer. 

Seibenthil,  William,  laborer. 

Seeley,  J.,  keeper  in  I.  S.  P. 

Seeley,  George,  laborer. 

Seeley,  James,  laborer. 

Seeley,  Jonas,  laborer. 

Sexton,  Dennis,  laborer. 

Sees,  George,  stone-cutter. 

Semmerer,  A.,  laborer. 

Sennett,  Edward. 

Seneca,  H. 

Selser,  Frederick,  laborer. 

Seivert,  Vinsen,  farmer. 

Seivert,  Vincent,  mason. 

Seigel,  George,  farmer. 

Seward,  Calvin,  farmer. 

Seivart,  John,  merchant. 

Shaffer,  Paul. 

Shaffer,  Henry,  Baker. 

Shaw,  Fayette  B. 

Shaw,  Clark  J. 

Shaw,  Alex. 

Shaw,  J.  B. 

Shaw,  James,  laborer. 

Sheridan,  Dennis,  laborer. 

Sheridan,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Shayer,  Leroy, 

Sharp,  A.  B.,  axle  grease. 

Shirk,  Henry,  saloon-keeper. 

Shields,  John,  laborer. 

ShrefHer,  A.  H.,  book-keeper. 

Shoop,  Louisa. 

Shepley,  Wru.,  laborer. 

Shuttler,  J.  F.,  laborer. 

Shubert,  Conrad,  stone-cutter. 

Sniffer,  Fred. 

Shelley,  J.  L. 

Shaffner,  Benjamin,  coal-dealer. 

Shanahan,  P.,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Shanan,  W.,  Miss. 

Sh  ussier,  Joseph,  carpenter. 

Shutts,  Henry. 

Short,  Mary  J. 

Short,  Terrance,  laborer. 

Short,  Barney,  laborer. 

Short,  T.,  laborer. 

Short,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Sime,  John,  mason. 

Silks,  R.,  laborer. 

Simons,  S.  O.,  grocer. 

Simons,  Anna. 

Sing,  Adam,  farmer. 

Simpson,  B.,  farmer. 

Simpson,  Luke,  shoemaker. 

Simpson,  B.,  laborer. 

Simongtoti,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Sido,  Stephen,  blacksmith. 

Sindsey,  Adaline. 

Simonds,  Philip. 

Sloan,  John,  laborer. 

Sloan,  Bridget. 

Sloan,  Catharine. 

Slimm,  Wm.,  mason. 

Slim,  Win.,  laborer. 

Sleeper,  D.  C. 

Smith,  Andrew,  farmer. 


922 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Smith,  Rose,  Mrs. 

Smith,  Henry,  laborer. 

Smith,  I.  D.,  laborer. 

Smith,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Smith,  Emely  N. 

Smith,  Wm.,  Mrs. 

Smith,  Catharine. 

Smith,  Nicholas. 

Smith,  Michael,  laborer. 

Smith,  Floretta. 

Smith,  Dwite,  carpenter. 

Smith,  E.  N. 

Smith,  Christopher,  laborer. 

Smith.  Orange  R.,  carpenter. 

Smith,  John,  laborer. 

Smith,  Paul,  Jr. 

Smith,  P.,  laborer. 

Smith,  Andrew,  stone-cutter. 

Smith,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Smith,  D.  y.,  carpenter. 

Smeeker,  Margaret. 

Smalley,  Henry,  laborer. 

Smalley,  John,  laborer. 

Snapp,  Henry,  attorney. 

Snapp,  A. 

Sohn,  Andrew. 

Souman,  Adam,  laborer. 

Spears,  Wm.  E.,  carpenter. 

Spear,  James  B.,  grain  dealer. 

Spretzer,  Frank,  merchant. 

Spangler,  John. 

Spangler,  Agnes  S. 

Spangler,  Henry. 

Spangler,  W.  A.,  plasterer. 

Spencer,  R. 

Spaulding,  David  E.,  laborer. 

Springer,  F.,  clerk. 

Spoor,  Harlow  H.,  plasterer. 

Squires,  Isaac. 

Steffen,  Christian,  laborer. 

Steffen,  Henry. 

Star,  A.  R.,  nurseryman. 

Starbuck,  Irene,  flour  and  feed  store. 

Steinburg,  Mary  E. 

Stege,  William,  laborer. 

Stanton,  Johanna. 

Stanton,  David. 

Stanton,  Nicholas,  blacksmith. 

Staffen,  Paul. 

Stapleton  William,  shoemaker. 

Staehle,  C.  W.,  bookbinder. 

Stemman,  Regina. 

Stoddard,  Betsey. 

Stock,  John,  saloon-keeper. 

Stockmeier,  John,  mason. 

Stoos,  Joseph,  carpenter. 

Stalder,  Nicholas,  laborer. 

Stowe,  Louise  P. 

Stanley,  F.  G.,  laborer. 

Steel,  William  A.,  stone  dealer. 

Steel,  Susan  M. 

Strickland,  Maria. 

Strickland,  Leon,  laborer. 

Staley,  Ignatz,  laborer. 

Strong,  William  A.,  Jr.,  capitalist. 

Strunz,  John. 

Stewart,  William. 

Stewart.  K/ra  H.,  dentist. 


Stevens,  W.  D.,  carpenter. 

Stevens,  H.  D. 

Stevens,  W.  W.,  attorney. 

Stevens,  Nancy. 

Stevens,  Albert,  horse  dealer. 

Stevens,  H.  K,  capitalist. 

Stevens,  Benjamine,  farmer. 

Stephens,  Sebastian,  shoemaker. 

Stephens,  J.,  Sr. 

Stephens,  Orrin. 

Stephens,  Joe,  saddler. 

Stephen,  John,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Stender,  John,  laborer. 

Stearns,  Harmon,  carpenter. 

St.  Julian,  Joseph,  saddler. 

St.  Julien,  J.  I.,  saddler. 

St.  Ange,  Louis,  laborer. 

Sullivan,  Dennis. 

Sullivan,  John,  laborer. 

Sullivan,  Owen,  laborer. 

Sullivan,  Paul,  laborer. 

Sullivan,  Ed.,  laborer. 

Sullivan,  James,  laborer. 

Sunderland,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Sulland,  John,  laborer. 

Sutton,  James,  butcher. 

Swan,  Joseph  R. 

Swan,  C.  B-.  well-borer. 

Swartout,  Con. 

Tait,  Michael,  laborer. 

Tait,  Michael,  farmer. 

Talbot,  Edward,  butcher. 

Talbqt,  Rich. 

Tatge,  Conrad,  manufacturer. 

Tarbell,  J.  F.,  heater. 

Taylor,  J.  W.,  carpenter. 

Taylor,  John  W. 

Taylor,  Henry,  quarryman. 

Taylor,  Tiberias. 

Telfer,  F.  W.,  laborer. 

Terrence,  J.  L. 

Teeling,  James,  laborer. 

Terry,  F.  E.,  manufacturer. 

Tea,  Mark  B. 

Themes,  Nicholas,  marble-cutter. 

Theiler,  John,  grocer. 

Thompson,  Ann. 

Thompson,  S.  F. 

Thorn pson,E.,  Mrs. 

Thornton,  Carey,  laborer. 

Thornton,  S.  J.,  laborer. 

Thayer,  H.  L. 

Thayer,  Leroy,  capitalist. 

Tipper,  William,  laborer. 

Tonner,  William,  City  Clerk. 

Tonner,  Mrs. 

Townsend,  Thomas. 

Toorney,  Ed.,  farmer. 

Tracy,  Michael,  laborer. 

Tracy,  Nicholas. 

Treat,  Francis. 

Tramor,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Troy,  Patrick,  drayman. 

Troy,  James,  laborer. 

Tighe,N.  D.,  saloon-keeper. 

Trickanan,  John. 

Trutchler.  Charles,  teacher. 

Tripp,  James  M.,  laborer. 


JOLIET   TOWNSHIP. 


92* 


Traver,  John,  farmer. 

Tuck,  Lucy  A. 

Turnstein,  Lewis. 

Twohey,  Mathew,  saloon-keeper. 

Tyler,  E.  M. 

Tyrell,  Thomas,  shoemaker. 

Tyrell,  Ann. 

Unmack,  William,  farmer. 

Ulm,  Lawrence,  barber. 

Ulrich,  Michael,  shoemaker. 

Ulrich,  Henry  A. 

Vanderburg,  William  S. 

Vanderlip,  P.  A. 

Vance,  G.  L.,  merchant. 

Valker,  John,  laborer. 

Valker,  Mary. 

Van  Allen,  Charles  F.,  railroader. 

Van  Allen,  Myron,  laborer. 

Van  Auken,  Jacob  C. 

Van  Horn,  Garrett. 

Van  Kuel,  C.,  farmer. 

Van  Vlake,  Frank  L.,  mill-wright. 

Verly,  Fanny. 

Venhoff,  Andrew,  laborer. 

Vessel,  Conrad,  stone-cutter. 

Vincent,  Joseph,  butcher. 

Vinson,  Mary  C. 

Vougt,  Francis,  laborer. 

Voght,  Jacob,  laborer. 

Voight,  Charles,  laborer. 

Voelker,  Mary,  Mrs. 

Volker,  Mary  Ann,  farmer. 

Volker,  John,  farmer. 

Walker,  Henry. 

Watson,  J.  S.,  Mrs. 

Watson,  Isaac,  blacksmith. 

Wuldfojile,  Felix,  wiper. 

Waldfogle,  A.,  farmer. 

Waldfogle,  Benedict,  farmer. 

Wall,  B.  W.,  laborer. 

Walls,  James,  foreman  I.  S.  P. 

Wade,  Desire,  merchant. 

Waterman,  D.  M. 

Walch,  Robert,  grocer. 

Walch,  Robert,  merchant. 

Walch,  Martin,  baker. 

Warren,  Caleb,  railroad  conductor. 

Warren,  Wm. 

Warren,  J.  M.,  stone-mason. 

Wagner,  Martin,  laborer. 

Wagner,  Christian,  teamster. 

Wagner,  Ignatz,  laborer. 

Wagner,  Anthony,  stone-cutter. 

Wagner,  Alois. 

Wagnei;  Ferdinand,  fanner. 

Wagner,  Michael,  laborer. 

Wagner,  F.,  laborer. 

Wagner,  M.  W.,  stone-cutter. 

Warner,  L.  L. 

Warner,  Joseph,  mason. 

Wallen,  Helen,  A. 

Wallace,  F.,  laborer. 

Wallace,  B.  W. 

Walworth,  Henry. 

Walworth,  Henry  R. 

Waterson,  John,  agent. 

Watkins,  Jonathan,  farmer. 

Ward,  George  H. 


Ward,  Charlotte  B. 

Ward,  Hugh,  laborer. 

Ward,  Louisa. 

Ward,  Hugh,  farmer. 

Weibel,  Nicholas,  stone-cutter. 

Weyerman,  John,  saloon-keeper. 

Westherbee,  M.,  farmer. 

Webb,  Mary. 

Weidinger,  George. 

Webster,  Olivar,  carpenter. 

Wendle,  John,  stone-cutter. 

Weidlands,  Benedict,  laborer. 

Westphall.  Martin,  banker. 

Westphall,  Luella  J. 

Weaver,  J  ames  R. 

Wernman,  Hubert. 

Wertmuller,  Charles,  laborer. 

Werlin,  Anthony,  farmer. 

Werlen,  Peter,  laborer. 

Weber,  Peter  W.,  Justice  of  the  Peace. 

Weber,  Sussana. 

Weed,  Nelson,  druggist. 

Welsh,  John  E.,  engineer. 

Welsh,  Patrick. 

Weeks,  C.  H.,  farmer. 

Weeks,  Jane. 

Weeks,  Horace,  master  in  chancery. 

Weishaar,  J.,  clerk. 

Werner,  Charles,  Jr.,  stone  dealer. 

Werner,  J.  V ,  saloon-keeper. 

Werner,  Charles,  stone  dealer. 

Werner,  Adam,  stone  dealer. 

Werner,  Jacob  F.,  mason. 

Werner,  C.  A.,  stone  dealer. 

Wergler,  John. 

Whalen,  Pat.,  laborer. 

White,  S*.  S.,  farmer. 

White,  Wm.,  laborer. 

White,  L.  K.,  clerk. 

White,  Ann. 

White,  B.  K. 

White,  Jesse  O. 

White,  Jeremiah. 

White,  Samuel  H.,  painter. 

White,  James  8.,  carpenter. 

Whitspn,  Benj.,  laborer. 

Whittier,  George,  limekiln. 

Whittier,  Nancy. 

Wheeler,  Lorinda  C. 

Wheeler,  Jennie. 

Wierman,  John,  saloon-keeper. 

Wilt,  Anthony. 

Wiggins,  A.  J.,  laborer. 

Williamson,  L.  M.,  laborer. 

W;se,  James. 

Winberry,  John,  laborer. 

Winkler,  Wm.,  painter. 

Wicharr,  J.,  clerk. 

Wiser,  Elizabeth. 

Wilds,  Mich.,  laborer. 

Wixome,  Mrs. 

Wigle,  George,  laborer. 

Wilcox,  J.  F.,  clerk. 

Wilcox,  G.  W.,  laborer. 

Winters,  D.,  carpenter. 

Winters,  Eben  M.,  farmer. 

Winter,  C.  A.,  carpenter. 

Winkie,  Frank,  stone-cutter. 


924 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Winke,  Christopher,  laborer. 

AVilson,  M.  J. 

Wilson,  Charles  L..  horse-trainer. 

Wilson,  Ed.,  laborer. 

Wilson,  John  F. 

Wilson,  Janette. 

Williams,  Solomon,  engineer. 

Williams,  W.  T. 

Williams,  James,  laborer. 

Williams,  A.,  painter. 

Williams,  Koberc. 

Williams,  Jane. 

Williams,  J.  C.,  agent. 

Williams,  Alson. 

Williams,  Charles  A.,  doctor. 

Williams,  S.  L.,  farmer. 

Williams,  Nicholas,  farmer. 

Williams,  J.  A.,  farmer. 

Williams,  Michael,  farmer. 

Williams,  H.  H.,  laborer. 

Williams,  Sarah  L. 

Wood,  Win.  C.,  insurance  agent. 

Wood,  J.,  laborer. 

Woodruff,  Luther,  farmer. 

Woodworth,  Thomas,  molder. 


Woodruff,  F.  W.,  Cash.  First  Nat.  Bank. 

Woodruff,  George,  banker. 

Worthing,  W.  A. 

Worthington,  S.  A.,  Mrs. 

Worthington,  M.,  Mrs. 

Worrell,  Lorinda. 

Worrell,  Charles,  merchant. 

Wright,  E.  A. 

Wunderlick,  Ann  M. 

Wunderlich,  Arnst,  stone-cutter. 

Wyne,  Thomas  B. 

Wytt,  John,  laborer. 

Wyneman,  P.,  saloon-keeper. 

Wyatt,  Wm.  S. 

Yack,  S.,  barber. 

Young,  Henry,  confectioner. 

Young,  James,  painter. 

Young,  Edward,  painter. 

Young,  Mansfield,  merchant. 

Zarley,  Calneh,  printer. 

Zarley,  William  H.,  County  Clerk. 

Zirkel,  Ferdinand,  marble-cutter. 

Zipf,  Andrew,  farmer. 

Zipf,  Frank,  farmer. 

Zipf,  Theobald. 


WILMINGTON    TOWNSHIP. 

(P.   0.   WILMINGTON.) 


Anderson,  J.  H.,  farmer. 

Althouse,  Albert  G.,  farmer. 

Althouse,  Sarah. 

Althouse,  Naomi. 

Althouse,  William,  teamster. 

Aldrich,  D.  H.,  carpenter. 

Alexander,  George,  farmer. 

Allen,  E.  J.,  farmer. 

Allen,  Edw.,  lumber  dealer. 

Alden,  Hiram  O.,  Jr.,  mine  boss. 

Brophy,  James,  liveryman. 

Banyard,  B.,  merchant. 

Baker,  Minor,  farmer. 

Baker,  Leroy  A.,  Constable. 

Burns,  C.,  farmer. 

Butler,  Henry,  farmer. 

Bogart,  William,  merchant. 

Bardwell,  Fred,  farmer. 

Babcock,  J.  R.,  farmer. 

Boyle,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Butcher,  John,  laborer. 

Bennett,  Jemima. 

Beesley,  E.  J.,  farmer. 

Bowen,  E.  W.,  physician. 

Banyard,  V.,  merchant. 

Buck,  Geo.  A. 

Burton,  Joseph,  trader. 

Baskerville,  R.,  merchant. 

Bovee,  Charles,  agent  "County  History." 

Burke,  Philip,  mason. 

Blood,  H.  N.,  soda  manufacturer. 

Bowen,  Francis  T.,  Mrs. 

Brouschette,  Joseph,  mason. 

Burt9n,  Thomas,  trader. 

Brodie,  Peter,  teamster. 

Burke,  Hugh. 


Brown,  Edw.,  laborer. 

Brown,  Edwin,  laborer. 

Brown,  O.  W. 

Brown,  Hansen. 

Baxter,  Ellen. 

Barnes,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Butler,  Thomas. 

Cattell,  Charles  W.,  farmer. 

Crate,  John  R.,  farmer. 

Corbin,  Peter,  farmer. 

Camp,  S.  C.,  Postmaster. 

Curhen,  Michael. 

Case,  N.  H.,  merchant. 

Clarkin,  Andrew,  laborer. 

Cooper,  James,  farmer. 

Cotton,  Geo.,  carpenter. 

Crist,  R.  H.,  carpenter. 

Campbell,  John,  farmer. 

Clayes,  Levi  M. 

Carroll,  M.,  merchant. 

Carroll,  Torrence,  sexton. 

Carter,  W.  J.,  Assessor. 

Conley,  Thomas,  bricklayer. 

CONLEY,  E.  D.,  EDITOR  ADVOCATE. 

Cobb,  D.  U.,  banker. 

Copps,  Charles,  farmer. 

Clark,  Thomas,  saloon. 

Camp,  Samuel  C.,  Postmaster. 

Coggswell,  B.  B.,  merchant. 

Conroal,  D.,  cooper. 

Conley,  Thomas,  mason. 

Custer,  E.  D. 

Cullon,  Anna. 

Church,  Charlotte. 

Corbett,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Chambers,  George,  laborer. 


WILMINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


927 


Dowse,  Stephen. 

Dunn,  James,  farmer. 

Dewitt,  George,  farmer. 

Dunham,  J.  H.,  Chicago. 

Dugan,  John,  laborer. 

Darley,  Michael,  laborer. 

Dorsey,  Thomas,  saloon. 

Dunlap,  Clarissa. 

Daniels,  John  H.,  Chicago. 

Dowling,  John,  laborer. 

Bowling,  Edw.,  laborer. 

Davis,  Wm.  T.,  laborer. 

Dwyre,  Mary. 

Deloat,  Albert,  gardener. 

Donohue,  Edw.,  merchant. 

Demorest,  J.  P.,  carpenter. 

Dickerson,  J.  A.,  carpenter. 

Dugan,  John,  laborer. 

Evans,  Henry,  farmei'. 

Ford,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Freas,  John. 

Ford,  James,  laborer. 

Fogarty,  Anna. 

Fuller,  Delivan,  saloon. 

Ferguson,  Jeremiah,  blacksmith. 

Fuller,  M.  W.,  Mrs. 

Fisher,  Bryan,  miller. 

Fisher,  John  C.,  miller. 

Gavigan,  James,  farmer. 

Geelan,  Henry,  farmer. 

Goodenough,  John,  farmer. 

Gaffney,  Bartley,  farmer. 

Gavican,  James,  farmer. 

Gurney,  Henry,  prop,  livery  stable. 

Gall,  Jonathan,  miller. 

Goodwin,  William. 

Gurney,  R.  H.,  livery  stable. 

Gardner,  Jane. 

Gray,  George  W. 

Glenney,  John,  farmer. 

Gooding,  James  M. 

Gooding,  Alonzo,  farmer. 

Hill,  John. 

Heneberry,  John,  farmer. 

Hays,  Dennis,  farmer. 

Hart,  William,  drayman. 

Harbottle,  W.  M.,  merchant. 

Hooper,  Edw.,  farmer. 

Hazard,  Catharine,  milliner. 

Hudson,  Henry,  farmer. 

Holister,  Henry,  laborer. 

Haley,  Martin,  mason. 

Hunter,  David,  miner. 

Henneberry,  T.  M.,  poultryman. 

Hine,  Patrick. 

Henderson,  J.  D.,  merchant. 

Hurley,  J.,  laborer. 

•Hall,  Oscar  M.,  laborer. 

Herriot,  John,  teamster. 

Holmes,  C.  B.,  carpenter. 

Hutchinson,  A. 

Hill.  Andrew,  retired. 

Heck,  Philip,  saloon. 

Hadsell,  William. 

Hilburn,  Milton,  molder. 

Irish,  George,  laborer. 

Jacquenlt,  Alice. 

Johnson,  Mary. 


Johnson,  Howard,  iceman. 

Jackson,  Joseph,  plasterer. 

Jackson,  It.  J. 

Jackson,  J.  A.,  painter. 

James,  Willis,  laborer. 

Jones,  H.  K. 

Jones,  George,  engineer. 

Jones,  D.,  miner. 

Jessup,  John  S.,  merchant. 

Knapp,  Orrin,  teamster. 

King,  Bernard,  farmer. 

Kahler,  John,  tailor. 

Kirk,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Kelley,  Felix,  City  Marshal. 

Krause,  August,  merchant. 

Klemefelter,  A.  N.,  carpenter. 

Kinslar,  Edw.,  laborer. 

Keeley,  Michael,  plasterer. 

Knight,  John. 

Kavanaugh,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Larson,  Peter,  laborer. 

Lang,  Philip,  farmer. 

LeCaron,  Henry,  physician. 

Lamping,  W.  M.,  farmer. 

Lacy,  C.  B.,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Luther,  Charles,  farmer. 

Luther,  J.  J.,  farmer. 

Lines,  S.  D.  B.,  Constable. 

LeDoyt,  Roswell,  carpenter. 

Lee,  W.  M.,  laborer. 

Lyon,  A.  I.,  restaurant. 

Lord,  Mary. 

Mallon,  Charlotte. 

Maloney,  J.,  farmer. 

McGee,  Mary. 

McArthur,  A.  L.,  farmer. 

McRea,  W.  M.,  farmer. 

McCabe,  Michael,  shoemaker. 

McLaughlin,  Mary,  Chicago. 

Mclntosh,  A.,  farmer.  t 

McManus,  John  R.,  saloon. 

McCormick,  Hugh,  engineer. 

McGinnis,  W.,  farmer. 

McGoveren,  B.,  blacksmith. 

Mclntosh,  T.  S.,  painter. 

McKeon,  Philip,  merchant. 

McGovern,  Mary. 

McCormick,  Nancy  C. 

McGovern,  Barney,  laborer 

Maloney,  James  R.,  farmer. 

Morgan,  Moses,  farmer. 

Mowray,  James  B.,  farmer. 

Mallon,  John,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Morrison,  Mary  A.,  farmer. 

Mitchell,  Anna. 

Monell,  S.  L.,  merchant. 

Mallon,  Charlotte,  farmer. 

Morrill,  Moses,  farmer. 

Mitchell,  Frank,  farmer. 

Merriman,  D.  J.,  physician. 

Martin,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Monteith,  David  R.,  butcher. 

Monteith,  Catharine. 

Merrill,  John,  attorney. 

Moran,  John,  laborer. 

Mailee,  John,  shoemaker. 

Moore,  Wm.,  blacksmith. 

Moulton,  F.,  C.  &  A.  R.  R.  conductor. 

17 


928 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Miller,  Peter  F.,  laborer. 
Miller,  J.  F.,  Mrs. 
Nelson,  John,  laborer. 
Newhall,  H.,  farmer. 
Noble,  W.  H.,  painter. 
Neal,  Isaac. 

Norton,  Michael,  laborer. 
Nausbaum,  J.  G.,  wagon-maker. 
Osborn,  N.  N.,  farmer. 
O'Brien,  John,  farmer. 
O'Mara,  Wm.,  farmer. 
Patter,  Huldah. 
Perry,  James  A.,  farmer. 
Pauling,  Francis,  broom-maker. 
Patterson,  John,  miller. 
Parcel],  Thomas,  laborer. 
Quinn,  Jeremiah,  Jr.,  farmer. 
Reynolds,  Michael,  farmer. 
Ryan,  Mary. 
Roderick,  Eli,  farmer. 
Roat,  Andrew,  carpenter. 
Roteng,  E. 

Ritchie,  Alex,  farmer. 
Roberts,  H.  N.,  cashier  bank. 
Robinson,  Thomas,  carpenter. 
Roderick,  Joseph,  farmer. 
Rockwell,  Stephen,  farmer. 
Rote,  Andrew,  carpenter. 
Robson,  W.,  farmer. 
Robson,  Eliza. 
Russell,  J.  B.  F.,  farmer. 
Rosenberger,  John,  laborer. 
Reeves,  Thomas,  merchant. 
Rilly,  James. 

Ray,  Wesley  P.,  coal  dealer. 
Scanlan,  Dennis,  farmer. 
Scott,  Ellen. 
Scarlett,  A.  A.,  Mrs. 
Scanlan,  James,  farmer. 
Scully,  William,  Chicago. 
Schyler,  Philip,  painter, 
Scanlan,  Dennis,  farmer. 
Schneider,  R. 

Schneider,  Edward,  tinker. 
Schermerhorn,  P.  P.,Jfarmer. 
Shields,  Luke,  retired. 
Shields,  Frank,  farmer. 
Shields,  Frank,  merchant. 
Shelby,  Patrick,  farmer. 
Sibert,  Z.,  tailor. 
Slusser,  William  D.,  farmer. 
Smith,  Dennis,  drayman. 
Small  David,  Jr.,  merchant. 
Small,  Daniel,  lumber  dealer. 
Small,  Dell,  lumber  merchant. 
Smith,  Lewis  H. 
Smith,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Smith,  N.,  Police  Magistrate. 
Smith,  E.  P.,  farmer. 
Snyder,  Reynhart,  farmer. 
Stork,  Edward,  baker. 
Steadman,  R.,  Mrs. 
Stagg,  James,  carpenter. 
Steffan,  Henry,  saloon, 


Stagg,  Benj.,  carpenter. 

Stephenson,  L.  L.,  clerk. 

Stillwell,  George,  cigar  stand. 

Steffen,  Henry,  butcher. 

Stewart,  M.  N.  M.,  banker. 

Stewart,  John,  merchant. 

Starkweather,  James,  farmer. 

Sullivan,  J.,  laborer. 

Taylor,  M.  L.,  harness-maker. 

Terrill,  Michael,  farmer. 

Teerney,  Michael,  farmer. 

Thomas,  Mary. 

Thompson,  Maria, 

Thompson,  Robert,  coal  dealer. 

Thompson,  Jane. 

Thompson,  J.  C.,  Mrs. 

Thompson.  John,  prop,  boarding-house. 

Thompson,  David  C.,  wagon-maker. 

Thornton,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Thornton,  John  laborer. 

Titus,  Leander,  carpenter. 

Tinney,  Francis,  teamster. 

Tinslar,  G.  L,  attorney. 

Tinslar,  Lawrence. 

Tollington,  Robert,  merchant. 

Trett,  S.  E.,  physician. 

Tyroll,  M.,  farmer. 

Tuttle,  M.,  retired. 

Turner,  A. 

Underwood,  M.  J.,  laborer. 

Vander  Bogert,  W.  H.,  butcher. 

Vetter,  F.,  farmer. 

Vogle,  Geo.,  farmer. 

Wagner,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Watkins,  Wm.,  clerk. 

Walsh,  Mamie. 

Watson,  L.  H. 

Wade,  John,  farmer. 

Watson,  Charlotte  S.,  restaurant. 

Watson,  Morrill,  farmer. 

Waters,  John,  painter. 

Warner,  Sarah. 

Warner,  Isabella. 

Warner,  Helen. 

Washburn,  Elizabeth. 

Walsh,  Wm.,  saloon. 

Webber,  Jeremiah,  farmer. 

Whealon,  Michael,  farmer. 

Whealen,  James,  merchant. 

Wheeler,  Ephinelas,  teamster. 

White,  John  D.,  poultryman. 

White,  C.,  Mrs. 

Whitten,  James,  banker. 

Wikey,  T.  J.,  clerk. 

Wilard,  E.  R.,  physician. 

Wilson,  D.  F.,  lumber  merchant. 

Wilkins,  Abram,  liveryman. 

Williard.E.  W.,  druggist. 

Wise,  Hiram  A.,  merchant. 

Wood,  John,  farmer. 

Woodstock,  Ellen. 

Wright,  Abner,  plasterer. 

Wurtz,  Daniel,  marble-cutter. 

Young,  James  L.,  Justice. 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


929 


REED    TOWNSHIP. 


(P.   O.  BBAIDWOOD.) 


Allen,  W. 

Allen,  T.,  miner. 

Allen,  Peter,  miner. 

Allen,  E. 

Argyle,  Joseph,  miner. 

Armstrong,  Isabella. 

Armand,  John,  mine  boss 

Alter,  James  M. 

Atkinson,  Wm,,  miner. 

Applenwhite,  George,  miner 

Applenwhite,  John,  miner. 

Alsahan,  August,  miner. 

Alcoo,  Peter,  miner. 

Allison,  Robert,  miner. 

Bailey,  A. 

Ball,  James,  miner. 

Barr,  Peter,  saloon. 

Burr,  Andrew,  clerk. 

Backus,  John  B.,  physician. 

Barsdale,  Robert,  teamster. 

Barber,  Frank,  saloon. 

BaiTowman,  James,  miner. 

Barrowman,  Alex,  miner. 

Barrowman,  Margaret. 

Barrey,  D.,  saloon 

Bain,  Robert,  Street  Commissioner. 

Bain,  James,  miner. 

Batlcr,  John,  miner. 

Bamrick,  John,  saloon. 

Bam  rick,  James,  miner. 

Bates,  Samuel,  miner. 

Baskell,  John,  miner. 

Basher,  Alphar,  miner. 

Ballantine,  Kelso,  saloon. 

Bell,  William,  miner. 

Bell,  W.  R.,  miner. 

Bell,  Joseph,  miner. 

Bell,  Robert,  miner. 

Beba,  P.,  miner. 

Betz,  George, 

Bertrand,  Julius,  miner. 

Bertrand,  Gustav,  laborer. 

Beland,  John,  teamster. 

Besk,  John,  miner. 

Beck,  John,  miner. 

Bessler,  John,  Jr. 

Bennett,  James  O.,  farmer. 

Bennett,  J.  D. 

Besanda,  Thomas,  miner. 

Berine,  William,  miner. 

Beadle,  A.  E.,  painter. 

Bertrand,  Gustay,  miner. 

Bluet,  Josiah,  miner. 

Blood,  II.  W.,  soda  manufacturer. 

Boyle,  M.,  saloon. 

Boyle,  Hugh,  miner. 

Boyles.  Francis,  miner. 

Booth,  Martha  C.,  milliner. 

Boylston,  C.  IX,  farmer. 

Braid  wood  Dairy  Association. 

Braidwood,  -lames,  coal  operator. 

Braid  wood  Coal  Co. 

Bradbury,  Agnes. 


Braeley,  John,  farmer. 
Braden,  William,  miner. 
Broadbent,  John,  clerk. 
Brenan,  Ann. 
Britton,  Simon,  miner. 
Brogan,  M.,  miner. 
Brown,  Hugh,  miner. 
Brown,  W.  B. 
Brown,  R.  B.,  miner. 
Brown,  James. 
Button,  William. 
Burt,  Robert,  saloon. 
Burt,  James,  miner. 
Butler,  George,  miner. 
Burke,  Richard,  laborer. 
Burke,  Hannah,  farmer. 
Burzeh,  B.,  miner. 
Burges,  Frank,  miner. 
Burrill,  James,  miner. 
Burr,  Ferris,  carpenter. 
Carlisle,  William,  baker. 
Carney,  Edward,  miner. 
Carney,  Lewis,  miner. 
Carney,  Patrick,  saloon. 
Canton,  John. 
Calwell,  Thomas,  teamster. 
Cairns,  Catherine. . 
Campbell,  William,  clerk. 
Castello,  Antrina,  saloon. 
Casey,  James,  miner. 
Campbell,  William,  plasterer. 
Canvey,  M.,  miner. 
Callahan,  Michael,  miner. 
Card  well,  Henry,  miner. 
Carroll,  Bridget,  farmer. 
Cheney,  W.,  miner. 
Cheeney,  Vinzel,  miner. 
Cheeney,  Peter. 
Christy,  Patrick,  Mrs. 
Charles,  William,  saloon. 
Chaney,  James,  miner. 
Charlton,  C.  K.,  druggist. 
Cherry,  James,  miner. 
Chigwprth,  William,  miner. 
Cheerlier,  Althouse,  miner. 
Clark,  Philip,  mine  boss. 
Cleveland,  F.  G.,  farmer. 
Connors,  T.,  butcher. 
Coal  Co.,  C.,  W.  &.  V. 
Costello,  Anthony,  saloon. 
Cook,  Thomas,  miner. 
Cook,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Cook,  Sampson,  miner. 
Coley,  Nicholas,  laborer. 
Connors  Thomas,  farmer. 
Connea,  James. 
Conners,  William,  butcher. 
Conner,  Thomas,  butcher. 
Connolly,  Edward. 
Connolly,  Thomas. 
Conroy,  Joseph,  miner. 
Cox,  Henry,  miner. 
Cox,  Frank,  miner. 


930 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Cox,  John.,  Sr.,  retired. 

Cox.,  John,  Jr.,  weigh  boss. 

Cox,  William,  miner. 

Crossin,  James,  miner. 

Crane,  Edwin  A.,  clerk. 

Creely,  John,  Sr.,  miner. 

Craig,  John,  miner. 

Craig,  James,  clerk. 

Craig,  Bartly,  miner. 

Criense,  Andrew,  miner. 

Cruise,  Mary. 

Crinse,  Henry,  miner. 

Criss,  John,  Sr.,  miner. 

Crombie,  John,  miner. 

Cunningham,  William,  miner. 

Cuckley,  Joseph,  miner. 

Currey,  Peter,  miner. 

Dawney,  J.  B. 

Daublin,  J.,  miner. 

Davidson,  Adam,  teamster. 

Davidson,  Edward,  miner. 
Dawning,  J.  D.,  farmer, 
Daugherty,  Dennis,  miner. 
Dando,  Mishak,  Police  Justice. 
Darley,  Edward. 
Davis,  Evan,  miner. 
Davis,  W.  D.,  saloon. 
Davis,  John  O.,  shoemaker. 
Davis,  W.  8.,  saloon. 
Davis,  William  T. 
Dennison,  David,  miner. 
Dennison,  Thomas,  miner. 
Dennison,  Williamson,  miner. 
Dennison,  William,  miner. 
Dennison,  John  L.,  miner. 
Devine,  James,  laborer. 
Dergan,  Patrick,  miner. 
Demblon,  Joseph,  miner. 
Del  marl,  Ann. 
Derlislorus,  John,  miner. 
Demmar,  John. 
Delmarle,  Lewis,  merchant. 
De  Cleres,  Lucian,. saloon. 
Derickson,  George,  miner. 
Dinsmore,  William,  miner. 
Dixon,  Robert,  miner. 
Dimblyn,  Joseph,  miner. 
Dillon,  Charles,  miner. 
Donahue,  Edward. 
Donahue,  John,  County  Treasurer. 
Dobbs,  James,  machinist. 
Donlen,  John,  laborer. 
Donan,  Thomas. 
Donnell,  Edward  0.,  miner. 
Dougherty,  Charles,  miner. 
Donelly,  J.,  clerk. 
Doty,  Eli  H.,  farmer. 
Doyle,  John,  farmer. 
Douglas,  William,  miner. 
Dugan,  G.,  miner. 
Dugan,  Michael,  miner 
Durham,  Thomas,  weigh  boss. 
Duffey,  William,  miner. 
Durkin,  Frank,  miner. 
Dunn,  James,  miner. 
Dunn,  Thomas,  laborer. 
Dunmore,  Wm.,  miner. 
Duffey,  Miles,  miner. 


Dunlap,  A.,  farmer. 

Dunlap,  Robert,  miner. 

Drurey,  Wm.  P.,  miner. 

Draton,  Wm. 

Dwyre,  James,  farmer. 

Dwyre,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Dyer,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Dyer,  Geo.,  laborer. 

Earl,  David,  miner. 

Ebbitt,  R.,  merchant. 

Edna,  John,  miner. 

Elliott,  Adam,  miner. 

English,  Luke,  miner. 

English,  John,  miner. 

Erison,  Peter,  miner. 

Evans,  James,  laborer. 

Evans,  Jenkins,  miner. 

Eureka  Coal  Co. 

Farmer,  Geo.,  miner. 

Falling,  Patrick,  miner. 

Farley,  J.,  miner. 

Fay,  Peter,  miner. 

Ferguson,  Wm.,  miner. 

Ferguson,  James,  miner. 

Feeney,  John,  miner. 

Felyn,  A.,  miner. 

Felton,  E.  W.,  merchant. 

Felton,  C.  W.,  merchant. 

Fishback,  Freeman,  farmer. 

Flengier,  A.,  miner. 

Floynn,  Michael,  laborer. 

Forsythe,  John,  farmer. 

Fort,  John,  miner. 

Fox,  Samuel,  miner. 
Frew,  Henry,  miner. 
Freer,  John,  mechanic. 
Francis,  David,  miner. 
Franck,  Joseph,  miner. 
Frost,  John,  mechanic. 
French,  J.  L.,  farmer. 
Fundy,  John,  miner. 
Gatley,»Barney,  engineer. 
Gardner  J.  B.,  teamster. 
Garrity,  Patrick,  merchant. 
Gardner,  J.  B.,  teamster. 
Geddis,  John,  Constable. 
Gisera,  Frank,  miner. 
Ghelain,  Frank,  miner. 
Glupp,  James,  miner. 
Glenny,  Dennis,  farmer. 
Gornley,  Pat.,  miner. 
Goodrich,  L.  H.,  merchant. 
Goodrich,  H.  C.,  clerk. 
Golfinger,  Nathan,  merchant. 
Goldfinger,  Catherine, 
Graham,  David- 
Granger,  R. 
Granger,  Wm.,  miner. 
Grace,  Michael,  miner. 
Gray,  John,  miner. 
Greene,  Wm.,  miner. 
Greene,  Theo.,  engineer. 
Greggs,  James,  miner. 
Hanley,  Pat.,  laborer. 
Hamilton,  R.  J.,  farmer. 
Hall,  Geo.,  laborer. 
Hafford,  James,  miner. 
Hafford,  Wm.,  miner. 


REED  TOWNSHIP. 


931 


Harrison,  John,  far. 
Harelick,  Joseph,  miner. 
Harvy,  Win.,  far. 
Hanchet,  John  L.,  farmer. 
Havlick,  A.,  miner. 
Harris,  Ruben  H. 
Hamell,  Thomas,  laborer. 
Harwood,  Peter,  miner. 
Hanna,  Isaac,  miner. 
Harup,  Robert,  miner. 
Haley,  Catherine. 
Harvey,  Francis,  farmer. 
Haskinson,  Ann. 
Harbottle,  P. 
Hackett,  Margaret. 
Hall,  Thomas,  miner. 
Halier,  Peter. 
Hale,  Frank. 
Hay,  James,  miner. 
Handlin,  John,  dairyman. 
Heep,  John,  miner. 
Henler,  Jacob,  miner. 
Henneberry,  Thomas,  saloon. 
Hecherbottom,  Elijah,  miner. 
Heilman,  Herman,  Justice. 
Hill,  Wm.,  miner. 
Hillard.  John,  engineer. 
Higgins,  John,  laborer. 
Higgins,  Barney,  farmer. 
Hlavin,  Frank,  saloon. 
Howe,  Siston,  laborer. 
Howe,  W.  H.,  carpenter. 
Holderworth,  Richard,  miner. 
Howard,  Thomas. 
Howat,  Alex.,  miner. 
Howell,  G.,  farmer. 
Hoar,  Wm.  H. 
Huston,  Robert,  merchant. 
Huttley,  Desire,  milliner. 
Husband,  David,  merchant. 
Hunt,  Jonathan,  carpenter. 
Hubbard,  James. 
Hynd,  John,  miner. 
Hynes,  Mary. 
Hick,  George,  miner. 
Jack,  William,  merchant. 
Jack,  William,  Jr.,  merchant. 
Jones,  Ann  E. 
Jones,  David  D.,  miner. 
Jones,  John,  miner. 
Jones,  Wm.  R.,  miner. 
Jones,  Axna,  miner. 
Jones,  George,  engineer. 
Jones,  Mrs. 
James,  John,  clerk. 
Jones,  Phil,  miner. 
Jones,  J.,  miner. 
James,  John,  clerk. 
Jeffrey,  Joseph,  miner. 
Johnson,  George,  saloon. 
Kane,  Timothy,  farmer. 
Kane,  Nicholas,  miner. 
Kane,  J.,  saloon. 
Katel,  Michael,  miner. 
Kasperick,  Albert,  miner. 
Kaiser,  Alvis,  miner. 
Kelley,  M.,  merchant. 
Kelley,  Neeley,  miner. 


Kelley,  Thomas,  miner. 
Kerr,  David,  miner. 
Kerns,  Charles,  teamster. 
Kelfe,  Dennis,  carpenter. 
Keenan,  James,  miner. 
Keenan,  Daniel,  miner. 
Keenan,  Abner,  farmer. 
Keevers,  William,  miner. 
Kennard,  Thomas,  teamster. 
Kicheely,  John,  miner. 
Kirzel,  Frank,  miner. 
Kidmore,  James,  miner. 
Kilpatrick,  James,  miner. 
Kirkpatrick.  John,  miner. 
Kirkpatrick,  Alex,  miner. 
Kline,  Adam,  miner. 
Knempash,  Antoine,  miner. 
Kottas,  Michael,  miner. 
Kottas,  James,  miner. 
Krist,  John,  Jr.,  miner. 
Kreemock,  Anton,  miner. 
Krumpash,  Gabriel,  miner. 
Kucia,  John,  miner. 
Kucera,  Frank,  miner. 
Kuckler,  Alber,  miner. 
Laska,  V.,  miner. 
Lalles,  Daniel,  miner. 
Lacaust,  F.,  miner. 
Larzlot,  John,  miner. 
Lackie,  George  M. 
Lexhararaux,  Desire,  miner. 
Lexhararaux,  Peter,  miner. 
Lewis,  H.  H.,  miner. 
Levis,  Joseph,  miner. 
Leviska,  Frank,  miner. 
LeClergal,  L.,  saloon. 
Lindsay,  Thomas,  miner. 
Littlejohn,  Finley,  saloon. 
Lowe,  Henry,  farmer. 
Lovejoy,  A.,  laborer. 
Long,  John,  baker. 
Love,  Andrew,  miner. 
Lofka,  Joseph,  saloon-keeper. 
Loyd,  D.,  miner. 
McArthur,  James,  saloon. 
McClenan,  Frank,  miner. 
McClarky,  William,  miner. 
McCooey,  R.,  miner. 
McDonald,  Peter,  miner. 
McDonald,  Pat,  laborer, 
McDermott,  Peter. 
McElroy,  John,  saloon. 
McEvery,  John,  miner. 
McFeeley,  Smith,  laborer. 
McFardin,  Mrs. 
McGinby,  James,  farmer. 
McGarvey,  William,  miner. 
McGrath*  John,  Sr.,  miner. 
McGrath,  John,  Jr.,  miner. 
McGrath,  Perry,  miner. 
McGurk,  John,  miner. 
Mclntyre,  Thomas,  miner. 
Mclntyre.  John,  miner. 
McKeon,  Phil. 
McKinney,  Samuel. 
McKinley,  Robert,  miner. 
McLane,  Robert,  miner. 
McLindon,  H.,  miner. 


932 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY; 


McMurty,  Samuel,  teamster. 
McManus,  Owen,  laborer. 
McNeeley,  William,  miner. 
McNutty,  William,  miner. 
McVane,  Michael,  miner. 
McVicker,  John,  engineer. 
Matone,  Antoine,  miner. 
Mason,  Agnes. 
Mannon,  Thomas  H.,  miner. 
Malcom,  Mrs. 
Masier,  Ira,  farmer. 
Maltby,  Wm.,  Superintendent  of  mine. 
Mack,  James,  miner. 
Macram,  Frank,  miner. 
Matine ,  Austin,  miner. 
Marcel  es,  Lewis,  laborer. 
Marsh,  I.  E.,  merchant. 
Mearsler,  Louis,  miner. 
Meyer,  Frank,  barber, 
Merideth,  William,  miner. 
Medder,  B.,  Mrs.,  farmer. 
Miles,  John,  miner. 
Mitchell,  Rebecca.  v 

Mills,  Eli,  miner. 
Mills,  Alice  B. 
Micklijohn,  Robert,  miner. 
Micklijohn,John,  teamster. 
Milachek,  Matz,  miner. 
Moran,  Thos.,  merchant. 
Morris,  David  D.,  merchant. 
Morris,  James  H.,  miner. 
Morris,  Joseph,  miner. 
Morgan,  M.,  farmer. 
Mooney,  Wm.,  City  Attorney. 
Mulrooney,  R.,  miner. 
Muldowney,  Patrick,  City  Marshal. 
Mulligan,  James,  miner. 
Nelson,  Simpson,  carpenter. 
Nehane,  Albert,  miner. 
Nell,  J.,  butcher. 
Neack,  Joseph,  miner. 
Nicholas,  Nicholas,  miner. 
Nicholas,  Thomas,  miner. 
Nichol,  John,  miner. 
Noel,  F.,  miner. 
Noonan,  John,  farmer. 
O'Brien,  Patrick,  miner. 
O'Connell,  Charles,  butcher. 
O'Donnell,  Con.,  saloon. 
O'Dell,  Wm.  H, 
Oliver,  Oscar,  miner. 
O'Neil,  Edward,  miner. 
O'Neil,  Thomas,  blacksmith. 
O'Neil,  Mary. 
Ovenocker,  H.,  miner. 
Pascol,  Alf.,  miner. 
Patterson,  Agnes. 
Patterson,  Alex.,  merchant. 
Pappleton,  Henry,  miner. 
Paden,  David,  miner. 
Pavino,  Spinter,  miner. 
Palmer,  Thomas. 
Palmer,  A.  F. 
Parson,  Wm.,  miner. 
Parson,  Henry,  miner. 
Pale,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Parkinson,  H.  H.,  editor  Braid  wood  Re- 
publican. 


Pettigrew,  Thomas,  miner. 
Pettitt,  T.  T.,  clerk. 
Peart,  Joseph,  mine  boss. 
Peart,  John,  miner. 
Perousie,  J.  H.,  miner. 
Pfingston,  Henry,  farmer. 
Phelps,  E.,  laborer. 
Phillips,  David,  miner. 
Phillips,  Richard,  miner. 
Pinkera,  John,  miner. 
Pickering,  Geo.,  miner. 
Pinkway,  John,  miner. 
Posta,  Ignatz,  merchant. 
Powell,  Margaret. 
Powell,  Daniel,  miner. 
Powell,  Stephen,  miner. 
Powers,  James,  miner. 
Prebil,  J.,  miner. 
Proven,  John,  miner. 
Prier,  A. 

Price,  Benjamin,  miner. 
Prifle,  Matthew,  miner. 
Prould,  Agustine,  miner. 
Quiring,  John,  farmer. 
Ramsey,  Richard,  mine  boss. 
Raise,  Wm.,  miner. 
Rapelge,  A.  W.,  miner. 
Rankin,  Wm.,  retired  merchant. 
Rankin,  Dunkin,  merchant. 
Ranvill,  S.,  carpenter. 
Ranville,  S.,  carpenter. 
Ray,  Thomas,  mine  boss. 
Raudek,  Joseph,  saloon. 
Ruddy,  Win.,  laborer. 
Rawhi,  J.,  miner. 
Ray,  Thomas,  mine  boss. 
Reckson,  Wm.,  miner. 
Reakin,  D.,  miner. 
Reese,  John,  miner. 
Richardson,  Thomas,  miner. 
Richards.  F.  G.,  farmer. 
Riley,  Joseph,  miner. 
Riley,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Rodt,  Joseph,  miner. 
Roe,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Roe,  Charles,  plasterer. 
Roe,  James,  miner. 
Roe,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Rodgers,  Saphonia,  farmer. 
Rosser,  Richard,  miner. 
Rodtt,  Anton,  miner. 
Routt,  John,  miner. 
Rooney,  Timothy,  miner. 
Rouse,  Antrim,  Mrs. 
Rock,  John,  miner. 
Rock,  Michael,  miner.  . 
Runcie,  John,  miner. 
Russell,  Jane. 
Ryder,  Charles,  farmer. 
Sandal,  James,  miner. 
Savage,  E.  P. 
Saulsby,  Wm.,  saloon. 
Schwarz,  James,  miner. 
Schubert,  Anton,  miner. 
Schomann,  Joseph,  miner. 
Scullins,  Patrick,  butcher. 
Scullan,  Nicholas,  miner. 
Scahan,  Johan,  farmer. 


REED   TOWNSHIP. 


933 


Sebick,  John,  miner. 
Sessmilick,  L.,  miner. 
Sevans,  Levi,  miner. 
Sebarta,  M.,  miner. 
Secola,  Antoine,  miner. 
Sherman,  W.  B.,  merchant. 
Shumach,  Joseph,  miner. 
Shipton,  Win.,  plasterer. 
Shannon,  John,  laborer. 
Shiback,  John,  miner. 
Shannahon,  Dennis,  miner. 
Sherman,  Katharine. 
Short,  L. 

Shank,  John,  butcher. 
Sherwood,  Frank,  carpenter. 
Shields,  Frank, 
Shields,  Nathaniel. 
Sharp,  Alex.,  miner. 
Sharp,  Charles,  miner. 
Sismik,  T.,  miner. 
Sismilik,  John,  miner. 
Sinkiah,  James,  miner. 
Sickalr,  T.,  Mrs. 
Simms,  George. 
Sicklar,  Thomas,  Mrs. 
Skinner,  John,  miner. 
Skelton,  George,  miner. 
Slack,  Frank,  miner. 
Smith,  T.,  carpenter. 
Small,  David. 
Small,  Daniel. 
Spinning,  A.,  carpenter. 
Sranck,  Frank,  miner. 
Stassen,  F.,  miner. 
Strathurs,  James,  miner. 
Strathurs,  John,  miner. 
Stoddard,  John,  miner. 
Stean,  James,  miner. 
Stean,  William,  miner. 
Stewart,  John,  brakeman. 
Stewart,  Robert,  miner. 
Stewart.  AVilliam  J.,  Constable. 
Stewart,  William,  miner. 
Stewart,  David,  miner. 
Stewart,  James,  farmer. 
Stewart,  Peter,  farmer. 
Stewart,  J.,  miner. 
Sterritt,  William,  miner. 
Stackett,  Leonard,  miner. 
Strong,  Robert. 
Stevenson,  John,  miner. 
Stevens,  Henry  K.,  farmer. 
Stevens,  John  B.,  miner. 
Stanton,  Alex,  miner. 
Stark,  John,  miner. 
Sutliff,  Thomas. 
Sutterly,  M.  H.,  express  agent. 
Sweet,  B.,  clerk. 
Tagpe,  William,  miner. 
Taylor,  Thomas,  miner. 
Terry,  H.  C-,  laborer. 
Thomas,  Sarah. 
Thomas,  William  S.,  miner. 
Thatcher,  William,  miner. 
Thompson,  Evan  W.,  miner. 
Tillburn,  M.  R.,  miner. 


Tisdell,  B.,  laborer. 
Tilley,  Joseph,  miner. 
Talka,  S.  Frank,  miner. 
Toval,  William,  farmer. 
Tomasie,  Anton,  miner. 
Toy,  Nettie. 

Touhey,  James,  merchant. 
Trotter,  Robert,  engineer. 
Trainor,  Joseph,  miner. 
Trosser,  Frank,  miner. 
Treman,  Joseph,  miner. 
Tracy,  John,  saloon. 
Treslett,  Lawrence,  farmer. 
Tuttle,  L.  G.,  farmer. 
Tuttle,  W.,  farmer. 
Tyler,  Bart- 
Utley,  H.,  farmer. 
Ulman,  Virgil. 
Underwood,  M.  J.,  Mrs. 
Varley,  Joseph,  weigh  boss. 
Vangampiller,  Hannah. 
Vandermerde,  Enos,  miner. 
Vacha,  E.,  miner. 
Vacha,  L.,  miner. 
Vandavoor,  C.,  miner. 
Vandavoor,  E.,  miner. 
Venango,  Reuben,  miner. 
Vignery,  Gusalabice,  miner. 
Vickars,  William,  miner. 
Virgnesy,  G-,  miner. 
Vincent,  Julian,  carpenter. 
Way,  Price. 
Waid,  Leonard  D. 
Walkyard,  Ann. 
Wanat,  John,  miner. 
Wandles,  R.,  miner. 
Watson,  James  T.,  miner. 
Watson,  James,  miner. 
Walker,  John,  saloon. 
Walker,  John,  miner. 
Walsh,  Robert,  miner. 
Walsh,  Thomas,  teacher. 
Warrick,  Martin,  miner. 
Ward,  John  H.,  plasterer. 
Welsaschal,  Joseph,  miner. 
Welschall,  Frank,  miner. 
Wernigher,  Eli,  laborer. 
Wear,  James,  miner. 
Westmoreland,  Thomas,  laborer. 
Wheeler,  Benjamin,  miner. 
White,  William,  blacksmith. 
Whitfield,  Charles,  farmer. 
Wilson,  David,  miner. 
Wiper,  James,  miner. 
Winters,  C.  S.,  merchant. 
Willey,  George,  miner. 
Wilmott,  William,  miner. 
Williams,  John  B.,  miner. 
Williams,  David,  weigh  boss. 
Williams,  Owen,  miner. 
Williamson,  John,  miner. 
Young,  George,  laborer. 
Young,  Thomas. 
Young,  John,  Supervisor. 
Zimmerman,  Henry,  miner. 
Zima,  Frank,  miner. 


934 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


LOCKPORT    TOWNSHIP. 

(P.  0.  LOOKPOBT.) 


Alexander,  James  H.,  farmer. 
Adams,  Henry,  farmer. 
Adelman,  Christopher,  mason. 
Adelman,  Peter,  Mrs.,  farmer. 
Allen,  Chester,  farmer. 
Anderson,  A.  S.,  grain  dealer. 
Anderson,  Oliver,  laborer. 
Anderson,  A.  S.,  grain  dealer.' 
Arnold,  Mary. 

Arnold,  Sidney  V. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Arnold,  J.  H.,  Mrs. 
Arnold,  John  W.,  merchant. 
Ashley,  Morgan,  farmer. 
Ayers,  Nancy. 
Ayers,  Mahlone,  farmer. 
Aur,  Anton. 
Bolan,  Maurice,  laborer. 
Bohle,  Joseph,  shoemaker. 
Burns,  Lucinda. 
Burke,  James,  laborer. 
Bedford,  John,  engineer. 
Baldwin,  D.  C.,  carpenter. 
Baldwin,  John,  farmer. 
Boyer,  Julius,  quarryman. 
Bentley,  Eobert,  clerk. 
Brown,  Eobert,  carpenter. 
Baldwin,  D.  C-,  merchant. 
Baumgartner,  Charles,  mason. 
Brass,  K.  J., 
Byrne,  Mary  A. 
Bond,  James,  painter. 
Booven,  Louis,  shoemaker. 
Bradley,  Wm.,  druggist. 
Bork,  Henry,  miller. 
Butler,  A.  C.,  clerk. 
Bacon,  C.  H.,  physician. 
Baker,  James  S.,  carpenter. 
Barnes,  E.  V.,  blacksmith. 
Brown,  Abraham,  clerk. 
Burdick,  A.  S.,  painter. 
Baldwin,  John,  farmer. 
Bailey,  Wm.  M.,  farmer. 
Bruce,  James,  farmer. 
Begley,  John,  farmer. 
Boger,  J.  A.,  Mrs. 
Brown,  W.  H.,  carpenter. 
Burke,  M.,  laborer. 
Bremborn,  Mary. 
Bressel,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Bergan,  Martin,  laborer. 
Brown,  Wm.  H.,  carpenter. 
Boyle,  James,  cooper. 
Brown,  Dolly. 
Brennan,  Mary. 
Bannon,  Elizabeth. 
Brainard,  John,  laborer. 
Brown,  Morris. 
Burt,  Eineline. 
Blessing,  Frank,  laborer. 
Backus,  John,  carpenter. 
Bowen,  B.,  carpenter. 
Brown,  Samuel,  laborer. 
Berkey,  Fidel,  laborer. 


Blumel,  Joseph. 

Burt,  C.  A.,  Mrs.,  nurse. 

Bayne,  James. 

Baumgartner,  Louis,  farmer. 

Boilling,  Anthony,  farmer. 

McGinn,  Patrick,  m  ason . 

Benton,  J.  W. 

Baker,  James  S.,  carpenter. 

Baker,  James  E.,  farmer. 

Beck,  John,  farmer. 

Burt,  Wm.  S.,  farmer. 

Begley,  John,  farmer. 

Bronson,  Cyrus,  farmer. 

Cammeron,  Wm.,  blacksmith. 

Clark,  Homer,  trader. 

Clark,  Barrett  B.,  merchant. 

Confrey,  Ellen. 

Craggs,  John. 

Calstrune,  Charles,  shoemaker. 

Cowell,  Walter,  farmer. 

Collins,  Homer,  farmer. 

Clay,  Charles,  carpenter. 

Carey,  James  E.,  laborer. 

Curren,  John,  printer. 

Curtis,  I.  B.,  agr.  dealer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Cox,  Wm.,  carpenter. 

Cook,  Mary. 

Chaxell,  Charles,  musician. 

Conners,  Andrew,  laborer. 

Colwell,  Geo.,  laborer. 

Crigne,  Frank,  blacksmith. 

Cronan,  Joshua,  carpenter. 

Confrey,  Matthew,  laborer. 

Cowan^  Margaret. 

Chamberlain,  S.  S.,  furniture  dealer. 

Casey,  James  E.,  merchant. 

Chattes,  Mathias. 

Cheney,  Wm.,  teamster. 

Coyne,  James,  farmer. 

Corcoran,  W.  W.,  farmer. 

Colvin,  Charles. 

Culver,  Amos,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Campbell,  H.  C.,  carpenter. 

Confrey,  Mat.,  laborer. 

Cook,  Mary. 

Corcoran,  W.  W.,  laborer. 

Conner,  Andrew,  laborer. 

Corcorrin,  James,  laborer. 

Dunnigan,  H.  F.,  foreman. 

Daley,  John,  farmer. 

Daley,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Day,  John  W.,  farmer. 

Donahue,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Daggett,  John  F.,  physician. 

Dieter,  Philip,  farmer. 

Dixon,  Geo.,  painter. 

Donahue,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Dirmedy,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Dougherty,  James,  laborer. 

Donaldson,  Felix,  carpenter  ;  P.  O.  Peru. 

Dry  miller*,  Peter  J.,  miller. 

Deriton,  James  L.,  farmer. 

Donahue,  James,  laborer. 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


935 


Dougherty,  Daniel,  laborer. 

Deal,  Peter,  teamster. 

Deeming,  John,  carpenter. 

Dallinger,  Henry,  farmer. 

Disburg,  Emily. 

Day,  Jefferson,  teamster. 

Davis,  Samuel  Z.,  teamster. 

Dowse,  Stephen,  lawyer. 

Darling,  D.  II.,  teacher. 

Devitt,  Mary  L. 

Deeming,  Arthur,  clerk. 

Denton,  J.  L.  farmer. 

Dodd,  Louisa  M. 

Denton,  W.  J.,  farmer. 

Dayton,  Susan. 

Dow,  A.  Z.,  carpenter. 

Doyle,  John,  teamster. 

Dow,  Charles,  carpenter. 

Epper,  M.,  farmer. 

Efting,  Frank,  farmer. 

Fiddyment,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Esther,  Geo. 

Ewen,  A.  J.,  merchant. 

Emery,  Hiram,  lumber  dealer. 

Evans,  Wm.,  manufacturer. 

Fitzpatrick,  John,  farmer. 

Flagg,  Geo.,  farmer. 

Frazer,  James,  farmer. 

Fraser,  M.,  weaver. 

Fitzpatrick,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Freehoff,  G.,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Fouser,  J.  J.,  farmer. 

Frehoff,  G.,  farmer. 

Felt,  Clark,  farmer. 

Foley,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Foley,  John,  farmer. 

Fox,  Osmond,  farmer;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Fraser,  John  A.,  farmer. 

Frazer,  Mary. 

Flavier,  Nancy. 

Farley,  Thomas,  blacksmith. 

Flarin,  Catharine. 

Frankfort,  John,  farmer. 

Flavin,  Edw.,  saloon-keeper. 

Fisher,  Leo,  saloon-keeper. 

Fraser,  J.  D.,  farmer. 

Ford,  Timothy. 

Farley,  E.  P.,  retired. 

Fay,  Ann  W. 

Fellows,  Frank,  capitalist. 

Freeman,  J.,  agent. 

Fisher,  Mrs. 

Fellows,  E.  C.,  Mrs. 

Fisher,  Wm.  C.,  machinist. 

Finch,  James  S.,  groceryman. 

Finch,  Elizabeth. 

Fleming,  John,  laborer. 

Fitzgerald,  Catherine. 

Fleming,  Michael,  laborer. 

Frazer,  Mary  L. 

Fiddyment,  W.  J.,  farmer. 

Feunn,  Wui.  E.,  watchman. 

Fisher,  Leo,  saloon-keeper. 

Fredrickson,  Charles,  laborer. 

Foley,  James,  farmer. 

Freebury,  Harman,  laborer.    • 

Fry,  Bryan  S.,  plasterer. 

Frazer,  John  A.,  farmer;  P.O.  Plainfield. 


Gardner,  Martin,  farmer. 

Goodale,  Clinton,  farmer. 

Giffon,  John,  farmer. 

Gaylord,  S.  D.,  merchant. 

Giffon,  Elliott,  farmer. 

Greenan,  Andrew. 

Geddis,  John,  butcher. 

Griswold,  John,  farmer. 

Geist,  Samuel. 

Gorrey,  Christian. 

Geddes,  Geo.,  retired. 

Gooding,  Lorenzo- F.,  farmer. 

Glass,  Catherine,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Gooding,  Jane  M., 

Grover,  John  L.,  nurseryman. 

Godfrey,  Mat. 

Gliner,  Isaac. 

Gavin,  Penelope. 

Gleason,  Mary. 

Gleason,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Galligan,  Mrs. 

Griffin,  John  B.,  farmer. 

Geddis,  Maria  A. 

Gregory,  Frank,  saloon-keeper. 

Goodenough,  John  W.,  farmer. 

Gleason,  Hugh,  laborer. 

Hoffman,  Elias,  farmer. 

Hills,  Ledger,  farmer. 

Hills,  Lavier,  farmer. 

Harting,  Levi,  farmer;  P.  O.  Plainfield 

Harton,  Mary. 

Hasel,  John,  farmer. 

Hanton,  John,  laborer. 

Hahn,  W.  F.,  farmer. 

Hopkins,  Heniy,  farmer. 

Heck,  John,  retired. 

Harder,  Frank,  farmer. 

Hoy,  Charles,  farmer. 

Hardin,  Theo.,  farmer. 

Hawley,  Warren,  farmer. 

Hay  wood,  James,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Haywood,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Hills,  John,  farmer. 

Hickey,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Hawley,  Debora. 

Hickey,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Hickey,  Daniel,  laborer. 

Hawley,  Warren,  farmer. 

Hills,  August,  farmer. 

Herron,  Albert,  engineer. 

Haywood,  Orpha  A. 

Heck,  John,  retired. 

Hart  well,  Elmira  J. 

Hewitt,  Newton,  painter. 

Hopkins,  Frank,  merchant. 

Haywood,  T.  C.,  merchant. 

Hutton,  John  D.,  wagon-maker. 

Hern,  Helen. 

Holden,  Dexter,  teacher. 

Harris,  F.  G.,  Postmaster. 

Hartong,  Frank,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Ireson,  W.  T.,  groceryman. 

Jacobs,  Anton,  farmer. 

Johnson,  R.  S.,  butcher. 

Johnson,  Ann. 

Johnson,  Jacob,  laborer. 

Johnson,  Charles  E.,  teamster. 

Johnson,  Elizabeth. 


936 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Johnson,  Peter  G.,  laborer. 

Johnson,  John,  laborer. 

Krowmeyer,  Win.,  farmer. 

Kirkham,  John,  farmer. 

Kendall,  J.  W.,  farmer. 

Kopp,  Ferdinand,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Knapp,  Solomon,  Rev.,  clergyman ;  P.  O. 

Joliet. 

Klinker,  Michael,  farmer. 
Kopft,  Henry,  farmer. 
Kanagy,  Casper,  farmer. 
Kinney,  K.,  farmer. 
Keeley,  Dennis,  laborer. 
Kennelley,  Daniel. 
King,  Lawrence,  laborer. 
Kerevin,  John,  farmer. 
Kelley,  Eugene,  laborer. 
Klenker,  Michael,  farmer. 
Karch,  Michael,  farmer. 
Keough,  Wm.,  boatman. 
Klees,  Wm.  H.,  farmer. 
Kronberg,  John,  laborer. 
Kronberg,  Charles,  laborer. 
Korrall,  C.,  liveryman. 
Koenig,  Adam,  shoemaker. 
Kornmeyer,  B.  C.,  tailor. 
Karch,  Josephine. 
Karch,  Michael,  boat-carpenter. 
Kabliska,  Frank,  farmer. 
Kenney,  Michael,  laborer. 
Kennedy,  John. 
Kpskuska,  Albert,  laborer. 
Killner,  Augustus,  farmer. 
Larkin,  Martin,  teamster. 
Lizer,  Joseph,  mason. 
Lalley,  Patrick,  farmer. 
Lawrence,  Hiram,  farmer. 
Lowe,  H. 

Lintner,  Lena,  Mrs.,  farmer. 
Lezer,  Bartholomew,  farmer. 
Lynn,  Geo.,  shoemaker. 
Lowrey,  Henry,  baker. 
Lindsey,  Ann. 
Lotz,  Jacob,  miller. 
Larson,  John,  tailor. 
Lees,  Theo.,  Mrs. 
Lamed,  E.  A.  H.,  physician. 
Langfear,  Phebe. 
Lull,  S.  W.,  merchant. 
Lyons,  Wm.  R.,  blacksmith. 
Lonergan,  Simon,  Mrs. 
Lyons,  W.  R.,  blacksmith. 
Lowery,  Hervey. 
Lally,  John,  farmer. 
Levisee,  Sidney  A. 
Lundalle,  Fred  K.,  laborer. 
Lundstrum,  T.,  laborer. 
Laura w,  John. 
Lundstrum,  Olaf,  laborer. 
Laacy,  Garrett,  laborer. 
McDonald,  James,  laborer. 
McLeery,  Edw.,  farmer. 
McGilvery,  John,  farmer. 
McCause,  Francis. 
McWeerey,  John. 
McGuire,  Bernard,  farmer. 
McGuire,  John,  Jr.,  farmer. 
McGorry,  James,  farmer. 


McDonald,  Christopher,  laborer. 

McFadden,  Patrick,  farmer. 

McDonald,  John  R.,  contractor. 

McNiff,  J. 

McClintock,  Joseph,  farmer. 

McShane,  John,  farmer. 

McShane,  Patrick,  farmer. 

McDonald,  Patrick,  Jr.,  laborer. 

McNally,  James,  laborer. 

McWeeney,  Rosa,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

McCann,  Mrs. 

McDonald,  Terrence,  teamster. 

McWeerey,  John,  farmer. 

Matthews,  Samuel,  gardener. 

Manley,  James,  laborer. 

Mason,  H.  S.,  farmer. 

Murray,  James,  farmer. 

Morrison,  Michael,  Mrs. 

Milne,  Robert,  farmer. 

Marvin,  Legrand,  farmer. 

Murphy,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Meeder,  Louis,  farmer. 

Mallon,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Mackin,  John,  laborer. 

Mageral,  Charles,  tailor. 

Miles,  Mary. 

Maurer,  William,  farmer. 

Murray,  C.  H.,  laborer. 

Mallon,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Moran,  John,  farmer. 

Mason,  H.  S.,  farmer. 

Mason,  F.  E.,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Miller,  Charles,  mason. 

Miner,  E.  W. 

Messer,  Joseph,  mason. 

Miles,  Patrick,  teamster. 

Meehan,  James,  laborer. 

Miller,  Sophia  M. 

Miller,  Philip,  gardener. 

Miller,  Peter,  carpenter. 

Manning,  Wm.  K.,  Mrs. 

Murray,  James  H.,  boatman. 

Mooney,  William,  farmer. 

Murphy,  Thomas,  shoemaker. 

Myers,  W.  S.,  attorney. 

Marx,  John,  tanner. 

McDonald,  J.  S.,  EDITOR  PJKKNIX. 

Mershel,  John,  mason. 

Meacham,  H.  H. 

Mullen,  James,  gardener. 

Miller,  Fred,  miller. 

Morrison,  John,  boat-calker. 

Marks,  John,  tanner. 

Murray,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Milne.  Robert,  farmer. 

Martin,  Patrick. 

Milne,  James,  retired. 

Miles,  William,  laborer. 

Mitchell,  Patrick,  boat-builder. 

Neeland,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Norton,  George  B.,  merchant. 

Neithold,  Amelia. 

Nobes,  Isaac,  farmer. 

Norton,  Maria  L. 

Nolan,  Thomas,  mason. 

Nichols,  Richard. 

Norton,  Catharine. 

Norton,  George  B.,  merchant. 


LOCKPORT  TOWNSHIP. 


937 


Norton,  John  L.,  prop.  Norton's  Mills. 

Needholt,  Charles,  cooper. 

O'Connor,  Thomas,  teamster. 

O'Brien,  Timothy,  boat-builder. 

Ostram,  Mary. 

Ostler,  Thomas,  laborer. 

Oleson,  Daniel,  laborer. 

Omart,  William. 

Payne,  James,  farmer. 

Prior,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Paxson,  A.  C-,  farmer. 

Payne,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Powers,  Lydia  L. 

Payne,  James. 

Povenney,  Owen. 

Pettigrew,  Malvina. 

Peterson,  Solomon,  laborer. 

Preston,  Isaac,  insurance  agent. 

Pemberton,  Eliza. 

Prindle,  Wm.  M.,  wagon-maker. 

Parker,  L.  S.,  attorney. 

Platt,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Pitts,  Catherine. 

Peck,  John,  farmer. 

Platt,  James,  farmer. 

Preston,  J.  B.,  P.  O.  Chicago. 

Quinn,  Martin,  laborer. 

Quinchell,  Patrick. 

Rowe,  William,  carpenter. 

Randall,  J.  W.,  farmer. 

Bobbins,  William,  farmer. 

Reynolds,  Michael,  farmer. 

Ryan,  Thomas  S.,  farmer. 

Ryan,  Johanna,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Ryan,  Lot,  farmer. 

Ryan,  Dennis,  farmer. 

Riley,  Cornelius,  farmer. 

Ripson,  H.,  cooper. 

Ragan,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Ryan,  John,  farmer. 

Reed,  John,  farmer. 

Ryan,  John,  tailor. 

Reed,  William,  farmer. 

Robinson,  Lyda,  Mrs. 

llaber,  Anderson,  farmer. 

Riley,  Patrick. 

Rafferty,  N.  S.,  merchant. 

Ryan,  Timothy,  saloon-keeper. 

Rice,  Melissa,  dressmaker. 

Rouse,  William  B.,  carpenter. 

Rose,  Henry,  P.  O.  Chicago. 

Rowley,  Alfred,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Ryan,  Dennis,  farmer. 

Robinson,  Lydia  A. 

Rpbbins,  Mrs. 

Riley,  Pat,  laborer. 

Ryan,  Lawrence,  boat-builder. 

Sanborn.  Wm.,  farmer. 

Strong,  Lorenzo,  farmer. 

Smith,  Geo.  Y.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Plainiield. 

Spangler,  Geo.,  farmer. 

Smith,  John  R.,  farmer. 

Smith,  Peter,  fanner. 

Scheibe,  Julius,  merchant. 

Smith,  Jacob,  farmer, 

Stowe,  Wm.  M.,  farmer. 

Shell,  Michael,  farmer. 

Sly,  Senaca,  farmer. 


Sullivan,  Michael,  farmer. 

Sears,  John,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Shuler,  Ann. 

Swapp,  A. 

Sears,  John,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Spieker,  Frederick,  laborer. 

Smith,  Charles,  farmer. 

Sterling,  Ann,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Souder,  Wendall,  farmer. 

Sanger,  L.  P.,  retired. 

Seivert,  John,  farmer. 

Spangler,  Frank,  farmer. 

Stillman,  O.  W-,  farmer. 

Shrecker,  D.,  mason. 

Shaw,  Thomas,  boat-builder. 

Spencer,  Ruth. 

Smith,  Saxton,  boat-builder. 

Shields,  Wm.,  grain  dealer. 

Stiles,  A.  C.,  liveryman. 

Scheibe,  Julius,  merchant. 

Schrecker,  D.,  mason. 

Smith,  Peter,  saloon-keeper. 

Stone,  Charles  L. 

Schriber,  Henry,  blacksmith. 

Shuler,  John,  Jr.,  teamster. 

Stowe,  Francis  F.,  groceryman. 

Schultz,  Wm.,  butcher. 

Sloan,  Samuel,  laborer. 

Sagar,  Harriet. 

Sisson,  Abigail. 

Shaw,  Rebecca. 

Stout,  Charles,  carpenter. 

Sly,  E.  R.,  farmer. 

Smith,  A.  Boyle,  retired. 

Starrin,  Henry,  carpenter. 

Sisson,  Geo.  W.,  trader. 

Stafford,  Anton. 

Sullivan,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Taylor,  Justin,  farmer. 

Thompson,  Andrew,  farmer. 

Thomas,  Wm.,  Supt.  Canal. 

Thurston,  John,  laborer. 

Turner,  S-  S.,  carpenter. 

Tyrell,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Taylor,  Henry,  farmer. 

Thorn,  Mary. 

Tyler,  Francis,  Mrs. 

Townsend,  Anna. 

Turner,  R. 

Townsend,  Martha. 

Tegstran,  Erric,  laborer. 

Taylor,  Grove,  farmer. 

Van  Duser,  Emeline  D. 

Vanderwalker,  Victor. 

Voght,  August,  cigar-maker. 

Van  Horn,  John,  machinist. 

Voight,  Jacob,  saloon-keeper. 

Williams,  S.  J.,  farmer. 

Wilson,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Wartzbacher,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  0.  Plainfield. 

Ward,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Winkler,  Fred,  mason. 

Wohlgematz,  Matthias,  farmer. 

Wilson,  Sarah,  farmer. 

Ward,  Edward,  farmer. 

Worthen,  I.  P.  H.,  farmer. 

Weir,  Peter,  farmer. 

Wills,  H.,  cooper. 


938 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Whalon,  Moses,  farmer. 

Wertzenbach,  Philip,  far. ;  P.O.  Plainfield. 

Williams,  Stephen,  farmer. 

Wightman,  George,  farmer. 

Waters,  Mary. 

Williams,  Michael,  farmer 

Watters,  Michael,  laborer. 

Wallace,  John,  laborer. 

Wilson,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Williams,  E.  G. 

Ward,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Winke,  Christian,  farmer. 

Waldfogle,  Benedict,  farmer. 

Werner,  Augustus,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Walfogle,  Frank,  farmer. 

Weivill,  John. 


Walsh,  James. 

Winkler,  Fred,  mason. 

Whalen,  Moses,  teamster. 

Walter,  Michael,  merchant. 

Weeks,  Geo.,  lumberman. 

Ward,  Joseph,  saloon-keeper. 

Weirsham,  Joseph,  mason. 

Wadsworth,  A.  J.,  harness-maker. 

Worst,  Jacob,  shoemaker. 

Whitson,M.,  Rev.,  Pastor  Ger.  M.  Church. 

Woock,  Adam,  saloon-keeper. 

Whalon,  Moses,  teamster. 

Y"oung,  W.  C.,  gardener. 

Young,  Michael,  farmer. 

Yoker,  Adolphus,  agricultural  dealer. 

Zimmerman,  Robert. 


PLAINFIELD    TOWNSHIP. 

(P.  0.  PLAINFIELD.) 


Austin,  F.  E.,  farmer. 

Austin,  Charles,  farmer. 

Ashley,  C.,  wire  fence. 

Ashley,  R.  B.,  minister  of  Gospel. 

Ashley,  J.  R.,  wire  fence,  Joliet. 

Aultman,  Cornelius,  manufacturer,  P.  O. 

Canton,  Ohio. 
Arnpn,  Lucus. 
Arbiter,  Charles,  farmer. 
Annis,  Matilda. 
Ayles worth,  Elmyra. 
Anglemere,  E.,  farmer. 
Aster,  John,  laborer. 
Billings,  Henry,  farmer. 
Burch,  U.,  miller. 
Brainard,  S.,  farmer. 
Beckwith,  Albert,  farmer. 
Bliss,  Allen,  farmer. 
Brisbin,  James  R.,  laborer. 
Burch,  Henry. 
Bishop,  J.  E.,  fanner. 
Burshart,  Peter. 
Burch,  Eliza  H. 
Burkstaller,  F.,  mason. 
Burdick,  Harrison,  farmer. 
Burdick,  Louis. 

Beggs,  S.  R.,  minister  of  Gospel. 
Bartholph,  Gillian,  farmer. 
Brown,  James. 
Bolton,  Hugh,  farmer. 
Bolton,  H.  M.,  farmer. 
Boland,  Patrick,  farmer. 
Barber,  D.  N.,  farmer. 
Brown,  Elisha,  farmer. 
Bingham,  E.,  farmer. 
Brown,  C.,  farmer. 
Bangs,  R,  W. 
Bartlett,  R.  F.,  Constable. 
Beggs,  James  W.;  hotel. 
Bristol,  C.  E.,  farmer. 
Brogan,  Emma. 
Brown,  Charles,  farmer. 
Bump,  Jennie. 
Bond,  George  F.,  Mrs. 


Bennett,  George,  mason. 

Boyd,S.  H. 

Burdick,  Abigail ;  P,  O.  Washington  Ter. 

Bronsqn,  Lucinda. 

Bowering,  John,  laborer. 

Burch,  Walter,  miller. 

Brown,  Oliver  G.,  farmer. 

Burns,  John,  laborer, 
urrill,  John,  farmer. 
Caswell,  George  T.,  farmer. 
jColsqn,  Judson,  farmer. 
Corbin,  Elihu,  Justice  of  Peace. 
CuTver,  Sorena,  farmer. 
Corbin,  S. 

Colegrove,  L.  G.,  farmer. 
Cain,  W.  H.,  farmer. 
Catchpole,  farmer. 
Ciyttenden,  G.  N.,  merchant. 
Caldwell,  J.  B.,  farmer. 
Cropsey,  D.  W.,  retired. 
Caton,  W.  P.,  retired;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Conant,  A.  E.,  farmer. 
Collins,  James. 

Chase,  E.  T.,  real  estate ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Carter,  M.  C.,  farmer. 
Cain,  William  H.,  farmer. 
Caton,  J.  D.,  retired ;  P.  O.  Ottawa. 
Clark,  W.  E. 

Clippinger,  J.  A.,  druggist. 
Cropsey,  S.,  Mrs. 
Church,  M.  E. 
Corbin,  Sarah  A. 
Crouch,  John,  laborer. 
Countryman,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Collins,  Harriet. 
Demeritt,  Charles,  farmer. 
DeLong,  Benj.,  farmer. 
Dryden,  Felton,  farmer. 
Dice,  Michael,  farmer. 
Devereaux,  R.  F.,  blacksmith. 
Dockendorf,  Theodore,  farmer. 
Dundore,  P.  Y.,  merchant. 
Drumm,  Adam,  farmer. 
Darr,  Emma. 


PLAINF1ELD  TOWNSHIP. 


939 


Drouden,  Michael,  farmer. 
Drouden,  John,  farmer. 
Drew,  Phebe. 
Darr.  George,  farmer. 
Doud,  J.  L.,  merchant. 
D.ivis,  Delos  W.,  farmer. 
Darr,  James,  farmer. 
Dailey,  Jacob,  retired. 
Davis,  Joseph,  laborer. 
Devereaux,  R.  T.,  blacksmith. 
Evans,  Milton  H.,  farmer. 
Essington,  George,  farmer. 
Everton,  T.  J.,  farmer. 
Flagg,  Wm.  H.,  farmer. 
Fickes,  David. 
Furgeson,  Andrew. 
Folsom,  E.,  Mrs.,  farmer. 
Foster,  La  F  ay ette,  farmer. 
Fouser,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Fellows,  G.,  laborer. 
Finch,  Martha. 
Frasier,  C.  A.  E.,  merchant. 
Frasier,  Harvey  E.,  merchant. 
First,  H.  C. 

Fry,  G.  H.,  wagon-shop. 
Fellows,  John  F..  laborer. 
Foster,  Lyrnan,  retired. 
Flagg,  George  W.,  farmer. 
Flanders,  J.  R.,  attorney. 
Fouser,  David  W.,  farmer. 
Fouser,  George  W.,  farmer. 
Fiddyment,  Fred,  farmer. 
Fairbairn,  John,  farmer. 
Flagg,  B.  F.,  farmer. 
Frauenhoff,  Wm.,  farmer. 
Feddyment,  Fred,  farmer. 
Fellows,  Geo.,  laborer. 
Fry,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Foss,  L.  T.,  farmer. 
Fouser,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Fouser,  Henry  F.,  farmer. 
Foss,  L.  T.  farmer. 
Foss,  B.  C.,  farmer. 
Funk,  J.  W.,  livery  stable. 
Fitch,  Win, 

Furgeson,  Robert,  farmer. 
Grundy,  Samuel,  farmer. 
Green,  B.  W.,  farmer. 
Greenwood,  Win.,  shoemaker 
Green,  D.  D.,  blacksmith. 
Green,  W.  V.,  farmer. 
Graves,  R.  B.,  farmer.' 
Goist,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Goodson,  Wm.,  farmer. 
Gardner,  Martin. 
Goist,  Samuel,  farmer. 
Goist,  Hiram  S.,  farmer. 
Goist,  L.,  farmer. 
Goist,  Albert,  carpenter. 
Grant,  Justus. 
Gibson,  Michael,  fanner. 
Gleason,  James,  laborer. 
Gillespie,  Mary. 
Gilbert,  E.  W.,  livery  stable. 
Green,  R.  M.,  farmer. 
Halm,  J.  D.,  farmer. 
II aim,  Wm.  F.,  farmer. 
Hyland,  Granville,  farmer. 


Hyland,  E.  N.,  farmer. 

Harbaugh,  Isaac,  farmer. 

Hager,  Jonathan,  retired. 

Hyland,  Granville  D.,  farmer. 

Hyland,  Judson,  farmer. 

Harshbarger,  Geo.  H.,  carpenter. 

Hicks,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Hemstret,  Alonzo,  butcher. 

Hartong,  Elias,  farmer. 

Hartong,  J.,  farmer. 

Hays,  James,  fanner. 

Heiss,  Rolland,  farmer. 

Henny,  Isaac,  farmer. 

Hess,  W.  S.,  farmer. 

Harmon,  Ann. 

Herron,  Jacob,  farmer. 

Harriman,  C.  H.,  farmer. 

Harris,  J.,  farmer. 

Hatch,  S.  S.,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Hamlin,  Harry  S.,  farmer. 

Herron,  Albert,  farmer. 

Harmon,  Sheldon,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Hertzog,  George,  farmer. 

Hart  wich,  August,  farmer. 

Harbauglr,  Isaac,  farmer. 

Hartranft,  E.,  farmer. 

Hamlin,  Harry,  farmer. 

Hoffer,  George,  farmer. 

Haywood,  James,  farmer. 

Hyland,  E.  J.,  farmer. 

Hyland,  E.  N.,  farmer. 

Hamlin,  N.  S.,  retired. 

Hyland,  A.  K. 

Hyland,  Sarah  E. 

Hertzog,  George,  farmer. 

Hall,  W.  P.,  painter. 

Hicks,  James  F. 

Hatch,  A.  J.,  shoemaker. 

Hatch,  W.,  tinner. 

Halm,  J.  D.,  farmer. 

Hartegon,  Patrick,  laborer. 

Hill,  Hannah. 

Hess,  R.  B.,  farmer. 

Hoag,  T.  C.,  Evanston,  111. 

Harshbarger,  G.  H.,  carpenter. 

Heoffer,  Philip,  blacksmith. 

Jordan,  Allen,  farmer. 

Jones,  Lydia;  P.  O.  Detroit,  Mich. 

Johnson,  John  W. ' 

Jacobs,  Mary  J. 

Johnson,  W.  M. 

Jackson,  Wm.,  farmer. 

King,  T.,  farmer. 

Keen,  James  C.,  farmer. 

Kaps,  John,  farmer. 

Koch,  Eva. 

Kean,  Wm.,  blacksmith. 

Kennelly,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Kune,  S.  S.,  blacksmith. 

Lang,  Thomas  J.,  farmer. 

Lawrence,  M.,  retired.  * 

Luce,  B.,  farmer. 

Mottinger,  A.  E.,  farmer. 

Mottinger,  Caroline,  farmer. 

Mottinger,  John,  farmer. 

Mottinger,  S.  L.,  livery  stable. 

Martin,  A.  R.,  farmer. 

Moody,  Mary  L.,  farmer. 


940 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Moss,  Win.,  farmer. 

Moss,  W.  F.,  farmer. 

Moss,  Wm.,  Sr.,  farmer. 

Martin,  A.  R.,  farmer.      , 

Munroe,  S.  D.,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Mather,  Joshua  E. 

Metcalf,  Judith. 

Metcalf,  Samuel  W.,  farmer. 

Metcalf,  August. 

Metcalf,  Edw.  H. 

Metcalf,  F.  H.,  farmer. 

Miles,  O.,  blacksmith ;  P.  O.  Colo.  Ter. 

Martin,  Jesse,  farmer. 

Monroe,  Hugh,  farmer. 

Martin,  J.  P.,  salesman. 

Miller,  H.,  farmer. 

Morgan,  Samuel  W,,  painter. 

McClester,  Geo.,  carpenter. 

McElhoe,  Martha. 

McElhose,  Wm.,  farmer. 

McCreary,  Joseph,  farmer. 

McNeal,  James,  farmer. 

McClellan,  John,  farmer. 

McCreary,  Joseph,  farmer. 

McCloskey,  Alex.,  farmer. 

McClintock,  Joseph,  farmer. 

McAllister,  Edward,  farmer. 

Norton,  Harriett,  farmer. 

Niver,  Morris,  farmer. 

Niver,  Wm.  M.,  farmer. 

N  orris,  F.  P.,  farmer. 

Nixon,  Robert. 

Needham,  Charles,  painter. 

Pratt,  Samuel  S.,  furniture. 

Platt,  J.  W.,  farmer. 

Perkins,  A.  J.,  M.  D. 

Parr,  J.  L.,  farmer. 

Penniqk,  James ;  P.  O.  Iowa. 

Perry,  L.,  carpenter. 

Pratt,  S.  S.,  furniture. 

Richardson,  Henry,  farmer. 

Royce,  Miller,  farmer. 

Rathburn,  A.  O.,  farmer. 

Richmond,  R.,  farmer. 

Royce,  Miles,  farmer. 

Ray,  Alonzo,  farmer. 

Roberts,  Harriet  E.,  farmer. 

Rathburn,  S.  R.,  farmer. 

Rott,  Martin. 

Ryburn,  David,  farmer. 

Ryburn,  A.  R.,  farmer. 

Rafter,  John,  farmer. 

Rafter,  Patrick,  farmer. 

Raush,  Peter,  farmer. 

Robertson,  Daniel,  merchant. 

Rose,  O.  H.,  tailor. 

Roberts,  Emma. 

Rhodes,  Eli,  laborer. 

Spangler,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Spangler,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Spangler,  Z.,  farmer. 

Spangler,  P.  W., farmer. 


Sundland.  Noah,  miller. 

Simm,  James,  farmer;  P.O.  Braidwood. 

Smiley,  James  H.,  merchant. 

Stratton,  H.,  fanner. 

Shutt,  Peter,  farmer. 

Sharp,  James,  farmer. 

Scoh'eld,  William,  farmer. 

Smith,  John,  farmer. 

Smith,  Conrad,  farmer. 

Sharp,  William,  farmer. 

Schofleld,  Amos  H.,  retired. 

Sims,  Joseph,  retired. 

Strattan,  H.  H.,  farmer. 

.  P.,  ret.irpfl. 
Smith.  George  Y.,  fanner. 
Steigle,  Charles,  farmer. 
Smith,  George,  farmer. 
Sharp,  Mary  E. 
Shaw,  E.  E.,  farmer. 
Schreffler,  E.  C. 
Smith,  J.  Q.,  farmer. 
Shaw,  George  E.,  farmer, 
Snowden,  M.  A.,  book  store. 
Spangler,  Adam,  Constable. 
Snyder,  Richard,  blacksmith. 
Sennit,  John,  Postmaster. 
Schwab,  Mrs. 

Scott,  Roberc  J.,  carpenter. 
Stopp,  George,  farmer. 
Sloan,  G.  W.,  farmer. 
Tyler,  S.  B.,  farmer. 
Thompson,  William,  farmer. 
Tobias,  F.  R.,  druggist. 
Tyler,  A.  E.,  Mrs. 
Thompson,  Thomas,  jeweler. 
Vanolinda,  Ira,  merchant. 
Valentine,  Daniel,  farmer. 
Vinson,  William,  farmer. 
Van  Horn,  John,  farmer. 
Vanderwort,  R.  M.,  farmer. 
Warner,  William,  farmer. 
Wood,  E.  J .,  farmer. 
Wright,  R.  B.,  farmer. 
Wagner,  John  B.,  farmer. 
Wirtzbacher,  P.  W.,  farmer. 
Willard,  John,  farmer. 
Wagner,  John  B.,  farmer. 
Watkins,  Eliza. 

Waltz,  Nathan,  harness-maker. 
Woodhouse,  Charles  W.,  M.  D. 
Webb,  K.,  wagon-maker. 
Wright,  W. ;  P.  0.  Greeley,  Colo. 
Williams,  S.,  Mrs. 
White,  William  P. 
Wraith,  James,  wagon-maker. 
Webb,  Robert,  wagon-maker. 
Wills,  I.  C.,  carpenter. 
Willard,  John,  farmer. 
Wagner,  John  B.,  farmer. 
Young,  Henry. 
Zimmerman,!).,  laborer. 


MONEE  TOWNSHIP. 


941 


MONEE    TOWNSHIP. 


(P.  0.  MONEE.) 


Albers,  Herman,  laborer. 
Aliens,  T.,  farmer. 
Allyren,  John,  farmer. 
Alger,  Fred,  farmer. 
Arnold,  Philip,  farmer. 
Battling,  Fred,  farmer. 
Bartels,  Wm.,  farmer. 
Bath  man,  Henry,  farmer. 
Badenhaap,  Herman,  farmer. 
Barlage,  Jacob,  laborer. 
Bartels,  Lewis, wagon-maker. 
Ba\ve,  Moses,  railroad  foreman. 
Batzwald,  Theo.,  blacksmith. 
Becker,  August,  farmer. 
Behrend,  Ernst,  laborer. 
Berger,  George,  farmer. 
Becker,  Chris.  A.,  farmer. 
Beckman,  Fred,  farmer. 
Bischmann,  Philip,  farmer. 
Bischel,  Christian,  Mrs.,  farmer. 
Birson,  John,  farmer. 
Bischmann,  Philip,  farmer. 
Binder,  Fred,  blacksmith. 
Bischell,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Bischmann,  Peter,  laborer. 
Blesfench,  Chris.,  laborer. 
Bohlander,  J.  P.,  Mrs.,  hotel. 
Bootschiller,  Henry,  farmer. 
Boeser,  Henry,  farmer. 
Bohl,  Christian,  farmer. 
Bothman,  Henry,  farmer. 
Boder,  Fred,  farmer. 
Bolander,  Peter,  farmer. 
Boehl,  August,  farmer. 
Bohlander,  Peter,  farmer. 
Borens,  Henry,  farmer. 
Bode,  Fred,  farmer. 
Bruns,  George,  farmer. 
Brunster,  John. 
Bruno,  B.,  farmer. 
Bruggeman,  H.  H.,  farmer. 
Busch,  Jacob,  Postmaster. 
Buchrnier,  Conrad,  farmer. 
Buckley,  James,  laborer. 
Buchmeir,  Charles,  farmer. 
Buchmeir,  Conrad,  farmer. 
Burns,  Henry,  farmer. 
Buchmeier,  John,  farmer. 
Buckhi  Itz,  Fred,  larmer. 
Carding,  Fred,  farmer. 
Camp,  Henry,  farmer. 
Campbell,  John,  farmer. 
( 'iisscns,  Wilke,  wood-turner. 
Chapman,  S.  W.,  farmer. 
Cleinhammer,  Charles,  carpenter. 
Clechen,  John. 
Clarins,  Elias,  farmer. 
Cooper,  S.  W.,  farmer. 
Conrad,  Henry,  shoemaker. 
Dandle,  Fred,  farmer. 
Daniel,  C.  K.,  Rev.,  Bible  agent. 
Dalters,  Henry,  farmer. 
Deitersch,  Nicholas,  saloon. 


Deidrich,  Henry,  farmer. 
Deablie,  Fred,  farmer. 
Deutsche,  William,  farmer. 
Dinker,  Louis,  farmer. 
Dotge,  John,  farmer. 
Dumming,  Henry,  farmer. 
Easter  brook,  Mary,  teacher. 
Easterbrooks,  L.,  real  estate  agent. 
Echman,  Henry,  farmer. 
Echman,  Fred,  farmer. 
Eichoff,  Fred,  laborer. 
Eichmau,  Fred,  farmer. 
Eich,  Henry,  farmer. 
Eiskampf,  Henry,  farmer. 
Ellwing,  Fred,  carpenter. 
Filing,  Fred,  carpenter. 
Eldorney,  James  M.,  farmer. 
Engleking,  Henry,  farmer. 
Engelking,  Philip,  farmer. 
Englemann,  Henry,  farmer. 
Faige,  August,  carpenter. 
Fearn,  J  acob,  farmer, 
Forbosen,  Charles,  farmer. 
Freese,  Eda  R.,  express  agent. 
Friem,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Friem,  Philip,  farmer. 
Frobesen,  Christian,  farmer. 
Gains,  A.  !S.,  farmer. 
Gettering,  G .,  laborer. 
Geisch,  Henry,  farmer. 
Givrick,  Henry,  farmer. 
Gloor,  Jacob,  agent. 
Goos,  John,  laborer. 
Gorman,  James,  farmer. 
Gorman,  John,  farmer. 
Gorman,  Adam,  farmer. 
Gorman,  Frank,  farmer. 
Gothe,  H.,  farmer. 
Golkin,  August,  farmer. 
Goodenow,  Stephen,  farmer. 
Gray,  William,  farmer. 
Gralss,  Louis,  butcher, 
(irewhagen,  Curstin,  farmer. 
Grupe,  Fred,  farmer. 
Grumberger,  D.,  capitalist. 
Gutyrell,  A.,  farmer. 
Harms,  Hannah. 
Hall,  Andrew,  Jr.,  farmer. 
Hall,  Andrew,  Sr.,  farmer. 
Harmening,  H.,  farmer. 
Hahl'een,  George,  farmer. 
Haien,  John,  druggist/ 
Haves,  Andrew,  laborer. 
Haltiield,  Wilhelm,  farmer. 
Halle,  Henry,  fanner. 
Hays,  Andrew,  laborer. 
Hayne,  B.,  shoemaker. 
Herbert,  Christian,  Jr.,  fanner. 
Herbert,  Henry,  laborer. 
Hellman,  Henry,  farmer. 
Hellman,  D.,  farmerr 
Heins,  John  A.  druggist. 
Henry,  Henry,  farmer. 


942 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


"  Hinie,  Henry,  farmer. 
Hittendorf,  John  D.,  farmer. 
Homan,  Henry,  farmer. 
Hoffman,  Henry,  farmer. 
Hoffman,  Henry,  carpenter. 
Holl,  Andrew,  farmer. 
Hohne,  Deitrich,  farmer. 
Hohrman,  J.  H.,  farmer. 
Hohman,  Henry,  farmer. 
Hohman,  Philip,  farmer. 
Huslaum,  Bernard,  farmer. 
Illyers,  Fred,  farmer. 
Jordans,  Gustave,  saloon. 
Jounzen,  E.  C.,  teacher. 
Jariho,  A.,  laborer. 
Jacobs,  Charles,  laborer. 
Kammelehne,  August,  farmer. 
Kaemer,  Sophia,  farmer. 
Kerchman,  J.,  laborer. 
Kemer,  Fred,  farmer. 
Kerling,  William,  farmer. 
Keister,  Christian,  farmer. 
Keister,  Louis,  farmer. 
Keichter.  H.,  farmer. 
Kettening,  Gustave,  laborer. 
Kettering,  Adam,  hotel. 
Kicter,  Christian,  laborer. 
Kline,  August  H.,  agricultural  dealer. 
Kleinhammer,  Crist,  carpenter. 
Klernme,  Fred,  capitalist. 
Klein,  Christian,  farmer. 
Koch,  Fred,  farmer. 
Koerner,  Fred,  farmer. 
Kline,  Christian,  farmer. 
Klokow,  John,  farmer. 
Kollstedt,  John,  lumber  dealer. 
Kolstedt,  William,  lumber  dealer. 
Kolstedt,  Charles,  farmer. 
Kolstedt,  George,  farmer. 
Krabe,  Henry,  farmer. 
Kracke,  Henry,  farmer. 
Krase,  Henry,  farmer. 
Krenter,  John,  plasterer. 
Kragler,  Fred,  farmer. 
Kuhl,  George,  farmer. 
Kuersten,  Sophia,  farmer. 
Lange,  F.  G.,  shoemaker. 
Lawler,  James,  Mrs.,  farmer. 
Lempke,  Charles,  farmer. 
Lisbery,  William,  Captain. 
Lorney,  Peter,  farmer. 
Luckey,  Henry,  farmer. 
Marthaller,  John,  farmer. 
Mammoser,  Joseph,  farmer. 
Macker,  D.,  farmer. 
Mocker,  Fred,  farmer. 
Martins,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Matthews,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Mai  thews,  Martin,  farmer. 
Meyers,  C.,  farmer. 
Meyers,  William,  farmer. 
Meir,  Christopher,  farmer. 
Metzger,  John,  farmer. 
Meier,  William,  farmer. 
Miller,  Simon,  merchant. 
Miller,  D.  H.,  farmer. 
Miller,  A.,  farmer. 
Miller,  F.  A.,  farmer. 


Mire,  William,  farmer. 

Motting  Henry,  farmer. 

Mogg,  P.,  farmer. 

Mueller,  H.  H.,  farmer. 

Mueller,  Christopher,  farmer. 

Muir,  Fred,  farmer. 

Myer,  Henry,  Captain. 

Newton,  D.,  farmer. 

Newton,  W.  H.,  farmer. 

Necker,  F.,  farmer. 

Nacker,  F.,  farmer. 

Norchman,  Henry,  farmer. 

Ochlerking,  Henry,  farmer. 

Ohlenking,  Frank,  farmer. 

Ohlenking,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Oehlerking,  J.  H.  O.,  farmer. 

Ohlendorf,  John,  farmer. 

Ohlendorf,  J.  F.,  farmer. 

Otten,  John,  farmer. 

Offner,  John,  farmer. 

Offner,  Adam,  farmer. 

Oeskey,  George,  farmer. 

Pape,  John,  farmer. 

Pahler,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Pauling,  Henry,  farmer. 

Pauling,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Pauling,  A.,  farmer. 

Patzwaldt,  Theo.,  blacksmith. 

Peterson,  George,  farmer. 

Phillips,  J.  E.,  farmer. 

Plagge,  Charles,  merchant. 

Plageman,  Charles,  laborer. 

Platner,  Joseph,  farmer. 

Praget,  C.,  merchant. 

Kabe,  Henry,  Jr.,  farmer. 

Kabe,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Reeder,  George,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete 

Richter,  Henry,  farmer. 

Rorthamer,  John,  farmer. 

Ru-mmelhne,  August,  farmer. 

Sachs,  Adam,  saloon. 

Sanborn,  George,  Jr.,  tailor. 

Schurtz,  Christian,  clerk. 

Schluntz,  Wm.,  laborer. 

Schlathour,  John,  laborer. 

Schubbe,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Schellemme,  H.,  laborer. 

Schannan,  Christian,  farmer. 

Schultz,  Wilhelm,  farmer. 

Schlathaxer,  John,  laborer. 

Schiffer,  August,  merchant. 

Schroeder,  C.  C.,  farmer. 

Schoenstadt,  Christian,  agr.  dealer. 

Schnechard,  Mary 

Schonstedt,  Christian,  farmer. 

Schafer,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Scheiett,  Anthony,  farmer. 

Sceman,  H.,  farmer. 

Schrader,  Albert,  farmer. 

Scott,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Sellman.  Henry,  laborer. 

Seifner,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Sifter,  August,  merchant. 

Siefka,  F.  W.,  farmer. 

Singler,  Carl,  farmer. 

Shafer,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Stade,  Ernst,  farmer. 

Stage,  Henry,  farmer. 


JACKSON  TOWNSHIP. 


945 


Stevens,  Sebastian,  farmer. 
Stessen,  H.  H.,  farmer. 
Stinkle,  Fred.,  farmer. 
Stoge,  Conrad,  farmer. 
Stuckler,  Carl,,  farmer. 
Stunkle,  Louis,  farmer. 
Si.uenkel,  Henry,  farmer. 
Stuenkle,  Louis,  farmer. 
Suman,  Henry,  farmer. 
Tenhoff,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Theilen,  Fred. 
Tinkoff ,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Tream,  Philip,  tailor. 
Treman,  Heinrich,  farmer. 
Treichler,  Fred.,  farmer. 
Triem,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Tuchrs,  G.  H.,  clerk. 
Tucker,  Israel ;  P.  O.  Chicago. 
Tucker,  Thomas,  farmer. 
Vatters,  Adam,  factory. 
Vatters,  Jacob,  agr.  dealer. 
Vatten,  Adam,  Jr.,  capitalist. 
Vallrath,  Henry,  miller. 
Vehrs,  H.  H.,  saloon. 
Vegal,  Jacob. 
Volmer,  P.,  painter. 
Vocht,  Henry,  farmer. 


Voght,  A.,  farmer. 
Vring,  Charles,  farmer. 
Wagner,  Fred.,  farmer. 
Wolf,  John,  farmer. 
Walter,  Henry,  farmer. 
Wandt,  John,  farmer. 
Waltemate,  Sophia. 
Warhsmuth,  Henry,  farmer. 
Waschsmeath,  Henry,  farmer. 
Wehrly,  Jacob,  blacksmith. 
Weiman,  M.,  farmer. 
Werner,  Philip,  farmer. 
Wernigh,  Theo.,  physician. 
Wernke,  August,  merchant. 
Weekert,  Michael,  butcher. 
Wehrlie,  Charles,  cooper. 
Weishaaer,  F.  P. 
Wemick,  Theo.,  physician. 
Wellmami,  Fred.,  farmer. 
Wilcox,  T.  B. 

Wilhaun,  Heinrick,  farmer. 
Wilson,  David,  laborer. 
Wilder,  J.  H.,  fanner. 
Wilder,  C.,  farmer. 
Young,  Jacob,  farmer. 
Zahudt,  Lewis,  mason. 


JACKSON   TOWNSHIP. 


Attaway,  Edw.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Attaway,  Samuel,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Barnes,  Mather,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Barnhart,  Casper,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bergin,  Martha;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brune,  Keren,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  Emma,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Boylan,  R.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Baer,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Borens,  L.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  Ira,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bush,  Eli,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Barnes,  Nathaniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bailey,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  Asa,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Breen,  K.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bailey,  Daniel,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Earnhardt,  Casper,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brown,  Martha,  far. ;  I1.  O.  Joliet. 
Brown,  Mary,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brown,  Elias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  Sarah,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bensa,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Berry,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Burson,  Andrew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bush,  Joshua,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bensinger,  N.  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bovee,  Nicholas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Breen,  Susan ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bridge,  John,  agent  R.  R. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Blutt,  N.,  merchant,  Elwood. 


Bush,  E.,  Mrs.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Blatchley,  O.  B.,  teacher;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Burns,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Bliss,  Edw. 

Barker,  James  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  Nancy  Jane, far.;  P.O.  Elwood. 
Brown,  Marthy  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Boylan,  R.  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Beckwith,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Clark,  E.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Crafts,  E.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Cooney,  Charles,  far. ;  P-  O.  Elwood. 
Cotton,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Curron,  D.  B.,  insurance  agent,  Elwood. 
Cowell,  George  E.,  physician,  Elwood. 
Chapman,  R.  W-,  gardener;  P.O.Elwood. 
Cooney,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Corbin,  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Collman,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Cagwin,  M.  O.,  grain  merchant,  Elwood. 
Carman,  Emma  B.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Cook,  Mils,  carpenter,  Elwood. 
Davidson,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Dooley,  P.  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Derham,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Duncon,  R.  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Davis,  Philip  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Deutchman,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Doyle,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Eaton,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Kill,  Amos,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Eib,  George,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Eib,  August,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Eib,  Jameis  far.;  P.  O-  Joliet. 

18 


946 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY. 


Eaton,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Eversoll,  W.  T.,  hotel,  Elwood. 
Frank,  Lewis,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Fitzpatrick,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Faut,  C., farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Faut,  C.,  Jr.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Ferguson,  George,  laborer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Fitzpatrick,  J.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Gockley,  Levi,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Gebbler,  Seth,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Grempe,  M.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
(Jay,  Freeman,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Gakley,  Abraham,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Grant,  John  A.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Grant,  Margaret;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Gurnsey,  George,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Grant,  William  C.,  Justice,  Elwood. 
Gefford,  E.,  merchant,  Elwood. 
Gefford,  W.  W.,  merchant,  Elwood. 
Gorkley,  A.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Hemphill,  James  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Hemphill,  Cyrus,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Hibner,  James,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hibner,  F.  A.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hibner,  John,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hibner,  James  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hemphill,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hemmer,  Henry,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Harley,  J.  H.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Harley,  Jacob,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Hougham,  J.,  merchant,  Elwood. 
Hemphill,  J.  P.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Hutchens,  Wm.  H.,far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Henner,  Henry,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Hoist,  Nicholas,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
Hemphill,  Nancy;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Johnston,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Jackson,  Delancy,  far. ;  P.  0.  Elwood. 
Kassabaum,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Kirkpatrick,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kinney,  J.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Keir,  James,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kyrke,  Edw.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Korst,  Michael,  farmer ;  P.O.  Joliet. 
Keeler,  Christian,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kirk,  W.  F.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kreimer,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Kinney,  George  J.,  carpenter,  Elwood. 
Kirkhamp,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Keith,  W.  F.,  druggist,  Elwood. 
Kavanaugh,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Kavanaugh,  Mat.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Leopold,  Anna,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lyle,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Limebarger,  George,  retired,  Elwood. 
Lutz,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Lengle,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Linebarger,  A.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Liehlenwatter,  J.  J.,  lumber  dlr.,Elwood. 
Lyons,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Loyd,  Bateman,  wagon-maker,  Elwood. 
Lowe,  Stewart,  laborer,  Elwood. 
Lone,  Leonard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Lonebarger,  A.  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Lonebarger,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
McFarland,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
McAllister,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
McClure,  D.,  far.;  P.  O.,  Elwood. 


McGourty,  Charles,  lab.,  Elwood. 
McFarland,  William, far.;  P.  O.  Elwood 
McAllister,  Hiram,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
McArthur,  A.  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McDonald,  Eliza,  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Mayer,  Sarah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Mills,  Casper,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Miller,  Wm.  F.,  far. ;  P.  O,  Elwood. 
Morse,  W.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Moore,  William  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Miller,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Moyer,  Isaac,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Miller,  Phebe,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Moyer,  Mary,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Metz,  Martin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Muhling,  W.,  carp.,  Elwood. 
Morenous,  Jane,  Elwood. 
Mead,  John,  retired,  Elwood. 
Myer,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Mapps,  Mary  A. ;  P.  O.  El  wood. 
Maesser,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Merau,  Owen,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Miller,  Wm.  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Noel,  Gabriel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Nicholson,  Wm.,  merchant,  Elwood. 
Nelson,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Oshen,  C.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Prosser,  P.  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Palmer,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O-  Elwood. 
Palmer,  Jacob,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Palmer,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Prosser,  Abijah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Phillips,  James,  far. ;  .P.  O.  Joliet. 
Palmer,  Valentine,  tar. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Pensenger,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Pinneo,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Penneo,  John  P.  carp.,  Elwood. 
Pierce,  Eliza,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Pensinger,    Thomas,  farmer;   P.  0.  El- 
wood. 

Poritz,  A.  A.,  harnpss-maker,  Elwood. 
Pierce,  Abraham,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kichards,  Erastus,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Rodgen,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kudd,  Sanford,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Ralph,  Edward,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Richards,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Richards,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Rowland,  Edward,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Russell,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Ridge,  Wm.,  druggist,  Elwood. 
Riddins,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Reezer,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Reeve,  P.,  far.;  P.  p.  Elwood. 
Rich,  Wm.,  physician,  Elwood. 
Russell,  Nelson,  scale  agent,  Elwood. 
Shaffner,  Elias,  far. ;  P  0.  Joliet. 
Stone,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Staffer,  Mathias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Shutts  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Switzer,  Casper,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Sing,  Adam,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Spraul,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Steeler,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Swedler,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Smith,  Hiram,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Sunemeyer,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Snoad,  Henry,  merchant,  Elwood. 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


947 


Spafford,  R.,  Postmaster  and  merchant, 

Elwood. 

Stine,  Mary,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Spangler,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Spafford,  Charles  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Sheran,  Francis,  Sr..  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Spotts,  Hiram,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Smith,  George  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Streeter,  Henry ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Scanlan,  Mary  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Spencer,  Merritt,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Sheam,  Francis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Traver,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Tait,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Thele,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  0.  Elwood. 
Tyler.  S.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 


Troy,  Elizabeth  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Tohlman,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.,  Elwood. 
Thornberg,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Tea,  Mark  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Traby,  Jacob,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Williams,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Whettle,  Jacob ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Wood,  W.  W.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Elwood. 
Williams,  H.  G.,  wagon-maker,  Elwood. 
Wilkins,  C.  W.,  blacksmith,  Elwood. 
Wicks,  Geo.  C.,  scale  agent,  Elwood. 
Welkins,  Charles,  blacksmith,  Elwood. 
Wicks,  Charles  D.,  butcher,  Elwood. 
Young,  Shelden,  far.;  P.  0.  Elwood. 
Yake,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 


FRANKFORT    TOWNSHIP. 


Allerton,  A.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Brown,  Marlin,  switchman,  Mokena. 
Brookaneps,  E.  T., 
Bez,  George,  brewer,  Lockport. 
Bradnsteidner,  Godfrey,  farmer;  P.  0. 

Frankfort. 

Brummond,  D.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Brannan,  Pat.,  railroad  foreman,  Mokena. 
Brummond,  Deidrich,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Beckstine,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Bedstine,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Buck,  Christian. 

Breidert,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bedstine,  Henry,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Baumgartner,  J,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bauch,  Phillip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Bradford, I).  V.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bettenhausen,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bobsim,  Christ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Bettenhaur,  George, far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Behvard,  Sarah,  Mokenn. 
Belzine,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Bucholz,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Bnmcb,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Bowman,  Charles  S.,  saloon,  Frankfort. 
Bookman,  A. 
Bolzin,  John,  Frankfort. 
Block,  Fritz.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bock,  II.,  harness-maker,  Joliet. 
Bolzin,  Fritz,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Baumgartner,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bechstein,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Bumgartner,  B.,  merchant. 
Bauch.  Jack,  merchant,  Mokena. 
Bock,  H.  P.,  harness-maker,  Frankfort. 
Bauch,  Phillip,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Bills,  Minerva. 

Barker,  Jacob,  agr.  dealer,  Frankfort. 
Barker,  A.  B.,  merchant,  Frankfort. 
Bo  wen,  James. 

Conrad,  Adam,  mechanic,  Mokena. 
Cleveland,  O.B.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Conrad,  John  S.,  carpenter,  Mokena, 
Capple,  John,  butcher,  Mokena 
Clayes,  L.  M.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 


Cappell,  John,  drover;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Clayes,  Charles,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Clays,  Charles,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Calmer,  Peter,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Claus,  J.,  merchant,  Frankfort. 
Camp,  Fred.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Carstens,  John. 

Calmer,  Peter,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Cleveland,  W.  B.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Churchill,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Calmier,  Peter,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Carroll,  James,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
Carpenter,  A.  B.,  merchant,  Frankfort. 
Glaus,  L.,  merchant  and  P.  M.,  Frankfort. 
Cagnier,  F.  L. 

Claus,  S.,  merchant,  Frankfort. 
Caldwell,  John,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
Cadden,  Patrick,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
Camp,  Fred.,  farmer;  P.  0.  Frankfort, 
Cappell,  John,  butcher,  Mokena. 
Davis,  Lyda,  Frankfort. 
Diekman,  Heinrich,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Duist,  John. 
Dennis,  Polly,  Mokena. 
Droll,  Frederick. 

Duncan,  Owen,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Dussler,  Henry,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
Ducker,  James,  merchant,  Joliet. 
Doty,  Levi,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Donahue,  Owen,  section  boss,  Frankljrt. 
Dody,  Levi,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Dammaure,  Henry,  carpenter,  Frankfort. 
Enders,  M.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Elworth,  John,  carpenter,  Mokena. 
Endus,  Matthias,   farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Elwart,  John,  carpenter,  Mokena. 
Eader,  Mathias,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Erickson,  John,  laborer,  Mokena. 
Eisenbrandt,  Ernst,  carpenter,  Frankfort. 
Elsuer,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Elwood,  John,  carpenter,  Mokena. 
Enders,  Michael,  retired,  Mokena. 
Fuchs,  Dorada,  washerwoman,  Mokena. 
Fink,  George,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Faisler,  Michael,  laborer,  Frankfort. 


948 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Fink,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Folkers,  Johnson,  butcher,  Frankfort. 
Fink,  Joseph,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Fuchs,  Julius,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Fuss,  Peter,  laborer,  Joliet. 
Felton,  A.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Farner,  Simon,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Felton,  John  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Fahs,  A.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Frederick,  John, 
Fell,  Catherine,  Frankfort. 
File,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Feil,  Geo.,  far.;P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Fortmuller,  V.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Rich,  Cook  Co. 
Franer,  Simon,  far.;  P.  O.Frankfort. 
Fink,  Fred.,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
Fox,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Geddis,  A.  V.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Gentrer,  John  G.,  Jr.,  Mokena. 
Garas,  Leonard. 

Gunther,  Geo.,  far.;  P.  0.  Frankfort. 
Getter,  Fritz,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Gunter,  Jerry. 

Grolme,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Geuther,  John  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Grohner,  John,  far  ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Greissam,  Henry. 

Granan,  John,  far. ;  P.  O-  Frankfort. 
Garrett,  Joseph  J. 
Harper,  Cynthia;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Houser,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Haskins,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hohenstein,  Simon,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Houser,  John,  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Henrichson,  Fred'k,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Hersch,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Hunter,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Heine,  Martin,  saloon,  Mokena. 
Higgins,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hanson,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Harker,  Charles,  laborer,  Mokena. 
Hohenstein,  Simon,  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Hassengager,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hunter,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hunter,  Jos.,  Sr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hunter,  Daniel  J.,  grain  mer.,  Frankfort. 
Holden,  1ST.  P.,  physician,  Frankfort. 
Hossengager,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hayes,  William.  Canal  Captain,  Joliet. 
Hauck,  Andrew,  wagon-maker,  Mokena. 
Heirschback,  Thomas,  mer.,  Frankfort. 
Hiesence,  Peter. 

Holdenabel,  E.,  retd.  far. ;  P.O.  Frankfort. 
Hunter,  D.  W.,  grain-buyer,  Frankfort. 
Houk,  Andrew,  wagon-maker,  Mokena. 
Hoffman,  Philip,  cigar-maker,  Monee. 
Hunt,  Mark,  far. ;  P.  0.  Frankfort. 
Hildenbrandt,  A.,  tailor,  Frankfort. 
Heissing,  Fritz. 

Hasenjager,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Heirschlack,  Thomas,  merch.,  Frankfort. 
Hinricks,  Ulrich,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
Harvey,  M.  A. 

Harker,  Carl,  laborer,  Mokena. 
Hauser,  Wenzel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Hackman,  Elizabeth ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Harvey,  John,  carpenter,  Joliet. 
Jordan,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 


Jones,  W.  D  ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Jaur,  Glaus,  merchant,  Frankfort. 
Jones,  William  D  ,  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Jacobs,  William,  saloon,  Mokena. 
Jones,  Noble,  grain  merchant,  Mokena. 
Jringer,  S. 

Jakobus,  Herman,  butcher,  Lockport. 
Karch,  H.  J.,  far.;  P.  0.  Frankfort. 
Kadden,  Robert,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
Kirschner,  Casper. 

Klepper,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Klepper,  Philip,  wagon-mkr.,  Frankfort. 
Keener,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Keniry,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Koester,  Heinrich,  laborer,  Mokena. 
Koelm,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Knapp,  Martin,  butcher,  Mokena. 
Kahl,  Henry. 

Kole,  Anthony,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Klose,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Kohl,  Samuel. 

Kares,  Leonard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bremen. 
Knapp,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Kohl,  Dan,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Kuhn,  Erastus,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Knapp,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Kernder,  Fred.  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Keppa,  John. 

Kleffer,  Peter,  cigar-maker,  Frankfort. 
Knapp,  Charles,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Kuhn,  Charles,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Karch,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Kraner,  F.,  saloon,  Frankfort. 
Kaisch,  Henry  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Koerner,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Knapp,  John,  butcher,  Mokena. 
Komer,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  0.  Frankfort. 
Kennedy.  I.  T.,  liveryman,  Mokena. 
Karsch,  Henry,  far.  ;'P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Kohehagen,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Karich,  Henry  I.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Logan,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Lewellyn,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Lauffer,  George,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Lauffer,  George,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Lewellyn,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Lanfear,  George  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Logan,  W.  H..  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Leffler,  Wendle,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Lies,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Letts,  James,  liveryman,  Frankfort. 
Larkman,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Lorenz,  Paul,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Lanike,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frnnkfort. 
Leheman,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  0.  Monee. 
Leroth,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Lepin,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Lepiese,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Logan,  Jas.,  retd.  far.  ;-P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Leffler,  John ;  P.  O.  Chicago, 
Letts,  J.  R.,  hotel,  Frankfort. 
Lepla,  Fred,  shoemaker,  Frankfort. 
Lowe,  Henry,  laborer,  Frankfort. 
McClure,  Robert. 

McArthur,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
McGovney,  Elijah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
McGlashan,  Alex,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
McDonald,  John,  grain  buyer,  Frankfort. 


FRANKFORT  TOWNSHIP. 


949 


McGovney,  O.,  P.  M.  and  merchant,  Mo 
kena. 

McKeown,  Hugh,  blacksmith,  Frankfort. 

Miller,  John,  far.;  P.  ().  Green  garden. 

Moeller,  Jochin,  mason,  Mokena. 

Moulton,  M.,  mail  carrier,  Mokena. 

Miller,  Jacksem,  teamster,  Mokena. 

Mahoney,  John,  laborer,  Joliet. 

Mast,  Jacob,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Miller,  Francis,  miller,  Mokena. 

Market,  Fred.,  Wilmington. 

Maue,  Francis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Mart,  P.,  Mrs.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Martin,  John,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Maue,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Marti,  Nic.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Mernin,  A.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Michenfling,  Bernard. 

Miller,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Miller,  Jacob,  merchant,  Frankfort. 

Mahler,  William. 

Martin,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Muff,  Martin,  saloon-keeper,  Frankfort. 

Miller,  Frank,  miller,  Mokena. 

Marshall,  Rollin,  ret.  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Marks,  William. 

Miller,  Margaret,  Frankfort. 

Miller,  Helena,  Mokena. 

Mettles,  Wm.,  manufacturer,  Frankfort. 

Menzel,  August,  mason,  Frankfort. 

Mettler,  Jasper,  mfr.,  Frankfort. 

Michules,  Fred. 

Mettler,  Wm.,  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Merwin,  A.  H.,  merchant,  Frankfort. 

Nugent,  John,  laborer,  Mokena. 

Newman,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bremen. 

Nettles,  Henry,  tailor,  Frankfort. 

Niceraux,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Nobles,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Nickeraux,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Netz,  August. 

Niland,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Nickerman,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Nettles,  Henry,  grain  mer.,  Frankfort. 

Olt,  Christopher. 

Owen,  W.  B.,  far. ;   P.  O.  Mokena. 

Ott,  Christopher,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Osman,  Wm.  E.,  wagon-maker,  Frankfort. 

Ortwein,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Owen,  J.  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Oatiuein,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Oswell,  Erhart,  mason,  Mokena. 

Paddock,  D.  W.,  retired,  Mokena. 

Pierce,  J.  M.,  Dept.  Co.  Surveyor,  Joliet. 

Pelzer,  Martin,  Mokena, 

Parker,  Ira,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Patterson,  Jane. 

Petterson,  Henry. 

Phillips,  E. 

Reid,  Maria,  Frankfort. 

Reid,  Alex.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Rabe,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Rost,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Ratkie,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Reitz,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Ralm,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Ritzman,  Chas.,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 

Ruggles,  Lorenzo,  Frankfort. 


Rabe,  Heinrich,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Robzin,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Reitz,  Philip,  merchant,  Mokena. 
Scheferstein,  August,  furniture,  Chicago. 
Stevens,  Joseph,  agent,  Frankfort. 
Stockfish;  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Sanger,  N.  A.,  physician,  Frankfort. 
Stone,  William,  retired,  Orland. 
Sterling,  Charles. 
Sandrick,  Martin,  lab.,  Mokena. 
Stephens,  David,  agr.  mfr.,  Frankfort. 
Salliman,  John,  lab.,  Mokena. 
;  Schlafer,  Wm.,  lab.,  Mokena. 
Shubert,  Andrew,«ret.  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena, 
Swartz,  John,  Joliet. 
I  Stole,  Conrad,  merchant,  Mokena. 
|  Stock,  George,  lab.,  Mokena. 
Sutton,  Thomas,  broker,  Mokena. 
Scheiblick,  C.,  blacksmith,  Mokena. 
Smith,  Conrad,  lab.,  Mokena. 
Schring,  Mary,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schwesser,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Shiek,  Ferdinand,  hotel,  Mokena. 
Schilling,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schwelser,  J.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schmull,  J.  G..  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Schenck,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bremen. 
Schwezer,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Shiek,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena, 
Smith,  Geo.,  railroad  foreman,  Mokena. 
Sheer, Nicholas,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schilling,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena.' 
Stillwagon,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schewesser,  George,  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Schilling,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokeua. 
Schnackpeper,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Sheur,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schere,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Scheer,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Staller,  Christian. 
Shoemaker,  Henry. 

Sch  mac  kpeper,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Schenk,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Bremen. 
Schliblich,  Chris.,  blacksmith,  Frankfort. 
Sanders,  M.  F.,far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Schacht,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Shiek,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Stuffenburg,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Suutherland,  J.,  wagon-maker,  Frankfort. 
Stiffin,  D.  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Schlothman,  Chris. 

Staufenberg,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Sutton,  Thomas,  far. ;  Mokena. 
Schrader,  Diedrich. 
Scher,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Stige,  Caston,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schultz,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Scheer,  S.,  Jr.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Stiber,  Henry. 

Smith,  Thomas,  far.:  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Stasson,  J.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Stege,  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Shiek,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Sheridan.  William. 
Sheer,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Schrodt,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Scliillick,  Christian,  blacksmith,  Mokena. 
Stoll,  C.,  merchant,  Mokena. 


950 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Seine,  Martin,  retired,  Mokena. 
Schulertb,  Nicholas,  saloon,  Mokena. 
Stoll,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  0.  Frankfort. 
Suther,  John,  merchant,  Mokena. 
Stellwagon,  Phil,  saloon,  Mokena. 
Sheir,  F.,  harness-maker,  Mokena. 
Steiking,  Garb 

Schrader,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Stevens,  G.  W.,  manufacturer,  Frankfort. 
Sutton,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Schrader,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Schoenherr,  Fred. 
Stoner,  W.  E.,  retired,  Orland. 
Suttor,  John,  merchant,  Mokena. 
Schubert,  John,  merchant,  Mokena. 
Stefflns,  Emanuel,  Mrs. ;  Mokena. 
Schsibuer,  Fred.,  cooper,  Mokena. 
Stones,  W.  E. 

Sehring,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Stenhager,  Joachies,  lab.,  Mokena. 
Schlofer,  Wm.,  lab.,  Mokena. 
Teels,  Henry,  lab.,  Mokena. 
Turner,  Abigail,  Mokena. 
Thompson,  J.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Thomas,  J.  H. 
Tivining,  Hiram. 

Theil,  Kudolph,  blacksmith,  Frankfort. 
Talmer,  Bernard ;  carpenter,  Mokena. 
Thompson,  N.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort, 
Tonner,  Robert,  blacksmith,  Mokena. 
Ulrich,  John,  shoemaker,  Mokena. 
Van  Horn,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Van  Horn,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Van  Horn,  Andrew  T.,  far.;  P.  O.Frank- 
fort. 

Valk,  Paulus,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Valk,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 


Valk,  Nicholas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Waunemacher,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Wenclle,  John  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Waunemacher,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Weiss,  Morris,  druggist,  Mokena. 
Welschlier,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Warner,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Warner,  Phillip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Werner,  Gottlieb,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Wood,  H.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Wilson,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Weicherpflemming,  Franz,  farmer ;  P.  O. 

Mokena. 

Wagner,  L.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Welchlin,  A.,  shoemaker,  Mokena. 
Wood,  F.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Weinman,  G.  A.,  furniture,  Frankfort. 
Wishover,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
.Wilson,  Wm.,  far.;  P.O.Frankfort. 
Wiggart,  Fredrich,  gardener,  Mokena. 
Wagner,  Elizabeth,  milliner,  Frankfort. 
Westmiller,  Chas.,  harness-maker. 
Williams,  Clara,  teacher,  Mokena. 
Werner,  Geo.,  saloon,  Mokena. 
Weber,  M.,  mason,  Mokena. 
Wishover,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Wood,  H.  E. 

Wheeler,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Welchlin,  M.,  shoemaker,  Mokena. 
Werner,  C.  F.,  retired,  Mokena. 
Warner,  A.,  wagon-maker,  Frankfort. 
Wenzel,  August,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Younger,  N.,  watchmaker,  Mokena. 
Zephill,  Martin. 

Zaumstein,  Louis,  laborer,  Mokena. 
Zohn,  John,  saloon,  Mokena. 


DU    PACE    TOWNSHIP. 


Ayers,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Ayers,  M.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Anglemire,  Emanuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Alderman,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Alexander,  J.  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Andrew,  F.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Ashley,  Morgan,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Brossman,  J.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Brown,  G.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 
Barten,  E.  A.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Du  Page. 
Barber,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Bishel,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Boardman,  Horace,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Brown,  M.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Bosserman,  Martin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Bronson,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Blinn,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Biggins,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport.      . 
Biggins,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Biggins,  James  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Biggins,  Owen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Biggins,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Biggins,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Burckhardt,  Henry, far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 


Curance,  Matthias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Chapman,  M. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Chapman,  C.  C.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Chapman,  Charles  C. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Cheeseman,  F.  G.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Cheeseman,  T.  Y.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Cheese,  Elizabeth,  Lemont. 
Clark,  B.  B.,  merchant,  Lockport. 
Cilow,  Robert,  Clerk  Circuit  Court,  Joliet. 
Derby,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Chapman,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Colegrove,  L.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfleld. 
Day,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfleld. 
Davis,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 
Dunlap,  Wilson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Dixon,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Emrey,  Lewis  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Edelsburgh,  John. 
Eaton,  Norton,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Excelsior  Stone  Co.,  Lemont. 
Ephire,  Matthew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Fan-ell,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Fox,  Augustus,  far. ;  P.  O.  Nap-erville. 
Freeman,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 


DU  PAGE  TOWNSHIP. 


951 


Frost,  D.,  merchant,  Naperville. 
Flakey,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Fenster,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Feirstein,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Findlay,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Finland  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lernont. 
Flukey,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Found,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Fitzgerald,  Maurice,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Flagg,  G.  W.,  far  ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Graves,  A.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Godfrey,  Austin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Gordon,  David,  far.;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Glover,  John,  far  ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Gall,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
George,  Mary ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Goudy,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Hartranf t,  Levi,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Herman,  Matthias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Hegg,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Leinont. 
Hulett,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Holmes,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Higgins,  Chauncey,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Hassert,  Geo.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Havens,  Orson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Ha\res,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Hossinger,  Andrew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Jones,  Owen  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Johnson,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
King,  Win.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Ketcham,  Levi,  Jr.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Kopp,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Kilmer,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Killmer,  Thadeus,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Kickler,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Kirkham,  John,  far. ;  P..O.  Lockport. 
Kelley,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Leppart,  John,  far. ;  P.  0.  Naperville. 
Laughlin,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lernont. 
Low,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Lambert,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Laing,  Stephen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Lange,  S.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Lord,  Phillip  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Lambert,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
McCain,  Joseph  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
McCain,  Myron,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
McCain,  B.,  tar.,  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Martin,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Meyer,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Martin,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Murphy,  Jeremiah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Mather,  J.  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Morse,  E.  H.,  Mrs. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Morse,  Albert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Morse,  Edward,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Morse,  Herman,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Musselman,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Martin,  G.  B. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Mottinger,  Noah,  far.;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 
Pitts,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Royce,  Abner,  Du  Page. 
Rathburn,  S.  R ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Rayer,  Abner,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Royer,  Abner,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 


Royer,  Jonathan,  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Royer,  Abner,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Rathburn,  Valentine,  ship'r;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Ray,  Michael,  far. ;  Lemont. 

Reid,  Matthew, far.;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 

Reardon;  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Reardon,  Thomas,  Sr..  far. ;  R  O.  Lemont. 

Reardon,  Thomas,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Raunche,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Rathburn,  S.  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Robinson,  C.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Sheldon,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Steward,  Philip ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Shuster,  Martin,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Schrohe,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Schultz,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Strause,  Simon,  far. -P.  O.  Naperville. 

Swartz,  Elias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

SchalL  Mary  A. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Strong,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Susanhire,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Studenroth,  E.,  hotel  prop.;  P.  O.  Naper- 
ville. 

Shuler,  W.  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Sprague,  John  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Scholtz,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Saul,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Studenroth,  O.,  hotel  prop. ;  P.  O.  Naper- 
ville. 

Steinhouser,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Sheldon,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Stanners,  Thomas,  J.  P. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 

Schrader,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Sampson,  Jones,  far. ;  Du  Page. 

Sprague,  T.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Stafford,  Enoch,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Sprague,  C.  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Simmons,  Solomon,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Schonberger,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Schmidt,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Shay,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Smith,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Tripp,  Matthew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemout. 

Tripp,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Taylor,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Wringer,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Ward,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Wise,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Wightman,  J.  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 

Weaver,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Wescott,  S/th,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

White,  S.  L. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

White,  John  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Xaperville. 

Webster,  David. 

Warren,  Hiram,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville 

Walker,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  ( ).  Du  Page. 

Warner,  A.  B.  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Willis,  Winright,  far. ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 

Warren,  Hiram,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Walker,  Jonas,  far.;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 

Wenihold,  Richard,  far.  ;  P.  O.  Du  Page. 

Ward,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Ward,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Ward,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Williams,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 


952 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


HOMER    TOWNSHIP. 


Allerton,  A.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hartley. 
Allerton,  N.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hartley. 
Brauer,  .John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Blount,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Battenhunsen,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's 

Grove. 

Belz,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Bronke,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Boyce,  Simon,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Bullin,  Alfred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Brooks,  A.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockpoi't. 
Brown,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Bliss,  Lyda,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Brook,  S.  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Bessemer,  J.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's 

Grove. 

Brockley,  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Bump,  Lender,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Bentley,  Kobert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Beaver,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Bowen,  H.  F.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Lockport. 
Bump,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Bowere,  H.  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Beals,  Joseph,  tailor,  Lockport. 
Burlanrt,  Maria,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Brannkey,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Birch,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Bromick,  John,  Jr.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Butcher,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Bettendorf,  Matthias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet 
Brinkerhoff,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Burch,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Clark,  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport 
Clark,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Cowles,  Lucinda,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Callahan,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Cooper,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 


*  7  — — -  j  -•-  *   ••-' •  -L^OCK  l)Ql  I . 

Cutter,  J.  Z.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadlev. 
Cutler,  A.  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Carroll,  Amos,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Corwin,  Nathan,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Corwine,  H.  T.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Cowles,  Lucinda  L. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Collins,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Cole,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Collins,  Addison,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley 
Collins,  Franklin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Cowell,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Collins,  Horatio,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Collins,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O'.  Lockport. 
€livens,  Jane,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadlev. 
Church,  J.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Chamberlain,  O.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadlev. 
Dodge,  Anson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport.  ' 
Dodge,  Amos,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Dryfus,  Mendel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Donahue,  Timothy,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Davidson,  Wm.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Daumm,  G.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Dryfus,  Wendell,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Dick,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 


Dunn,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Dunn,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Dancer,  Emily,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Frank,  J  ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Fry,  Theobold,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Frisenmick,  N.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Gooding's 
Grove. 

Frazer,  James  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Frazer,  H.  V.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Fralich,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Gotts,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Gardner,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
!  Gerlock,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Gooding's  Grove. 
;  Goodale,  Wright,  far. ;  P.  O-  Lockport. 
!  Gotts,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
I  Gaskill,  Thomas,  far. ;  P  O.  Lockport. 
i  Gorham,  E.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
i  Gorham,  O.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Glives,  Jane,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
I  Gillett,  Isaac  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
!  Gorham,  R,  T.,  far  ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Gorham,  Edw.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Gorham,  Elijah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Granger,  Francis,  far. ;  P.  O-  Joliet. 

Gooding,  L.  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Gilman,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O  Lockport. 

Homerding,  Nich.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Lockport. 

Hanks,  C.,  far.;  P.  O  Gooding's  Grove. 

Hostert,  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Hoyt,  Romeo  H.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Lockport. 

Hellerman,  Geo.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Gooding's 
Grove. 

Hammerling,  Matthias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Good- 
ing's Grove. 

Hartwell,  Levi,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Harms,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Hart,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Harman,  James,  far. ;  P.  O-  Hadley. 

Hatch,  H.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport, 

Hemkrniller,  Hans,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Haley,  John,  Jr.ff ar. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Homerding,  Matthias,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Haley,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Homerding,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Haley,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Hammond,  Job,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Ingersoll,  A.  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Jackson,    I.    L.,  far.;   P.  O-    Gooding's 
Grove. 

.Jones,  S.  B..  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding s  Grove. 

Johnson,  Alex,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Jackson,    D.  G.,   far.;   P.  O.   Gooding's 
Grove. 

Kittering,  Susan,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's 
Grove. 

Kittering,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Kittering,  W.,  far. ;  P.O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Kuney,  Anthony,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Koonchek,  Frank,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Kobliska,  F.,  far. :  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Koler,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Kumescheck,  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Kruger,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Kimball,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 


HOMER  TOWNSHIP. 


95S 


Klott,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Knudson,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Knapp,  Selah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Ludwing,  ,1.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Lunday,  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Lange,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Langfear,  J.  S.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Lynk,  Freeman,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Legg,  Alfred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Langfear,  Wm.  II.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Langfear,  Geo.,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Loomis,  Austin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Lynk,  Zachariah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Loomis,  Austin,  far.,  P.  O.  Hadley. 
McGregor,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's 

Grove. 

fcCcLaughlin,  D.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
McLendding,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Mitchell,  James,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Macauley,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's 

Grove. 

Munday,  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Mallory,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Myer,  Lewis,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont, 
Meyers,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 
Mason,  H.  S.,  far. ;  P.  p.  Lockport. 
Mitchell,  James  Jr.,  far.,  P.  O.  Gooding's 

Grove. 

Morse,  Curtis,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Milne,  Robert,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Messenger,  Horace,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Matthews,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Morse,  Wm..  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Messenger,  II.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Morse,  Win.,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Nesius,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Nichols,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Ott,  Barney,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Paddock,  W.  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Prior,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Pangburn,  Louis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Peck,  C-,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Paddock,  Geo.  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport, 
Planka,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 
Paddock,  Walter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Powers,  Rogers,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport- 
Paddock,  Jerome,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Peck,  A.  D.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Reed,  G.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Rowley,  J.  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Reynolds,  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Huland,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Reed,  A.  8.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Reed,  Nelson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Rhine,  Mary,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Russ,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 
Reiter,  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Reed,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Rowley,  Phineas,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Renter,  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Rowley,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Rimselhi,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Rowley,  A.  <;.,  far.;  P.  (.).  Hadley. 
Smith,  Herbert,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Syler,  Antony,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Salderman,  Jacob,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 
Sclmyler,  Austin,  far.;   P.  O.  Gooding's 

Grove. 


Smith,  John.  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Sullivan,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Schlayetske,  Martin,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Luck- 
port. 

Sullivan,  T.,  far.;  1'.  O.  Lockport. 

Smith,  Wm.  G.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport, 

Shopce,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Sontag,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Salderinan,  Jacob,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Stone,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Strawley,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Sperry,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Simpson,  Geo.,  far.;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Sutton,  Ruth,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Schliff,  Rudolph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Savage,  Amos,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Sayers,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Stillwagon,  Martin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Simpson,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Storms,  Robert,  far.:  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Seifert,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Smith,  Herbert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Searles,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Storm,  Alex.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley.     . 

Snyder,  Stephen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Seifert,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Seifert,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Sandwich,  Martin,  far. ;  P.  0.  Hadley. 

Stillman,  A.  M.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

Sharp,  C.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Storms,  Robert,  Sr.,  far.,  P.  0.  Hadley. 

Storms,  Robert,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Searls,  Franklin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Thomas,  B.  P.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's 
Grove. 

Townsend,  Robert,  farmer;  P.  O.  Lock- 
port. 

Tilsa,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley. 

Tower,  Mary  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Ulrich,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Van  Duser,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Hadley 

Wagner,  Alex,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Warren,  Nicholas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Willming,  Bernhart,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's 
Grove. 

Wiltenkeller,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Wulfel,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Groye. 

Wendling,  Blaze,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's 
Grove. 

Wendling,  Louis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Witenkeller,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Ward,  Geo.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lemont. 

Wilson,  Samuel,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Wilmere,  Bernard,  far. ;    P.  O-  Lockport. 

Weiss,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Walter.  M.,  tar.;  P.O.  Lockport. 

Wetter,  N.,  far.;  P. O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Webster,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Wagner,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 

Wills,  Eliza,  far.;  P.  0.  Lockport. 

White,  Robert,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

William,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Wells,  N.  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Lockport. 

Yonngler,  Bernard,  far.;  P.  O.  Gooding's 
Grove. 

Youngler,  Bernard,  farmer;  P.  O.  Lock- 
port. 

Zimmers,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Gooding's  Grove. 


954 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


WHEATLAND    TOWNSHIP. 


Annis,  Matilda  ;  P.  O.  Plainfleld. 
Brossman,  Jacob,  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Boardman,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Braton,  Caroline  ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Baisch,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Boughton,  Mary  L.  ;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 
Boughton,  W.  p.,  far. ;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 
Baisch,  Christian,  far. ;  P.   O.  Naperville. 
Book,  John,  Mrs.  ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Burkett,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Brown, Geo.  W.,  far.;  P.  O. E. Wheatland. 
Bapp,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Baisch,  Godfrey,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack, 
Boss,  Geo.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Book,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Brown,  Alex.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Burnett,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Barclay,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Barbour.  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Burch,  E.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfleld. 
Cramer,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 
Chase,  A.  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 
Clow,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland 
Clow,  J.  H..  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Clow,  T,  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Cutton,  A.  E.,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Catchpole,  Daniel,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainlield, 
Catchpole,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Catton,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Cotton,  A.  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Cropsy,  J.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Chaplin,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
•Cropsey,  J.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
•Colgrove.  L.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Doyle,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Davis,  G.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Deliers,  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 
Deliers,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 
Dermeth,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Dow,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Dow,  Colvin,  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Day,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Dague,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Denan,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Davis,  W.  L.,  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Dunlap,  G.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Eichelberger,  John,  far.;  P.O.  Naperville. 
Eichelberger,  Emma  ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Eyer,  Jacob,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Eldridge,  George,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Fisher,  Jacob  P.,  far.;  P.  O.  Aurora. 
Fisher,  John.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 
Fisher,  Michael,  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Freise,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  0.  Naperville. 
Findley,  Mary;   P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Findley,  Stephen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Furgeson,  Andrew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Fry,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Fazee,  Michael,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 
Fry,  Zachariah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Freeland,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 
Findley,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Frazer,  S.  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Findley,  Mary  ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
•George,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 


Grabe,  John,  far. ;  P.O.  Plainfield. 

Glavy,  P.,  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 

Grabe.  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Gensert,  Fred.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Grill,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Gilmore,  J.,  Sr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Gray,  Walter,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Hossenrichter,  G..  far.;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Hobson,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Hene,  John. 

Hossenrichter,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Hay  wood,  Ansel,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Hoag,  Leonard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Harvey,  Alex.,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Hoag,  Leonard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 

Holdman,  Daniel,  Mrs. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Hartronft,  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Hertzog,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Hertzog,  Geo.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield 

Jones,  Asa  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Jameson,  A.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

King,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

King,  W.,  farmer;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 

Kinley,  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Keynon,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Kanagg,  John  M.,  far. ;  P.  0-  Plainfield. 

Kemmerer,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O  Naperville, 

Lombard,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Aurora. 

Lippart,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 

Lantz,  John  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Lantz,  Isaac  V.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Leppart,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 

Lippart,  John,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Aurora. 

Love,  Jacob,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Meyer,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.O.  E.  Wheatland. 

Matter,  Abraham,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Mussey,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  0-  Aurora. 

Meyer,  Elias,  far. ;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 

Malcolm,  John,  farmer;  P.  0.  Tamarack. 

Mather,  J.  E.,  far.;  P.  O.  East  Wheatland. 

Mather,  Jonathan,  far. ;  P.  O.  E.  Wheat- 
land. 

Mather,  Ed.,  far. :  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 

Malcolm,  Andrew,  far. ;   P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Mottinger,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

McMicken,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Neiswinter,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Nisewender,  Jos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Otta,  Catharine ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Oaks,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Patterson,  Andrew,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheat- 
land. 

Pilcher,  Fred  K, far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Palmer,  Matthew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Peidlew,  Julius,  far. ;  P.  O.  Aurora. 

Patterson,  D.,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland, 

Patterson,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 

Patterson,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheat- 
land. 

Patterson,  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 

Roger,  Jonathan,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Bobbins,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Bobbins,  Fitz  J.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Plainfield. 

Rank, Samuel,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Robbins,  Sarah;  P.  O. Tamarack. 


NEW  LENOX  TOWNSHIP. 


955 


Ray,  Alonzo,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Shaffer,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Simmons,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Scott,  W.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Tamarack. 
Scheapp,  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 
Stark,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Shoal,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Shoger,  Michael,  far. ;   P.  O.  E.  Wheat- 
land. 

Smith,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Smith,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Slick,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Slick,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Stark,  Israel  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Spaulding,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 
Stewart,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Sillar,  Thomas,  far.;  P.O.  Tamarack. 
Sillar,  Ralph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 
Stark,  Wm.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 
Tyler,  S.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 


Thomas,  A.  S.,  far.;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 

Thompson,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Thompson,  Alex.  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Thompson,  Adam,  far. ;  P.  0.  E.  Wheat- 
land. 

Varley,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Wolf,  John,  far. ;  P.  0.  Tamarack. 

Weaver,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Westphell,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  0.  E.  Wheat- 
land. 

Wise,  Adam,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville. 

Webster, David,  far. ;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 

Watson,  Alex.,  far.;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Wolf,  Amos,  far. ;  P.  O.  Naperville, 

Wilson,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Tamarack. 

Wightman,  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Plainfield. 

Wheeler,  Geo.  W.  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Tama- 
rack. 

Wetzley,  Uri  M., far. ;  P.  O.  E.  Wheatland. 


NEW    LENOX    TOWNSHIP. 


Allerton,  Archibald,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Angall,  A.  A.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Artwein,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Ahlschlager  Chris.,  far. ;  P.  O,  Spencer. 
Ahlschlager,  Chris.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Brundy,  A.,  Mrs. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Bliss,  Abel,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Bannon,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bannon,  Maria;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bouck,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Bundy,  A.  S.,  Mrs. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Barney,  Vincent,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Berger,  Thos.  L.,  far. ;  New  Lenox. 
Baldwin,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brown,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bliss,  Abel,  far. ;  New  Lenox. 
Baker,  William  ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Beuter,  Chris.,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Bartie,  Charles,  Jr.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bartie,  Charles,  Sr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Beebe,  Albert  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Banch,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Chamberlin,  O.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Cooper,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Cooper,  N.  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet.  , 
Culbertson,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Chittenden,  H.  R. 
Crager,  John,  far. ;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Cross,  Peleg,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Cleveland,  Leroy,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Cunningham,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Campbell,  M.  B.,  mail  carrier;  P.O. New 

Lenox. 

Griddle,  Sarah ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Condon,  John;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Doig,  Thomas,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Dibbell,  J.  B.,  Rev.,  Baptist  minister;  P. 

O.  Hadley. 

Doig, Alexander,  farmer;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
Doxtader,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Dall,  Jonathan,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 


Delaney,  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Delaney,  P. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Delaney,  Ellen,  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Evarts,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Francis,  A.  Allen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Francis,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.New  Lenox. 
Francis,  Geo.  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Francis,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Ferguson,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Fellows,  W.  R.,  blacksmith ;   P.  O.  New 

Lenox. 

Felter,  J.  J.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gerigan,  Catharine;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
Granger,  Alonson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gorman,  Ed.  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Goughar,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gouger,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Gouger,  Jos.  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Gouger,  Wm.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Gillett,  I.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Grant,  Albert,  far. ;  P.  0.  New  Lenox. 
Greenwood,  George  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New 

Lenox. 

Greenwood,  Aaron;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Gordon,  Moses,  farmer. 
Hammond,  Seneca,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hooker,  Helen  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Harper,  Joseph,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Higinbotham,  H.  O. ;  P.  O.  Chicago. 
Hunt,  Mark,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Harper,  James,  Mrs.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Hine, Samuel  H.,  fanner:  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Haven, Dwight, farmer;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Haven,  A.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Hilton,  Geo.,  merchant ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Homer,  Peter,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Haley,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Hain'es,  T.  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Holmes,  J.  S.,  merchant;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Holmes, M.  P.,  merchant;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Holmes,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 


956 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Hoffman,  Mary;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Haven,  D  wight,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Hogan,  Dennis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Hunt,  George,  farmer;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Higinbotliam,  II.  N.;  P.  O.  Chicago. 
Hunt, M.  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Hilton,  G.  S.,  merchant ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Hill,  S.,  carpenter ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Jones,  Robt.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Jordan,  E.  L.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Jordan,  Elias  L.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Jones,  Thos.,  farmer;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Koffer,  James,  farmer;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Kohler,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Kapper,  Jos.,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Kellogg,  M.  H.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Kester,  Michael,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kestel,  Geo.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kayanaugh,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Knickerbocker,  Ward,  merchant;  P.  O. 

New  Lenox. 

Kinckerbocker,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O-  New  Lenox. 
Klass,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Kerchval,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Krult,  Fred  M. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Kerchval,  James,  Mrs.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lewis,  Cyrus  A.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lewis,  Gordon,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Lewis,  C.  A  ,  farmer;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lewis,  Cyrus,  farmer;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Lynk,  T.,  merchant;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Lynk,  Staton,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lynk,  Sylvanus,  far. ;  New  Lenox. 
Link,  Stanton,  farmer. 
Lawler,  Michael,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McCarty,  Michael,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
McGrath,  Mary,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
McGovney,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
McGovney,  W.  -W.,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
McGinnis,  Felix,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
McLane,  Edward,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
McLaughlin,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McLaughlin,  Dudley,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Messenkunck,  Fred.; far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Mather,  E.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Marshall,  C.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Mast,  Joel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Marshall,  Rollins,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Mast,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Mather,  S.  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Marshall,  Griffith,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 
Montay,  Charles,  far.;  P.  0.  Mokena. 
Maw,  Christ,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Murphy,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Morris,  Henry,  blacksmith,  New  Lenox. 
Nobles,  Elisha,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Nofes,  Joseph,  farmer. 
Osrems,  Charles,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Pelkey,  Edward,  retired,  New  Lenox. 
Pitts,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Paul,  W.  M.,  farmer. 
Phillips,  James,  far.;  P.O.  New  Lenox. 
Phillips,  John,  far.;   P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Pink,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Pease,  Orvil,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 


I  Pester,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
I  Reynolds,  John  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Reynolds,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Reynolds,  Isaac,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Reynolds,  J.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Reynolds,  Joseph,  far. ;  New  Lenox. 

Richards.  Isaac,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Ryan,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Reipin,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Robinson,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Raney,  E.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Rudd,  Sarah,  Joliet. 

Storms,  Alex,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Storms,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Storms,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Storms,  James,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Staley,  H.  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Sheik,  Ferdinand,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Snoad,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Shaffner,  Levi,  Joliet. 

Short,  Wm.  A.,  Mrs.,  far. ;  P.O.New  Lenox. 

Smith,  L.  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Smith,  Andrew,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Sass,  Henry,  blacksmith,  New  Lenox. 

Searls,  Franklin,  far. ;  P.  O.  Halley. 

Schorp,  Chris,  far. ;  P.  0.  Spencer. 

Spaulding,  Leonard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Stime,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Schorp,  Chris,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Schorp,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Schmool,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Simmons,  Harriet,  New  Lennox. 

Shafner,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Schrader,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Seward,  Calvin;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Strattman,  H..  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Nenox. 

Salisbery,  J.  B.,  butter-mkr.,  New  Lenox. 

Schuevol,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Schwarz,  Menzel,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Stevens,  David,  farmer. 

Thompson,  John  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Thieland,  Frederick,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Tuck,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Udort,  Francis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Urch,  Henry,  laborer,  New  Lenox. 

Vass,  Henry,  far. :  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Van  Duser,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Warner,  Chas.  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Weeks,  C.  H.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

Wamremacher,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Wamremacher,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Werner,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Mokena. 

Welch,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Wagner,  Philip,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Wilson,  W.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Welch,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Weston,  A.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Wheeler,  Margaret,  Joliet. 

Waltz,  J.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 

Watkins,  David. 

Watkins,  Morgan, far. ;  P.  O.New  Lenox 

Watkins,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Willis,  I.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Wood,  F.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 

Warren,  Harriet,  New  Lenox. 


GRENGARDEN  TOWNSHIP. 


957 


CREENCARDEN    TOWNSHIP. 


Ahrens,  Charles,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Andrews,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Andrew,  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Albrecht,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Bettenhausen,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bettenhausen,  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Block,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Buchmire,  Maria,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Brockman,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Bock,  Louis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Block,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Bobzien,  John,  Justice,  Frankfort. 
Bock,  Christian,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Boeken,  B.  B.,  far. ;  P.O.  Monee. 
Branden,  Paul,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Brandatatter,  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Brookrnan,  Carl,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Bucholtz,  Fred,  far.;  P.O.  Frankfort. 
Brockman,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Bettenhauser,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Conrad,  Kropf,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Diest,  John. 

Diest,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Diegal,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Engelhard,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Eich,  Mary,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Eggr-.  s,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Eisenbrandt,  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Foster,  Andrew,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Forkner,  Jacob,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Fredricks,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Frentz,  August,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Finkmiller,  Valentine,  far.;  P.O.  Monee. 
Felton,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Feldon,  J.  P.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Felten,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Filden,  John  P.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Fiel,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Fisher,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Falkens,  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Gunter,  Christ, far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Gaitte,  Ernst,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Hasenjager,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hassenjager,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Honsbrach,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Hanson,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Hanson,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hylandt,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Herbert,  Christ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Henspeter,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Harrison,  Amos,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Harms,  H.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Harrison,  J.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Harms,  Herman,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Hay  wood,  F.  S.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hardy,  Russell,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Hay  wood,  F.  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Hemrichs,  Ulrich,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Jameson,  Christopher,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Jacobs,  George  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Jacobs,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Moncc. 
Johnson,  H.  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Kiser,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Mont-e. 
Konig,  David,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Kerner,  Matthew,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 


Kreuth,  Daniel,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
i  Kasich,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
i  Knickriem,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
i  Kister,  Christopher,  far. ;  P.  0.  Monee. 

Koerner,  How.,  far. ;  P.O. Monee. 
\  Keppa,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
!   Kuhan,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort, 

Kitzrow,  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Karner,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Koppe,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Kepper,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Knapper,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Kneader,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Koerner,  Margretta,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Lorenzen,  Paul,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
!  Luben,  C.  F.,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Luehrs,  F.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Lange,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Mouee. 
i  Lambke,  Louis,  farmer;  P.O.  Monee. 
1  Lanckemau,  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 
!  Lehmann,  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 
!  Lankmau,  Carsten,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Lehman,  Const.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Luches,  John  T.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

McDonald,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Manger,  A.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Miller,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Murdie,  Andrew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Meisterberg,  John,  farmer;  P.O.  Monee. 

Nagel,  Fred,  farmer;  P.  0.  Monee. 

N agel,  Charles,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Peters,  Heinrieh,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Peters,  Fred,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Peters,  Gottlieb,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Preis,  Fred,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Pries,  Henry,  farmer:  P.  O.  Monee. 

Petters,  A.  S.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Peters,  John,  farmer;  P.  0.  Monee. 

Paulsen,  Wm.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Q.uiatmeir,  Henry,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Ritzman,  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Rosenbrock,  Wrn.,  farmer;  P.  O.   Monee. 

Rudd,  B.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 

Rab,  Philip,  farmer:  P.  O.  Monee. 

Russell,  Hardin,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Rosey,  Jacob,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
i  Ropp,  Philip,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 
i   Rust,  Henry,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 
!  Rost,  Henry,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Ridder,  Louis,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 
I  Rahm,  Henry,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

RaKnn,  H.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Smith,  F.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Stillwasron,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Smith,  Edw.,  farmer;  P.  0.  Frankfort. 

Schlotman,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frank- 
fort, 

Stassen,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Stoffenberg,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Songmeiter,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Sclussen,  Adolph. 

Sanders,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Schubert,  Christian, farmer;  P.O.  Monee. 

Sippel,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Sippel,  Martin,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 


958 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


St  iissen,  J.  H.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Schmidt,  F.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Schroder,  Wm.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Staffenberg.  Henry  C.,  farmer;  P.  O. 
Greengarden. 

Stassen,  H.  H.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Stillwagon,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Schubbe.  Fred,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Stolph,  Geo. 

Stoffenberg,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frank- 
fort. 

Schroder,  Carl,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 

Smit,  Carl,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Stassen,  Henry,  Justice  and  Land  Agent; 
P.  O.  Monee. 

Stassen,  John,  nurseryman ;  P.  O.  Monee 

Thelen;  F.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Tuhl,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Twinning. F.H., farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 

Topper,  L.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 


Tell,  James,  farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Ulrich,  John, farmer;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Voigt,  August ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Voight,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Weber,  Geo.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Werner,  John,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Monee. 
Watson,  Wm.,  farmer;  P.  0.  Frankfort. 
Werner,  D.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Wood,  Bronson,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Witherel,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
Welchy,  Fred,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Wilke,  Fred,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Woeltge,  Fred,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Weist,  Christian,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Wilkins,  Peter,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Monee. 
AVishover,  Henry,  farmer  and  insurance 

agent ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Wilick,  Geo.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Frankfort. 
White,  H.  Jos. 


PEOTONE    TOWNSHIP. 


(P.  0.  PEOTONE,} 


Arnold,  Lewis,  merchant. 
Adams,  E.  H.,  farmer. 
Adams,  John,  farmer. 
Adams,  A. 
Amos,  Ross. 
Andrews,  Wm. 
Anderson,  John,  farmer. 
Angus.  Wm.,  merchant. 
Antcliff,  John,  farmer. 
Butymers,  John. 
Barton,  James,  farmer. 
Barnhart,  James,  Postmaster. 
Beach,  Lawrence. 
Bell,  Eobert,  farmer. 
Bell,  Wm.,  farmer. 
Bell,  Daniel. 
Benton,  Wm.,  farmer. 
Beard.  J.  G.,  farmer. 
Bisping,  Wm.,  laborer. 
Bornes,  Englehart,  farmer. 
Borms,  Henry,  farmer. 
Borms,  Fred,  farmer. 
Bodine,  D.  C.,  farmer. 
Brayten,  J.  H.,  merchant. 
Bruce,  Hugh,  laborer. 
Brockway,  C.,  farmer. 
Brockway,  Chauncey,  farmer. 
Brockway,  D.  A.,  farmer. 
Butterfield,  James. 
Burke,  Patrick,  farmer. 
Calkins,  Chester  H.,  farmer. 
Calkins,  Kosaline,  farmer. 
Carston,  John,  farmer. 
Calkins,  Felix  W.,  farmer. 
Collins,  M.,  merchant. 
Collins.  Thomas,  agent  B.  B. 
Cowing,  John  C.,  farmer. 
Cowan,  Walter,  farmer. 
Corcoran,  James,  farmer. 
Cowing,  E.  B.  clerk. 
Conrad,  John,  Magistrate. 


Conrad,  Peter,  dairyman. 

Coit,  Harriet  A. 

Cosade,  J.,  farmer. 

Crawford,  Balph,  farmer. 

Crawford,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Christian,  David  L.,  farmer. 

Chappel,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Croxen,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Croxen,  Benj.,  farmer. 

Cushman,  Jonas,  farmer. 

Dennis,  Jonathan,  farmer. 

Dornsbeeish,  Wm.,  Mrs.,  farmer. 

Dewitz,  Jacob,  wagon-maker. 

Dopp,  John,  farmer. 

Dennis,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Dewitz,  J.,  wagon-maker. 

Douglass,  Sarah,  Mrs. 

Dressier,  Ernst. 

Dunlap,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Elliott.  John,  farmer. 

Engelhart,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Erickson,  Peter  A.,  laborer. 

Evans,  William  C.,  farmer. 

Farley,  Arnold. 

Folke,  Henry,  physician. 

Fell,  George,  merchant. 

Fahs,  Tobias,  farmer. 

Fill,  August  V. 

Fisch,  Ferdinand,  farmer. 

Fiel,  Philip,  hotel. 

Flood,  George,  farmer.' 

Flannigan,  Patrick. 

Fletcher,  Allison,  farmer. 

French,  B.  W.  Bev.,  Pastor  U.  P.  Church. 

Gates,  Henry,  merchant. 

Gentar,  August,  farmer. 

Genter,  Ernst,  farmer. 

Genter,  Henry,  farmer. 

Gilkerson,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Gilkerson,  Curtis,  grain  merchant. 

Gilmore,  David,  farmer. 


PEOTONE  TOWNSHIP. 


959 


Gleason,  Daniel,  farmer. 

Gilkinson,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Gilkerson,  Robert,  farmer. 

Gildensoff,  John,  farmer. 

Goodspeed,  Samuel,  farmer. 

Gross,  Jacob,  shoemaker. 

Gralphs,  A.,  butcher. 

Gulickson,  James,  farmer. 

Hazemeyer,  William,  laborer. 

Harsch,  Joshua,  farmer. 

Harley,  Patrick. 

Harken,  Aug.,  merchant. 

Hazel meyer,  D.,  laborer. 

Henson,  Henry,  farmer. 

Heinrich,  C.  D.,  blacksmith. 

Higgins,  Pat.,  farmer. 

Homan,  John,  laborer. 

Hochman,  John. 

Howard,  John,  farmer. 

Hunter,  William,  carpenter. 

Jarcho,  Joachim,  farmer. 

Jarvis,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Joint,  James,  farmer. 

Johns,  John,  laborer. 

Kettingter,  Charles,  farmer. 

Kloarnen,  Philip. 

Klass,  Henry,  farmer. 

Knoop,  Christian,  farmer. 

Knights,  Darius. 

Knoop,  John,  farmer. 

Kropp,  Christian. 

Kurtz,  John,  farmer. 

Lesch,  John,  plasterer. 

Lewis,  B.  M. 

Lewis,  Charles. 

Lemboch,  C.  H. 

Lindermeyer,  Andrew,  harness-maker. 

Lockie,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Loomis,  A.  P.,  farmer. 

Loy,  John,  farmer. 

Luchres,  F.  H. 

Lyon,  William,  farmer. 

McFarland,  Luke,  farmer. 

Me  Vail,  Alex. 

Matthison,  William,  farmer. 

Maling,  John,  farmer. 

Madison,  William,  farmer. 

Mason,  David  F.,  farmer. 

Mutzer,  John,  carpenter. 

Markham,  Benjamin,  butcher. 

Mellville,  A.,  physician. 

Miller,  D.  V.  A.  B. 

Miller,  William,  farmer. 

Mink,  Keuben,  farmer. 

Morrison,  David,  farmer. 

Mollman,  Charles,  laborer. 

Monk,  Henry,  farmer. 

Myres,  Henry,  farmer. 

Myer,  John  H.,  farmer. 

Nolan,  John,  farmer. 

Orwig,  S.  V.,  laborer. 

Palmer,  A.  B.,  farmer. 

Patten,  Andrew,  farmer. 

Palmer,  L.,  farmer. 

Perry,  W.  C.,  farmer. 

Piper,  James,  farmer. 


Piper,  Joshua,  farmer. 

Piersons,  Henry,  farmer. 

Pfiel,  George,  farmer. 

Rainer,  Rober,  hay-press. 

Rathje,  Henry,  miller. 

Rathye,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Rathge,  Louis,  merchant. 

Renkoff,  H.,  hotel. 

Riddle,  Charles  B.,  trader. 

Riddle,  A.,  engineer. 

Robertson,  Alex.  G.,  wagon-maker. 

Robinson,  James,  farmer. 

Rodgers,  Charles,  farmer. 

Rodger,  August,  farmer. 

Rukert,  George. 

Sampson,  Moses,  farmer. 

Salts  wedel,  Frank,  laborer. 

Starges,  Thomas. 

Schneider,  John,  harness-maker. 

Schneider,  William,  blacksmith. 

Schmitt,  Louis,  hotel. 

Schruesen,  Henry,  farmer. 

Schlemme,  Charles,  farmer. 

Schrader,  D.,  farmer. 

Schaumer,  Chris. 

Schrader,  Henry,  farmer. 

Selling,  Herman,  farmer. 

Schroeder,  Henry,  farmer. 

Schrader,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Sebel,  Conrad,  laborer. 

Sevisor,  Henry. 

Shaw,  Smith,  farmer. 

Shockley,  H.  W.,  wagon-maker. 

Shoup,  William,  laborer. 

Sharp,  James. 

Simson,  Jacob,  laborer. 

Simpson,  Alex.,  farmer. 

Smith,  Hugh,  merchant. 

Smith,  C. 

Smith,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Smith,  Henry,  farmer. 

Small,  George,  farmer. 

Stewart,  Frank. 

Stassen,  Dederick,  carpenter. 

Storch,  John,  barber. 

Schubert,  Charles  F. 

Steinert,  Frank,  shoemaker. 

Sultzbaugh,  Philip,  hay-press. 

Tedde,  H.,  mechanic. 

Thul,  Joachim. 

Tschannen,  Chris.,  farmer. 

Tucker,  Stephen,  farmer. 

Vail,  A.  W.,  farmer. 

Warden,  Henry,  grain  merchant. 

Warnick,  Henry,  laborer. 

Wamicke,  William,  laborer. 

Weir,  Pat.,  farmer. 

Westgate,  C.  A.,  nurseryman. 

Wells,  William  P.,  farmer. 

Wilcox,  Walter,  farmer. 

Wilson,  David,  farmer. 

Whiffen,  George,  farmer. 

Youker,  Jacob,  farmer. 

Young,  William,  artist. 

Zander,  John,  farmer. 


960 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


WILTON    TOWNSHIP. 


A  very,  Gilbert  S.,  farmer;  P.  O-  Elwood. 

Avery,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Armstrong,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

AntclifE,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Peotone, 

Andrew,  A.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Wallingford. 

Brerton,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Behrins,  G.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Batche,  John. 

Brisbin,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Brunner,  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Baker,  C.,  farmer;  P.  0.  Wilton  Center. 

Bannon,  A. 

Brown,  James. 

Barr,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Barr,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Barr,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Benn,  J.  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Bennett,  A.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Wilton  Center. 

Bell,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Benn,  John  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Bathelder,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Beam,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Bickford,  J.  I.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Barton,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Broderich,  D.,carp. ;  P,  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Bock,  Harvey,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Bissett,  William  J. 

Beedle,  H.  W.,  butcher;  P.  O.  Wilton 
Center. 

Boynton,  G.  W.,  wagon-maker;  P.  O.  Wil- 
ton Center. 

Crawford,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Clinton,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Cowhan,  Louisa;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Clinton,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Cunningham,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Callinan,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Cavney,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Cruddy,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Callanan,  T.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Caveney,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Carey,  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Clinton,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Cagwin,  S.  R.,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Cotts,  Samuel,  far.;  P.  O.. Peotone. 

Cunningham,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Cen- 
ter. 

Culver,  A. 

Deitzman,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Dyer,  John ;  P.  O.  Chicago. 

Deyereaux,  M.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Wallingford.' 

Deininger,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Dancer,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Dancer,  G.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Dickenson,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Dunham,  B.  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Dickenson,  O.  C.,  Rev.,  Bapt.  min.;  P.  O. 
Wilton  Center. 

Evans,  G.  W.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Evans,  W.  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Edson,  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Eyrich,  N.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Fish,  Henry. 

Fick,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 


French,  George,  far. ;  P.  0.  Peotone, 

French,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

French,  Aaron,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Feehan,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Foster,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Gilkinson,  Luther,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Geise,  Hiram,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Geise,  David  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Gerdes,  H.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Gilkerson,  Luther,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Graves,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Graves,  Wm.,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Graham,  Ann;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Harris,  Isaac,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Holmes,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Harvey,  B.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Harvey,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center, 

Harley,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Houghton,  Harry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Houghton,  A. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Harvey,  J.,  merchant  and  Postmaster;  P. 
O.  Wilton  Center. 

Jenks,  I.  S.,  far.;  P/O.  Wilton  Center. 

Jones,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Jones,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Jones,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Jansen,  G.,  blacksmith;  P.  O.  Wilton 
Center. 

Jordan,  P.  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Kruger,  August. 

Kinsella,]Sr.,  far.;  P.  O  Wilton  Center. 

Kinnady,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Kahl,  Balder,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Kennedy,  Darby,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Kavanaugh,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Kackel,  Isaac,  far.;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Kennedy,  Hugh,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Keniston,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Kinnady,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Krinkle,  August. 

Lichten waiter,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Longshore,  J.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Cen- 
ter. 

Lardner,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Lamphere,  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Lins,  J.  L.,  physician;  P.  O.  Wallingford, 

Longshore,  J.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Cen- 
ter. 

Lanigan,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Lamphere,  Jane;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

McLaughlin,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

McClosky,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

McGown,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

McGowan,  J.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.jO.  Wallingford. 

McGown,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

McCormick,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Malier,  Margaret,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Machinder,  Geo.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilton 
Center. 

Mills,  A.  J.,  M.  D. ;  Wilton  Center. 

Muzzy,  Thos.  J.,  mechanic;  P.  O.  Wilton 
Center. 

Malone,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Manen,  Susan ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 


FLORENCE  TOWNSHIP. 


963 


Martin,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Meacham,  Charles,  far.;  P.  O.  El  wood. 
Mason,  Wm.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Nelson,  D.  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 
Nelson,  S.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 
Nugent,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Nugant,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
O'Beirn,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 
O'Brien,  Mary;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
O'Niel,  Henry. 

Osborn,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Porter,  O.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Porter,  O'Brien,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Pooley,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Phelan.  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Porter,  O.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Quigley,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Quigby,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Quigby,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Quigby,  E.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Renfrew,  H.  N.,  blksmith,  Wilton  Center. 
Reilly,  Ellen ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Reitz,  Simon,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 
Runkel,  Jacob  K. 

Robbins,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Robbins,  E.,-far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Robbins,  D.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Robbins,  I.  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Robbins,  I.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Rose,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 
Reitz,  Philip,  far.; P.  O.  Wallingford. 
Reirdon,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Raworth,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Reilly,  Philip,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Robinson,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Russell,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Reitz,  Lorenz,  merchant. 
Robinson,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Robinson,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 
Reitz,  Lawrence,  mer. ;  Wilton  Center. 
Schroeder,  John,  wagon-maker;  Wilton 
Center. 


Sampson,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Shaerer,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Schroder,  C..  far.;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Scott,  P.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Scott,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Shields,  J .,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Seaver,  S.  D.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Peotone. 

Stewart,  Alex.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Strowbridge,  S.  R.,  lab.,  Wilton  Center. 

Schroder,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Seaver,  S.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Sharp,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Smith,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Seible,  Jacob  P. 

Schroeder,  A.,  wagon-maker;  Walling- 
ford. 

Smith.  D.,  Wallingford. 

Shult,  Esther  A.,  Wallingford. 

Thayer,  Eugene,  far.;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Thayer,  Chas.,  far. :  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Troxel.  John.  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Tully,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Tompkins,  N.,  Peotone. 

Temple.  W.  E.,  far. ;  Wilton  Center. 

Tully,  E.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Tinme,  H.,  mason ;  Wilton  Center. 

Troxel,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Townsend,  John,  lab. ;  Wilton  Center. 

Winslow,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Winslow,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

White,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wallingford. 

Wright,  J.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Wright,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilton  Center. 

Wilcox,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Walthouser,  A.,  carp. ;  Wilton  Center. 

Walker,  William. 

Watson,  Albert,  carp. ;  Wallingford. 

Wright,  Jas.  B.,  mer. ;  Wilton  Center. 

Webber,  C.  T.,  harness-maker.;  Wilton 
Center. 

Young,  I.  F.,  mason ;  Wilton  Center. 


FLORENCE    TOWNSHIP. 


Barrett,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Buss,  E.  C..  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Brisbin,  John  C. 

Bell,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Baxter,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Baskerville,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Baskerville,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Baskerville,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Burton,  Joseph,  trader. 
Boyland,  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Barrett,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Barrett,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Carey,  E.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Corb'in,  R.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Wilmington. 
Crullen,R.,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Cutshaw,  W.  G.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Cottel,  H.  E.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Cottel.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Cutshaw,  W.  G.,  far.;  P.O.Wilmington, 


Corbett,  Rufus,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Campbell,  John,  far. ;  P.  O-  Wilmington. 
Carroll,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Dutchman,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Donahue,  P.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Dixon,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O,  Wilmington. 
Dixon,  John,  far.;  P.O.  Wilmington. 
Dixon,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Ellinwood,  G.  W..  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Elwood,  Sarah  W.,  Elwood. 
Forsythe,  David,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Forsythe.  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Finsiar,  L.,   far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Fridley,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Goodrich,  Grant. 
Geise,  Hiram,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Gibbons,  P.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Wilmington. 
Gurney,  E.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Griffen,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

19 


964 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Gooding.  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Griffen,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Gay,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hayden,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Hart,  C.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hill,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hampton,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Ehvood. 
Hoffman,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hamilton,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hayden,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Jessup,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Jackson,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Jackson,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Kennedy,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Kennedy,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Kellogg,  Lewis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Kahler,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Keer,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington, 
Kidney,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Lacy,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Lineberger,  Louis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Lineberger,  John. 

Long,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Mclntyre,  Alex,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Mclntyre,  J .,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Mclntyre,  D.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Wilmington. 
McGinnis,  W.  M.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Wilmington. 
Murphy,  John,  far. ;  P.  O..  Wilmington. 
Morey,  S.  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Mosey,  Selah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Martin,  J.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Murphy,  C.,  far. :  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Maher,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Martin,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Mahoney,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Murphy  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Murphy,  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Mahoney,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Norton,  Wm.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Nugent,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Nelson,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Naughton,  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 


Nutt,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Nelson,  W.  T.,  far.;  P.  C.  AVilmington. 
Ohlhues,  John,  far. ;  P.  O-  Wilmington. 
Ohlhues,  P.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Phalon,  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Quigley,  Edw.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Reirdon,  D  ,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Reirden,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Reed,  AV.  H.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Rockwell,  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Rodgers,  Sophrinia., 
Roach,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Riley,  Philip,  far.;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Rothka,  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Reils,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Shirk,  Joseph,  far.;  P.O.Wilmington. 
Spoor,  H.  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Smith.  Allen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Smith,  Ezra,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Smith,  Ellen,  Elwood. 
Stewart,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington.. 
Scammon,  J.  Y.,  Chicago.  v 
Seltzer,  Fred,  far.;  P.  0.  Elwood. 
Strong,  E.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Shehan,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Slater,  Walter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Swival,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Thompson,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Wilson,  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
AVhite,  Adam  J. 
AVhitten,  Andrew,  retired. 
White,  J.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  AVilmington. 
Warner,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Wilmington. 
White,  Jas.,  far.;  P.  O-  Wilmington. 
White,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Witcshe,  N.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Ward,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Whiten,  John,  miller. 
Yonker,  N.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Yates,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Zimmerman,  C.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Wilmington. 
Zimmerman,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 


WESLEY    TOWNSHIP. 

(P.  O.  WILMINGTON.) 


Axtell,  Betsey,  far. 
Axtell,  Acsah,  far. 
Allott,  Henry,  far. 
Ackerman,  H.  L ,  far. 
Ackerman,  Schuyler,  far. 
Anderson,  Andrew,  far. 
Ackerman,  Hannah,  far. 
Byron,  Michael,  Sr.,  far. 
Bunker,  Jonas  B..  far. 
Bover,  Alex.,  far. 
Butterfleld,  B.  F.,  far. 
Bovee,  Alex.,  far. 
Blaul,  Charles,  far. 
Byron,  Michael,  Jr.,  far. 
Bunker,  Elijah,  far. 
Barrett,  William,  far. 
Bronside,  Sarah,  far. 


Burns,  Mary,  far.  - 
Boylan,  R.  J.,  far. 
Beck  with,  Gay  M.,  far. 
Byron,  Michael,  Jr.,  far. 
Binney,  George,  far. 
Cossett,  Moses,  far. 
Childs,  Julia,  far. 
Carlott,  Robert,  far. 
Clark,  Luke,  far. 
Corwin,  John,  far. 
Corlett,  John.  far. 
Carlott,  Chris,  far. 
Carroll,  Terrence. 
Dahler,  Sarah,  far. 
Dayler,  Sarah,  far. 
Dickerson,  Luke,  far. 
Easton,  David,  far. 


CUSTER   TOWNSHIP. 


965 


Ferris,  Daniel,  far. 
Finger,  Charles,  far. 
Franklin,  Henry  A.,  far. 
Franklin,  Henry,  far. 
Flood,  E.  F.,  far. 
Ferris,  Daniel,  far. 
Forsythe,  John,  far. 
Gay,  James,  far. 
Goodwin,  William,  far. 
Goodwin,  Erwin,  far. 
Goodwin,  George,  far. 
Goodwin,  Hiram,  far. 
Goss,  Anna,  far. 
Goodwin,  John,  far. 
Gould,  Hiram,  far. 
Gay,  John,  far. 
Gondy,  Albert,  fax. 
Gipperm,  Lewis,  far. 
Gondy,  William,  far. 
Houghton,  Almox,  far. 
Hazlton,  Charles,  far. 
Hazlton,  Norman,  far. 
Hazlton,  Alma  R.,  far. 
Handford,  C.  A.,  far. 
Handford,  Stephen  F.,  far. 
Hanford,  B.  E.,  far. 
Hiles,  Thomas,  far. 
Henebury,  David,  far. 
Hartzog,  Charles,  far. 
Hazzard,  Charles,  far. 
Johnson,  William,  far. 
Johnson,  James,»far. 
Johnson,  Frank,  far. 
Jepson,  Lewis,  far. 
Jones,  Thomas  W.,  far. 
Jones,  Gideon,  far. 
Jones,  Samuel,  far. 
Jones,  Samuel,  far. 
Jones,  Hazzard,  far. 
Jones,  E.  W.,  far. 
Jones,  Elizabeth,  far. 
Jones,  H.  H.,  far. 
Kahler,  Louisa,  far. 
Kohler,  Henry,  far. 
Killey,  John,  far. 
Kendall,  James  L.,  far. 
Kelley,  Thomas,  far. 
Kelley,  John,  far. 
Livingston,  A.  A.,  far. 
Lovall,  Oliver,  far. 
Linton,  Elizabeth,  far. 
Leasure,  W.  D.,  far. 
Longshire,  J.  G.,  far. 
Londen,  Helen,  far. 


Louden,  R.  D.,  far. 
Lohner,  Anton,  far. 
MeCorkle,  William,  far. 
Morgan,  B.  F.,  far. 
Main,  Chester,  far. 
Marshall,  Samuel,  far. 
Maher,  Thomas,  tar. 
Martin,  Patrick,  far. 
Muncy,  Rachael,  far. 
Muncy,  William,  far. 
Muncy,  Charley,  far. 
Moulton,  C.  H.,  far. 
Murphy,  Timothy,  far. 
Nicholas,  B.,  far. 
Nielson,  Frank,  far. 
O'Conner,  Michael,  far. 
Parks,  James,  far. 
Pearson,  Alpheus  W.,  far. 
Powers,  Charles  C.,  far. 
Pichart,  John,  far. 
Paine,  Almont,  far. 
Pickardt,  Crine,  far. 
Quigley,  Michael,  far. 
Quigley,  Andrew,  far. 
Ritchey,  B.  D.,  far. 
Richardson,  Amassa,  far. 
Richardson,  Levi  A.,  far. 
Rainfard,  Robert,  far. 
Russell,  Cerilda,  far. 
Ritchey,  John,  far. 
Ryan,  Edw.,  far. 
Redman,  Eugene,  far. 
Redman,  David  H.,  far. 
Redman,  Thomas,  far. 
Sternberger,  Philip,  far. 
Sprivey,  Henry,  far. 
Sernburg,  Mary,  far. 
Smith,  E.,  far. 
Small,  Daniel. 
Umstedt,  Norris,  far. 
Underwood,  Enoch,  far. 
Van  Garvin,  D.,  far. 
Wartz,  Andrew,  far. 
Wooley,  Elizur,  far. 
Worden,  H.  G.  S.,  far. 
Willard,  David,  far. 
White,  John  M.,  far. 
Whitten,  Andrew,  far. 
White,  John,  far. 
Waldren,  C.  H.,  far. 
Williams,  John,  far. 
Warner,  Alfred,  far. 
Warner,  A.  H.,  far. 
WTarner,  Elisha,  far. 


CUSTER    TOWNSHIP. 


Band,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Brown,  Edgar,  far. ;  P.  0-  Wilmington. 
Burke  Bros.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Boyd,  J.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Bernard,  James,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Bergan,  Martin. 
Barber,  R.  E.  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 


Bird,  Eliza. 

Buckley,  Cornelius,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilming- 
ton. 

Connores,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Churchill,  S. 

Cooper,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  0.  Braidwood. 
Calhoun,  Stephen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 


966 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Cowley,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Colwell,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Canington,  John  W.,  P.  O.   Wilmington. 
Calkins,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Calkins,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Calhoun,  Ransford,  far. ;  P.O.  Wilming- 
ton. 

Duger,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Doty,  E.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Dubein,  H.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Eagan,  Thomas. 

Evans,  John,  far. ;  P.  O-  Wilmington. 
Forsyth,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Feely,  John  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Freer,  J.  P. 

Feely,  John,  far. ;  P.  O-  Braidwood. 
Fitzgerald,  Wmi,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Gettings,  Paul,  far. ;  P.  O,  Wilmington. 
Gray,  Jeremiah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Goff,  P.  D.  H. 

Hayes,  Dennis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hudson,  Henry,  far;  P.  O-  Wilmington. 
Hoffman,  Jos.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hanford,  Thos.,  mer. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hines,  Thos.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hall,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hanford,  Frank,  mer. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Hanford  Stephen,  mer. ;  P.O.  Wilmington. 
Hawley,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Harrison,  J.  W..  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Howatt,  Alex.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Braidwood. 
Johnson,  J.  P., far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Jordan,  J.  G.,  far.;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Judge,  Hugh,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Kennady,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Kilborn,  Whitlock ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Kinney,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Kavanaugh,  Mary;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Lowe,  Henry ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Lovejoy,  A.  J. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Lutz,  Andrew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Lennon,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Murphy,  S.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Madden,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Morgan,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Moore,  Laughlin;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
Martin,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Miller,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
Marshall,  S.  T.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
McGilvery,  Hugh,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 


O'Brien,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

O'Riley,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Perry,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Powell,  M. 

Pemperton, Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Petero,  G.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Palmer,  I.  T.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Quineby,  H.  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Quineby,  J.  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Querinning,  Jno.,far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
[  Reilly,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 
i  Rose,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
i  Riley,  G.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 
J  Russell,  M.  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Riiey,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Reynolds,  J.  K,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Robinson,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Stewart,  Peter,  far.;  P.  0.  Wilmington. 

Stewart,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Smiley,  J.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Stewart,  M..N.  M. 

Sweeney,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Smith,  Ira  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Small,  E.  N.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Small,  Wm.  B.,  lumber  dealer;  P.O.Wil- 
mington. 

Smith,  L.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington 

Stewart,  W.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Swackhamer,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Slight,  Theo.,  far.;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Schenk,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Stewart,  F.  D.,  far.;  P.  0.  Braidwood. 

Sibert,  Fletcher,  Mrs. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Trainer,  James,  far. ;  P.  Q.  Wilmington. 

Taylor,  A.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Trainer,  Wm.,  far,;  P.  0.  Wilmington. 

Trainer,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Trainer,  Robt.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Tilden,  W.  F.,  far.,  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Tanner,  M.  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Thewlis,  Mary,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Tanner,  Hulclah ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Tunney,  Patrick,  far, ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Taylor,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Wright,  E.,  Mrs.,  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Williamson,  T.,  far.;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Wright,  Abner,  far. ;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 

Ward,  J.  H. 

Yates,  Sarah. 

Young,  William,  far.;  P.  O.  Braidwood. 


TROY    TOWNSHIP. 


Armstrong,  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Armstrong,  D.,  far.;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Arcy,  John  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Battz,  John,  far. ;  P.  0.  Minooka. 
Bally,  Casper,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Beatle,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Beathe,  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Blair,  William,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brady,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bowen,  William. 
Buckway,  A.  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 


Calais,  R..  far.;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 

Cornell,  James. 

Cavender,  B.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 

Coolehan,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Cloman,  Daniel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Callahan,  Matthew. 

Culver,  John  J.,  far.;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

Cronan,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Crogwell,  Thos..  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Cops,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Cops,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 


TROY  TOWNSHIP. 


967 


Crumby,  ('has.,  far.:  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Crumby,  I.  C. 

Clifford.  John,  far. :  P.  O.  Jolitf. 
Cotter,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Coggswell,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Conlin,  E..  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Dix,  Wm.  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Minooka. 
Debill,  E.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Dempsey,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Dollinger,  M..  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Everton,  T.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Everton,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Eagan,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Fant,  Frank,  Joliet. 
Farnsworth,  G.  AV.,  far.;   P.  O.  Bird's 

Bridge. 

Koran,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 
Fogarty,  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Fogarty,  E.,  Sr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Fries,  Andrew  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Clifford,  Keynolds,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gifford,  Orlando,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Grinton,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gaton,  John,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
Gaton,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gaskill,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 
Gaskill,  Joel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 
Green,  Kobert. 
Hadcock.  Solomon. 
Henith,  Conrad,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hearn,  Henry. 

Hiney,  John  H..  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hoff,  E.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 
Herod,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hearse,  William. 

Ingoklsby,  Eugene,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Jngoldsby,  James,  far. ;  P.O.  Joliet. 
Ingoldsby,  Felix,  far.; P.O.  Minooka. 
Johnson, Daniel,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Judge,  Edwin,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Keeley,  Patrick,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kearney,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kinsella,  Garrett,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kavanaugh,  Joseph,  far;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kerman,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kinney,  John,  far. ;  LJ.  O  Minooka. 
Kierman,  Hugh,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Kerman,  Francis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kinsella,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 
Kinsella,  Garnett.  far. :  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Ketch un,  Michael,  far.;  P.  O.  Minooka. 
Lewis,  L. 

Link,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Lehner,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Laniaeher.  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Langdon,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Langdon,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lye,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McManus,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McCoy,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Me iCarty,  M.,  far.;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
McEvoy,  James,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
McEvoy,  William,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McDonald,  Dennis  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McMillan,  Almonda,  far.:  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McMillan,  Aleda.  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 


Maitin,  Edw. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Marshall,  William  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Mahoney,  Jeremiah,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Matis,  Barney,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Matthews,  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 

Meyer,  Adam,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Miller,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Miller,  James. 

Mooney,  Matthew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Mo  ran,  Bernard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Murphy,  James,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Murphy,  Timothy,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet; 

Murphy,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Noble  E. 

O'Brien,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

O'Brien,  W.,far.;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 

Ottar,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

O'Conner,  James,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

Ogan,  Mary. 

Otteway,  Edw. 

Paul,  James,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

Parks,  Silas,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Palmer,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Perry,  Samuel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Raven,  Daniel  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Rademaker,  T. 

Reed,  R.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Reardon,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Reiff,  August,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Read,  M.  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Reese,  Henry  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Reiff,  Augustus,  farmer. 

Riley,  James  T.,  far.;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Roberts,  E.  G. 

!  Rogan,  Edw.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
I  Rowan,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge 
i  Spencer,  Myron,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Searls,  D.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Searls,  Austin  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Sammons,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Stamper,  Hannah ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Stearns,  William,  far. ;  Bird's  Bridge. 

Steel,  John  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
!  Stevens,  William,  far.;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Stephens,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
'  Schaub,  Nicholas,  far. ;  Bird's  Bridge. 
j  Sheridan,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Snyder,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Snyder,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Snyder,  Larkin  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Snyder,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Spencer, Simon,  far.;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Sammons,  AV.  T.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Strong,  W.  P. 

Talbott,  Richard,  far.;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Tyruell,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Tyrell,  Mary ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Talbott,  Edw.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Truby,  Marshal,  merchant  and  Postmas- 
ter, Bird's  Bridge. 

Tierney,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  0.  Minooka. 

Toohey,  James,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Van  Alstine,  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge, 

Welch,  William,  far,;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Whalen,  Ann ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 


968 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY  : 


CRETE    TOWNSHIP. 


Arkenburg,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Apking,  Henry,  farmer; P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Arkenburg,  Win.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Adams,  F.  J.,  carp.,  Crete. 

Austin,  Herman. 

Adams,  E.  V.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Adams,  G.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Adams,  Henry  E.,  retired,  Peotone. 

Adams,  Reuben,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Adams,  F.  J.,  carpenter,  Crete. 

Adams,  L.,  far.  and  butcher;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Adams,  W.  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Berg,  Elizabeth. 

Batterman,  C.,  farmer :  P.  O.  Crete. 

Behrens,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Baterman,  Fred. 

Bock,  Conrad,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Baurmeister,  Wm.,  farmer. 

Batterman,  H.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Boos,  John. 

Buhre,  Otto. 

Bouhess,  Henry. 

Bregmeyer,  Fred. 

Bu-nger,  Henry. 

Baker,  Ellen  J.,  Galesburg. 

Bush,  Henry,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Burkmier,  George. 

Bauser,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Backus,  Chris. 

Behrens,  J.  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Berhardt,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Bierville,  L.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Biesterfeldt,  Fred.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Brandt,  H., farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Barker,  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Baker,  C.,  farmer. 

Bredmeyer,  Wm. 

Brauns,  Henry. 

Bergmeir,  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Bernhard,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Baumer,  Matthias,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Bramer,  Henry,  farmer. 

Braunner,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Bordwell,  D.  S.,  clerk,  Crete. 

Bogens,  D.,  mason,  Crete. 

Brm,  Joseph,  carpenter,  Crete. 

Brinker,  Henry,  wagon-maker,  Crete. 

Bruns,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Betterman,  Christopher. 

Buffington,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Burgest,  Henry. 

Bahlman,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Belke,  Ernst,  laborer,  Goodenow. 

Berg,  Nicholas,  blacksmith,  Goodenow. 

Bernhardt,  Fred.,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Buhs,  Henry. 

Beekman,  T. 

Bekoe,  Fred. 

Brandt,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Buckmeir. 

Baker,  C.  A. 

Barthle,  Fred. 

Bergan.  Martin. 

Busse,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 


Brisbane,  Jas.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.;Crete. 

Bowden,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Caldwell,  A.,  farmer. 

Clausing,  Fred.,  farmer. 

Calverlage,  Henry  K. 

Cragle,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Cooper,  S.  W.,  Monee. 

Cook,  Wm..  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Clauseng,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Claus,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Cook,  Willis,  laborer,  Crete. 

Cheery,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Cole,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Claude,  John,  far.;  P.  0.  Bloom. 

Cole,  J.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Cinnamon,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Cole,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Butcher,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  0.  Monee. 

Damaskay,  P. 

Drunkmeister,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Dose,  Peter  H. 

Dohmier,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Doeher,  H. 

Doesher,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Doescher,  J.  C.,  merchant,  Endor. 

Dierson,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Demeke,  Louis,  retired,  Crete. 

Doerscher,  H.  N.,  retired. 

Dodge,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Dodge,  Mary  E.,  Crete. 

Dierson,  John,  Crete. 

Fishman,  Peter. 

Eisham,  Peter. 

Ergson,  Fred,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Eldering,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Engelkhig,  Lewis,  farmer;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Englebucnt,  Fred,  laborer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Engleking.  Philip,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Ergson,  Fred,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Engleking,  Henry ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Epens,  Thomas,  farmer. 

Frenker,  Henry,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Fleischer,  Hannah  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Fitshell,  Homan,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Fricke,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Falch,  John. 

Frank,  F.  H.,  peddler..  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Fassett,  A.  C.,  mason  ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Graham,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Glade,  Chris.,  farmer. 

Gland,  Fred. 

Graw,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Graham,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Grote,  Herman,  farmer ;  P.  0.  Crete. 

Grape,  Fred,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Grupe,  F.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Grote,  Herman,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Gaines,  H.  N.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Gridlay.  J.  W.,  farmer. 

Hanfeidt.  Wm.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Harmin.  Martin. 

Hase,  Henry. 

Handfeld,  Win.,  farmer:  P.  O. Monee. 

Hunter,  James,  farmer;  P.  O.  Bloom. 


CRETE  TOWNSHIP. 


969 


Heine.  Gottlieb,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Hopp,  Peter. 

Hoffman,  Jacob. 

Harderkopp.  J.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Hewes,  Samuel,  minister. 

Hewes,  John  E. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Hattendorf,  Conrad,  shoemaker;  P.  O. 
Crete. 

Hartman.  John  C.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Hassman.  Henry. 

Houseman,  John. 

Hood,  Samuel,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Horneger,  Ernst. 

Hendricks,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Hardikopp,  Chris.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Good- 
enow. 

Hake,  D. 

Helgman.  Charles. 

Hatfield,  Sophia. 

Heinn,  Philip  O.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Hoesterson,  Carl. 

Hoffman,  G.,  butcher;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Hassman.  Christ. 

Hattendorf,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Homire, Ernst;  P.  Q.  Crete. 

Habenkost.  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Huntton,  Wm. 

Horn,  Charles,  retired ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Heinman,  B.,  merchant ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Horan,  Charles,  laborer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Hardikope,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Hardikope,  Christ. 

Harmoning,  John,  farmer. 

Helman,  Henry;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Hammond,  Henry. 

Halley,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Hewes,  Geo.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Hewes,  Henry,  salesman ;  P.  O.  Chicago. 

Hanfeldt,  Henry ;  P.  O.  Chicago. 

Harrett,  John,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Hart,  John. 

Jordening,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Jergens,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Jordening,  Conrad,  farmer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Knappmier,  Fred,  cigar-maker. 

Kahing,  Wm. 

Kphle,  Charles. 

Kilmea,  C. 

Klaus,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Knoll,  Michael. 

Kolling,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Kotze,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Klaus,  August. 

Kolling,  C.,  fur. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Keidisk,  Geo.,  blacksmith;  P.  0.  Crete. 

Kock,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Knabe,  C.,  merchant;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Klemme,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Keeling,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow, 

Kechling,  Fred. 

Kratze,  Fred,  Jr..  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Kratze,  Fred,  Sr.,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Kline,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Kloss,  M..  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Knappmire,  Wilhelm,  retired :  P.  O.  Crete. 

Klaus,  A.  J. 

Krept,  F.,  saloon ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Katze,  Henry  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 


Kliner,  Christian. 

Krusr.  C. 

Kekoe,  Fred,  laborer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Kueige,  Henry. 

King,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Kirsch,  Franz,  farmer  and  mason ;  P.  O. 
Crete. 

Lange,  Joachin,  far.;  P.  O.  Endor. 
i  Luke,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
i  Lewholtz,  F.,  laborer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Luke,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Link,  Geo. 
I  Legmore,  Henry. 

Luchet,  Carl,  laborer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Leising,  J.  T.,  grain  dealer;  P.  O.  Good- 
enow. 

Ladoux,  Joseph. 

Lepenhop,  H. 

Lpwden,  Joseph. 

Liekmann,  Fred. 

Mendenhath,  Charles. 

Mechlman,  Francis. 

Mayne,Geo. 

Miller,  T.  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Maxwell,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Miller,  H.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Muller,  Conrad,  laborer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Muller,  John,  laborer:  P.  O.  Crete. 

Myer,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Michael,  Nicholas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Myrick,  U.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Martin,  Win.,  laborer:  P.  O.  Crete. 

Myer,  John  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Merwin,  Charles,  farmer. 
|  Matthias,  John  C.,  tailor ;  P.  O.  Crete. 
;  Mil  brook,  Henry. 

Mpgg,  Henry. 

Miller,  R.  B.,  school-teacher ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Martin,  S.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Crete. 

Mothing,  Henry. 

Marker,  Henry. 

Miers,  Edward,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Mueller,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Motlong,  Henry  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Miller,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Morris,  John. 

Morris,  John  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Miller,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Miller,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Naike,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Narceive,  William. 

Olendorf,  Christ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Ohlendorf,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Ohlendorf,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Ohlendorf,  August,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor 

Ohlendorf,  H.,  Jr.,  far.:  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Ostermier,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Orr,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Olendorf,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Orr,  James,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Olendorf,  John  T. 

Peipho,  C. 

Piephs,  Chris. 

Pease,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Peek.  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Palsen,  Andrew,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Plagge,  Fred,  farmer. 

Pittlekon,  Carl,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 


970 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Puloer,  J.  H.,  lab.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Porter,  Samuel,  ret.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Patchen,  Wm.,  carpenter ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Punier,  William. 

Pampe,  John. 

Paul,  Henry  P. 

Perry,  Joseph,  physician ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Paul,  Christopher,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Phillips,  J.  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Pipenbrink,  John  O.,far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Quackenbush,  Helen ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Quackenbush.  M.,  blacksmith ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Rust,  Chris.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Richards,  W. 

Rittman,  Henry. 

Rissman,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Richards,  Gottlieb,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Ross.  A. 

Rinke,  J.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Ritze,  H. 

Robinson,  J.  B.,  ret;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Ruhe,  Ludwig,  carpenter;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Richards,  C.  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Rump,  Henry,  farmer. 

Ranke,  T. 

Rign,  John  I.,  laborer;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Ruhe,  Wm.,  carpenter ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Rabinger,  L.,  blacksmith ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Rulls,  Joseph,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Rathge,  H. 

Rinne,  William,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Rohe,  John,  merchant;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Rupert,  C.,  wagon-maker;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Rekoe,  A.,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Rohe,  Henry. 

Rohe,  John  C.,  merchant ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Rohe,  Henry,  coal  dealer ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Read,  C.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Scrager,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Stege,  C.,  tailor ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Stephen,  Frank. 

Sunmore,  John,  ret. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Schmidt,  C.,  merchant ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Schever.  Conrad. 

Slade,  Henry. 

Suhausen,  Henry. 

Schever,  Christopher. 

Segers,  Conrad. 

Scheldt,  B.,  farmer. 

Scheldt,  James. 

Scheldt,  Michael,  farmer. 

Schaller,  Joseph. 

Scheldt,  M.,  Jr. 

Scheldt,  Antony. 

Smith,  Albert,  far. :  P.  O.  Crete. 

Scuter,  Vincent,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 

Schakucept,  Fred. 

Smith,  Fred,  far. :  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Schmidt,  W.,  far.:  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Strain,  W.  G.,  far.;  P.  O. Bloom. 

Sallitt,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Stenburg,  Stephen. 

Stock,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Smith,  G.  W. 

Smith,  Edw.,  farmer. 

Samuel,  Samuel. 

Seehausen,  D.,  blacksmith ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Severance,  Luther,  farmer. 


Selman,  A.,  lab.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Stolding,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Schroeder,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Peotone. 

Schaefline,  Win.,  carpenter;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Schriyer,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Schmidt,  Henry,  farmer. 

Spallender,  Henry. 

Striber,  Carl  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Spolleder,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Smith,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Seyerbrook,  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Scheiwe,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Smalley,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Schmore,  John  E.,  farmer. 

Schrick,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Schrader,Fred. 

Stude,  Fred. 

Sailer,  Conrad,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Safford,  A.  B.,  retired,  Crete. 

Schiva,  Carl. 

Schrage,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Schweer,  Chris,  laborer,  Crete. 

Schweer,  Chris,  Jr.,  carpenter,  Crete. 

Smalley,  Alonzo,  far. ;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Stoge,  Henry. 

Schmidt,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Seehausen,  Henry,  Jr. 

Schrader,  Carl,  laborer,  Crete. 

Sabin,  Elizabeth. 

Stoge,  Chris. 

Spencer,  Francis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Seyers,  Conrad,  far. 

Solsman,  C. 

Tretty,  Henry. 

Tucke,  Fred. 

Therbold,  Geo. 

Thissiens,  Henry. 

Tagmier,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Turnean,  Wrm. 

Tatge,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Tatge,  Conrad,  Joliet. 

Tonenberg,  Isaac. 

Tillotspn,  Lorenzo,  Constable,  Crete. 

Tegtinire,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Texka,  T. 

Tillotson,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Theemer,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Toll.  Oscar,  laborer,  Crete. 

Ulrig,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Valunett,  Wm.,  far.,  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Williamson,  John,  retired,  Crete. 

Wallace,  Robt,  retired,  Crete. 

Winte,  Mary. 

Walkerly,  Martin,  far.;  P.  O.  Endor. 

Wilm,  L. 

Winzenburg,  Henry. 

Wehman,  F. 

Wasman,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Wehmhoffer,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Waterman,  Carl,  mason,  Crete. 

Wehmhoffer,  J. 

Wilkening,  C..  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Wilkening,  Chris,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Wilkening.  John,  far.:  P.  O.  Crete. 

Wolf,  James. 

Willie,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Wehenhoffer,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Winter,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 


CHANNAHON  TOWNSHIP. 


971 


Wilder,  A.,  far.;  P.O.  Crete. 

Wehun,  Peter,  laborer,  Crete. 

Westenfeldt. 

Werbrook,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Windham,  J.C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Chicago. 

Williamson,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Crete. 

Witt,  Carl,  laborer,  Crete. 

Weishaar,  M. 

Writthin;iii. 


Williamson,  John.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 
"Wishaar,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 
Wilder,  G.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bloom. 
Wallaer,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Bloom. 
Wevderholt,  C.,  blacksmith,  Bloom. 
Young,  Michael. 
Young,  Mary  E. 
Zibson,  Fred. 
Zummells,  Philip. 


CHANNAHON   TOWNSHIP. 


Althouse,  Walter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Althouse,  Henry;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Anthony,  Chester,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Alexander,  George,  farmer;  P.  O.  Chan- 
nahon. 

Abell,  Edw.,  janitor ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Andraugh,  Pat,  J'ar ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Ardaugh,  Patrick ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Bedford,  Stephen,  mail-carrier;  P.  O. 
Channahon. 

Brackus.  Lucien,  farmer;  P.  O.  Chan- 
nahon. 

Beattie,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 

Bartdyte.  Nicholas,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Chan- 
nahon. 

Brown,  Peter. 

Bell,  Wm.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Bailey,  Daniel,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Bailey,  Caleb,  farmer;  f.  0.  Channahon. 

Brumick,  Alex.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Buell,  Geo.,  mechanic ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Bossenecker,  G.  P. 

Bedford,  Nelson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Buel,  N.  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Bates,  E.,  blacksmith ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Billsland,  D.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Burden,  Wm.,  laborer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Cooley,  M.,  laborer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Curtis,  C.,  laborer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Claughlin,  Michael,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Bird's 
Bridge. 

Cavender,  Wm.  H.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Bird's 
Bridge. 

Carpenter.  Allen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Cornwell,  James. 

Colleps,  .John. 

Conroy,  Pat,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Conroy,  John,  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Cornelius,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Conklin, Edw., laborer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Coyle,  Peter,  Mrs.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Davis,  Geo.  B..  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Davis,  R.  P.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Deline,  Moses,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Drew.  J.  C.  M..  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

DeWitt,  John  M,.  laborer;  P.  O.  Chan- 
nahon. 

Drew,  1).,  laborer:  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Effner,  E.  W.,  fanner:  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Effner,  John,  shoemaker;  P.  O.  Chan- 
nahon. 

Ellington,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 


Farnsworth,  G.  W".,  farmer;  P.  O.  Bird's 
Bridge. 

Fender,  Geo.  W.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Finney,  Barney,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Finney,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Finney,  John,  laborer ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Fowler,  Caleb,  merchant;  P.  O.  Chan- 
nahon. 

Finder,  Geo.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Fallen,  John,  farmer;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

Fryer,  J.  N.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Fitch,  Joseph,  physician  and  merchant ; 
P.  O.  Channahon. 

Gathaway,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Glidden,  Stephen,  far. :  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Gaskell,  D.  K,  farmer;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Geary,  Joseph,  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Corl,  Amos,  Mrs.f  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Grant,  James,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Grant,  John  A.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Goodjohn,  Thomas;  P.  0.  Elwood. 

Gulen,  Henry,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Gatheny,Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Gorman,  Timothy,  tailor;  P.  O.  Chan- 
nahon. 

Hess,  Joseph,  farmer;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

Hatfield,  Hannah,  farmer;  P.  O.  Bird's 
Bridge. 

Haley,  Richard,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Haley,  C.,  Jr.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Haley,  Michael,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Hart,  John,  laborer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Hart,  James,  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Herbert,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Herbert,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Hemphill,  D.  C.,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Henderson,  Delia ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Hicks,  Manley,  harness-maker;  P.  O. 
Channahon. 

•lesup,  Edw.,  farmer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Jessup,  John ;  P.  O.  Wilmington. 

Johnson,  Robert,  farmer;  P.  O.  Elwood. 

Ketchum,  Clespus,  far.;  P.  O.  Minooka. 

Knapp,  Jra  O., fanner;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Kite,  Geo.:  P.  O.  Chicago. 

Knap]).  Solon,  laborer;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

I.enicher,  Peter. 

Lysle,  Byron,  farmer ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 

Long,  M'ichael,  far :  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 

Lepold,  Wm..  farmer ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Lepold,  Ann ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 

Lewis,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 


972 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Lepold,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lepold,  Gustave,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Landrigan,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Ledyard,  J.  C.,  retired,  Channahon. 
Lowery,  Win.,  laborer,  Channahon. 
McCowan,  C.,  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
McClintock,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
McDonald,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Cannahon. 
McCune,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Monahan,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Miller,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Meran,  Owen.  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Miller,  R.  H.,  wagon-maker,  Channahon. 
Mills,  Oscar,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Manning,  Elisabeth,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channa- 
hon. 

Martin,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Martin,  J.  W.,  engineer  111.  Penit.,  Joliet. 
Mix,  Jos.,  shoemaker,  Channahon. 
Mprehouse,  Michael,  Mrs.,  Channahon. 
Nicholas,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Newman,  Ebenezer,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Noonan,  Dennis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Noonan,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Osgopd,  U.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
O'Brien,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
O'Brien,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Bird's  Bridge. 
Ogden,  M.  D.,  Chicago. 
OTBoyle,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Price,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Padley,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Porter,  Lamen,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Porter,  Lenon,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
<Juigley,  Andrew,  far.;  JP.  O.  Joliet. 


Randall,  J.  T..  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Raleigh,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Rowley,  Thos.,  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Riley,  Thos.,  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Sage',  E.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Sing,  Adam,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Schieck,  Thos.,  carpenter,  Minooka. 
Sweet,  Anson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Shall,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Stolder,  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Smith,  C.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Stickney,  Benj.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Staats,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Smith,  Jas.  H.,  mechanic,  Channahon. 
Street,  J.  R..  stove-maker,  Joliet. 
Sage,  E.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Try  on,  Geo.,  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Tait,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Thornburg,  Robt,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Thornburg,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Thornburg,  Newton,  far. ;  P.  O.  Elwood. 
Van  Alstine.  Isaac,  far. ;  P.'O.  Channahon. 
Venner,  Jas.,  groceryman,  Channahon. 
Van  Alstine,  Malinda,  Channahon. 
West,  Ephriam.  far.;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Worthy,  Wm.,  Chicago. 
Wentworth,  D.  S.,  Chicago. 
Willard,  R.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahoii. 
Whitmore,  A.,  far.;  P.  O. Channahon. 
Wagner,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  0.  Channahon. 
Watson,  Jesse,  butcher,  Channahon. 
Woodruff,  G.  C.,  carpenter,  Channahon. 
Willard,  C.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 
Yates,  R.  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Channahon. 


MANHATTAN    TOWNSHIP. 


Adams,  Elias  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Aaron,  P.  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Adler,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Amend,  Andrew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Barton,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brenton,  Joseph,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Barton,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Ballard,  Sarah;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bragman,  John. 

Bergan,  Martin,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Baker,  Clark,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Baker,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bronk,  Peter  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Boyland,  John,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
Beard,  Caroline,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brime,  K.  E.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brophy,  Edw.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Brady,  John. 

Buck,  George  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Billing,  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Barton,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Baily,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Bohrbach,  Adam,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Baker,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Barr,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Bronson,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hsirr,  Martha;  P.O.  Joliet. 


Barr,  Samuel,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Barr,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Braner,  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Broughman,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Pester,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Bassett,  Wm.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Coon,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Cockle,  Sarah ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Cale,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Cochle,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Cochle,  William,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Cain,  Thomas,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Clussen,  Barnett,  f ar. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Cain,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Cole,  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Campbell,  J.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Dennis,  W.  R.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Delafield,  R.  R.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Donley,  Matthew,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Erbe,  Leich,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
Eggers,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Eberhart,  Benedict,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Fahy,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Gillett,  James  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Greenwood,  Aaron,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Green,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Goorivan,  Stephen,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 


WASHINGTON  TOWNSHIP. 


973 


Gallagher,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gallagher,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Garney,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Geiss.  D.  K.,  far. ;  P.  ().  Joliet. 
Glade,  Augustus,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Geiss,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Glade,  August,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Gibbon,  George,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hartong,  J.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet, 
Hyne,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Howard,  W.  S.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Howard,  Tylle,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Haley,  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Hunt,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Harms,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Haley,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Jones,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Jaques,  E.  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Keer,  James. 

Kirk,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Keeler,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Keer,  William,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Knigler,  Elias,  far. ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 
Kail,  Belzert,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Kerstein,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O  Joliet. 
Kitzen,  Frank,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Kestal,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Leckner,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Lawler,  Michael,  far. ;  P.  p.  Joliet. 
Lutz,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lutz,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Lynn,  W.  D.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McHugh,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McParten,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McHugh,  Felix,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McNiff,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McFarland,  Hugh,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McHugh,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McGrath,  Byron,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McClure,  C.  I.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McClure,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
McPartten,  Charles ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
McDonald,  Andrew,  far. :  P.  O.  Spencer. 
McGrath,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Murphy,  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Murphy,  Barney,  far. ;  P.  ().  Joliet. 
Martin,  Edward,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Morse,  O.  F.,  Rev. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Morse,  A.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Miller,  Wm.,  Sr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Metzger,  Conrad,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Morse,  Anna,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Murphy,  James,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Olney,  Hiram,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 


Of undstein,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Ploegg,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Phelps,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Pepper,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Phillips,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Paul,  Geo.,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Paul,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Rudd,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Ring,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Reeves,  Jerome,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
I  Robinson,  Stephenson,  far.;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Ring,  A.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Ruson,  Jasper,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Randall,  Stephen,  far.;  P.  O.  New  Lenox. 
Rudd,  Charles,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Rudd,  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Reynolds,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Sprouls,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Stuffenburg,  Peter;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Smith,  John  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet, 
Seltzer,  H.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Storrs,  P.  G.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Schaff,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Smith,  J.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Schoonman,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Stebbins,  H.  B.,  far.;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Schneider,  John  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Spoul,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Styles,  Charles,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Smith,  James,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Shoop,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Stolf,  G.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Smith,  Nelson,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Shoop,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Smith,  W.  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Tucker,  O.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Thiel,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Thayer,  Noah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Tucker,  O.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Greengarden. 
Trask,  Elihu,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Utterman,  S.  W.,  far.;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Woodcock,  Gedden,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Weber,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Walch,  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Spencer. 
Williams,  O.  J.,  far.  and  P.  M. ;  P.  O.  Green- 
garden. 

Wallace,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Watkins,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Watkins.  Richard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Whitson,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Whitson,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Walen,  James,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 
Young,  Asa  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Joliet. 


WASHINGTON    TOWNSHIP. 


Ackerman,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Bahlman,  H.,  Jr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Baker,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 
Batterman,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Babcock,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Bahlman,  H.,  far.;  P.O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Barnes,  Bridget.  Beecher. 


Beseke,  C.,  grain  dealer,  Beerher. 
Besterfeld, Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Behrens,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Billfield,  Simon,  carpenter,  Beecher. 
Billtield,  Henry,  lumber  dealer,  Beecher. 
Block,  II..  grain  dealer.  Beecher. 
Bohl,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 


974 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Bockelman,  Chris,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Bock,  Conrad.  Beecher. 
Borgus,  Henry,  wagon-maker,  Beecher. 
Boiler.  Glaus,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Burns,  John,  laborer,  Beecher. 
Buckmeier,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Buhr,  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Bush,  Carl,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Busse,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Brederneier,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Brauns,  Fred. 
Brain,  T. 

Beronhard,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Brans,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Burns,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Glaus,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Closer,  A.,  wagon-maker,  Beecher. 
Danne,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Dierking,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Dohse,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Dyer,  Fred,  tailor.  Beecher. 
Engelking,  H.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Engelking,  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Ehlers,.H.  A.,  miller,  Beecher. 
Erison,"Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Faske,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Falke,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Fegtmeier,  Henry,  far. :  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Feme,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Fegtmeyer,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Fick,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Frahm,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Fiebelcorn,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O  Beecher. 
Fisch,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Figbager,  Henry. 

Frobose,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Gieser,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Goodenow,  G.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Crete. 
Graham,  J.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 
Geweke,  Fred.,  blacksmith,  Beecher. 
Grabe,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Grages,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Goetz,  Geo.,  wagon-mkr.,  Beecher. 
Gurrtz,  August,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Haste,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Hasanyayer,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Hasche,  Engle. 

Hahn,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Hartman,  J.  C ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Haseman,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Hassenian,  J.,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Hack,  John,  merchant.  Eagle  Lake. 
Hack,  C.,  merchant,  Beecher. 
Hangeman,  L.,  saloon,  Eagle  Lake. 
Hasse,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Harnish,  George,  harness-mkr.,  Beecher. 
Hehling,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Held,  Ernst,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Hanses,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Herman,  Louis,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher, 
Hartjen,  Herman. 

Haseman,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Hallman,  Lena.  far. ;  P.  (").  Beecher. 
Heller,  Albert,  far. :  P-  O.  Beecher. 
Heineze,  Chris.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Henze,  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Heider,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Heiden,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 


Hippe,  R.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Hintz,  H.  H.,  lumber  dealer,  Beecher. 

Holz,  Chas., far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Houck,  Geo.,  shoemaker,  Beecher. 

Hunter,  Ludwig,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher.  • 

Hunter,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Joers,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Jessen,  Louis,  blacksmith,  Beecher. 

Kaka,  Henry. 

Kahle,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Kapmeier,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Katz,  Fred,  Sr.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Katz,  Fred,  Beecher. 

Katze,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Klemme,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Klemme,  August,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Knabe,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Kolling,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Kouka,  F.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Koelling,  Chris.,  far.;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 

Kruth,  John,  blacksmith,  Beecher. 

Kraske,  Christ.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Krug,  Bernard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Kraft,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Kruse,  Wm.,  mason,  Beecher. 

Kukermeister,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Kurtz,  Philip,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Lagreder,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Lange,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O-  Beecher. 

Layes,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Leenhausen,  H.,  shoemaker,  Beecher. 

Letts,  Henry,  Eagle  Lake. 

Lobstein,  Samuel,  mer.,  Beecher. 

Long,  Chas.,  laborer,  Beecher. 

Lutterman,  Caleb,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Luterman.  Chris.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Lucke,  Fred.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 

Lucke,  F.  F.,  shoemaker,  Eagle  Lake. 

Lyons,  D.  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Lyons,  Henry  8.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Lyon,  Caleb,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Matthias,  Fred.  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Mast,  John  O.,  lab.,  Beecher. 

Most,  Conrad,  lab.,  Beecher. 

Mann,  Franz,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Mathias,  Henry,  merchant.  Beecher. 

Matz,  Henry,  lab.,  Beecher. 

Meyer,  Christian,  far. ;  Eagle  Lake. 

Meyer,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Meire,  John  T.,  far. ;  Eagle  Lake. 

Mier,  S.,  physician,  Beecher. 

Miller,  Carl. 

Miller,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Miller,  T.  L.,  far. :  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Moller,  H.,  lab.,  Beecher. 

Musman,  H.,  mason,  Beecher. 

Nolan,  John,  far.;  J'.  O.  Beecher. 

Neidert,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Oldenburg,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

O'Neil,  O.  A.,  lab.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Olenburg,  Henry,  far. :  P.  O.  Beecher. 

0*Leary, Jolm,lab.;  P-  <>.  Beecher. 

Ostermeier,  Conr;nl.  f';ir,:  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Oklenkamp,  D.,  far. ;  P.  < ).  Beecher. 

Ochlerking,  T.,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 

Oberhaide,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
I  Pauls,  Peter,  far. :  P.  < ).  Beecher. 
|  Paulson,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 


WILL  TOWNSHIP. 


975 


Pecht,  Wm.,  merchant;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Pecht,  R.,  merchant ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Peter,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O. Beecher. 
Pegal,  John,  tinner ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Piepenbrink,  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Plagge,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Pralle,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Rippe,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Ristenpart,  H.,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Reichus,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Rippe,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Rose,  Samuel,  merchant;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Rose,  Alex.,  teacher ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Rode,  Henry,  lab. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Rode,  John. 

Ruden,  C.,  physician ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Ruge,  Carl,  far. ;  P.  0.  Beecher. 
Rust,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Russe,  Ernst,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Rubrecht,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Sass,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Sollitt,  John,  far.;  P.O.  Beecher. 
Sastram,  Charles,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Schmith,  Fred,  saloon ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Schmith,  Christian. 
.Schmidt, Conrad;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Schilling,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Schweppe,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Schwertfeger,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Schmedeke,  Henry,  farm.;  P.  O. Beecher. 
Scheiwe,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Schweer,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O,  Eagle  Lake. 
Scheiwe,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle)Lake. 
Schrenk,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Seitz,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Seahaltz,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Scharnhorst,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Senholtz,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Sheiver,  Philip,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Shulz,  Wm.,  painter;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Shultz,  W.,  painter ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Silk,  Carl,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Smith,  Fred,  saloon ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Smith,  Edw.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 
Sollin,  J.  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Spolder,  Franz,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 


Struve,  Wm.,  lumber  merchant;  P.  O. 

Beecher. 

Stenhoff,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Steadt,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Stratman,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Sterisloff,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Strain,  Wm.,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Tatge,  John  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Tatgmeier,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Thurman,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Thede,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Tetmeier,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Tramm,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Thnrman,  H.,  shoemaker;   P.  O.  Eagle 

Lake. 

Volandt,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Vorkawfer,  Julius;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Maxwell,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Valmer,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Vashage,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Yon  Alvern,    Henry,  carpenter;   P.  O. 

Beecher. 
Wehmhoefer,  Henry,  blacksmith;  P.  O. 

Eagle  Lake. 

Wendeling,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Weirzenburg,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wherman,  Fred,  far.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Witt,  Charles;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wilke,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Wedeking,  Chris.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Beecher. 
Wills,  Chris.,  lab.;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Wille,  Christ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wilkenning,  C..  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Wilkenning,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Wilis,  Philip. 

Wille,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Willis,  Christian,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Woennick,  August,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wetterhausen,  L.,  saloon ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wolter,  Heinrich,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wolter,Wilhelm,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wolters,  Heinrich,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Wood,  railroad  agent;  P  O.  Beecher. 
Zarn,  Chris.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Eagle  Lake. 
Zirzow,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 


WILL    TOWNSHIP. 


Adams,  Henry,  far. 
Adams,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Albers,  L.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Backman,  Henry,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Baxter,  Benj.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Baird,  W.  Z.  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Baird,  H.  H..far.;  P.O.  Peotone. 
Bain,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Bain,  A.,  far.;  P.O.  Peotone. 
Bain,  Robert,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Barber,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Board,  D.  J.,  far.,  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Brunes,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Brockman,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Bockelmann.  W.,  far. ;  P.  0.  Beecher. 


Budda,  Bernard,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Bunty.  B.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Bradfgom,  Henry,  Chicago. 

Buckmire,  Christian,  far. ;  P.  O  Beecher. 

Carr,  R.  B.,  far. 

Caldenburg,  Henerick. 

Centrill,  O.  C. 

Centrill,  A.,  far. 

Chamberlain,  W.,  far.,  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Chamberlain,  Elijah,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Clonswig,  Carl  C.  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 

Constable,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Courthouner,  John,  Peotone. 

Cowan,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 

Colling,  Gottlieb,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 


976 


REAL  ESTATE  OWNERS  OF  WILL  COUNTY: 


Craig,  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 
Craig,  Kobt.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 
Danby.  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Goodenow. 
Uarl,  Fred,  Goodenow. 
Dernby,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Dopp,  John,  far.;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Essons,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Erichson,  Paul,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Esson,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Essons,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O:  Peotone. 
Egan,  Patrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Fells,  Christian,  Peotoue. 
Genter,  Carl,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Gorman,  .John,  far.;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Godfrey,  Henry  A.,  Mrs.,  Monee. 
Gorman,  A.,  far.;  P.  O. Peotone. 
Gridley,  J.  M.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Grace,  August,  Peotone. 
Grant,  Kobt.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Grant,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Grant,  Peter,  far.;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Greloff,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Hasseman,  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Harm,  E.  E.,  Peotone. 
Hasselmayer,  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Henrich,  F.,  far. ;  Peotone. 
Hendricks,  Henry,  Peotone. 
Hood,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Holden,  C.  C.  P.,  Chicago. 
Hudson,  Wm.,  Chicago. 
Johnson,  Peter,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Kesler,  Ludwig,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Kenbigen,  Carl. 
Killenbeck,  John,  far. 
Kopman,  Henry,  far. 
Rolling,  Conrad,  far. ;  Beecher. 
Krohan,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Krohn,  Chris,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Lawson,  Jacob,  Chicago. 
Lankon,  Chas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Lewis,  B.  M.,  Chicago. 
Lilley,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Lilley,  A.  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Lilley,  F.  P.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Loetz,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Ludwig,  Thos.,  far. ;  P.  CvPeotone. 
Lutz,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Luke,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Maxwell,  Jas.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Mainwood,  Ezekiel,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Matthews,  Conrad,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Master,  Thos.,  Peotone. 
Mastholm,  Jas.  S.,  Peotone. 
McMahon,  Pat,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotoni. 
Meyer,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 


Nahl,  Fred,  far. 

Neill,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Norman,  Robert,  far. 
Ormstedt,  O.  T.,  far. 
O'Neil,  Carl  J.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Patterick,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Patterson,  E.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Peterson,  K.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Peterson,  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Powis,  John.  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Powell,  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Rolling,  Arthur,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Rulendorf,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Roscoe,  David,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Rice,  J.  I.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Sayre,  Geo.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Salarious,  Elias,  far. ;  P.,O.  Monee. 
Schnuviss,  H.  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Schultz,  Joachim,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Schroeder,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Schrivus,  Abraham,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Schillsted,  Ole,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Schaffner,  Jacob,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Schultz,  Joseph,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Smith,  C.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Smith,  Christ,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Smith,  Geo.  W.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Smith,  Charles,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Smith,  J.  C. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Smith,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Smith,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Sollitt,  JohnB..  far.;  P.O. Peotone. 
Sodoman,  John,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Steinberger,  Fred  H.,  far.';  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Starbuck,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Stathast,  Ernst,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Steinberger,  F.  H.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Stade,  Louis,  far, ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Tait,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Thomas,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Thinsfield,  Deidrick,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Theinfeildt,  D.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Beecher. 
Tucker,  Thomas,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 
Vinson,  J.  J.,  far.;  P.  O,  Peotone. 
Warnick,  Reuben,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Warnake,  Wm.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Westgate,  C.  A.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Welch.  Richard,  far.;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Weiker,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Weifert,  W.  N.,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Westenfeldt,  Henry,  far. ;  P.  O.  Peotone. 
Williams,  David ;  P.  O.  Chicago. 
Williams,  James;  P.  O.  Chicago. 
Woodard,  Wm.,  far. :  P.  O.  Monee. 
Zirzow,  Fred,  far. ;  P.  O.  Monee. 


BUSINESS    DIRECTORY. 


JOLIET. 

Andrews,  Alex.,  Dealer  in  Staple 
and  Fancy  Groceries,  Flour  and  Feed, 
Cigars  and  Tobacco,  corner  Cass  street 
and  Eastern  avenue. 

Akin,  E.  H.,  Dealer  in  Keal  Estate, 
Aiken's  Block,  65  Jefferson  street. 

Adler,  P.  P.,  Dealer  in  Live  Stock, 
Wholesale  and  Retail  Meat  Market,  No. 
17  Chicago  street. 

Abbott,  George,  Proprietor  New 
England  Restaurant,  corner  Jefferson 
and  Chicago  streets. 

Arnold  &  Bowen,  Dealers  in  Gro- 
ceries and  Provisions,  and  Proprietors 
of  the  Joliet  Steam  Coffee  and  Spice 
Mills,  and  Wholesale  Dealers  in  Coffees 
and  Spices  of  every  description.  Cof- 
fees roasted  for  the  trade*  Office  and 
mills,  Nos.  27,  29  and  32  Bluff  street. 
All  Goods  delivered  from  the  wagon. 

Adler,  Jacob,  Dealer  in  Cattle, 
Horses,  Hogs,  Sheep  and  Stock  of  all 
kinds.  Office  at  Adler's  Market,  Chi- 
cago street. 

Alfrick,  P.,  General  Blacksmith.  All 
kinds  of  Blacksmithing  done  at  short 
notice,  and  satisfaction  guaranteed. 
Horse-shoeing  a  specialty.  71  North 
Bluff  street. 

Adelman,    Peter,    Dealer    in    Dry 

Goods,  Notions,  Groceries,  Glassware, 
etc.  etc.,  22  Jefferson  street. 


Burden,  A.,  Merchant  Tailor,  No.  19 
Ottawa  street,  opposite  Central  Presby- 
terian Church. 

Braun,  JOS.,  Proprietor  of  Apollo 
Hall,  No.  103  Jefferson  street. 

Bush,  J.  E.,  Dealer  in  Grain.  Office 
and  warehouse  on  Des  Planes  street. 

Barber,  Randall  &  Puller,  At- 
torneys at  Law,  Centennial  Block,  op- 
posite Court  House.  To  facilitate  trials 
of  real  estate  cases,  collections,  and 
other  business,  this  firm  keeps  a  com- 
plete set  of  books  of  Abstracts  of  Title 
for  this  county,  which  also  enables  them 
to  place  loans  of  money  on  undoubted 
security. 

Burke,  Thomas,  Livery,  Feed  and 
Sale  Stable.  Best  of  livery  teams  sup- 
plied upon  liberal  terms,  at  short  notice. 
Bluff  street,  south  oi  Exchange  street, 

Byrnes,  Christy,  Dealer  in  all  kinds 
of  Staple  and  Fancy  Groceries,  Flour 
and  Feed,  No.  104  South  Chicago 
street.  Goods  delivered  to  any  part  of 
the  city. 

Brown,  J.  H.  &  CO.,  corner  Jefferson 
and  Joliet  streets,  Dealers  in  Drugs, 
Medicines,  Chemicals,  Fine  Toilet  Soaps, 
Hair  and  Tooth  Brushes,  Perfumery 
and  Fancy  Articles,  Trusses,  Braces, 
and  Druggists'  Sundries  generally, 
Paints,  Oils,  Glass,  Putty  and  Dye 
Stuffs ;  Physicians'  prescriptions  care- 
fully compounded ;  Pure  Wines  and 


978 


BUSINESS  DIRECTORY. 


Liquors  for  medicinal  purposes  ;  Cigars, 
Blank-Books,  Paper,  Pens,  Pencils,  etc. 

Bruce,  James,  &  CO.,  Dealers  in  all 
kinds  of  Stone.  Quarries  between 
Rolling-Mill  and  Penitentiary. 

Campbell,  M.  B.,  Dr.  Homeopathic 
Physician  and  Surgeon.  Office,  79  Jef- 
ferson street.  Office  hours  8  to  11 
o'clock  A.  M.,  and  2  to  4  P.  M. 

Carpenter  &  Marsh,  Proprietors 

of  Union  Transfer  Elevator.  Dealers 
in  Grain  and  Feed,  opposite  C.  &.  A. 
passenger  depot. 

Culver,  J.  J.,  Shipper  of  Live-Stock, 
and  Wholesale  and  Retail  Dealer  in  all 
kinds  of  Fresh  and  Salt  Meats,  Dried 
Beef,  Hams,  Tongues,  Sausages,  Lard, 
Fish,  Poultry,  Game,  etc.,  Bluff  Street 
Market. 

Chittenden,   Northup   &   Co.,  ' 

Dealers  in  Dry  Goods  and  Notions,  cor- 
ner Jefferson  and  Chicago  streets. 

Casey,  John  R.,  M.  D  ,  Physician  j 
and  Surgeon.  Office  and  residence  cor-  j 
ner  of  Scott  and  Van  Buren  streets. 

Chamberlain,  S.  S.,  &  Son,  Fur   | 

niture,  92  State  street,  Lockport,  and 
24  Chicago  street,. Joliet. 

Curtiss,  Romaine  J.,M.  D.,  Phy- 
sician and  Surgeon.  Office  and  resi- 
dence No.  18  Broadway. 

CagWin,  A.,  &  Co.,  Dealers  in  Grain. 
Office,  Center  street,  near  Ward's  plan- 
ing-mill. 

Cope,  H.  TV\ ,  Manufacturer  of  and  Deal-  j 
er  in  Horse-Collars  of  every  description, 
No.  59  N.   Bluff  street.     All    collars 
made  to  order  guaranteed  to  give  satis- 
faction. 

Carson  BrOS.,  Dealers  in  all  kinds  of 
Staple  and  Fancy  Groceries,  No.  8  Ex- 
change street,  West  Side.  Goods  deliv- 
ered to  any  part  of  the  city. 


Caswell,  Wallace  B.,  Proprietor  St. 

Nicholas  Hotel.  First  class  accommo- 
dations; charges  moderate;  near  the 
business  part  of  the  city,  opposite  C., 
A.  &  St.  L.  R.  R.  depot. 

Daly,  Eugene,  Undertaker  and  Deal- 
er in  Furniture,  No.  5  Exchange  street. 

Doolittle,  R.,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
Conveyancer  and  agent  for  the  payment 
of  taxes,  69  Jefferson  street. 

DoUgall,  Wm.,  M.  D.,  Physician 
and  Surgeon,  63  Jefferson  street.  Of- 
fice hours,  8  A.  M".  to  12  M.,  and  3  P. 
M.  to  6  P.  M. 

Devine,  Prank,  Contractor  and 
Builder.  Shop  and  office,  corner  South 
Ottawa  and  De  Kalb  streets,  opposite 
6th  Ward  Schoolhouse.  Carpenter 
work  in  all  its  branches  performed  in  a 
satisfactory  manner ;  plans  and  specifi- 
cations furnished  ;  jobbing  promptly  at- 
tended to. 

ElwOOd,  James  G.,  Real  Estate 
Dealer,  etc.  Office,  over  post  office. 

Eder,  H.,  Lager  Beer  Brewer,  corner 
Summit  and  Bridge  streets. 

First   National  Bank  of  Joliet, 

Geo.  Woodruff,  President;  F.  W. 
Woodruff,  Cashier.  Special  attention 
given  to  collections;  loans  negotiated. 

FOX,  O.,  Dealer  in  fine  Ready-Made 
Clothing,  Hats,  Caps,  Ladies'  Cloaks 
Furs,  Furnishing  Goods,  Trunks,  etc. 
A  specialty  in  fine  custom-made  suits. 
Guarantee  a  perfect  fit.  Red  front, 
next  to  First  National  Bank. 

Fithian  &  Avery,  Attorneys  and 
Counselors.  Office,  Centennial  Block. 

Fahrner,  D.,  Dr.,  No.  14  N.  Centre 

street. 

Fay,  W.  D.,  Photograph  Artist.  New 
Gallery,  94  Jefferson  street.  Work 
promptly  finished.  Satisfaction  guar- 
anteed. 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


981 


Grinton,  Wm.,  Jr.,  Real   Estate 

and  Loans,  No.  — -,  Chicago  street. 

Gamsey  &  Knox,  Lawyers.  Good- 
speed's  Building,  corner  Jefferson  and 
Chicago  streets. 

Hagar  &  Flanders,  Attorneys  at 

Law.     Office  in  the  Court  House. 

Haviland,    Frank,   Proprietor  of 

Livery,  Sale  and  Boarding  Stable,  cor- 
ner Joliet  and  Van  Buren  streets. 

Haley  &  O'Donnell,  Attorneys  at 
Law,  and  Solicitors  in  Chancery.  Office 
in  Walsh's  Building,  corner  Joliet  and 
Jefferson  streets. 

Heise,  A.  W.,  Physician  and  Surgeon. 
Office  and  residence,  corner  Ottawa  and 
Webster  streets. 

Houck  &  Brown,  Tanners  and  Cur- 
riers, Wholesale  and  Retail  Dealers  in 
Sole  Leather  and  Shoe  Findings  of  all 
descriptions.  Cash  paid  for  Hides,  Tal- 
low and  Pelts.  No.  5  Joliet  street. 

House,  George  S.,  Attorney  at  Law. 

Hand,  M.  F.,  Dr.,  Dentist. 

Hosmer,  G.  H.,  M.  D.,  Physician 
and  Surgeon.  Office,  18  Jefferson  street. 

Hayen,  Henry  H.,  Blacksmith.  All 

kinds  of  blacksmithing  done  at  short 
notice  ;  also  Manufacturer  of  Wagons 
and  Buggies,  Marble-workers  and  Stone- 
masons' Tools,  91  N.  Bluff  street. 

IngallS,  L.  E.,  Real  Estate  Agent. 
Real  Estate  bought  and  sold ;  Money 
loaned  on  real  estate,  No.  73  Jefferson 
street. 

Joliet  Morning  News,  Published 

every  morning,  Sundays  excepted,  Nel- 
son, Ferriss  &  Co.,  Proprietors.  Sub- 
scription price  1  cent  per  copy,  or  25 
cents  per  month,  sent  to  any  address, 
postage  paid. 

Joliet  Sun,  Sun  Printing  Company,  33 

(\      and    35     Chicago    street.     Daily   Sun 

'    $5.00  a  year,  in  advance  ;  Weekly  Sun 


$1.50  a  year  in  advance.  All  kinds  of 
Book  and  Job  Printing  at  very  low  prices. 

Joliet  Collection  Agency,  Office 

in  the  Centennial  Block,  Jefferson  street. 
Collections  promptly  attended  to.  E. 
Wilcox,  Justice  of  the  Peace.  Refer 
by  permission  to  First  National  Bank. 
Joliet  Soap  Works,  Chas.  W.  Cleg- 
horn,  Proprietor.  Laundry  Soap  a 
specialty.  Office  and  Factory  north  of 
Hyde's  Mill. 

Joliet  Stone  Company,  Quarry- 
men  and  Dealers  in  every  variety  of 
Joliet  Stone,  and  General  Stone  Con- 
tractors. Quarries  on  South  Richards 
street,  also  on  Cass  street ;  office,  Duck- 
er's  Block.  Special  attention  given  to 
the  execution  of  plans,  and  -  all  orders 
for  Cut,  Rubbed  and  sawed  Stone. 

Joliet  City  Bank,  of  F.  L.  Cagwiu 

&  Sons. 

Joliet  Record,  The,  Published  every 
Friday,  by  D.  C.  Henderson.  Office 
corner  of  Jefferson  and  Ottawa  streets. 
Terms,  $1.50  per  year  in  advance.  The 
Jobbing  Department  is  supplied  witu 
the  most  improved  machinery,  and  mod- 
ern types  and  fixtures,  for  doing  print- 
ing expeditiously  and  in  the  most  satis- 
factory manner.  Orders  by  mail  prompt- 
ly filled  at  lowest  figures.  The  legal 
profession  will  find  our  facilities  com- 
plete for  printing  Abstracts,  Briefs,  etc. 
Legal  Blanks  in  common  use  kept  on 
hand,  and  others  furnished  on  short 
notice. 

Joliet  Quarries.    Wm.  Davidson  & 

Bro.,  Quarrymen  and  Dealers  in  Dimen- 
sion, Flagging  and  Rubble  Stone.  Or- 
ders for  Cut  Stone  solicited  and 
promptly  filled  by  canal  or  railroad. 
Office  at  quarries,  one  mile  south  of 
Joliet. 

Kelly,  Thomas   J.,  Jefferson  street, 

Dealer  in  Foreign  and  Domestic  Dry 

20 


982 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


Goods,  Notions  and  Fancy  Goods. 
Ladies'  Corsets  a  specialty ;  Sole  Agent 
for  the  Alista  Perfumed  Corset.  Prices 
always  the  lowest ;  call  and  examine. 

King  &  Bishop  (Established  in 
1866),  Dealers  in  all  kinds  of  Lumber, 
Lath,  Shingles,  Cedar  Posts,  Building 
Paper  and  Carpet  Felt.  Yards  on  Des 
Planes  street,  formerly  occupied  by 
Hardy  &  BJanchard. 

KnOWlton,  E,  R.,  Dealer  in  Grain, 
Hard  and  Soft  Coal,  and  Wood.  Coal- 
yard  at  Elevator,  south  end  of  Eastern 
avenue.  Parties  desiring  to  order  coal 
or  wood  can  call  at  Hobbs  &  Knowl ton's; 
at  the  Will  Co.  Bank,  and  talk  through 
the  telephone,  thus  saving  the  trouble 
of  coming  to  the  yard. 

Krause,  Julius,  Watchmaker  and 
Jeweler,  Dealer  in  Watches,  Clocks  > 
Musical  Instruments,  Silverware,  Spec- 
tacles, etc.,  No.  43  Jefferson  Street. 
Repairing  done  in  the  best  manner. 

Keissling,  Frederick,  Butcher  and 

Stock  Dealer  in  all  kinds  of  Fresh  and 
Salt  and  Smoked  Meats  constantly  on 
hand ;  also  Manufacturer  of  all  kinds  of 
Sausage  in  the  market.  Live-Stock 
bought  and  sold.  Market  and  office, 
North  Bluff  street. 

Keyes,  John,  Proprietor  Cut-Off 
Drug  Store.  Dealer  in  Pure  Drugs, 
Medicines,  Perfumery,  Toliet  and  Fancy 
Articles,  Choice  Wines  and  Liquors  for 
medicinal  use,  and  all  Druggists'  Sun- 
dries, Fine  Imported  and  Domestic 
Cigars.  Physicians'  Perscriptions  care- 
fully prepared.  Store  on  Washington 
street,  opposite  Bush's  elevator. 

Lyford,  H.  M.,  Dealer  in  Clothing 
and  Gents'  Furnishing  Goods,  Hats, 
Caps  and  Furs,  corner  Jefferson  and 
Ottawa  streets. 

Lambert,  John,  Wholesale  and  Re- 
tail Dealer  in  Hard  and  Soft  Coal; 


Wilkesbarre,  Lump  Lehigh,  Blossburg, 
Brier  Hill,  Indiana  Block  and  Wilming- 
ton Coal,  supplied  to  manufacturers  and 
dealers  to  all  points  by  rail  or  canal. 
Office  oorner  Jefferson  street  and  Chi- 
cago &  Alton  R.  R. 

Mason,  E.  B.,  Real  Estate  and  Loans, 
63  Jefferson  street,  up  stairs. 

Millspaugh,  I.  T.,  Police  Magistrate 
and  Justice  of  the  Peace.  Collections 
promptly  attended  to. 

Monroe,  G.,  &  Son,  Wholesale  Deal- 
ers and  Shippers  of  Produce,  and  Gro- 
cers, Opera  House  Block. 

Mack,  U.,  Manufacturer  of  and  Whole- 
sale and  Retail  Dealer  in  Boots  and 
Shoes,  33  Jefferson  street. 

Munn  &  Munn,  Attorneys  at  Lawr 
69  Jefferson  street. 

Munroe,  George   J.,  Attorney  at 

Law  and  Financial  Agent,  Akin  Block, 
No.  65  Jefferson  street.  Collections 
made  throughout  the  west.  Money 
loaned  on  approved  security.  Notary 
Public. 

Mason  &  Plants,  Lumber  Dealers, 
and  Manufacturers  of  Sash,  Doors  and 
Blinds,  Frames,  Moldings,  Brackets, 
etc.,  etc.;  Proprietors  of  Stone  City 
Planing-Mill,  office  and  yard,  corner  of 
Des  Planes  and  Cass  Streets. 

Mansion  House,  one  block  north  of 
Court  House.  Strictly  Temperance 
House ;  prices  to  suit  the  tunes  ;  street 
cars  pass  its  doors  to  and  from  the  Fair 
Grounds,  Penitentiary,  etc.  J.  C.  Dill- 
man,  Proprietor. 

Munch,  F.,  Dealer  in  Hard  and  Soft 
Coal,  Wood  and  Coke.  Office,  corner 
Scott  and  Jefferson  streets,  near  Chi- 
cago &  Alton  freight  depot. 

Murphy  Brothers,  Livery  and 
Feed  Stable,  No.  31  South  Joliet  street. 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


983 


Mackin,  P.,  Dealer  in  Groceries,  Pro- 
visions, Flour  and  Produce,  No.  33  S. 
Chicago  street.  Highest  price  paid  for 
Country  Produce. 

McParlin,  James  H.,  Butcher  and 

Stock  Dealer;  all  kinds  of  Stock 
bought  and  sold.  Office  and  Market, 
South  Chicago  street,  corner  of  Wallace 
street. 

NobeS,  Isaac,  Proprietor  of  Oak  Hill 
Quarry.  Dimension,  Bridge,  Rubble 
and  Flagging  Stone  of  the  best  quality, 
shipped  by  rail  or  canal  to  all  parts  of 
the  Northwest.  Quarry  three-fourths 
of  a  mile  north  of  the  Illinois  State 
Penitentiary. 

OsgOOd,  A.  A.,  Real  Estate  and  Loans, 
54  Jefferson  street. 

Olin,  Benjamin,  Attorney  at  Law. 
Office  in  Masonic  Block,  northwest  corner 
Jefferson  and  Ottawa  streets. 

Ogden,  C.  J.  &  M.  B.,  DPS.,  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons.  Office  and  resi- 
dence, 35  South  Ottawa  street,  Joliet, 
and  in  Meyer's  Block,  Lockport. 

Patterson  &  Longley,  Wholesale 

and  Retail  Dealers  in  Hard  and  Soft 
Coal.  Office  and  yard,  northwest  cor- 
ner Scott  and  Washington  streets. 

People's  Loan  and  Homestead 

Association,  The,  63  Jefferson 
street,  up  stairs.  Capital  Stock  5,000 
shares  of  $100  each,  issuing  in  Quar- 
terly Series.  Officers — Chas.  Pettigrew' 
President;  E.  H.  Akin,  Vice  President; 
E.  B.  Mason,  Secretary;  F.  W.  Plant, 
Treasurer. 

Paige,  J.  D.,  Proprietor  Paige's  Bot- 
tling House,  and  Manufacturer  of  all 
kinds  of  Mineral  Waters,  61  North 
Bluff  street. 

Patterson,  James   G.,  &   Son, 

News  Dealers  and  Dealers  in  Choice 
Family  Groceries,  Provisions,  etc.,  No. 
23  Jefferson  street. 


Porter,  E.,  Proprietor  Eagle  Brewery, 
Manufacturer  of  Porter's  Joliet  Ale 
and  Lager  Beer. 

Pasold,  P.,  Manufacturer  and  Dealer 
in  Boots  and  Shoes.  A  complete  Stock 
of  Ladies',  Misses',  Childrens'  and  In- 
fants' Fine  Shoes. 

Parks,  G.  D.  A.,  Attorney  at  Law. 
Rapple,  F.  J.,  Shipper  of  Live  Stock, 
and  Proprietor  of  Joliet  Street  Market. 

Rapple,  J.  H.,  Wholesale  and  Retail 
Dealer  in  Fresh  and  Salt  Meats,  Lard, 

•  Poultry,  etc.,  No.  3  N.  Bluff  street. 

Rei  Chilian,  J.  &  J.,  Dealers  in  all 
kinds  of  Fresh  and  Salt  Meats,  No.  4, 
Chicago  street. 

Richards,  Charles,  M.  D.,  Physi- 
cian and  Surgeon.  Office,  corner  Jeff- 
erson and  Chicago  streets. 

Robertson  House,  Proprietor,  cor- 
ner Washington  and  Chicago  streets. 
First-class  in  every  particular. 

RobeSSOn,  Prank,  Dealer  in  Gro- 
ceries, 36  Joliet  street. 

Rosenheim,  D.,  Wholesale  and  Re- 
tail Dealer  in  Gents'  Clothing,  Furnish- 
ing Goods,  Hats,  Caps,  Trunks,  Va- 
lises, etc.,  No.  49  Jefferson  street. 

Stsehle,  Charles  W.,  Bookbinder 
and  Picture  Framer,  No.  45  North 
Bluff  street. 

Steel,  W.  A.,  Proprietor  of  the  Joliet 
Stone  Quarries.  Dealer  in  the  Best 
Quality  of  Dimension,  Flagging,  Rub- 
ble and  every  kind  of  Building  and 
Monumental  Stone. 

Sehring,  Fred.,  Proprietor  of  Co- 
lumbia Brewery,  corner  Bridge  and 
Summit  streets. 

Schweizer,  C.,  Dealer  in  California 
Wines  and  Brandies;  also  Kentucky 
Whiskies,  No.  10  Chicago  street. 

Stephen,  Joseph,  Manufacturer  and 
Dealer  in  Harness,  Saddles,  Whips, 


BUSINESS  DIRECTORY. 


Bridles,  Blankets,  etc.     Wholesale  and 
Retail.     37  Jefferson  street. 

Scheldt  &  Smith,  Contractors  and 
Manufacturers  of  Q-alvanized  Iron  Cor- 
nices, Window  and   Door   Trimmings, 
Brackets  and  Moldings,  Chimney   Caps 
and    Finials,   Urns    and    Sign  Blocks, 
Pressed    and    Spun    Ornaments,     Tin 
Roofing.     Gas     and     Steam      Fitting 
promptly     attended     to.      Dealers     in 
Hardware,    Stoves,    House-Furnishing  ! 
Goods,  Sheet  Metal  Architectural  Work,  '• 
Dormer  Windows,  Guttering  and  Spout-  : 
ing,  corner  Bluff  and  Exchange  streets.  ; 

Stevens,   W.   W.,   Attorney  at  Law,  | 
Notary  Public  and  Member  U.  S.  Law 
Association.     Collections  a  specialty. 

Snapp  &  Snapp,  Attorneys  at  Law. 
Office  over  Will  County  National  Bank. 

Salter,  Geo.  B.,  Dentist,  57  Jefferson 
street.  Residence,  22  Eastern  avenue. 

Smith,   P.    G.,    Manufacturer   of    all 
kinds  of  Top  and  Open  Buggies,  Car- 
riages, Platform   Work,  and  the  Cele-  i 
brated   Concord  Side-Spring;    also  the  | 
New  Empire  Cross-Spring  Buggy.    All  • 
kinds    of     Repairing    and     Trimming 
neatly  done.     All  work  warranted  equal 
to   the   best   of   Eastern  manufacture. 
Van  Buren   street,  opposite  Episcopal 
Church. 

Stewart,  E.  H.,  Dentist. 

St.  Julian,  J.  I.,  10  Jefferson  street, 
Manufacturer  of  and  Dealer  in  Harness, 
Saddles,  Collars,  Bridles,  Whips,  Hal- 
ters, Curry- Combs,  etc.  Repairing 
done  neatly  and  cheaply.  All  work 
Warranted.  Give  me  a  call.  Also 
Dealer  in  Uncle  Sam's  Harness  Oil. 

Scheldt,  J.,  &  Co.,  Manufacturers  of 
and  Dealers  in  Pure  Candies,  and  Deal- 
ers in  Fruits,  Nuts,  etc.  Palace  Candy 
Factory,  No.  9  Jefferson  street.  Oys- 
ters and  Ice  Cream  in  their  season. 


SchoetteS,  Henry,  Dealer  in  Cigars, 
Wines  and  Liquors,  159  South  Chicago 
street. 

Solar  Stove  Works,  Established  in 
1871  ;  employ  forty  hands,  turning  out 
annually  3,000  Cook  Stoves,  40,000 
pieces  of  Hollow-ware,  consuming  3,000 
tons  of  the  best  pig-iron.  Leading 
brands — Commonwealth,  Interior,  Co- 
lumbia, Fidelity  and  Geo.  Washington. 

Schroeder,   Ferdinand   W., 

Wholesale  and  Retail  Dealer  in  Grocer- 
ies, Flour  and  Feed,  Stationery  and 
General  Merchandise,  Paints,  Oils  and 
Window  Glass;  also  Proprietor  of 
Schroeder 's  strictly  Pure  White  Lead  ; 
$250  will  be  paid  in  gold  for  every 
ounce  of  adulteration  found.  Cash 
paid  for  Country  Produce.  Corner  of 
Eastern  avenue  and  Washington  street. 

Sclliek,  Henry,  Fine  Imported  and 
Domestic  Cigars.  Business  rooms  on 
Washington  street,  between  Eastern 
avenue  and  Richards  street. 

Stuffier,  Fred.  X.,  Dealer  in  Hard- 
ware, Stoves,  Tinware,  Cutlery,  House 
Furnishing  Goods,  etc.;  also  Manufact- 
urer of  Tin,  Copper  and  Sheet  Iron 
Ware,  No.  158  Jefferson  street,  one- 
half  block  east  of  St.  Nicholas  Hotel. 

The  Greenback  News,  Published 

every  Friday.  Devoted  wholly  to  news, 
labor  and  currency  reform.  -  Nelson, 
Ferriss  &  Co.,  Proprietors.  Sent  to 
any  address  postpaid,  at  50  cents  per 
year. 

The   Joliet    Phoenix,    Published 

every  Thursday  morning.  Terms,  Si 
a  year  in  advance.  J.  S.  McDonald, 
Proprietor.  Office,  No.  35  Jefferson 
street.  Job  Printing  neatly  executed. 

The  Joliet   Republican,  James 

Goodspeed,  Proprietor ;  John  C.  Lang, 
Editor;  J.  C.  Porter,  Local  Editor. 
Every  variety  of  Job  Printing. 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


985 


The    Adam     Manufacturing 

Co.,  General  Manufacturers ;  Manu- 
facturers of  the  Best  Steel-Barbed  and 
Steel  Cable  Fence  Wire,  under  patents 
controlled  by  us.  Office  and  Works, 
corner  of  Water  and  Wallace  streets. 

The  Wochenblatt,  for  North  Illi- 
nois, G.  Schulte,  Editor  and  Proprietor. 
Circulation  2,000.  Established  Nov. 
15,  1877. 

Vance,  G.  L.,  Manufacturer  and  Dealer 
in  Furniture,  Children's  Carriages, 
Brackets,  Moldings,  Picture  Frames, 
Mottoes,  etc.  Large  Stock,  Low  Prices. 
Opera  House. 

Woerndle,  Francis,  Dr.,  German 

Apothecary  and  Drug  Store,  No.  8  N. 
Bluff  street.  A  complete  Stock  of 
Drugs,  Medicines,  Chemicals,  Pure 
Wines  for  medicinal  uses,  Perfumery 
and  Fancy  Goods ;  a  large  assortment 
of  Trusses,  Supporters,  etc.,  and  every- 
thing pertaining  to  a  first-class  Drug 
Store. 

Whittier,  J.,  &  CO.,  Dealers  in 
Stone  and  Lime.  Office,  131  N.  Bluff 
street.  Flagging,  Dimension,  Rubble 
and  best  Blue  Stone,  Fresh  Lime  daily, 
from  Paige's  Patent  Lime  Kiln,  estab- 
lished in  1856,  put  on  car  or  boat  in 
barrels  or  bulk,  at  very  low  figures  and 
warranted. 

Woodruff,  G.  H.t  Druggist.  Dealer 
in  Drugs,  Medicines,  Chemicals,  Toilet 
and  Fancy  Articles,  Patent  Medicines, 
Brushes,  Soapi,  Perfumery,  Books  and 
Stationery.  Prescriptions  carefully 
compounded. 

Westmann,  O.R.,  Portrait  and  Land- 
scape Photographer,  Dealer  in  Frames, 
Albums,  Views,  etc.,  49  Jefferson  street. 
Artistic  Photography  in  all  Branches, 
and  Copying  Old  Pictures  a  specialty. 

Will  County  Marble  Works, 

C.  C.  Olney,  Manufacturer  and  Dealer 


in  Marble  and  Granite  Monuments, 
Tombstones,  etc.,  corner  of  Jefferson 
street  and  Eastern  avenue. 

Will  County  National  Bank. 

C.  Knowlton,  President;  H.  C.  Knowl- 
ton,  Cashier.  Capital,  61 00,000.  Par- 
ticular attention  given  to  collections. 

Werner,  Charles,  Dealer  in  the 
Best  Quality  of  Blue  Stone,  of  any 
size  and  dimension ;  also  Flagging, 
Rough  or  Cut,  and  Rubbles.  Quarries, 
South  Joliet,  West  Side,  on  C.,  R.  I. 
&  P.  R.  R.  Also  Proprietor  of  Wer- 
ner's Hall. 

Werner,  Wm.,  Dealer  in  the  Best 
Quality  of  White  and  Blue  Stone,  of 
any  size  and  dimension,  Flagging, 
Rough  or  Cut,  and  Rubble.  Contractor 
of  all  kinds  of  Masonry.  Quarry, 
West  Side,  near  Upper  Bridge.  P.  0. 
Box  1324. 

Young,  Henry,  Dealer  in  Smoking 
and  Chewing  Tobacco,  and  Smokers' 
Articles  generally,  No.  91  Jefferson 
Street. 

Young,  H.  J.,  Dealer  in  Watches, 
Clocks  and  Jewelry.  Watches,  Clocks 
and  Jewelry  repaired  and  warranted, 
No.  91  Jefferson  street. 

Zarley  &  CO.,  Proprietors  of  the 
Joliet  Signal.  Established  in  1842. 
Every  variety  of  Book  and  Job  Print- 
ing at  lowest  rates. 

LOCKPORT. 

Bradley,  William,  M.  D.,  Phy- 
sician ;  office  at  his  store,  77  State  st. 
Office  hours,  8  to  12  A.  M.,  and  1  to  5 
and  7  to  9  P.  M. 

BaCOn,  C.  H.,  M.  D.,  Physician  and 
Surgeon ;  office  in  Bacon  &  Co.'s  Drug 
Store,  64  State  st.  ;  residence  one  door 
north  of  St.  John's  Church. 

Boyer,  J.  A.,  Proprietor  Lemont  Stone 
Quarries.  All  kinds  of  Building,  Di- 


986 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


mension,  Flagging  and  Rubble  Stone  on 
hand  at  all  times.  Office  at  Lemont. 

Bradley,  W.,    Dr.,    Druggist,   77 

State  street.  A  full  line  of  Drugs, 
Paints,  Oils,  Stationery  and  Fancy 
Goods,  Glass,  Putty,  Fine  Toilet  Soaps, 
Perfumery,  Dye  Woods,  Dye  Stuffs, 
Sponges,  Brushes,  and  all  other  articles 
kept  by  druggists  generally.  Phyiscians' 
prescriptions  carefully  compounded. 
Wines  and  Liquors  for  Medicinal  Pur- 
poses. 

Bacon,  C.  H.,  &  Co.,  Central  Drug 
Store,  64  State  street.  Dealers  in  Pure 
Drugs,  Medicines,  Chemicals,  Toilet  and 
Fancy  Articles,  Trusses,  Supporters, 
Shoulder-Braces,  Fine  Soaps,  Brushes  of 
all  Kinds,  Combs,  Stationery,  Pocket- 
books,  Pocket  Cutlery,  Fine  Razors, 
Glass,  Putty,  Paints,  Oils,  Varnish  and 
Dye  Stuffs,  Lamps,  Chimneys,  Wall 
Paper,  Window  Curtains,  Pure  Wines 
for  Medicinal  Use.  German  and  En- 
glish prescriptions  carefully  compounded. 

Clark,  B.  B.,  Dealer  in  Dry  Goods, 
Men's  and  Boys'  Ready-made  Clothing, 
Boots  and  Shoes,  Hats  and  Caps.  Store 
on  Ninth  street,  five  doors  east  of  State. 

Chamberlain,  S.  S.,  Dealer  in  all 
kinds  of  Furniture.  Latest  Styles  of 
Parlor  Suites,  Chamber  Sets.  Dining 
Room  and  Kitchen  Furniture  always  on 
hand.  Undertaking  a  Specialty.  Office 
in  Store,  92  State  street. 

Chamberlin,  H.  W.,  Blacksmith- 
ing  and  Wagon-Making.  All  work,  re- 
pairing, etc.,  done  on  short  notice. 
Shop  on  Ninth  street. 

Daggett,  J.  F.,  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon ;  forty  years  practice  ;  will  here- 
after devote  his  entire  attention  to  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  Office  in  Dr. 
Bradley's  Drug  Store,  77  State  street. 

Emery,  H.  W.,  Dealer  in  Lumber, 
Sash,  Doors,  Lime,  Plasterer's  Hair, 


Nails,  Building  Paper,  Lath  and  Shin- 
gles. Office  i  west  end  Canal  Bridge, 
Ninth  street. 

GeddeS,  John,  Proprietor  City  Meat 
Market.  The  oldest  established  Butcher 
in  Lockport.  Fresh  and  Salt  Meats 
always  on  hand.  Personal  attention 
given  to  the  business.  Shop  on  State 
street. 

Gaylord,  Geo.,  &  Co.,  Retail  Dry 

Goods,  75  State  street.  Large  assort- 
ment of  Alpacas,  Cashmeres,  Plain  and 
Figured  Worsted  Goods,  Hamburg 
Edgings  aud  Embroideries,  Corsets,  Sus- 
penders, Ruchings.  Linen  Collars  and 
Cuffs,  Ladies'  Gents'  and  Children's 
Hosiery,  Sun  Umbrellas  and  Parasols, 
Lace  Curtains,  etc.,  etc. 

Hartwell,  P.  N.,  Architect  and 
Builder.  Plans  and  Specifications  fur- 
nished on  application  ;  estimates  made 
and  contracts  taken.  Shop  on  Tenth 
street,  one  door  west  of  State. 

Johnson,  M.  P.,  &  CO.,  City  Mar- 
ket, State  street.  All  kinds  of  Fresh 
and  Salt  Meats,  Poultry,  Fresh  Fish, 
Oysters,  Compressed  Beef,  Spiced  Beef, 
etc. ;  also  all  kinds  of  Fruits  in  Season, 
Cabbage,  Bananas,  Cauliflowers,  Toma- 
toes, Melons,  etc. 

Jacobus,  F.  H.,  Proprietor  Lockport 
Meat  Market.  A  full  supply  of  Fresh 
and  Salt  Meats  on  hand  at  all  times  ; 
Vegetables  of  all  kinds  in  their  season. 
Children  will  be  dealt  with  as  fairly  as 
grown  persons.  Shop  on  State  street. 

Johnson,  OttO,  Dealer  in  and  manu- 
facturer of  Boots  and  Shoes.  A  fine 
assortment  of  Ladies'  and  Misses'  shoes 
in  all  sizes  on  hand  ;  also  Boots  and 
Shoes  of  my  own  manufacture  for  Men 
and  Boys,  which  I  fully  warrant  the  best 
of  stock  used.  Shop  on  State  street 
between  Ninth  and  Tenth. 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


987 


Lynd,  Geo.  M.,  Dealer  in  Staple  and 
Fancy  Groceries.  The  best  grades  of 
Coffees,  Teas,  Sugars,  Sirups;  Canned 
Fruits  always  on  hand ;  Queensware, 
Glassware,  Cigars  and  Tobacco.  On 
Ninth  street,  four  doors  east  of  State. 

Lynn,  Geo.,  Manufacturer  of  Boots 
and  Shoes.  All  work  warranted  and  a 
neat  fit  guaranteed  ;  best  of  stock  used  ; 
charges  moderate.  Call  and  see  me  on 
State  street,  south  of  Tenth. 

Miller,  John  H.,  Tonsorial  Artist; 
Shaving,  Shampooing,  Hair  Trimming 
in  the  Latest  Styles  ;  Hair  and  Whis- 
kers Dyed  ;  Children's  Hair  Trimming 
a  Specialty.  Parlors  on  State  street. 

Myers,  Wm.  S.,  Attorney  and 
Counselor  at  Law.  All  legal  business 
intrusted  to  my  care  will  receive  prompt 
attention;  collections  of  every  kind 
made  at  reasonable  rates  and  remitted 
promptly;  exchange  on  Chicago  for 
sale  at  all  times  in  sums  to  suit. 

Norton,  Hiram,  Proprietor  of  Lock- 
port  Carriage  Factory.  Carriages  and 
Buggies  built  and  repaired  ;  none  but 
experienced  workmen  employed  and 
nothing  but  the  best  materials  used ; 
all  work  warranted.  Shops  on  State 
street,  south  of  Tenth. 

Prindle,  Wm.  W.,  Wagon  and 
Carriage  Maker.  Wagons  and  Car- 
riages built  and  repaired;  all  work 
promptly  attended  to.  Shop  on  Ninth 
street  east  of  State. 

Rafferty,  N.  S.,  City  Grocer  and 
Confectioner.  All  kinds  of  Family  Gro- 
ceries on  hand.  Fruits  and  Confection- 
ery a  Specialty.  The  only  Ice  Cream 
Parlors  in  town.  Also  Justice  of  the 
Peace ;  does  Collecting  and  Convey- 
ancing. Office  in  Store  on  State  street. 

Schoop,  Frederick,  M.  D.,  Phy- 
sician and  Surgeon  (Deutscher  Arzt). 


Office  corner  of  State  and  Tenth  streets, 
over  G.  B.  Norton's  store.  Office  hours, 
8  to  10  A.  M.,  2  to  4  and  7  to  9  P.  M. 

StOWe,  P.  P.,  corner  State  and  Ninth 
streets,  Dealer  in  Groceries,  ^Provisions, 
Crockery,  Yankee  Notions,  etc.  Finest 
brands  of  Cigars  and  Chewing  Tobaccos. 
Also  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Collect- 
ing Agent. 

StOWe,  Fred  W.,  Dealers  in  News- 
papers, Periodicals,  School-Books,  No- 
tions and  Stationery.  Orders  for  books, 
etc.,  filled  at  publishers'  prices.  Agent 
for  Worst's  sheet  music. 

Scheibe,  Julius,  Dealer  in  Boots 
and  Shoes.  A  good  assortment  of  La- 
dies', Misses'  and  Children's  Fine  Shoes, 
all  sizes  and  lasts,  always  on  hand. 
Men's  and  Boys'  K,ip  and  Calf  Boots 
and  Shoes.  Custom  Work  and  Repair- 
ing neatly  and  promptly  attended  to. 
On  Ninth  street  two  doors  east  of  State. 


,  M.,  Proprietor  of  the  Boss 
Grocery,  corner  Ninth  and  State  streets. 
Sells  Staple  and  Fancy  Groceries,  Crock- 
ery, Pure  Cider  Vinegar,  Minnesota 
Spring  Wheat  Flour,  Vienna  Bread, 
Compressed  Yeast,  etc.,  for  cash  only. 
Highest  market  price  paid  for  country 
produce. 

Youker,  AdolphuS,  Dealer  in 
Agricultural  and  Farming  Implements 
of  all  kinds  ;  Wier  Sulky  Plow,  Furst 
&  Bradley's  16-inch  Riding  Plow, 
Scotch  Harrows,  Keystone  and  Star 
Planters,  McCormick  Reapers  and 
Mowers,  Vibrator  Threshers,  Pumps  of 
all  descriptions,  Barbed  Fence  Wire, 
Buggies  and  Schuttler  Wagons. 

WILMINGTON. 

Allen,  E.,  Proprietor  of  Wilmington 
Butter  and  Cheese  Factory.  This  is 
one  of  the  best  factories  in  the  North- 


988 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


west,  having  a  capacity  for  50,000  fbs. 
of  milk  per  day ;  the  product  for  the 
past  year  has  been  about  75,000  ft>s,  of 
butter,  and  365,000  Ibs.  of  cheese,  and 
at  an  average  price  of  about  32  cents 
for  butter  and  9  cents  for  cheese. 

Allen  &  Sons,  Dealers  in  Lumber, 
Lath,  Shingles,  Posts,  Sash,  Doors, 
Blinds,  Moldings,  etc.  Agent  for  Bar- 
rett &  Arnold's  Celebrated  Sheeting 
Felt.  Office  corner  Water  and  Canal 
streets. 

Bovee  &  Wilson,  Dealers  in  Hard 
and  Soft  Coal.  Lackawanna,  Lehigh, 
Braceville  and  Braidwood  Coal — best 
in  the  market ;  also  Piedmont  and  Cum- 
berland Coal  for  blacksmiths,  supplied  to 
consumers  at  the  lowest  prices.  Office 
at  D.  F.  Wilson's  Lumber-Yard,  corner 
Water  and  Canal  streets. 

Baker,  L.  A.,  General  Fire  and  Life 
Insurance  and  Collection  Agency.  The 
oldest  Insurance  Agency  in  the  city. 
Represents  the  following  reliable  Insur- 
ance Companies :  Insurance  Company 
of  North  America,  Philadelphia ;  Phos- 
nix,  Hartford ;  Home,  New  York ; 
.SJjtna,  Hartford ;  Underwriters,  New 
York ;  North  British  &  Mercantile, 
Imperial  and  Northern,  Connecticut 
Mutual  Life,  Hartford.  Assets  of  the 
above  companies  over  8114,000,000. 
Also  Agent  for  passage  tickets  Cunard 
Line. 

Banyard,  V.,  Dealer  in  Family  Gro- 
ceries, Confectioneries,  Fancy  Goods, 
Wooden  and  Willow  Ware,  Tobacco, 
Cigars,  etc.,  94  Water  street.  We 
guarantee  satisfaction  with  all  our  goods 
at  lowest  prices. 

Bogart  &  Monteith,  Center  Meat 
Market,  No.  71  Water  street. 

Conley,  Edward   D.,  Editor  and 

Publisher  of  the  Wilmington  Advocate. 
Official  paper  of  the  city,  and  devoted  to 


local  and  general  news.  The  Advocate 
is  one  of  the  solid  institutions  of  the 
place,  and  has  a  good  circulation  in  the 
Wilmington  coal-fields.  Its  job  depart- 
ment is  well  supplied  with  material  for 
executing  job-work  of  all  kinds.  Office, 
80  Water  street. 

Castle,  H.  C.,  Breeder  and  Shipper  of 
Poland-China  Hogs.  Post  office  address, 
Wilmington,  Will  Co..  111.  These  hogs 
are  fine  bone  but  large  size,  broad  backs, 
deep  sides,  heavy  jowl,  hams  and  shoul- 
ders, combining  more  eminently  than 
any  other,  the  excellences/of  both  large 
and  small  breeds.  Stoqk  sent  to  all 
parts  by  express  or  freight.  Pure-bred 
stock  always  on  hand.  Orders  for  pigs 
promptly  filled.  Residence,  Rockville, 
111. 

Wilmington  Phoenix,  The  Duck 

&  Hall.  Editors.  The  Largest,  Cheap- 
est and  Best  Newspaper  published  in 
Will  Co.  Only  $1.00  per  year,  in  ad- 
vance. Call  at  No.  70  Water  street,  and 
get  a  specimen  copy. 

Donahoe,  E.,  Dealer  in  Groceries, 
Provisions,  Crockery,  Glassware,  Wood- 
en and  Willow  Ware,  &c.  No.  90 
Water  street. 

Evans,  James,  Livery,  Sale  and 
Boarding  Stables,  Water  street,  foot  of 
Jefferson.  First-class  equipments  fur- 
nished at  short  notice.  Weddings  and 
funerals  attended  to  promptly. 

First  National  Bank  of  Wil- 
mington, No.  177,  organized  in 
1863.  Capital  $100,000.  Surplus 
$67,000.  John  W.  Stewart,  President ; 
John  Whitten,  Vice  President ;  James 
Whitten,  Cashier. 

Fisher,  J.  C.,  &  CO.,  Wilmington 
Mills,  Manufacturers  of  and  Dealers  in 
Flour,  Mill  Feed,  etc.  Terms  cash. 
Orders  promptly  filled. 


BUSINESS   DIRECTORY. 


989 


,  R.  H.,  Livery  and  Sale 
Stables ;  corner  Main  and  Baltimore 
streets. 

Henderson  &  Stewart,  Dealers  in 

Dry  Goods,  Boots,  Shoes,  Hats,  Caps, 
Clothing,  Crockery  and  Queensware. 
92  Water  street. 

Howland,  H.  P.,  Dealer  in  Furni- 
ture, Carpets  and  a  General  Line  of 
House  Furnishing  Goods.  Undertak- 
ing promptly  attended  to. 

Holmes,  John,  Contractor  and 
Builder. 

Johnson  &  ROWS,  Contractors  and 
Builders.  Molding  made  a  specialty, 
and  a  full  assortment  always  on  hand. 
Plans  and  specifications  for  buildings 
furnished  at  short  notice.  All  work 
done  promptly  and  at  reasonable  figures. 
Farm  work  receives  our  personal  atten- 
tion, and  those  contemplating  improve- 
ments of  any  kind  are  cordially  invited 
to  call  at  the  planing-mill. 

Kahler,  T.  W.,  Grocery  and  Bakery. 
Dealer  in  Staple  and  Fancy  Groceries 
Queensware,  Glassware,  Provisions,  etc. 
69  Water  street. 

Louer,  S.,  Dealer  in  Clothing,  Hats, 
Caps,  Gents'  Furnishing  Goods,  Cloths, 
Trunks,  valises,  etc.  No.  88  Water 
street. 

Lyon,  A.  J.,  New  Restaurant,  on  Jack- 
son street.  Warm  meals  at  all  hours. 

Merrill,  John  W.,  Attorney  at  Law. 

Mclntyre  &  Co.,  White  Cloud  Mills, 
Dealers  in  Flour,  Mill  Feed,  Bran, 
Shorts,  etc.  Orders  promptly  filled. 

MclntOSh,  T.  SM  Dealer  in  Paints, 
Oils,  Varnish,  Glass,  Brushes,  Window 
Shades,  Wall  Paper,  Pictures  and 
Frames.  House.  Sign,  Coach  and  Orna- 
mental Painter.  Also  Agent  for  Tas- 
cott's  Celebrated  Enamel  Paint.  Office 
on  Jackson  street. 


McQueen  &  Morris,  Grocery  and 
Bakery.  Dealers  in  Staple  and  Fancy 
Groceries,  Crockery,  Queensware,  Glass 
ware,  Wood  and  Willow  Ware,  Cigars 
and  Tobacco.  61  Water  street. 

Mclntosh,  William,  Proprietor  of 

Farm  Wagon  Works.  Manufactures 
all  kinds  of  Farm  Wagons.  All  work 
warranted.  Mr.  Mclntosh  has  been 
engaged  in  the  manufacturing  business 
since  1856.  Office  and  shop  on  Water 
street  one  door  north  of  the  Stewart 
House. 

O'Heron,  D.  E.,  &  Co.,  Dealers  in 
Staple  and  Fancy  Groceries,  Provisions, 
Confectionery,  Cigars,  Tobacco,  etc. 
59  Water  street. 

Phoenix  Foundry  and  Ma- 
chine-Shops, M.  H.  Hilburn,  Pro- 
prietor. Repairing  of  all  kinds.  Cast- 
ings furnished  to  order. 

Ransom,  John  P.,  Justice  of  the 

Peace  and  Insurance  Agent.  Repre- 
sents the  following  reliable  Insurance 
Companies  :  Phoenix,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ; 
Fire  Association,  Philadelphia,  Penn. ; 
Melville  Fire  and  Marine,  Melville,  N. 
Y. ;  Royal  Canadian,  Montreal,  Can. ; 
British  America,  Toronto,  Can. ;  Agri- 
cultural, Watertown,  N.  Y. ;  Rockford 
and  Forest  City,  Rockford,  111.,  and 
American,  Chicago. 

Ray  &  Thompson,  Dealers  in  Grain, 
Coal,  Live  and  Dressed  Hogs.  Highest 
Cash  Price  paid  for  Dressed  Hogs, 
Corn,  Oats,  etc.,  etc.  Near  C.  &  A. 
Depot. 

Rauworth,   Samuel,   City    Meat 

Market,  Water  street. 

Small,  John  D.,  Dealer  in  Dry  Goods, 
Hats,  Caps.  Clothing,  Staple  and  Fancy 
Groceries,  Crockery,  Queensware,  Glass- 
ware, etc.  Highest  market  price  paid 
for  Butter  and  Eggs. 


990 


BUSINESS    DIRECTORY. 


Small,  E.  D.,  &  CO.,  Dealers  in 
Lumber,  Lath,  Sash,  Shingles,  Doors,  Ce- 
ment, Salt,  Moldings,  Battings,  etc.  The 
best  Coal  offered  in  this  market — mined 
at  the  Hunter  shaft — is  sold  at  their 
Wilmington  yard. 

Shields,  Francis,  Dealer  in  Staple 
and  Fancy  Groceries,  Provisions  and 
Queensware.  No.  113  Water  street. 

Silliman,  S.,  Dealer  in  Boots  and 
Shoes,  Hats,  Caps,  etc.,  etc.  83  Water 
street. 

Stewart  House,  A.  Towle,  Proprietor. 

Trott  &  StinSOn,  Homeopathic  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons.  Office  and  resi- 
dence opposite  City  Hall,  Main  street. 

Thompson,  D.  C.,  Manufacturer  of 
Carriages  and  Farm  Wagons.  All  work 
warranted.  Repairing  promptly  attend- 
ed to. 

Wright,  A.,  Stone  and  Brick  Mason. 
Wright,  A.  D.,  Dealer  in   Staple  and 

Fancy  Dry  Goods.     Corner  Water  and 

Jackson  streets. 

Willard,  E.  R,  M.  D.,  Physician 
and  Surgeon.  Residence,  second  house 
east  of  the  Methodist  Church.  Office 
at  his  Drug  Store,  No.  65  Water  street, 
where  our  patrons  will  receive  careful 
and  prompt  attention. 

Willard,  E.  W.,  Druggist.  Books 
and  Stationery. 

Willard,  Chas.  M.,  Dealer  in  Canned 
Goods  and  Confections,  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Fruits,  etc.,  Tobacco,  Cigars, 
Pipes  and  Pipe  Repairs. 

BRAIDWOOD. 

Barr,  Peter,  Drug  Store,  Welsh  Build- 
ing, Main  street,  where  may  be  found 
Drugs,  Medicines  and  Chemicals,  Per- 
fumery, School-Books  and  Stationery, 
Wines  and  Liquors  for  medical  purposes. 
Physicians'  prescriptions  rarefully  com- 


pounded, and  all  orders  correctly  filled, 
day  or  night. 

Burt,  Robert,  Saloon.  Choice  Wines 
and  Liquors.  Billiard  Room  ;  two  tables. 

Bamrick,   John,   Saloon.     Choice 

Wines  and  Liquors. 

Braidwood,  James,  Proprietor  of 

the  Braidwood  Coal-Mines. 
Barr,  Peter,  Saloon.     Choice   Wines 
and  Liquors. 

Backus,  John  B.,  M.  D. 

Barker,  I.,  &CO.,  Foundry.  Coal- 
Mine  Supplies,  Coal-Carts  and  Stove- 
Castings. 

BLOOD,  H.  W.,  Proprietor  of  Soda 
and  Mineral  Water  Bottling  House,  and 
Manufacturer  of  all  kinds  of  Soda  and 
Mineral  Waters.  Bottled  Lager  Beer, 
Ale,  Porter,  Cider,  Spruce  Beer. 

Braidwood  Hotel,  John  Broadbent, 
Proprietor.  Accommodations  first-class 
at  reasonable  prices. 

Conner  Brothers,  Meat  Market.  A 

complete  assortment  of  choice  Beef,  Mut- 
ton, Pork,  Veal,  Fresh  Fish,  Tripe  and 
Salt,  Smoked  and  Dried  Meat,  etc.,  etc. 
Highest  prices  paid  for  good  beef  cattle. 

Carlisle,  William,  Proprietor  of  the 

Braidwood  Bakery. 

Donnelly,  Joseph,  Groceries,  Flour, 
and  Feed  Store.  Staple  and  Fancy 
Groceries,  consisting  of  Provisions, 
Crockery,  Dried  and  Canned  Fruits, 
Fish,  Salt  and  Dried,  together  with 
everything  kept  in  a  first-class  Grocery 
Store. 

Goodrich,   L.    H ,   Dealer    in    Dry 

Goods,  Groceries  and  Boots  aud  Shoes. 
A  complete  Stock  of  the  above-named 
goods,  consisting  in  part  of  Ladies'  Dress 
Goods,  Hosiery,  Gloves,  Staple  and 
Fancy  Groceries,  Boots  and  Shoes.  A 
full  assortment  of  Men's,  Women's  and 
Children's  Boots  and  Shoes. 


BUSINESS  DIRECTORY. 


991 


Hennebry,  Thomas,    Boots  and 

Shoes.  Men's,  Women's  and  Chil- 
dren's Boots  and  Shoes  in  the  latest 
styles  constantly  on  hand.  Custom 
Work  and  Repairing  done  to  order. 

Hennebry,    Thomas,   Saloon. 

Choice  Wines  and  Liquors. 

Hynd,  J.  &  J.,  Dealers  in  Confec- 
tienery,  Cigars,  School-Books,  Stationery, 
Sheet  Music,  Violins  and  Guitars, 
Strings,  etc.  Ice  Cream  and  Oysters 
served  in  season. 

Huston,  Robert,  Dealer  in  Dry 
Goods  and  Notions.  A  complete  Stock 
of  the  above-named  goods  constantly  on 
hand,  consisting  of  Ladies'  Dress  Goods, 
Hosiery,  Gloves,  Ginghams,  Prints, 
Denims  and  Ticks,  Fancy  Notions,  and 
everything  usually  found  in  a  well- 
fitted-up  Dry  Goods  Stock. 

Hall,  E.,  Superintendent  of  the  Chicago 
and  Wilmington  Coal-Mines. 

Holmes  &  Cady,  Dealers  in  General 
Hardware,  Iron,  Steel,  Tin,  Sheet-Iron, 
Mining  Tools  and  Agricultural  Imple- 
ments. Agents  for  the  American  Pow- 
der Co.,  Braidwood,  111. 

James,  Robert,  General  Agency. 
Does  a  General  Insurance  Business, 
Fire  and  Life.  He  represents  the  best 
Companies  in  the  country  and  writes 
policies  at  the  lowest  rates.  He  is  also 
Notary  Public  and  negotiates  money 
loans  on  real  estate  security  at  low  rates 
of  interest.  Parties  having  business  in 
any  of  these  lines,  will  find  it  to  their 
interest  to  consult  him. 

Kain  Brothers,  Furniture.  Any- 
thing in  the  Furniture  Line  may  be 
found  in  our  Store.  We  have  one  of 
the  most  complete  stocks  of  Furniture 
in  Braidwood.  We  also  keep  a  first- 
class  Livery  Stable,  where  good  rigs  may 
be  had  at  low  rates.  We  will  officiate 
at  funerals.  Charges  moderate. 


LeCaron,  H.,  Dr.,  Drug  Store,  where 
may  be  found  Drugs,  Medicines  and 
Chemicals,  all  the  new  Patent  Medicines, 
Perfumery,  Pure  Wines  and  Liquors 
for  Medical  Purposes.  Physicians' 
prescriptions  carefully  compounded  and 
all  orders  correctly  filled,  day  or  night. 

Morris,  David,  Dry  Goods  and  No- 
tions. A  complete  Stock  of  Dry  Goods 
and  Notions  constantly  on  hand.  La- 
dies' Dress  Goods,  Hosiery,  Gloves 
Prints,  Ginghams  and  Fancy  Notions 
and  everything  found  in  a  well-fitted-up 
Dry  Goods  Store. 

Maltby,  William,  Superintendent  of 
the  Eureka  Coal-Mines. 

Marsh,  I.  R.,  Boots  and  Shoes.  A  full 
assortment  of  Men's,  Women's  and 
Children's  Boots  and  Shoes.  Call  and 
examine  my  goods  before  purchasing. 

Mooney,   William,    Attorney   at 

Law. 

O'Donnell,  Cornelius,  Boots  and 

Shoes.  A  full  assortment  of  Men's, 
Women's  and  Children's  Boots  and 
Shoes.  All  goods  marked  down  to  the 
Lowest  Prices.  Call  and  examine. 

O'Donnell,     Cornelius,    Saloon. 

Choice  Wines  and  Liquors. 

Peltier,  M.  P.,  Flour  and  Feed  Store. 
Keeps  feed  of  all  kinds  and  will  sell 
cheap.  Has  a  stock  of  Boots  and 
Shoes,  Hats  and  Caps.  Those  who  are 
in  need  of  any  of  the  above  stock  should 
not  fail  to  give  M.  F.  Peltier  a  call. 

Patterson,  A.  &  J.  W.,  Furniture 
and  Livery  Stable.  Anything  in  the 
Furniture  Line  may  be  found  in  our 
Store.  Those  who  need  anything,  in  the 
Furniture  Line  can  be  suited  without 
leaving  Braidwood.  Our  Motto,  "  Live 
and  Let  Live."  In  connection  with  our 
Furniture,  we  keep  a  first-class  Livery 
Stable,  where  good  rigs  may  be  had  at 


992 


BUSINESS  DIRECTORY. 


low  rates.      Also   officiate   at   funerals  j  Koepke,    Christian,   Proprietor  of 


with  a  good  hearse.     Charges  moderate. 

Parkinson,  H.  H.,  Publisher  of  the 
Daily  Republican  circulation  500 ; 
$3.00  per  annum,  in  advance.  Have 
the  latest  styles  of  type  made  and  are 
prepared  to  do  all  kinds  of  Job  Printing 
at  short  notice. 

Rankin,  Duncan,  Groceries.  Staple 
and  Fancy  Groceries,  consisting  of  Pro- 
visions, Crockery,  Wood  and  Willow 
Ware,  Flour,  Fish,  Salt  and  Dried,  and 
Canned  Fruits,  together  with  everything 
pertaining  to  a  well-appointed  store. 

Randeck,  Joseph.,  Wine  and  Beer 
Saloon.  Choice  Wines  and  Liquors. 

Wakefield,  Edwin,  Maj.,  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace. 

Ward,  J.  H.,  Fire  Insurance  Agency. 
The  following  reliable  Companies  are 
represented :  German  American,  of 
New  York ;  Continental,  of  New  York  ; 
Home,  Columbus,  Ohio ;  Trenton,  New 
York,  etc.,  etc.  All  honest  losses  paid 
on  the  spot.  Rates  as  low  as  first-class 
indemnity  will  permit.  Office  at  res- 
idence at  Old  Braidwood. 

Walker,  John,  Saloon  and  Boarding 
Stable.  Headquarters  for  farmers.  The 
best  of  accommodation  at  low  prices. 

Young  &  Steen,  Dealers  in  Confec- 
tionery, Cigars,  School-Books  and  Sta- 
tionery. 

MONEE. 

Bohlander,  J.  P.,  Mrs.,  Proprietress 

of  American  House  and  Livery. 

Daniels,  C.  K.,  Traveling  Agent  for 
American  Bible  Society. 

Easter  brooks,  Laban,  Conveyancer 

and  Real  Estate  Agent. 

Jordans,  GustaV,  Sample  and  Bill- 
iard Rooms. 


German  House.  Sample  Rooms  and 
Livery. 

Miller,  Simon,  General  Merchant 
and  Grain  Dealer.  Store  and  elevator 
near  R.  R.  depot. 

PragSt,  ChaS.,  General  Hardware 
Merchant. 

Rohmeier  &  Boden,  Confectioners 

and  Tobacconists. 

Schoenstedt,  Christian,Manufact- 

urer  of  Carriages,  Farm  and  Road 
Wagons,  and  General  Dealer  in  all  kinds 
of  Farm  Machinery.  Factory  near 
steam-mill. 

Schiffer,  August,  General  Merchant 
and  Grain  Dealer.  Elevators  and  store 
near  R.  R.  depot. 

Triem,  Philip,  Merchant  Tailor, 

Vatter,  Adam,  Jr.,  Lightning-Rod 

and  Insurance  Agent. 

FRANKFORT. 

Baumgartner,  B.,  General  Merchant. 
ClaUS    Bros.,    Post   Office,  and  Dry 
Goods  and  Grocery  Merchants. 

PolkerS,  Johnson,  Butcher  and 
Dealer  in  Dried  and  Salt  Meats  and 
Fish. 

Karch,  Charles,  Agent  for  the  New 
Wilson  Shuttle  Sewing  Machines.  All 
kinds  of  Agricultural  Implements. 

Klepper,  Philip,  Carriage  and  Wagon 
Manufacturer. 

Letts,  J.  R.,  Grain  and  Pork  Buyer. 

McDonald,  John,  oldest  Grain 
Buyer  and  Dealer  in  Coal,  Hay,  Salt, 
Flour,  &c.,  in  the  village. 

Muff,  Martin,  Saloon  Keeper,  and 
Proprietor  of  R.  R.  House. 

Sutherland,  James,  Manufacturer 

of  Wagons,  Fine  Phaetons,  Carriages, 
etc.,  and  Agent  for  Farm  Implements. 


BUSINESS  DIRECTORY. 


993 


Stephens  BrOS,,  General  Machinists, 
Millwrights  and  Manufacturers. 

Stephens,  Joseph,  Notary  Public. 

Williams,  C.  B.,  Proprietor  of  Frank- 
fort Hotel  and  Livery  ;  best  Livery  in 
the  village. 

MOKENA. 

Cappel  &  Krapp,  Butchers. 

McGovney,  OziaS,  General  Mer- 
chant and  Postmaster. 

Schuberth,  John,  General  Hard- 
ware Merchant. 

Weiss,  Moritz,  Druggist. 

NEW    LENOX. 

CrOSSen,  R,  W.,  Manufacturer  of 
Fine  Carriages  and  Buggies. 

Knickerbocker,  Ward,  Druggist 

and  General  Merchant,  and  Postmaster. 

Kercheval,  ChaS.,  Breeder  of  Fine 
Swine. 

Lynk,  Tunis,  General  Merchant  and 
Depot  Agent. 

Snoad,  ChaS.,  Breeder  of  Norman 
Horses  from  Imported  Stock,  and  Gen- 
eral Western  R.  R.  Land  Agent.  Res- 
idence, New  Lenox  ;  P.  0.  Joliet. 

PEOTONE. 

AngUS  &  Fell,  Dry  Goods,  Groceries, 
and  an  assortment  of  General  Merchan- 
dise. 

Brayton,  J.  H.,  Dealer  in  Clothing, 
Hats  and  Caps,  Boots  and  Shoes,  and 
Gents'  Furnishing  Goods. 

Board  &  Shumway,  Dealers  in 
Pure  Drugs,  Medicines,  Books,  Station- 
ery, Toilet  and  Fancy  Articles,  Choice 
Wines,  Liquors,  etc.,  for  medicinal  use, 
and  all  Druggists'  Sundries.  Physi- 
cian's Prescriptions  carefully  compound- 
ed. Office  of  E.  B.  Shumway,  M.  D. 

Barnhart,    James,   Job    Printer, 

Stationer  and  Fancy  Notions,  Papeteries 


and  Sheet  Music,  and  Musical  Instru- 
ments; also  Editor  and  Proprietor  of 
the  Peotone  Eagle. 

Collins  &  Schroeder,  Dealers  in 
Grain  and.Coal.  Highest  Market  Price 
paid  lor  Grain. 

Conrad  &  Schugmann,  Hardware 

and  Stoves. 

Conrad,  John,  Police  Magistrate, 
Notary  Public  and  General  Collecting 
Agent.  Collections  solicited  and  prompt- 
ness guaranted. 

Conrad,  Peter,  &  Son,  Proprietors 

of  the  Peoione  Cheese-Factory. 
DewitZ,     Jacob,     Manufacturer     of 
Wagons   and   Buggies,  and  Dealer  in 
Pumps,  etc.     All  kinds  of  pumps  re- 
paired. 

Pedde,  Henry,  Cabinet-Maker  and 
Undertaker,  and  Manufacturer  and 
Dealer  in  all  kinds  of  Furniture  and 
Burial  Caskets.  Hearses  furnished  up- 
on application. 

Gates,  Henry,  Notary  Public,  also 
Dealer  in  Groceries,  Clothing,  Hats, 
Caps  and  Gloves.  Highest  Price  paid 
for  Produce. 

Harsh  &  Beedy,  Dealers  in  General 
Hardware  and  Farming  Implements. 

Melville,   Andrew,  M.  D., 

Surgeon- 

Rains  &  SultzbaUgh,  Dealers  in 
Heavy  Pressed  Hay  and  Straw,  by  the 
car-load. 

Shumway,  E.  B.,  M.  D.,  Physician 
and  Surgeon. 

Schmid,  LOUiS,  Proprietor  of  Peo- 
tone Hotel.  Best  hotel  in  town.  East 
of  depot. 

Schroeder,  Smith   &   Collins, 

Dealers  in  Dry  Goods,  Clothing,  Boots, 
Shoes  and  Groceries. 

Warden  &  Gilkerson,  Dealers  in 

Grain,  Lumber,   Lime,   Coal,   Cement, 
Stone,  Dram  Tile,  etc.,  etc. 


994 


BUSINESS  DIRECTORY. 


Yung,  William,  Photographer,  and 
Dealer  in  Albums  and  Frames.  Faded 
Pictures  copied  and  enlarged. 

CRETE. 

Ahrens,  George  W.,  Furniture  and 
Undertaker. 

Brauns,  Gustavus,    Dry    Goods, 

Drugs  and  Medicines,  and  Groceries. 
Dealer  in  Hay.  Owner  of  large  Hay- 
Press. 

Carter,  C.  E.,  Editor  and  Proprietor 
of  the  Crete  Enterprise.  Job  Printing. 

Crete  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Manufacturers  of  Doors,  Sash 
and  Blinds,  etc.,  etc. 

Hewes  Hotel,  the  only  good  Hotel 
in  Crete  ;  Accommodations  first-class  at 
a  reasonable  price.  B.  F.  Hewes,  Pro- 
prietor. 

Hewes  Bros.,  the  oldest  Dry  Goods 
and  Grocery  Store  in  Crete.  Dealers  in 
Lire  Hogs,  Grain  and  Seed.  Proprie- 
tors Brick- Yard. 

Minard,  G.  W.,  M.  D. 

Rinne,  Earnest,  Dealer  in  Hay,  and 
Owner  of  Hay  Press.  Proprietor  of 
Brick-Yard. 

Walter,  Emil,  Agent  for  Reapers, 
Cultivators,  Rakes,  Plows,  Seeders, 
Corn-Planters,  etc.,  Crete,  111. 

Wood,  W.  I.,  Livery  and  Sale  Stable. 
Wood,  Willard,  Attorney  at  Law. 

ELWOOD. 

Cowell,  G.  E.,  M.  D.,  Homeopathic 
Physician.  Calls  attended  at  all  hours. 

Gifford,  E.,  &  Son,  Dealers  in  Dry 
Goods,  Groceries,  Crockery,  Glassware, 
Hats  and  Caps.  Highest  Market  Price 
paid  for  Country  Produce. 

Lichtenwalter,  J.   J.,   Dealer  in 

Grain,  Coal,  Lumber,  Sash,  Doors  and 
Blinds.  Contractors  and  Builders  fur- 
nished. 


Linebarger,  John,  &  Co.,  Dealers 

in  Grain. 

Nicholson,  William,  Dealer  in 
Hardware  and  Agricultural  Implements, 
Paints,  Oils,  Glass,  Pumps,  Ammunition, 
Tin  and  Iron  Ware,  and  Stoves. 

Spafford,  Robert,  Postmaster,  Deal- 
er in  Flour,  Notions,  etc. 

Snoad,  H.,  &  Co.,  Dealers  in  Dry 
Goods,  Groceries,  Boots  and  Shoes,  etc. 

Wood,  Wm.  W.,  Farmer.  Buyer 
and  Shipper  of  Stock  ;  also  Money  to 
Loan  on  Good  Real  Estate  Security. 

CHANNAHON. 

Bates,  E.  E.,  Blacksmith  and  Wagon 
Builder,  and  Dealer  in  Agricultural 
Implements.  Repairing  of  all  kinds 
promptly  attended  to. 

Pitch,  Joseph,  M.  D.,  Physician. 
Office  in  Drug  Store. 

Fitch,  Joseph,  Dealer  in  Pure  Drugs 
and  Medicines ;  also  a  full  line  of  Gen- 
eral Merchandise,  Boots  and  Shoes,  etc. 

Fowler,  C.  &  C.  E.,  Dealers  in  Dry 
Goods,  Groceries,  Boots,  Shoes,  Hats, 
Caps,  Notions,  etc.,  etc. 

PLAINFIELD. 

Bennett,  George,  Mason  and  Build- 
ing-Mover. 

Corbin,  ElihU,  Justice  of  the  Peace 
and  Real  Estate. 

Chittenden,  G.  N.,  &  Co.,  Dealers 

in    Dry    Goods,    Groceries,    Clothing, 
Boots  and  Shoes,  Hats  and   Caps,  etc. 

Fraser,  H.  R.,  &  Co.,  Dealers  in 
Hardware  and  Groceries. 

Jump,  D.  WM  M.  D.,  Physician  and 
Surgeon. 

Keen,  William  S.,  Blacksmith. 

Norton,  H.  S.,  Sec.  3,  Plainfield  Tp., 
Building  Sand  of  the  best  quality,  in  any 
quantity,  50  cents  per  load,  2  cents  per 
bushel.  Ten  per  cent  off  on  quantities. 


BUSINESS  DIRECTORY. 


995 


Perkins,  A.  J.,  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon. 

Pratt,  S.  S.,  &  Son.,  Undertakers  and 
Dealers  in  all  kinds  of  Furniture. 

Spencer,  Horace,  Physician. 
Townshendeau,  H.  A.,    Barber 

and  Editor  and  Proprietor  of  the  Plain- 
field  Echo. 

Vanolinda,  Ira,  Justice  of  the  Peace 
and  Police  Magistrate. 

Wight,  R.  B.,  Renovator. 

Webb,  R.  D.,  Wagon  Manufacturer 
and  Repairer  of  all  kinds  of  Farm  Ma- 
chinery. 

BEECHER. 

Loebstein,  Samuel,  Dealer  in  Stock 
and  General  Merchandise. 

Mettenhausen,  Louis,  Teacher. 

Miller,  Timothy  L.,  Cattle- Breeder 
and  Dealer  in  Hereford  and  fine-bred 
stock. 

Ruden,  Charles  P.,  Physician   and 

Surgeon. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Barber,  Franklin  E.,  Farmer  and 

Dairyman,  Du  Page  Tp. 

Goodenow,  George  W.  &  Son, 

Dealers  in  Hay  and  Proprietors  of  Large 
Hay-Press.  Dealers  in  Dry  Goods  and 
Groceries,  Goodenow,  Crete  Tp. 

Hack,  John,  Merchant  and  Post- 
master at  Eagle  Lake,  Washington  Tp. 

Harvey,  Jabez,  Dealer  in  Dry  Goods, 
Groceries,  Boots,  Shoes,  Medicines,  Farm 
Machinery  and  Hardware.  Conveyan- 
cing done  and  acknowledgments  taken. 
All  goods  shipped  to  Joliet.  Wilton 
Center,  Will  Co.,  111. 


Owen,  James  L.,  Mokena,  Will  Co., 

111.,  Breeder  of  Norman  or  Percherou 
Horses  from  imported  stock.  Half  and 
three-quarter  blood  stallions  and  mares 
for  sale  at  reasonable  prices.  Also  pure- 
bred Poland-China  Pigs,  compactly  built, 
for  sale,  boxed  and  delivered  on  the  cars- 
Residence  one  and  one-half  miles  south 
of  depot. 

O'Neil,  Charles  J.,  Farmer  and 
Breeder  of  Fine  Stock,  Will  Tp. 

POOley,  John,  Veterinary  Surgeon. 
Treats  diseases  of  horses  and  cattle. 
Residence  on  Sec.  13,  on  the  town  line, 
Wilton  Tp.,  Will  Co.,  111. 

Raver,  D.  J.,  Mason  and  Farmer, 
Troy  Tp. 

Reynolds,  J.  S.,  Attorney  at  Law, 
Room  2,  northwest  corner  of  Fifth  ave- 
nue and  South  Water  street,  south  end 
of  Wells  street  Bridge,  Chicago,  111. 

Sime,  James,  Farmer,  Stone-Mason 
and  Bricklayer,  Florence  Tp. 

Stassen,  Henry,  Nurseryman  and 
Agent  for  Greengarden  Insurance  Co., 
Greengarden. 

Small,  E.  D.,  &  CO.,  Lumber  mer- 
chants. Dealers  in  Lumber,  Lath,  Shin- 
gles, Fence-Posts,  etc.  Our  stock  is 
new  and  complete  in  every  respect. 
Yard  and  office,  Custer,  mouth  of  Horse 

•    Creek  and  at  Ira  Smith's  Landing. 

Smiley,  J.  J.,  Groceries.  Staple  and 
Fancy  Groceries,  mouth  of  Horse  Creek, 
Custer  Tp. 

Truby,  M.,  &  Son,  Dealers  in  Grain 
Lumber  and  Stock,  Bird's  Bridge,. 
Troy  Tp. 


POPULATION  OF  WILL  COUNTY  BY  TOWNSHIPS. 


TOWNSHIPS. 

1870. 

I860. 

1850. 

1 

1 

d 

I 

1 

| 

! 
§ 

1 

3 

E 

1 

o 

3 

.1 

1 

1719 

214 
617 
730 
615 

Ch  annsvh  o  n  

1164 
1468 
1118 
875 
1924 
1202 
1279 
1485 
2940 
7263 
1979 
966 
828 
1207 
1361 
922 
3584 
1772 
922 

926 
856 
810 
644 
1055 
646 
946 
1189 
2093 
4959 
1476 
578 
'604 
865 
843 
593 
2368 
1180 
604 

238 
612 
308 
231 
869 
556 
333 
296 
847 
2304 
503 
388 
224 
342 
518 
329 
1216. 
592 
318 

1162 
1467 
1117 
875 
1924 
1202 
1257 
1483 
2815 
7228 
1964 
966 
820 
1204 
1355 
919 
3566 
1766 
922 

2 
1 

1 

911 
1189 
918 
691 
1763 
933 

Crete  

1 
5 

Du  Page  

Florence  

Frankfort  

844 

Homer  

22 
2 
125 

*6 

15 

1208 
983 

811 
456 

Jackson  

7066 

36 

2647 

12 

First  Ward  

Second  Ward  

Third  Ward  

8 
3 
6 
3 
18 
6 

Fourth  Ward  

Fifth  Ward  

Sixth  Ward  

Lockport  

2805 

19 

1646 

11 

Lockport  

514 

Momence  

573 

Monee  

1600 
598 
1121 
1213 
1750 
723 
2771 

879 
332 
808 
761 
1500 
667 
1184 

721 
266 
313 
452 
250 
56 
1587 

1591 
591 
1107 
1213 
1750 
723 
2771 

9 
7 
14 

872 

Monee  

907 
301 
1726 

617 

Plainfield  

1093 

Plainfield  

Reed  

781 

183 
614 
453 
240 
337 

Rockville  

Sherburne  

Troy... 

918 
1564 
924 
1133 
911 
2776 
1828 
1118 

617 
722 
776 
823 
485 
1971 
1378 
804 

301 
•842 
148 
310 
426 
795 
450 
314 

918 
1663 
923 
1132 
911 
2757 
1819 
1117 

866 
578 
544 
1069 
242 
1562 

1 

1 

Washington  .   .. 

1 
1 

1 

Wesley  

Wheatland  

749 

Will  

1 

Wilmington  . 

9 

9 

1 

1343 

3 

Wilmington  ...       .  . 

Wilton... 

845 

269 

A  TABULAR  STATEMENT  OF  THE  AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCTS, 
ACREAGE,  ETC.,  OF  WLLL  COUNTY,  ACCORDING  TO 

THE  ASSESSOR'S  REPORT  OF  1878. 


TOWNS. 

No.  of 
statements 
returned 
to  Assessor 

Corn. 

Winter  Wheat. 

Spring  Wheat. 

Oats. 

Bye. 

Barley. 

Acres 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres 

Bush. 

Cusjer  
Channahon  
Crete  
Du  Page  

80 
103 
13* 
139 
111 
154 
117 
187 
166 
85 
142 
138 
162 
93 
186 
147 
19 
141 
170 
59 
93 
187 
146 
164 

3l  104 
4654 
3963 
5242 
6702 
5721 
6351 
4347 
7911 
2898 
5094 
8371 
5243 
4137 
7350 
8082 
481 
8044 
7303 
3279 
472-> 
8545 
6973 
3919 

86791 
155110 
111395 
171070 
218810 
188900 
100950 
123812 
274300 
89210 
162905 
210330 
133940 
151933 
265347 
281770 
10550 
303213 
294200 
9U989 
164960 
379542 
204621 
149784 

2 
4 
1 

30 
110 
34 

5 

338 
42 

61 

4607 
747 

377 
939 
3292 
3624 
2155 
4822 
3645 
2281 
2987 
981 
2236 
3857 
4927 
2017 
2916 
3102 
65 
1903 
4379 
506 
718 
2611 
2845 
3611 

14288 
36529 
112480 
197804 
97121 
175170 
138400 
110162 
141380 
39703 
112472 
16510 
148930 
1<  10394 
155943 
112280 
1735 
90855 
227537 
19130 
30423 
111470 
73602 
1  r.3<ir, 

606 
72 
10 
35 
151 
2 
2 
176 
43 

168 

2770 
1485 
89 
700 
2980 
60 
26 
3410 
1045 
100 
4571 

Florence  
Frankfort  
Greengarden  

8 
16 

170 
400 

7 
24 
77 
63 
38 
36 
5 

202 

75 
400 
894 
855 
630 
1085 
7 

9340 

3 
7 

17 
160 

Jackmn  

Joliet  

Lockport  
Manhattan  

2 

58 

New  Lenox  
Plainfleld  
Peotone  

34M 

704 

15 

2 

300 
24 

1 

1810 
115 

16^ 

390 

Reed  

Troy  

6 
247 
18 
91 
20J^ 
35 
413 

145 
4370 
297 
1212 
232 
394 
4394 

U 

60 
55 
281 
12 

1134 
1400 
MO 
MftO 

335 

Wheatland  

13 

180 

Wilmington  

" 

Wesley  
Wilton  

32 

644 

2 
15% 

100 

KM 

Will  

Washington  

3 

12!.:::::::: 



TOWNS. 

Buckwheat. 

Castor  Beans. 

Beans. 

Pease. 

Irish  Potatoes. 

Sweet. 
Potatoes. 

Apple 
Orchards. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Custer  

57 
1 
8 
3 
2 
7 
4 
25 
2 

518 
12 
81 
67 
16 
126 
60 
319 
34 

10 

200 

45 
113 
117 

108 
82 
208 
135 
183 
89 
49^ 
120 
128 
200 
109  ', 

3593 
MM 

9600 
8495 
5731 
15170 
7565 
11638 
8887 
9060 
9446 
5880 
1(»66 
3330 

82 
129 

MSfc 

266 
248 
262 
125 
501 
219 
19 
246J4 
135 
128". 
18*2 

so0£ 

139 
10 
189 

210 
6 

""i'i'd 

35 

268 
2 
3 

67 

7 
100 
286 

""To 
35 

-  60 

Crete  

Du  Page 

Frankfort 

1 

20 

1 
1 
1 

20 
10 
10 

Greengarden  

5 

Joliet  

1 
1 

50 
6 

9 

87 

% 

•   2 

3% 

30 



Monee  

39J<£ 

492 



4 

46 

Plainneld 

15 
2 

213 
14 

»£j 

30 

144^ 

20 
120 

izsy2 

64 
41-k 

1n:,i;, 

81>| 
150'j 

14225 
7113 
2030 
9749 
10095 
6090 
3650 
9159 
6257 
8903 

Reed                ..   . 

9 
10 
7 

7% 

105 
120 
42 
112 

1 
1 

40 
80 

Wheatland 

Wilmington  
Wesley  
Wilton      

2 

""i'.iii 

14 
8 
33 

71 
140 
2341^ 
121 

78'4 

11 
60 
11 
58 

Will 

13 

5* 

J35 
14^ 

Washington  

|| 

26 



STATEMENT  OF  AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCTS,  &c.—  Continued. 


TOWNS. 

Peach 
Orchard. 

Pear 
Orch- 
ard. 

Tobacco. 

Broom  Corn. 

Hemp 
Acre?. 

Flax. 

Timothy 
Meadow. 

Clover 
Meadow. 

Prairie 
Meadow. 

Acres. 

Bush. 

Acres. 

Act  e*.   Lbs. 

Acres. 

Lbs. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

Tons. 

Acres. 

Tons. 

Acres.  Tons. 

4         4000 

1129 
1749 
2260 
2591 
1367 
2395 
26 
3264 
2438 
189-4^ 
2293 
2063 
1507 

1188 
2821 
2369 
4031 
2561 
3050 
144 
3683 
3534 
2107 
3055 
2500 
1346 

185 
110 
5 
2' 
73 
30 

325 
394 
10 
40 
109 
30 

1305 
253 
2218 
811 
1660 
1865 
1823 
538 
729 
133 
562 
2101 
3068 

1382 
309 
3242 
805 
1940 
2380 
2761 
750 
1015 
128 
713 
2643 
3191 

1 

1         2000 

24 

60 

69 
12 
40 
343 

700 

2 

10COO 

40 

273 

Manhattan  
Monee  

'*1A 

7 

529 

3074 
399 

5087 
718 

Plainfleld  

% 

65 

1 

500 

2084 
1478 
160 
2533 
3139 
885 
1488 
1875% 
2858 
2130 

3635 
2068 
207 
3212 
4625 
1336 
1838 
2218 
3156 
228*  1'2 

850 
2415 
546 
1080 
779 
1703 
594 
22691/3 

1001^ 

1106 
3185 
576 
1010 
906 
2145 
706 
2273U 
2092 
1339 

Reed  

Troy  

32 
20 

52 
20 

Wheatland 

572J^ 

Wilmington  ... 

10 

Wesley   

94 
66 

149 
76 

Wilton  

Will  

93 
142 

Washington.... 

TOWNS. 

Hungarian 
and 
Millet. 

Sorghum. 

Vineyard. 

Turnip     and 
other  Root 
Crops. 

Other    Fruit, 
Berries,  etc. 

Other   Crops. 

including 
Woodland. 

Woodland, 
not  inelud 
in  15  Plsturr 

Acres. 

Tons. 

Gals. 
Acres.  jSirup. 

Acres. 

Gals. 
Wine. 

Acres. 

Value. 

Acres. 

Value. 

Acres.  Value. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

50 
9 

36 
23 

2% 

174 

3 

40 

8120 

2207 
5283 
1639 
5228 
4386 
4460 
1664 
5236 
3458 
2065.81 
4551 
5959 

1127 
814 

2056 
239 
2323 

Channahon  
Crete  

Du  Page  

19 
60 
8 
10 

29 
92 
12 

Florence    
Frankfort  
Greengarden  
Homer  



Ili 

50 

2 

225 

18 

294 

9000 

2925 
79.1) 
66 
482 

3 

4 

915 

18 

JdllCt    

45 

14094 

Lockport  
Manhattan  

36 

48 

l1^ 

60 

Monee  

79 

25 

M 

40 

2 
3 

150 

3255 
4940 
4343 
33C7 

994 

10 
20 

200 
2000 

Plainfield  

2 

20 

2000 

125^ 

Reed  

745 
4647.31 
4561 
2650 
3530 
5240.60 

92 
2457 
10 
175 
1293 
389.96 

Troy  

Wheatland  

Wilmington  
Wesley  

8 
6 
64 
78^ 
133 

10 
8 
2 
54 

85 

4 
2% 
$ 

VA 

381 
135 
220 
141 

Wilton  

8 

Will  

| 



Vd        20 
6%l       125 

${•'31 

Washington  

1  4256.25 

40 

STATEMENT  OF  AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCTS,  &c.—  Continued, 


TOWNS. 

Uncultivat'd 
Land,  not 
Woodland  or 
Pasture. 

Area  Town 
orCityBeal 

Estate. 

Total 
Number  of 
Acres. 

SHEEP. 

DAIRY. 

Sheep  Killed 
by  Dogs. 

Si 

a  O 

Si 

Fat  Sh'p  Sold 

No. 
Cows 
Kept 

I*.. 
Butter 
Sold. 

Lbs. 
Che'se 
Sold. 

Gals. 
Cream 

Sold. 

Gals. 
Milk 
Sold. 

!Av.Val. 
No.  pr.  Head 

No. 

Av.  Wt 
pr  Head. 

Acres. 

Acres. 

893 
3681 

10683% 
17981 
14064  '^ 
20115 
17159 
228351^ 
22884 
21S63 
18760 
8256.66^ 
1652% 
226147 
21155H 
14468 
21904% 
18649 
2180 
21931.31 
22122 
9894 
16532"^ 
22959.26 
IKfiliT^ 

2       $5  00 

1569 
595 
369 
4275 
230 
1880 
63b 
3216 
1630 
800 
2499 
160 
438 
1185 
2700 

27 
62 
10 
78 
18 
145 
11 
104 
124 

129 
15 

"25 
1 

8 

85 
125 
120 
78 
75 
90 
113 
85 
101 

60 
60 

""lib 

150 
165 

546 
420 
965 
1171 
798 
835 
782 
899 
701 
282 
896 
557 
833 
648 
754 
903 
178 
651 
149 
572 
567 
742 
629 
988 

15549 
25075 
35645 
78755 
27871 
25780 
20MO 
52096 
37586 
9250 
25649 
35000 
31175 
53190 
63328 
24792 
;>500 
25532 
1(14230 
13510 
6880 
30220 
22557 
27312 

259119 
31303 

Channahon  
Crete  

160 

6(100 
48760 

Du  Page  

70 

112         2  37 

129724 
71P81 
185158 
49250 
425 

Florence  

Frankfort  

345 

360 

33         2  00 
3         3  00 
15         3  10 

4000 

1748 
30 
75.75 
416 

Joliet  

....„„.... 

12         3  12 

7200 
156818 

692 

I 

3  00 
14  00 

27600 
110745 
810 

18880 

Plainfield  

1727 

339 

100 

611 
100  JO 

Reed  

60 

418 



Troy         

40 

Wheatland 

55 

5  00 

2970     30 

123 

Wilmington  

470 
480 
1326.24 
457 
3710.75 

142495 
131145 

1649 

1220 
925 
1663 

129 
30 
25 

65 
90 
132 

Wilton  

233.22 

6 

4  (10 

Will 

Washington  

650         20293H       



TOWNS. 

CATTLE. 

HOGS. 

MISCELLANEOUS  CROPS. 

No.   Fat 
Cattle 
Sold. 

Average 
Weight 
Per  Head. 

Fat  Hogs 
Sold. 

Fat  Hogs  Died 
of  Cholera. 

Timothy 
Seed. 

Clover 
Seed. 

Hung'n 
Millet. 

Flax 
Seed. 

Pounds 
Grapes. 

No. 

Av.  Val 
>r.  Head 

No. 

Av.  Wt. 

pr.  Head 

Bushels.:  Bushels. 

Bushels. 

Bushels. 

93 
2742 
110 
310 
593 
244 
38 
64 
724 
106 
240 
107 
37 
380 
400 
252 
38 
627 
337 
414 
284 
646 
132 
34 

980 
1100 
853 
1221 
1125 
1000 
753 
1059 
700 
1019 
960 
1000 
700 
1113 
994 
1120 
920 
1274 
1100 
1076 
1143 
1156.46 
922 
1370 

886 
1434 
1937 
1933 
1400 
867 
949 
1791 
1507 
601 
1047 
1408 
756 
2763 
2883 
2469 
79 
2453 
1481 
1050 
3009 
2264 

82  44 
2  50 
2  37 
2  72 
2  54 
2  60 
1  21 
2  00 
2  82 
2  75 
2  68 
2  50 
2  40 
3  00 
2  95 
2  62 
2  17 
2  28 
2  50 
2  34 
2  76»£ 
2  71.81 
2W/2 
2  06 

35 

87 

31 

15 
194 

1220 
100 

Channahon  
Crete            .     . 

1907 
151 
24 
10 

1022 

1098 

Du  Page  

134 
299 
316 
38 

69 
115 
100 
100 

40 

200 

1625 
1500 

Frankfort  
Greengarden  

126 

239 

910 

61             47 

587           133 

600 

50 
44 
89 

97 
100 
90 

30 

Joliet 

Lockport  
Manhattan  

(57 

280 

500 

231 
5807 

1387 



1193 

4000 

New  Lenox  
Plainfield  

4 
275 
35 

150 
99 
200 

276 
965 

1129 

:i 

1330 

1668 

Reed 

130 
12 
25 
487 
45 
46 

106 
60 
100 
43 
118.44 
56 

22 
14 
109 
429 
741 
1252 
1480 

Wheatland  
Wilmington  

4000 

23 
37 

Wilton 

25 
626 
1481 

Will 

1366 
1168 

1681 
1516 

1000 
40 

Washington  

Whole  Number  of  Statements  Returned. 


FARM  CBOPS. 

Acres,  1877. 

Bush.  Prod.1877. 

132332 

im 

1684$ 

60796 
1438 
43J 
226*. 

H 

9Q  60 

lr 

2650^ 

4025| 
576 
10 

5| 
3 
24 
764 

43615 
448! 
30180T79> 
50o| 

33 

12| 

82*. 
22 
9148^ 
88552 
17530J 
17279 
1807V& 

4324432 
2330 
23069 
2415712 
28732 
826 
2567*. 
22 
427 
106 
189506 
125 
1639 

Lfcs.  produced. 
6765 
10500 

Tons  produced. 
56965* 
7474" 
36600* 

428" 
Gals,  produced. 
1385 
Ga.s.  Wine  made. 
240 

Spring  Wheat  

Oats  

Rye    

Buckwheat           

Castor  Beans  

Beans    

Peas                .      ...  

Sweet  Potatoes  

Apple  Orchard   

Peach  Orchard  

Pear  Orchard  

Tobacco  

Broom  Corn       

Hemp  Fiber  

Flax  Fiber  

Timothy  Meadow  

Clover  Meadow    

Prairie  Meadow  

Hungarian  and  Millet  

Sorghum  

Vineyards  

Turnip  and  other  Root  crops.... 

Other  Fruits  and  Berries  not  in 
Other  crops  not  named  above... 

eluded  above  in  Orchard  

Pasture  not  included  in  Woodls 
Woodland  not  included  in  Pastu 
Uncultvated  land,  not  included 
Area  City  and  Town  real  estate 

Total  number  of  acr 

tnd  

re    

as  Woodland  and  Pasture  

not  included  above  

es  in  countv.... 

417977 

LIVE  STOCK,  1877. 

SHEEP. 

Number  of  Sheep  killed  by  dogs 

Average  value  per  head,  Sheep  killed  by  Dogs 

Number  of  pounds  of  Wool  shorn 

Number  of  Fat  Sheep  sold 

Average  weight  per  head,  Fat  Sheep  sold 

DAIRY. 

Number  of  Cows  kept 

Pounds  of  Butter  sold 

Pounds  of  Cheese  sold 

Gallons  Cream  sold 

Gallons  Milk  sold 

CATTLE. 

Number  of  Fat  Cattle  sold 

Average  weight  per  head  Fat  Cattle  sold 

HOGS. 

Number  Fat  Hogs  sold 

Average  gross  weight  per  head  Fat  Hogs  sold 

Number  Hogs  and  Pigs  died  of  Cholera 

Average  gross  weight  per  head  of  Swine  died  of  Cholera 

CROPS,  ETC. 

Number  bushels  Timothy  Seed  produced 

Number  bushels  Clover  Seed  produced 

Number  bushels  Hungarian  and  Millet  Seed  produced 

Number  bushels  Flax  Seed  produced 

Number  pounds  Grapes  produced 


.Ibs. 


.Ibs. 


Quantity  or  Value. 

252 

$3  39 

30582 

.  ,      961 
108 

17366 
787012 
57860 
1006U 
1322646 

9352 
942 

37500 
254 

2064 
87 

9513 
1898 
4744 
13111 
15815 


Biography  Received  Too  Late  for  Insertion  in  its  Proper  Place. 


PROF.  ISAAC  S.  PALMER,  Joliet ; 
was  born  April  14,  1819,  in  Norwich, 
Norfolk  Co.,  England;  at  the  age  of  9, he 
went  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  associ- 
ated with  the  immortal  George  Combe,  and, 
through  his  influence,  gained  admission  to 
the  famous  Edinburgh  Medical  Institute, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  18,  after 
which  he  entered  public  life  as  a  lecturer 
on  phrenology;  in  1849,  the  Professor 
sailed  for  America,  for  the  purpose  of  col- 
lecting specimens  of  the  native  Indians 
and  learn  from  practical  experience  the 
types  of  their  character,  and  then  return 
to  England  and  lecture  upon  the  subject ; 


in  1852,  he  went  to  St.  Paul,  purchased  a 
boat  and  traveled  the  entire  length  of  the 
Mississippi  River,and  collected  over  five  hun- 
dred Indian  skulls  and  many  other  relics,  all 
of  which  were  destroyed  by  fire ;  the  enter- 
prise was  then  given  up,  and  he  decided 
to  make  America  his  home.  Since  1867, 
he  has  been  a  citizen  of  Joliet,  having 
married,  at  that  time,  Mrs.  Elisabeth  F. 
Aylesworth,  daughter  of  Charles  W.  Bran- 
don. He  still  follows  his  favorite  profes- 
sion, lecturing  on  phrenology,  physiology, 
anatomy  and  geology  ;  also  the  practice  of 
medicine. 


ERRATUM. 


The  Biography  of  Barber.  Randall  &  Fuller,  of  Joliet,  should  have  been  among 
the  B's  ;   was  placed  in  the  R's  by  mistake. 


